how to downshift properly when racing using g27+gearbox+clutch?

  • Thread starter digitalic
  • 41 comments
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On the street sure, skip gears at low engine speeds. Hell even leave it in neutral coming to stop lights. But at high engine RPM's only the next gear in sequence has syncro's that prevent you from crunching the gear. If you skip gear you bypass the effect of the syncronizers and you can severely damage your transmission this way. Thats why when you drive an old car with bad syncro's you grind gears all the time(unless you double clutch like a truck).
 
Falango
If you downshift too early and overrev the engine, you can lose control. If you downshift as you are Starfire, you don't get the benefits of the engine brakes. The higher revs of a lower gear help slow the car down more, so what you need to do is find the point where downshifting will put the revs below the redline, but not less than halfway to idle. That's a general rule I've followed. Different cars will act differently because of their redline, number of gears, and gear ratios. Cars with more braking power will require you to downshift quicker too because you are slowing down alot faster. Go watch some on board videos of race cars on road courses and have a listen.
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I've tried all that and still have trouble doing it that way.I either come in too hot or i don't have the right speed and hit the inside rumble strip.I've only had my wheel for a month so i guess i just need to practice more.

Thanks for the tips. 👍
 
Alternatively with the G25

I find that I do it sequentially as 5-4-3-2 with a solid right foot braking - don't lift your foot from the brake at all (brake later and harder) while engagint the clutch each time. The right hand is very busy but I almost never miss a gear. I'd rather underrev and still have go power within the powerband than go from 5-2 and throw off the alignment of the car and have zero space left within the powerband to accelerate out of the corner.
Missing a gear is probably what I find the most troublesome when jumping around.
 
vanos2990
On the street sure, skip gears at low engine speeds. Hell even leave it in neutral coming to stop lights. But at high engine RPM's only the next gear in sequence has syncro's that prevent you from crunching the gear. If you skip gear you bypass the effect of the syncronizers and you can severely damage your transmission this way. Thats why when you drive an old car with bad syncro's you grind gears all the time(unless you double clutch like a truck).
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The problem here is you need to match your engine speed with the gearbox....

You would never be at high end of rpm's then try to shift to a lower gear - you would be around mid rpms - rev match and shift down.
 
i drive a light-strike for the army.. it's ok to skip gears from 6 to 2 if you slow down to an appropriate speed, if you over-revv that means you need to brake more or use a higher gear.

skipping gears or going through them is a difference between saving clutch or saving brakes
 
digitalic
that seems like a lot of work every time you approach a corner, do they downshift to each and every single gear when racing in real life?
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yes we do though it depends, like when i was racing the Speedcar series, (nascar's) occasionally i used to go straight from 4th into 2nd... depending on how the turn was = saving time.

Other then that, normally you downshift through every gear

Chris
 
Christhedude
yes we do though it depends, like when i was racing the Speedcar series, (nascar's) occasionally i used to go straight from 4th into 2nd... depending on how the turn was = saving time.

Other then that, normally you downshift through every gear

Chris
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we have a pro on the thread.. :bowdown:
 
Sorry to bump this thread but when watching this video it made me remember about it.

Watch the video at 1:27 - race driver shifts from 4th to 2nd cause of the tight right hander @ tsukuba.

 
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I always downshift through each of the gears. It's easier to rev match for me because its just brake, clutch, shift, blip, un-clutch. dosent matter if its 5 to 3 or 6 to 1, you know exactly what to do each time. Also when going through each gear, you get engine braking. It's only slight but can make a world of difference. I tried going straight from 5 to 2 before the chicane in Suzuka from my normal braking cue, thinking it would give me a faster lap time, but I couldn't slow down fast enough and overshot it. This was not good for my lap time.
 

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