Shifting Down Two Gears on Track

[rice_classic]

I had to expand further.. And this is just like, my opinion..man

When I'm threshold braking in a big brake zone - I want that to be the ONLY thing I'm doing AND doing well. Therefore I skip gears. The price of the synchro be damned - cost of racing and all.

As a smart person once said: "multi-tasking is another way of saying: doing multiple things at the same time, less well."

Pacific Raceways is a good example, since I skip gears twice. 5->3 at the end of the straight (turn 2) and immediately after that 4->2 into the hair pins (Turn 3a). You'll notice how loooooong I'm on the brake and how far the revs drop BEFORE I grab the shifter. I'm not using the shift lever to change gears early and braking with the clutch in.. nope. I'm IN gear while braking and only clutch in when it time to shift. This means the shift fork is NOT crossing a synchro at a high RPM.

Yes, there's a bigger rev match, but by waiting to change gears, I'm doing so at a much lower rev that puts much less strain on things vs changing the gear at a higher rpm.

Down in the hairpin, you'll also notice that my down shift is not hurried - why should it be, I'm still braking. It can be slower, deliberate, easy on the machinery without costing me a single iota of time. So I'm able focus ALL my attention on the threshold braking moment which is the most important moment (I'd argue) of the braking zone because if you screw that up, at best you miss your corner or lose some lap time, at worst you collect the car(s) in front of you.

[CSG Mike]

It takes very little effort to go into one more gate during a downshift; you don't have to let the clutch out in every gear.

I just do everything I can to help preserve the car. Many people get by just fine skip shifting!

[rice_classic]

Originally Posted by CSG Mike

It takes very little effort to go into one more gate during a downshift; you don't have to let the clutch out in every gear.

I just do everything I can to help preserve the car. Many people get by just fine skip shifting!

I am reminded of my S2K ownership days where guys would destroy their 6th gear synchros because they would take off from a stop light or on-ramp, rev up to 9k in 2nd gear and then slap it in 6th gear (usually to avoid the attention of police) which was torture on the tiny 6th gear synchro.

Mike I want everyone following along to know something important - this is not a thing where there's a hard "right or wrong".

The part in bold is where choice matters. So while there is very little effort, there the extra time and motion to do this and it throws off my rhythm. Since the engine speed is slowed down and the shift is slow/deliberate, the difference between skipping and not is arguably indistinguishable. in 20 years of racing I've never opened a gear box to replace failing synchros. But you are correct.

We should also note the 4th gear synchro is just 1 piece. The 3rd gear synchro is a triple cone, much more robust.

Here's another thing.. We need to talk about our balls.

I'm talking about the 3 detent balls that hold our shift forks in their neutral positions. Our transmissions use (3) ball that ride inside, between the gear collar and the collar sleeve. Guess which gear is most at risk of ejecting it's balls? 4th gear. We all need to be careful not to beat our 4th gear too hard.

I discovered why when I was bored last winter and wanted to "refresh" my transmission - which was stupid because it was entirely unneeded (because I'm awesome and shift so awesomely that my 90k old, 4 race season synchros looked awesome)... But nonetheless, it was super fun to see what makes these things tick.

I narrated the photo to help explain why our 4th gear balls are at risk... You have to zoom in or look at original photo size.