[strat61caster]

imho go slower to get it feeling smooth, don't be afraid to let the clutch slip a little, let the movements become natural and speed will come. Manhandling it will get you nowhere, the car wants to shift if you treat it right, you should only need a few fingers and light pressure to move the gear stick.

I still maintain this car is a bit tricky to nail, I didn't feel really confident until I had 30k on the clock.

Everybody is so used to seeing modern racecars and talking about lightening fast shifts when the reality is that a manual gearbox, even a modern one, has a certain speed it's happy at, and rushing it doesn't do you much good. To add to that, the 86 at lower rpm seems to want to shift slower, if you're shifting up at 7,200 rpm it'll slide into gear almost as fast as your hands can move it, down at 2,200 not so much.

While it's fun to watch Senna in the NSX or the Yellowbird at Nurburgring rip out lightening fast shifts, if you pay attention they're being incredibly gentle first and foremost, those cars are designed and operated at the limit, not going over a speed bump at the local strip mall attempting to not give your passenger whiplash.