Don't stress too much about 'getting beat' and enjoy your car. I get held up by slow drivers in fast cars on the race track, and I never give them a hard time unless they do something stupid. Last time out the biggest problem cars as far as slowing me down were 2 STi's, a Boxster and a Sentra SE-R and my track car is an '80 Celica. So.. Don't feel too bad.

-Jacob

 

Thanks for all the great feedback.
stg2lgcy00. I feel the same way. I still yet have guts to downshift to 1st yet.
I would try it here and there, but as soon as the shifter won't go in, instead of reving it high and try again, I just give up and use 2nd instead.
Lucky, STI have a pretty strong 2nd. Unless I am on a hill, I can always get 2nd to putt around slowly without stalling or too much lugging.
But yes, I would like to learn properly how to downshift to first for exactly the mentioned situations above.
I hate it when I come to a red soon be green light, I have to either stop 100% or try feather the clutch in 2nd and use 2nd instead.
Has anyone sucessfuly downshifting to 1st often and in a smooth fashion?

 

I do this just about every day. I did this in my WRX as well as every other car I have owned. The previous owner of my RS was a little rough on 1st, so I have made it a habit to be very careful with it. It seems like AWD is a lot less forgiving on your clutchwork, so you just have to be more careful.

-Jacob

 

The Doc Wong drive was not slow. It was not as fast as Bushido's north bay drives but it was no sightseeing tour either. It was better that you did not go and please don't take that as a put down because it certainlly not meant that way. What I meem is it is too easy to get sucked into going faster than your experience would justify on drives where other people are going faster. Print out the course from his post and run it at your own speed. As you become more experienced you will go faster. People who have run Doc Wong before told me it is always fast. Give yourself time before you feel you need to keep up with other people. That is how to get into real trouble. Enjoy your car and stay safe. Bill

 

Thanks for all the great feedback. This gives me hope to work harder at properly drive the STI.
On a happy note. I did a 4-2 double clutch down shift today. It was 100% smooth, but I do have to blip the hell out of the throttle to rev match.
Now if I can repeat that and learn that well, I will save a lot of downshift time before a turn and just 4-2 instead of 4-3-2.
I will practice 5-3 downshift as well.

 

Bill.
Would I have to know proper toe and heel before trying Doc Wong's drive?
I wonder if the drive is so fast where I would require to know toe and heel before trying their run?
I am trying to get a feel for just how fast the drive is. Do you go 8/10 in your STI on the drive?

 

The first thing to remember is that these are public roads so the most important thing is to stay on your own side. No you don't need to heel and toe and I don't understand all the talk about double clutching either. You have to double clutch an old Austin Healey with a Moss crash box with it's straight cut gears but not an STi. As for 8/10 do you mean what the car will do or what I can make it do? John, the driver of the blue STI, has a faster car and is probably a faster driver than I am.(but not a better rally driver John.) He might give you a different answer then I would. That is the point. You need to know what is 8/10 for you. That is why I think you should run it alone. That way you won't get in trouble trying to keep up with someone who at present is faster. Doc Wong is fast enough that you have to be able to drive it without thinking. You'll get there. Don't rush it.

 

I don't think anyone is saying you MUST dbl clutch, but it's a very good technique to learn. As is heel-toeing. In my opinion, it's very personally rewarding to work with my car instead of against it. Sure - just mashing the shifter harder when it won't go into gear easily will work for a while, but it IS causing damage to the synchros if you have to push hard. In short, I wouldn't say it's mandatory, but I would DEFINITELY not try to discourage someone from wanting to learn or make them feel like it's a useless skill. You make it sound like it's a waste of time to learn which it is decidedly not.

 

This thread is great becuase I only started to learn the stick shift about a month ago.... the first 2 days were hell, but after that I haven't stalled at all... (actually once becuase i had the e-brake down) I have a habbit of pushing the clutch to the floor during up shifts, but I can stop that with some self control, lol. I can take off on some inclines but not SF-hills yet, haha. I can rev match some-what, but hey it's only been a few weeks haha.. I think the whole clutch thing will just come to you one day, and you'll wonder how easy it is!

 

just keep up the good work on manual trans...
PM me if u wanna learn how to launch ur car. using slip style or drop/slip
and u will be in 1.6 - 1.7 in your 60ft times.. and run 13.2 - 13.0
hhahaha

 

Read through all these tech articles:
http://www.turnfast.com/tech_driving/driving.shtml
Specifically on shifting
http://www.turnfast.com/tech_driving...shifting.shtml

 

oh yes, heel-&-toe!

http://www.turnfast.com/tech_driving..._heeltoe.shtml

 

Thank you all for the reply.
I know this is a good learning experience.
Like any newbie. I am feeling good days and bad days.
It seems that if I drive the car too much, my shifts will actually get worse.
So I guess key is to space out drive time and learn from each drive.
Instead of trying to rush it all.

 

i have time this friday, april 1st, if u want to go out for a drive in the peninsula area.
pm me if u are interested.

-richard

ps: we will be using your STi, not mine. :P

 

I am going to be working Friday and after work a birthday party in north bay.
So Friday isn't good. Sorry.