Very good explanation Big Daddy - couldn't explain it better myself I learned heal-toe downshifting years ago driving old Bimmers w/ notoriously weak synchros, over time it simply became a force of habit I don't even think about.

 

 

I love double clutching, mostly for the rpm matching and clean shifts. going into a turn hot, slowing down, shift out of 3rd, neutral rev, into 2nd and zoom on out of there. its like a slingshot when you do it right.

double clutching even on new cars makes it nicer to downshift, much smoother and it is cleaner getting into gear. I believe that it will give your transmission a longer life. There are plenty of new cars that have synchros that can go bad or degrade, i have driven audis and VWs that have had synchros go bad, double clutching keeps those synchros in good shape.

MiniMaxx: nah, you don't double clutch into first gear, the easiest thing to do is go second then push it forward into first if you have this problem.

 

me too !! love too heel toe.

 

Well said. In todays technology it's not needed... It still is fun to do when running through those canyon runs and such! I don't double clutch around town though... syncro transmission techonology... you gotta love it!

 

 

I'm surprised that many of you have cars with manual transmissions but don't know what a heel and toe downshift is.

I double clutch every now and then, but just for fun, because synchros last so long.

Double-clutching is most beneficial for shifts into 1st gear.

Double-clutching will only make the shifter smoother, it won't necessarily make the shift smoother (the smoothness of the shift has to do with how you match your rpms).

How many of you have tried clutchless shifting? It's pretty challenging; I can only get it right about 1/3 of the time.

 

In my 02 Dodge Neon I can do both downshift and upshift without the clutch. However, it is most difficult with the Getrag 6speed tranny that's in my MCS. I can barely get it to upshift without using the clutch...haven't even tried downshifting yet.

 

I haven't tried downshifting yet either.

 

Heel toe is not a requirement for street driving. It is a technique for simultaneously braking and downshifting. It's only required when you are racing and are already using 100% of the road-gripping forces of your tires. In normal driving, you have plenty of traction to spare, so normal downshifting, where you let off the clutch slowly to let the synchros work, will suffice.

That said, I'd like to go to driving school to be taught h/t.

 

nah, you don't double clutch into first gear, the easiest thing to do is go second then push it forward into first if you have this problem.[/quote]

Its situational.......you don't know if you got it until you got it. You feel a little resistance, you dc or you 2 to 1. Whatever you're used to.

 

I've always been a big fan of heel and toe down shifting and use it very often . On occasion I also do a little double-clutch shifting just for the hell of it. In fact, the ability to double-clutch actually came in handy a few years ago when the synchros started to fail in my 535is @248k miles. It started with the second gear synchro (a common weak point in those getrag 260 trans) followed very soon by the third gear synchro.

I didn't have time to replace the trans right away (it was the middle of winter and the thought of replacing the trans in my driveway at that time of year was not appealing), so I began double clutching my shifts. I got so good at it, I waited till the warm weather arrived in spring to finally replace it.

It was very rewarding feeling to know I could drive the car despite the lack of synchros. I will admit though that it was somewhat tiring in my 2 hours of rush-hour commuting each day. I guess the moral of the story is while you may never need to double clutch your shifts in a modern car, it never hurts to know.

 

I use heel-toe everyday on the street. It reduces wear on the clutch (because you're matching revs) and you get to use both engine braking and your brakes to slow down.

In my opinion, if you downshift without matching revs, you should not be driving a manual.

 

My everyday driving utilizes this all the time, I heel toe on the street all the time, to anser the original question, the important thing now is to get everything working smoothly so I'd wait to start trying new things. also learning on a rental, or beater car is much better than learning on your brand new MINI.

 

all the replies - when I read threads like this, makes me wonder what was I thinking ordering a manual (besides they're more fun than CVT)?!! Hopefully it won't be that hard for me to learn........starting to get a little anxious about it!
I did check around town and can get a Cavalier manual transmission rental and had considered renting one for a weekend before I take delivery of the MINI.
I would like to go to an instructor led course but don't know that there are any around here..............

 

As long as you're learning, make sure you know the DON'TS and do's of manual transmissions:

Don't relax with your foot on the clutch, even a little bit. You're either all the way on or all the way off.

Don't mess around with hills going up and down and up and down.

Don't sit still with your foot on the clutch.

Don't make burnouts a habit.

Don't make "power shifting" a habit. (That's shifting without engaging the clutch)

Do be gentle and caring, do make an effort to learn H/T, and do pay attention to the infamous clutch smell - if you smell it, you made a mistake.

mb

 

Hmm, i never smelled clutch on a MINI before, how is it? Is it one of those, "I can taste it in the air!"?

 

Ha, the best way to describe clutch smell is clutch smell! It's like an e-brake that was left on but a little more pungent. It smells like a mixture of burned metal, oil, and rubber. It's the clutch smell.

mb

 

here is another review on heel toe on motoringfile.

http://motoringfile.com/2005/07/24/h...g_made_simple/

good luck , once you get it , you will never go back.

mikie

 

Your

 

Here is what happens when you have one too many "burnouts" on an Elise, post #31. http://www.elisetalk.com/forums/show...t=22313&page=2

Talk about MINI warranty being tough

 

Yeah, Lotus doesn't mess around. What would MINI owners do if their dealers downloaded their engine history during the break-in period and voided the warranty if any full throttle or 4.5k+ rpm driving was detected?!?!

I actually find what Lotus did with the early Europa's pretty funny... they knew that the only way to keep the warranty in tact was to limit engine rpm. Well, carbureted engines don't exactly have an easy way to limit revs so they decided to use valve springs of a specific stiffness so the valves would float at a certain (unharmful) rpm. Since the engines were non-interference, it didn't hurt anything. It allowed them to honor warranty work knowing the engines were not able to rev out of their stock specs.

Now the fun begins when the factory quoted power output was at a higher rpm than redline

 

I think its going to become more common. I have also read on a P car forum where the chip logs EVERY RPM over redline (with the sport option, the limiter actually bounces so its OK). However, 600 RPM over redline and bye bye warranty

I would imagine its easy to log everything with memory being so cheap but thats like looking at everything you did while driving ... like an invasion of privacy. Ain't modern technology grand

BTW, if you read more in their, Lotus is also going after ppl who track their cars AND that is mostly the reason ppl buy Elise/Exige for ... track toys. Seems like hypocrosy (sp) to me.

 

I thought powershifting is when you keep the gas floored while you change gears (using the clutch).

 

Anyone else having trouble with the MINI's floor hinged gas pedal? I used to heel toe like a pro when I had a Miata. But I can't seem to do it in the MINI.

With my feet positioned as in the pic above, I just can't blip the throttle. I guess it's b/c most of the pedal travel is in the top portion of the pedal. Also, the drive-by-wire throttle doesn't make things easier