I am a beginner to stick driving, have been driving one for a bout a month now, and can drive it pretty good. I am not going to try racing yet but I am curious as to how its done, from what I understand when not powershifting you just want to obviously rev the engine to about 2k and let the clutch out to launch the car and add throttle accordinly until its at WOT, then shift at around 6k. When I shift do I just try to shift as fast as possible, and jam my foot back on the gas again?

 

I found that by varying my rpms slightly at the launch I could time my clutch release with the bulbs so I would do a quick slip of the clutch around 1500-1700 rpms at the line so the car would not spin or bog. It was pretty hard to do and cut a low .5xx at the same time consistently but it is possible.

The clutch should be slipped very quickly at the start, not dumped. The driveline should be slightly pre-loaded at the actual start so as not to create undo driveline stress when you release the clutch.

The actual shift should be done just quickly at first until you feel very comfortable with trying a powershift.

powershift is generall simply a very quick and shallow stab of the clutch pedal just barely enough to release it. While you are doing this the right leg stays jammed to the floor the entire time. The actual shift must be extremely fast and accurate. The goal is to have no more than a 200rpm rise while making the actual shift.

I would usually shift at 5800 and finish at 6000. Any more than that and I would lose ET based on the mods to my car at the time.

The 1-2 shift is generally considered the easiest and the 2-3 shift is generally considered the hardest. I would recommend practicing at 5200-5400 at first to avoid hitting the rev limiter.

It takes a lot of practice. If you don't think you can complete the shift, always back off rather than trying to jam it and possibly hurting something. It is always better to make the shift, even if it is a bit slower, than to miss it entirely.

Powershifting consistently and well is a lost art form. Almost everybody I have communicated with seems to think they can powershift. The truth of the matter is, in my experience, that very few people can actually powershift well enough and consistently enough, to win races and go multiple rounds in competition, and actually be a viable competitor on a day to day basis.

 

Wow, Ted, thanks. Somehow, that's the first time I've ever seen powershifting explained; I didn't even realize that it was a specific technique. I'm going to have to learn to do that.

My shifting technique when I went to the track was just a normal shift, but as fast as I could do it. Clutch in (all the way or close to all the way) and off the gas, shift, then clutch out and back on the gas.

I wonder how much ET I could shave just by learning to powershift.

 

thanks, that is helpful.

 

Yes very helpful thank you.

 

Yea I wonder too...? How much difference do you think there is from powershift... to none powershift?

 

depending on driver, around .2 (2 tenths)

 

In a manual car, how would you "preload" the drivetrain first?

 

You let the clutch out till you feel the car wanting to engage - I usually let out till you feel it grab and the car lurches ahead an inch....then hold the pedal there.

This way you partly have the drivetrain engaged, its almost then expecting the oncoming launch