Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Stunning New Porsche 918 Spyder - Another Hybrid

[Dennis Liu (bigheaddennis]

Easier and faster in the bike world.  Takes about an afternoon of riding to master, if one is committed to being smooth.  And, it should be noted, screwing up a high-rev, high-speed downshift is much more dramatic on a motorcycle.

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From: Fellippe Galletta [mailto:fellippe.galletta [at] gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, March 04, 2010 1:00 PM
To: BigHeadDennis [at] gmail.com; The FerrariList
Subject: Re: [Ferrari] Stunning New Porsche 918 Spyder - Another Hybrid

On Thu, Mar 4, 2010 at 11:46 AM, Dennis Liu <bigheaddennis [at] gmail.com> wrote:

Fellippe:  no excuses, you can practice and use heel & toe downshifting everyday.  Do it on the street all the time, and it becomes 2nd nature, pure reflex.  And you don't need to drive like speed racer on the streets to do it either.  While, to a degree, it IS easier to pull off a nice heel-toe when you're driving aggressively on the track (n.b., it's much more noticeable --and costly-- if you screw it up there), just PRACTICE and you can do it anytime, in any car.

OK, will have to try harder....I know I can get this, but riding with someone who knows what they are doing for 10 minutes will go a long long way.

BTW, I take it no one here double clutches their downshifts?? I like to do it on gradual slow downs for fun.....the downshift is definitely smoother, but trying to put it all together with H&T is too much, hehe.
 
But I guess on an older non synchro car, this was how you had to do it.

 

 

And some cars are much better set-up for heel/toe than others.  For example, the Miata is about perfect; most Ferraris are pretty good.  The pre-996 911s were horrible; if you could do a smooth heel-toe downshift from 3rd into 2nd at a tight corner on a racetrack in an earlier 911, well, that's pretty close to the ne plus ultra for downshifting in a synchro tranny car.

A lot to look forward to!

Anyone know how this works in the bike world? All in the right hand...

FG