ScoobYSnax

When making an everyday turn, such as in a residential area, when do you engage the clutch & shift. For me, as I approach the turn, I put on the brakes and put the clutch in. I continue to brake and keep the clutch in until I've made about 3/4 of the turn, at which point I slowly start to let it out and downshift. Should I not engage the clutch before the turn? Am I just creating additional wear? As long as I keep my foot on the brake through the turn and downshift at 3/4, would I be fine?

Sorry if it may sound confusing, I just don't want to pick up bad habits driving stick since this is the first manual car I've had. Thanks,

Brett

SmokeyA4turbod@ebay

brake before turn and only depress clutch when you change gear.
ie press clutch shift release clutch.

if you press the clutch the car is freewheeling

BigDog

engaging the lower gear. You never want to ride the clutch through a turn, and you should complete most of your braking before turn in and simply be "trail braking" almost to the apex. Although this is a track technique, it is also the appropriate and safest way to take any turn, albeit at a much lower speed. On the street you will have moderate revs in any gear so that the downshift will be quite easy and rev matching will not be so crucial.

Jay 4R

Seemed right to me, for it made for a nice smooth turn, without sending the revs soaring in a violent, car-lurching downshift etc... And as a novice manual driver, that's all I was looking for, was smoothness...

That was all fine well and good, until I started reading here that that's not what you should be doing...

To add to, or reiterate what BigDog wrote... ideally, you should be doing one thing at a time... beit accelerating, turning, braking etc... So, with that, approaching a turn you should brake, downshift (rev match if necessary), and turn. You should have all of your shifting and most of your braking done before you enter the turn.

I hope this helps... if you need to know what rev matching is, search for it in the archives, or search for "blipping" the throttle, or heel/toeing.

rigor

we don't need no stinkin' brakes for turns.

ScottAW

From driving mini-Indy cars and various race vehicles on dirt and pavement, the best way to handle a corner is to enter the corner at the correct speed. You should NOT be still slowing down as you begin the corner. If you are, then you'll be oversteering and then understeering when you go to accelerate. It's better to have a good line at constant speed, then just before the apex of the corner give it some throttle so you can slingshot out of the corner. Oh - keep the clutch out. If you engage the drivetrain during the corner, you've basically got to RPM match it in order not to cause any balance-disturbances by the drivetrain lurching as it is brought into gear.

So, before the corner:
- Break to the speed you want to enter the corner to the apex. If you need to downshift, downshift and be in gear when entering the corner.
- Maintain a constant throttle. Until you really know the corner, you'll probably enter it too slowly, and can actually starting adding a little throttle before nailing the apex.
- Once you hit the apex, push the throttle more. You may start to oversteer, that's fine, because you're coming out of the apex and your rear end will line up sooner this way. (dont' oversteer too much, or you'll come out of the corner wagging your ***)
- When you go through a corner, try to stay to the outside, near the double-yellow lines if a RH corner, nail the apex with your inner tires, and then when you start accelerating go back to the double-yellow lines.

You may be saying, well this is for racing, not everyday. Well, same logic applies, regardless of speed if you ask me. My 2 cents.

Jon G

I downshift B4 every turn (90 degree)

RKA

I would recommend downshifting prior to the turn as well. Once you enter the turn (begin turning the wheel), your foot should be off the brake, and the clutch should be engaged in the lower gear (clutch pedal out). After you've exited the turn and unwound the wheel, punch the throttle.

The idea here is realize that the tires can brake, accelerate, or turn. When asked to do a combination of any of those actions, the car will only have enough traction to perform either of those functions to a smaller degree. Ex. - you can brake using 100% of the tire's traction, or you can brake AND turn, but each action will use 50% of the tires available action...which means you can only brake half as hard as if you were driving in a straight line. When driving in the snow, you'll realize how important it is to slow down *before* the turn...it's very easy to see the results if you do things wrong.

As you develop your driving abilities, you'll learn to shift deeper into the turn, and you'll learn to brake deeper into the turn and accelerate earlier out of a turn. Doing that will require some overlap between braking, turning, and accelerating, and you'll learn to balance those inputs so as not to overuse your available traction.

More than you wanted to know? :-)

BoostLad

Everything posted here so far (RKA, ScottAW, BigDog) is right on the money. The point is, you should NOT be braking DURING a corner. Brake BEFORE, and actually GAS through second half of turn. This requires proper gear selection BEFORE turning the wheel completely into the turn.

Heel and toeing is using the left side of your right foot for braking (the ball of the joint under your big toe), and AT THE SAME TIME twist your foot to the right, and blip the throttle briefly to rev-match. As someone already said, you dont want to engage the clutch before or during a turn without matching revs (revving up to match anticipated engine speed in a lower gear), or you'll disturb the balance of the car. Practice going from 3rd to 2nd that way, or from 4th to 3rd, going about 25 to 30mph. Sounds hard, but takes practice. Heel and toeing lets you maintain the most speed before a turn (braking later), and use engine braking to maintain balance. Basically its a way to do both at the same time. Try it out (but be SAFE of course).

RKA

Once you have the technique worked out, THEN try to apply it in a turn. For most people, when they are learning, it's too much to do while also trying to steer the car through a turn.