true blue wrote:Before I could H&T, it was put to me that downchanging from 2k revs or so without rev matching would be acceptable.
Hardly sympathetic, though, and wearing on the clutch.
true blue wrote:At road driving pace, you really shouldn't need that extra touch of retardation that engine braking would give you.
I remember discussing this years ago in another place. I live part way up a reasonably steep hill which is a side street off another hill. So to enter my road, you come downhill, turn sharp left with almost no visibility up the side road, then start a steep climb uphill. There are some alternatives to brake / gear management as you make the turn:
1. Slow well before the turn (people go quite fast down this section, despite the fact that there's a zebra crossing 70 yards before my turning), and change down into 2nd with a big boost of revs, then turn in and hope nothing's coming down the hill (it's narrow and people tend to be on the offside and travelling quite quickly as they approach the junction at the bottom). Danger from behind, high. Danger from in front, moderate.
2. Arrive at the junction in 3rd, brake, declutch, coast round the corner under braking, and take a gear once off the main road. This is my wife's preferred method. Because you're still on the brakes owing to the poor visibility and the danger of oncoming traffic, you tend to come to an almost complete stop just into the mouth of the junction (remember it's uphill again from this point), and you need 1st to get going again. I don't like the lack of control this gives. Danger from behind, low. Danger from in front, high - no control.
3. Drive the previous downhill section entirely in 2nd, but it's about 300 yards downhill past other turnings and houses, and it seems rather antisocial. Danger from behind, low. Danger from in front, moderate.
4. Use heel and toe to change down into 2nd close to the turning, and simply drive up the hill in 2nd (possible providing you bring a little bit of momentum with you - maybe 5 mph). This is my preferred method nowadays, and has the advantages that a) it clears the impatient traffic behind more quickly, b) provides that bit of momentum to continue uphill if clear and c) provides control and no coasting. Danger from behind, low. Danger from in front, moderate.
5. Yuk! Do what Joe Public does. Drive down the hill, brake, change into 2nd without rev-matching (Vrooooooom! from the engine as it gets speeded up by the wheels), then drive blindly into the junction off the brakes and accelerate firmly up the hill - oops! there's someone coming down. Braaaake!!
I also posted about the occasion that made me go out and practise H&T until it was natural - I was in a fast car with another very rapid driver and a driving coach. Peer pressure (self-imposed) made me try to emulate my co-driver and I wasn't good at it. My system was getting compressed and we were going uncomfortably fast into bends. The coach asked me if I could H&T to get over the compression of the phases. I said I could, tried to, and proved that actually, I couldn't. So for the next year, I practised it everywhere in my Italian family saloon. Everywhere. Now I can't be without it. I have to practise separation every now and then so I don't forget how to do
that