JamesGRrallye

iTrader: (1)

I was blessed to have a dad who used to race SCCA Formula V's in the 60's. I think I know all the tricks of the trade involved with shifting thanks to him. I can drive my dad's '23 Rolls Royce w/o a hitch (RHD 4speed no synchros there) and my RS is a breeze to heel/toe rev match(can't be bothered to Double "de-clutch" though as pop says). Im curious as to how one can shift w/o having to depress the clutch at all. I noticed after watching old footage of the Impreza WRC car of the McRae days. He's shifting a H-pattern dogbox and blipping like hes playing hes on drums playing Metallica One. BUT NO CLUTCH!!! can anyone explain???

Please no arguing!!!

imporacer

Disclaimer: Shift at your own risk:-)

It's little bit like rev matching (I think). All you have to do is just match your wheel speed vs engine speed, knowing your RPM shift points and speed is a biggie when shifting without the clutch. The way I use do on my 89 Corolla GT-S (AE92) is this; I only use the clutch to get it in 1st gear while on a stop. Once I take off, I rev all the way to 4k rpm and without pressing the clutch, right around 2500 rpm @ 25 mph I gently shift into 2nd. Rev it up to 4k again and without pressing the clutch, right around 3000 rpm @ 35 mph I gently shift to 3rd. . . so on.

Downshifting without the clutch can be tricky from 5th, 4th to 3rd and so on. . ., you have to realize that your rpm will rev higher because is has to match the speed of your wheels. To downshift from 5th to 4th while doing 50 mph @ 2500 rpm, I'll rev all the way to 4500 rpm and quickly and gently shift to 4th around 3500 rpm. You have to becareful cause mis-time it and you'll have some grinding action.

My friend taught me this while drag racing his Type-R, He went through the gears so fast with no grinding noise, that he managed to knock off 1.00 sec on his time vs. the use of his clutch. But in the end after a month, he paid for it with a broken tranmission.

I usually did it when I was bored. However, I won't do this on my RS since I haven't done it in a while and I don't know how the tranny would react. But, it is a simple concept really to shift without using your clutch. All you have to do is match the input shaft speed, synchros, and output shaft speed to get the result.

I hope this help.

(Just a warning and my disclaimer, do it at your own risk. I bear no responsiblity if you end up with tranny issues:-)

JamesGRrallye

iTrader: (1)

I wasnt planning on going out and trying but just wanted to know if what I thought I saw was in fact what I saw.....

Thanks for the feedback

imporacer

Anytime man.

Sea Dragon Rex

You need to know your gearing really well. The syncros allow you a little lee way in terms of rev matching. When upshifting, you need to time the shifts so that your rpms match the speed in the next higher gears. When downshifting, you need to heel/toe to get the rpm's up enough.

I've had to do this a few times in my old 914. When my clutch cable broke, I'd have to start the car while it was in 1st gear then go through the gears while driving through town. If you fail to match the rpm's closely enough, you'll grind the gears.

Know your car and know it well if you are going to do this.

PyroManiac

My father was also an SCCA racer, and he was dorking around in my STi with this, and I wanted to kill him. He got the hang of it after awhile, and it was actually quite a learning experience. He told me to match the tranny speed with the enigine speed, so basically what everyone else has been saying.

dorrington

that sounds bad to me...ill just use my left foot...it doesnt do anything else neways

Lorry

Clutchless upshifting is a lot easier than downshifting. In both versions you need to be assertive with your shifting otherwise it will crunch and spit it out again. It is also easier in the higher gears because you are not in such a rush. 3rd to 4th is usually easiest because it is straight across the box. You can feel when the revs match if you pull (or push) the shifter towards the target gear. As the revs match, the gear will slide in.

As everyone else mentioned, this will always be harder on your transmission than properly using the clutch, and the WRX's tranny is not known for being solid.

nypatrick

I was taught to drive in a pre-synchro 3-speed pickup truck, and it was even possible to skip some clutch work, after getting really good at smooth shifting. Now, I often double clutch from 1st to 2nd, but skip the clutch on the rest of the upshifts. One has to be somewhat quicker from 2-3 than 3-4 or 4-5. Keeping some pressure on the shifter helps the snychro spin and engage smoothly. Downshifting is trickier, but it can be done. Again, experience has shown me that if I don't hit it right the first time, use the clutch and spare the tranny. And, don't bother with 2-1, as the ratios are a bit far apart, to my taste.