Refining Technique & Scenario Based Q's
Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2016 10:43 pm
Greetings all,
First off I just want to state that I really wish I found this forum 4 months ago when I first got my 2015 VW GTI with a 6 speed because a lot of the first page questions and techniques are things I had to learn on my own. A lot of you guys really seem like masterful wizards within the art and have great answers to questions. I've only been daily driving my first manual transmission ever for about 4 months now... it's been a trying and humbling experience to say the least and I'm at the point now where I can pretty much drive at any hour (I used to practice really late at night when fewer people were on the road) and I've been doing 20-40 mile stints and am still... alive- and my car is as well. I've seen a few threads that basically provide scenario questions and I have some as well for things I really want to refine in my technique. I hope you guys go easy on me and maybe even laugh at how nominal some of these things may seem to experts.
1) The first scenario question I have is so ridiculously basic that I can't seem to get it down and it's probably one of the most frustrating things for me in driving stick. It comes down to skipping down gears, down shifting into 2nd when approaching 90 degree right/left turns without the need to stop in between. For instance, I'll be driving on a main road at about 35-40 mph in 4th or 5th gear, just cruising and then when I'm about 1/2 a mile from the turn my brain starts kicking into overload. I typically start braking down while staying in the higher gear and right as soon as I get about 10 feet from the turn I floor the clutch (disengage the engine/rev's usually go down to idle pace) and I start to gently bring up the clutch right at the point before I'm about to turn, with no gas until I know 2nd is engaged. The problem is about 50% of the time I get this "fish hook" jerk and while it feels minor, it doesn't feel good to me. Other times I feel like it's a smooth and clean transition but the problem is I'm not sure where I'm going wrong with my technique. I also think speed is somewhat relative to it as well but I'm not for certain. When I slow down to about 12-15 mph I feel like the engagement is a lot less noticeable and relatively no jerk but if I even go above 15 mph to say 20 mph that the fish hook/hiccup jerk is more prevalent.
2) Second scenario is basically on the highway or a main road late at night. I'm going to try and keep this one "light" because there is a thread regarding it on the first page. I'm traveling in 6th at 60-65 mph and I want to make a pass emphatically around a slower moving vehicle. I'm assuming the best and most efficient way of doing this is going 6th>4th in one transition with a rev match. The issue I'm having is when I try and blip the throttle I can't match rev's that well or close to where it should be (I'm typically off by 300-400 rpms underneath it). I haven't really needed to do this often but there's a ton of red light cameras around here and I'd rather be somewhat sure footed in doing this rather then taking a lazy risk rev match down shifting into 5th for less power. Any tips here? I know some people in the other thread said to guide the throttle "holding" it semi to the correct rpm but whenever I try and do that I'm really ungraceful and usually over rev...
3) Third scenario is more an open discussion about parking lot maneuvers and slow moving situations. I'm absolutely terrible and my mind just needs a better understanding of an approach to be taken here. What I've found out about my car is that the absolute lowest I can go in 2nd gear is 10 mph without the engine starting to judder. 1st gear is pretty applicable from pretty much 5 mph (probably even slower without juddering) and it only starts to make itself "known" at about 14-15 mph. So as ridiculous as this sounds, obviously I enter the parking lot in 2nd gear- I kind of hope that I have to stop completely so I can re-engage smoothly into 1st without pissing off someone behind me. This isn't always the case and I am unsure of what I should be doing pretty much to get into 1st smoothly or how I can stay in 2nd without juddering/stalling. If I'm on the move at about 8-9 mph in 2nd- my car physically won't even let me go into 1st gear without much resistance until I'm 7 mph<. I'm guessing this has to do with the synchro...
4) And finally last, within my car I have a ton of rev hang between 1st and 2nd gear (as a lot of newer cars do so it seems) but when it comes to upshifting from 4th to 5th I can't be fast enough most of the time because the revs drop at a much quicker rate (in the OD gears) then any other of the previous ones. I literally feel like I have to most at a consciously fast rate and lift off the clutch as fast as I possibly can or I notice on the tach that the rev's drop under the intended rpm and shoot up by like 200-300 rpm. Any tips on what I can do to slow down the rev's from dropping so fast? It doesn't really jerk that hard but it's still noticeable enough but I feel like I'm going at a lightning quick pace and am timing my throttle in 4th going off it and clutching in split seconds to try and keep the revs up to give me a chance.
I know a lot of these questions probably have been asked timelessly and are bone headed but I am really trying to refine my technique here and hopefully become good enough someday to teach someone. As difficult as it's been for me to learn I can't say that I'm not having fun or even prefer this over the latter option. Thanks all for taking out the time to help a newbie
First off I just want to state that I really wish I found this forum 4 months ago when I first got my 2015 VW GTI with a 6 speed because a lot of the first page questions and techniques are things I had to learn on my own. A lot of you guys really seem like masterful wizards within the art and have great answers to questions. I've only been daily driving my first manual transmission ever for about 4 months now... it's been a trying and humbling experience to say the least and I'm at the point now where I can pretty much drive at any hour (I used to practice really late at night when fewer people were on the road) and I've been doing 20-40 mile stints and am still... alive- and my car is as well. I've seen a few threads that basically provide scenario questions and I have some as well for things I really want to refine in my technique. I hope you guys go easy on me and maybe even laugh at how nominal some of these things may seem to experts.
1) The first scenario question I have is so ridiculously basic that I can't seem to get it down and it's probably one of the most frustrating things for me in driving stick. It comes down to skipping down gears, down shifting into 2nd when approaching 90 degree right/left turns without the need to stop in between. For instance, I'll be driving on a main road at about 35-40 mph in 4th or 5th gear, just cruising and then when I'm about 1/2 a mile from the turn my brain starts kicking into overload. I typically start braking down while staying in the higher gear and right as soon as I get about 10 feet from the turn I floor the clutch (disengage the engine/rev's usually go down to idle pace) and I start to gently bring up the clutch right at the point before I'm about to turn, with no gas until I know 2nd is engaged. The problem is about 50% of the time I get this "fish hook" jerk and while it feels minor, it doesn't feel good to me. Other times I feel like it's a smooth and clean transition but the problem is I'm not sure where I'm going wrong with my technique. I also think speed is somewhat relative to it as well but I'm not for certain. When I slow down to about 12-15 mph I feel like the engagement is a lot less noticeable and relatively no jerk but if I even go above 15 mph to say 20 mph that the fish hook/hiccup jerk is more prevalent.
2) Second scenario is basically on the highway or a main road late at night. I'm going to try and keep this one "light" because there is a thread regarding it on the first page. I'm traveling in 6th at 60-65 mph and I want to make a pass emphatically around a slower moving vehicle. I'm assuming the best and most efficient way of doing this is going 6th>4th in one transition with a rev match. The issue I'm having is when I try and blip the throttle I can't match rev's that well or close to where it should be (I'm typically off by 300-400 rpms underneath it). I haven't really needed to do this often but there's a ton of red light cameras around here and I'd rather be somewhat sure footed in doing this rather then taking a lazy risk rev match down shifting into 5th for less power. Any tips here? I know some people in the other thread said to guide the throttle "holding" it semi to the correct rpm but whenever I try and do that I'm really ungraceful and usually over rev...
3) Third scenario is more an open discussion about parking lot maneuvers and slow moving situations. I'm absolutely terrible and my mind just needs a better understanding of an approach to be taken here. What I've found out about my car is that the absolute lowest I can go in 2nd gear is 10 mph without the engine starting to judder. 1st gear is pretty applicable from pretty much 5 mph (probably even slower without juddering) and it only starts to make itself "known" at about 14-15 mph. So as ridiculous as this sounds, obviously I enter the parking lot in 2nd gear- I kind of hope that I have to stop completely so I can re-engage smoothly into 1st without pissing off someone behind me. This isn't always the case and I am unsure of what I should be doing pretty much to get into 1st smoothly or how I can stay in 2nd without juddering/stalling. If I'm on the move at about 8-9 mph in 2nd- my car physically won't even let me go into 1st gear without much resistance until I'm 7 mph<. I'm guessing this has to do with the synchro...
4) And finally last, within my car I have a ton of rev hang between 1st and 2nd gear (as a lot of newer cars do so it seems) but when it comes to upshifting from 4th to 5th I can't be fast enough most of the time because the revs drop at a much quicker rate (in the OD gears) then any other of the previous ones. I literally feel like I have to most at a consciously fast rate and lift off the clutch as fast as I possibly can or I notice on the tach that the rev's drop under the intended rpm and shoot up by like 200-300 rpm. Any tips on what I can do to slow down the rev's from dropping so fast? It doesn't really jerk that hard but it's still noticeable enough but I feel like I'm going at a lightning quick pace and am timing my throttle in 4th going off it and clutching in split seconds to try and keep the revs up to give me a chance.
I know a lot of these questions probably have been asked timelessly and are bone headed but I am really trying to refine my technique here and hopefully become good enough someday to teach someone. As difficult as it's been for me to learn I can't say that I'm not having fun or even prefer this over the latter option. Thanks all for taking out the time to help a newbie