Shifting in V6 manual

[KAR120C]

It was a Porsche cayman GT4 that was driving in first and second gear because of the long gearing. It was sad. That’s no way to enjoy the canyons.

Wow, I can't imagine driving on a road that required first gear. Even on the super slow "15 mph" corners (which are much faster than posted), I'd leave it second just to avoid two awkward shifts. There is enough low rpm torque in an SC car to avoid first gear.

 

[seriously]

I don't think it's the supercharger, probably just the nature of the engine/throttle/ECU. The supercharger is controlled through a mechanical valve related to intake vacuum. When you blip, the vacuum drops and the valve opens the supercharger. The blip is so fast it will open the supercharger intake, but shouldn't have much, if any impact on the rev.

Having said that, I agree to the fact that it's sensitive and harder to match revs at low RPM. I think it's starts to match really easily if you keep the revs higher. So, I usually am downshifting in the 3-4k range. If you're running in the 4-5k range it's just perfect.

Related to this even further I find it hard to shift quickly in the emira except perhaps when you’re really pushing it. For driving around town, slow and deliberate is way more smooth than trying to execute quick shifts.

It’s funny this car. The shifting action is very precise and tight, love it. The throws themselves are ok length- neither short or long. However; the transmission doesn’t like to shift quickly. It’s counter intuitive because the rest of it feels like it is setup for quick shifting.

 

[seriously]

Wow, I can't imagine driving on a road that required first gear. Even on the super slow "15 mph" corners (which are much faster than posted), I'd leave it second just to avoid two awkward shifts. There is enough low rpm torque in an SC car to avoid first gear.

Cayman gearing is terrible. You could drive most roads in 2nd gear and never use anything else. It’s a shame.

 

[KAR120C]

Related to this even further I find it hard to shift quickly in the emira except perhaps when you’re really pushing it. For driving around town, slow and deliberate is way more smooth than trying to execute quick shifts.

It’s funny this car. The shifting action is very precise and tight, love it. The throws themselves are ok length- neither short or long. However; the transmission doesn’t like to shift quickly. It’s counter intuitive because the rest of it feels like it is setup for quick shifting.

Agreed. The harder/faster you go the better it drives. There also seems to be a car-to-car variance in shifting quality. Mine is light and bolt action accurate and when pushing the car it's lightning fast. Other people seem to have a harder time with the gears. I wonder if it's just luck of the draw as to how your cables were adjusted during the build process. If that IS the case, thank you to the Hethel tech that set mine up!

 

[seriously]

Agreed. The harder/faster you go the better it drives. There also seems to be a car-to-car variance in shifting quality. Mine is light and bolt action accurate and when pushing the car it's lightning fast. Other people seem to have a harder time with the gears. I wonder if it's just luck of the draw as to how your cables were adjusted during the build process. If that IS the case, thank you to the Hethel tech that set mine up!

Oh I really like my cabling setup. Super accurate and bolt action. It’s a little effortful but I assume that loosens up over time. It’s more like chambering a .50 vs a .22. I would like it to feel more like a .223. Totally made that up but it makes sense to me.

And yes I think when driving the car hard these foibles don’t apply. It’s more of a street driving scenario.

 

[Dan C]

I wonder how much the difference in shifter feel being mentioned here is based on actual differences vs. different driver preferences.

Hard to tell without the same person driving two Emiras back-to-back.

But I find it surprising that Lotus would have so much variance in their production.

 

[WestCoastJunki]

LOL so now I know I'm not the only crazy one. In 1973 I drove from southern California to Salt Lake City in my second Spitfire, which was a 1968, to visit a girl I had met in southern California. She had gone up there to go to school. It was unbelievably risky, but I was young and confident then and did it anyways. This was during the so-called gas crisis, and gas availability was sketchy. I was lucky to make it. It turned out there was only one gas station open between Las Vegas and Salt Lake, and that was at St. George Utah. I remember arriving at the station in St. George in the middle of the night, and there was a line of cars in both directions waiting to get gas. A lot of people had parked their cars and turned them off, and gotten out and were walking around talking to each other. I did the same, going to the people coming down from upstate, only to find out they had come down from Salt Lake and this was the first station they had found that was open. They weren't happy when I told them there wasn't anything open between there and Vegas. Those were the days when American cars were big and heavy, and guzzled gas. I had tuned my car and it actually got over 30 mpg on the highway, which back then was unheard of.

It took awhile to get gas, and I was worried the station would run out, which was something that wasn't unusual at that time due to gas restrictions. It was also expensive if I remember correctly. Fortunately my car only needed 10 gallons to fill up, and I was on my way. It was heavy overcast the whole way up, so there was NO light anywhere except where my headlights shown, and headlights in those days were not very bright. There were no radio stations available either, so I'm driving in total darkness for hours, no radio. I saw nothing for hours; no cars, no lights, nothing. It was like being in the Twilight Zone. I was doing about 65 if I recall, and the shift lever would buzz at that speed. I took one of my shoes off, and hung it over the shift knob to stop the buzzing lol. By the time I got to Salt Lake, it was freezing cold and I had been driving for about 16 hours.

This girl had told me before I left, that she was staying at her grandparents farm, however when I got there, that turned out not to be true, and she was actually staying in a dorm at BYU with several other girls. I was so exhausted I fell asleep on the floor, hoping no one would care (they didn't). It also snowed that day, so when I wake up, all I can see of my car is just the top half. I had to dig it out to get into it, and needless to say it was like a freezer inside. I had worn driving gloves on the way up, and when I tried to put them on they cracked and broke; they were frozen stiff. Same with my sunglasses which were sitting on the dashboard. When I tried to open them, they broke, so I'm holding a freezing steering wheel and squinting from sun glare on the snow when I go to leave to come home.

To make a long story short, by the time I drove home, I'm sliding around on tires that weren't the best to begin with, and certainly not snow tires, trying to get to the highway. Looking back I can't believe I did that, and made it!

ROFL: That is exactly right. We have just discovered why seasoned gentlemen don't sweat the small stuff!

 

[Eagle7]

ROFL: That is exactly right. We have just discovered why seasoned gentlemen don't sweat the small stuff!

I actually carried a carburetor balancing kit in the glove box. The two Strombergs were always getting out of sync with each other, and the moment I could tell that had happened, I'd pull over, flip up the front of the car, and balance them. The wire wheels periodically needed tuning, but that was all part and parcel of owning a small British sports car in those days. I remember good times driving up (and down) the Pacific Coast Highway with the top down, just for the fun of the drive.

The Emira is a dream car by comparison. In fact, you couldn't even dream of a car like this back then. No amount of money would have been able to build this car with all it has in it and what it can do. I think if Colin Chapman were alive today, he'd be quite proud of the Emira.

 

[silent cilantro]

LOL so now I know I'm not the only crazy one. In 1973 I drove from southern California to Salt Lake City in my second Spitfire, which was a 1968, to visit a girl I had met in southern California. She had gone up there to go to school. It was unbelievably risky, but I was young and confident then and did it anyways. This was during the so-called gas crisis, and gas availability was sketchy. I was lucky to make it. It turned out there was only one gas station open between Las Vegas and Salt Lake, and that was at St. George Utah. I remember arriving at the station in St. George in the middle of the night, and there was a line of cars in both directions waiting to get gas. A lot of people had parked their cars and turned them off, and gotten out and were walking around talking to each other. I did the same, going to the people coming down from upstate, only to find out they had come down from Salt Lake and this was the first station they had found that was open. They weren't happy when I told them there wasn't anything open between there and Vegas. Those were the days when American cars were big and heavy, and guzzled gas. I had tuned my car and it actually got over 30 mpg on the highway, which back then was unheard of.

It took awhile to get gas, and I was worried the station would run out, which was something that wasn't unusual at that time due to gas restrictions. It was also expensive if I remember correctly. Fortunately my car only needed 10 gallons to fill up, and I was on my way. It was heavy overcast the whole way up, so there was NO light anywhere except where my headlights shown, and headlights in those days were not very bright. There were no radio stations available either, so I'm driving in total darkness for hours, no radio. I saw nothing for hours; no cars, no lights, nothing. It was like being in the Twilight Zone. I was doing about 65 if I recall, and the shift lever would buzz at that speed. I took one of my shoes off, and hung it over the shift knob to stop the buzzing lol. By the time I got to Salt Lake, it was freezing cold and I had been driving for about 16 hours.

This girl had told me before I left, that she was staying at her grandparents farm, however when I got there, that turned out not to be true, and she was actually staying in a dorm at BYU with several other girls. I was so exhausted I fell asleep on the floor, hoping no one would care (they didn't). It also snowed that day, so when I wake up, all I can see of my car is just the top half. I had to dig it out to get into it, and needless to say it was like a freezer inside. I had worn driving gloves on the way up, and when I tried to put them on they cracked and broke; they were frozen stiff. Same with my sunglasses which were sitting on the dashboard. When I tried to open them, they broke, so I'm holding a freezing steering wheel and squinting from sun glare on the snow when I go to leave to come home.

To make a long story short, by the time I drove home, I'm sliding around on tires that weren't the best to begin with, and certainly not snow tires, trying to get to the highway. Looking back I can't believe I did that, and made it!

The things we do for women lol. Great story!

 

[chatman]

Ok... so another question.. Why blip the throttle? And when you say blip the throttle you mean tap the gas pedal to increase the rpm slightly?

Again don't flame me. I am just trying to learn here.

Ryan G

No reason to flame! It's to ensure smooth shifts and prevent damage to clutch, engine, or other components from the dispersal of the car's kinetic energy.

When you push the clutch pedal to downshift, you disconnect the engine from the rolling wheels. The rolling wheels are getting slower as you brake, but the engine RPMs also slow down, and at a different rate than the wheels. This is bad not only because the rates are different, but also because, at the ratio of lower gear you're shifting, the engine should actually be spinning faster. Basically, the ratio between the engine speed and wheel speed changes such that at any speed the engine will spin faster when connected to the wheels at a lower gearing ratio.

So if my car is rolling at 30mph, the engine will be revving at different rates in different gears.
- In 3rd at 30mph, it'll be ~1800RPM
- In 2nd at 30mph, it'll be at ~3000 RPM
If I am in 3rd at 30, my engine is revving at 1800 RPM. When I press the clutch pedal, the car's engine starts to lose RPMs, such that by the time I've moved the gear selector to 2nd, it's revving at 1600. In 2nd at 1600 RPM, the proper speed is less than 20 mph. So if you suddenly release the clutch without blipping the throttle, the car will suddenly want to drop to <20mph from it's current speed of 30mph, which causes a nasty lurch and thud, which is very hard on the clutch.

A few ways to avoid that problem:
1. As you downshift into second, note your speed and blip the throttle to make sure the engine is spinning at about the right speed for the gear ratio you're about to enter. So if you're at 30mph and dropping from 3rd @ 1800 RPM, push the clutch in, shift to second, blip the throttle to ~3000RPM, and release the clutch. The downshift will be smooth, you get the full benefit of engine braking since there's more of it in 2nd than 3rd, you can easily accelerate if the light changes from red to green, and it sounds super cool. The transmissions in a number of cars (not Lotus) actually do this for you (e.g., Porsche, Acura, Honda).
2. Make sure the car slows down to the right speed before releasing the clutch in the lower gear. So if you're moving at 30mph and downshifting into 2nd from 3rd, brake until you're moving at 20mph before re-engaging the clutch. If you do this, it won't hurt the clutch, but you're not getting any "engine braking," and it's kind of pointless to shift in the first place. You'd be better off not downshifting, use the brake to slow down, and once the engine revs are dropping below 1000, just put the car in neutral and brake (at this point, vehicle speed should be less than 10mph)
3. Put the car in neutral and use the brake to stop. You shouldn't do that except maybe at very low speeds (<10mph). Not only do you not get any engine braking, but you also have to figure out what gear and engine speed you need to be at if you need to suddenly accelerate (say, because the light turns green). I've read that doing this will get you failed on most EU and UK driving exams.

 

[erich]

Any tips on the hitting the right RPM on the blip? I seem to always be too high or too low. I've always had this problem and can't ever seem to get it right. And the amount of throttle to use is variable since it depends on what gear you are going to and what rpm you are currently at.

Similarly, with heel toe I never seem to be able to hit the throttle, tried both using the heel and rolling the side of my foot. Most times I seem to barely hit it unless I really exaggerate twisting my foot then it ends up with too much throttle. Or trying to hit the throttle causes me to press the brake too much and causes jerkiness.

Maybe there is a different technique to practicing it without risking excessive wear?

 

[Dan C]

Any tips on the hitting the right RPM on the blip? I seem to always be too high or too low. I've always had this problem and can't ever seem to get it right. And the amount of throttle to use is variable since it depends on what gear you are going to and what rpm you are currently at.

Similarly, with heel toe I never seem to be able to hit the throttle, tried both using the heel and rolling the side of my foot. Most times I seem to barely hit it unless I really exaggerate twisting my foot then it ends up with too much throttle. Or trying to hit the throttle causes me to press the brake too much and causes jerkiness.

Maybe there is a different technique to practicing it without risking excessive wear?

I would suggest ignoring heel and toe for now and focusing on the rev matching first. Heel and toe is much easier when hitting the brakes hard because the brake becomes like a fixed pivot point, and you roll your foot to the right to hit the gas. Trying to heel and toe on the street under soft or moderate braking is much more difficult, as you are trying to modulate both the brakes and the gas with just one foot.

About the comment that it depends on gear and rpm (and speed), that is right. But what your brain kinda learns is two things:

1) The relations between gears: from 2nd to first, the rpms almost double. From 3rd to 2nd, rpms maybe increase 30%. On the higher gears, the difference is more like 10-15%. So you kinda learn the difference in the note. Like a musician would know if you told him go up an octave or go up two tones, regardless of the note you are starting from.

2) The rough rpm each gear would be at a certain speed: at some point, your brain kinda learns roughly what rpm/ note the engine will be at a given speed and gear. Doesn’t have to be perfect.

Going back to heel and toe, once you figure out the blips without braking, I would find an empty road or space and practice under hard braking first, which is easier. And always the same shift or situation (e.g., braking from 60 mph and going from 3rd to 2nd gear). Once you get this right in isolation, then you can transfer the skill to other situations.

What works for me is using the outside of the foot while braking with the inside. I think literally using the heel is more for cars with very far apart pedals.

Hopes this helps.

 

[KAR120C]

Any tips on the hitting the right RPM on the blip? I seem to always be too high or too low. I've always had this problem and can't ever seem to get it right. And the amount of throttle to use is variable since it depends on what gear you are going to and what rpm you are currently at.

Similarly, with heel toe I never seem to be able to hit the throttle, tried both using the heel and rolling the side of my foot. Most times I seem to barely hit it unless I really exaggerate twisting my foot then it ends up with too much throttle. Or trying to hit the throttle causes me to press the brake too much and causes jerkiness.

Maybe there is a different technique to practicing it without risking excessive wear?

Just keep the RPMs high. Blipping if you're lugging around at 2-2.5k is more difficult in this car because the engine spins up really quickly and you rev too high to be smooth. Do your downshifts at a higher rpm 3.5-4k and when you blip the engine it won't rev as much.

It's really all about practice and every car is different. I also agree with @Dan C that if you heel and toe, inside of foot on brake and outside of foot on throttle works well. I just plant my heel on the floor and pivot on it to brake as needed.

 

[seriously]

I would suggest ignoring heel and toe for now and focusing on the rev matching first. Heel and toe is much easier when hitting the brakes hard because the brake becomes like a fixed pivot point, and you roll your foot to the right to hit the gas. Trying to heel and toe on the street under soft or moderate braking is much more difficult, as you are trying to modulate both the brakes and the gas with just one foot.

About the comment that it depends on gear and rpm (and speed), that is right. But what your brain kinda learns is two things:

1) The relations between gears: from 2nd to first, the rpms almost double. From 3rd to 2nd, rpms maybe increase 30%. On the higher gears, the difference is more like 10-15%. So you kinda learn the difference in the note. Like a musician would know if you told him go up an octave or go up two tones, regardless of the note you are starting from.

2) The rough rpm each gear would be at a certain speed: at some point, your brain kinda learns roughly what rpm/ note the engine will be at a given speed and gear. Doesn’t have to be perfect.

Going back to heel and toe, once you figure out the blips without braking, I would find an empty road or space and practice under hard braking first, which is easier. And always the same shift or situation (e.g., braking from 60 mph and going from 3rd to 2nd gear). Once you get this right in isolation, then you can transfer the skill to other situations.

What works for me is using the outside of the foot while braking with the inside. I think literally using the heel is more for cars with very far apart pedals.

Hopes this helps.

Rev matching is pure practice. Just like regular shifting I’m finding that slowing down the process in the emira is smoother for street driving.

totally agree with your take on heel toe. It’s more toe/roll side of foot vs toe/heel. And yes hard braking does create a stable pivot point to execute the heel part.

One thing I’ll add is that for heel toe it’s more of a true blip. For regular downshifting I actually try to get the rev matching just right with enough throttle. With heel toe I blip the throttle and let the revs fall to match engine speed. So I rely a bit more on the clutch to do some of the work for me. This was kind of a break through for me.

I think this works because in regular downshifting your aim is to maximize acceleration so you have to get the throttle just right to hammer the acceleration in a lower gear. Under heel toe braking your aim is to get the car in a more optimal gear to prepare for acceleration after you finish braking so perfect matching is not as important- you just have to blip the throttle so that the revs are at or higher than what you need. If you blip and are not on the throttle, when you shift the clutch will pull the engine speed down to the right level to make for a smooth transition. You’re still not on the throttle until you finish braking.

So downshifting is throttle > throttle
Heel toe is brake > blip with brake > throttle

You can also think of the blip as a stab. Just stab the throttle briefly and let the revs fall on their own. Don’t try to match it.

 

[Dan C]

Rev matching is pure practice. Just like regular shifting I’m finding that slowing down the process in the emira is smoother for street driving.

totally agree with your take on heel toe. It’s more toe/roll side of foot vs toe/heel. And yes hard braking does create a stable pivot point to execute the heel part.

One thing I’ll add is that for heel toe it’s more of a true blip. For regular downshifting I actually try to get the rev matching just right with enough throttle. With heel toe I blip the throttle and let the revs fall to match engine speed. So I rely a bit more on the clutch to do some of the work for me. This was kind of a break through for me.

I think this works because in regular downshifting your aim is to maximize acceleration so you have to get the throttle just right to hammer the acceleration in a lower gear. Under heel toe braking your aim is to get the car in a more optimal gear to prepare for acceleration after you finish braking so perfect matching is not as important- you just have to blip the throttle so that the revs are at or higher than what you need. If you blip and are not on the throttle, when you shift the clutch will pull the engine speed down to the right level to make for a smooth transition. You’re still not on the throttle until you finish braking.

So downshifting is throttle > throttle
Heel toe is brake > blip with brake > throttle

You can also think of the blip as a stab. Just stab the throttle briefly and let the revs fall on their own. Don’t try to match it.

This is a great point. The heel and toe objective is to avoid destabilizing the car under hard braking, not necessarily to be super precise on the rev matching. When racing on the extreme of grip, you could literally spin the car if you just dumped the clutch without the blip when downshifting.

 

[KCDarkV]

Cayman gearing is terrible. You could drive most roads in 2nd gear and never use anything else. It’s a shame.

One of the main reasons I didn’t get one.

 

[KCDarkV]

I would suggest ignoring heel and toe for now and focusing on the rev matching first. Heel and toe is much easier when hitting the brakes hard because the brake becomes like a fixed pivot point, and you roll your foot to the right to hit the gas. Trying to heel and toe on the street under soft or moderate braking is much more difficult, as you are trying to modulate both the brakes and the gas with just one foot.

About the comment that it depends on gear and rpm (and speed), that is right. But what your brain kinda learns is two things:

1) The relations between gears: from 2nd to first, the rpms almost double. From 3rd to 2nd, rpms maybe increase 30%. On the higher gears, the difference is more like 10-15%. So you kinda learn the difference in the note. Like a musician would know if you told him go up an octave or go up two tones, regardless of the note you are starting from.

2) The rough rpm each gear would be at a certain speed: at some point, your brain kinda learns roughly what rpm/ note the engine will be at a given speed and gear. Doesn’t have to be perfect.

Going back to heel and toe, once you figure out the blips without braking, I would find an empty road or space and practice under hard braking first, which is easier. And always the same shift or situation (e.g., braking from 60 mph and going from 3rd to 2nd gear). Once you get this right in isolation, then you can transfer the skill to other situations.

What works for me is using the outside of the foot while braking with the inside. I think literally using the heel is more for cars with very far apart pedals.

Hopes this helps.

This works for me. I use my big toe to brake and the right side of my foot on the throttle. Definitely easier at speed when braking hard. I’d always struggled to do it on the street and on the track it just clicked for me.

 

[erich]

Yeah, maybe I have struggled more because I have only ever tried to heel toe on the street and just never get fully on the brakes. I assumed it was easier on the track to actually hit the throttle. I find my foot position may not be great. I typically try to use the side of my foot (not really heel) and always seem to miss (maybe I have smaller feet). I tend to plant my heel and just rotate my foot, and it sounds like others do that as well, but in order to hit the throttle I feel like I lose the brake.

For the blip I think I do tend to downshift when at a lower RPM. I sometimes have to do two blips because the first one isn't enough, and then the 2nd one is too much and I have to wait for the rpms to drop. Just can't seem to get the blip consistent.

 

[Dan C]

Yeah, maybe I have struggled more because I have only ever tried to heel toe on the street and just never get fully on the brakes. I assumed it was easier on the track to actually hit the throttle. I find my foot position may not be great. I typically try to use the side of my foot (not really heel) and always seem to miss (maybe I have smaller feet). I tend to plant my heel and just rotate my foot, and it sounds like others do that as well, but in order to hit the throttle I feel like I lose the brake.

For the blip I think I do tend to downshift when at a lower RPM. I sometimes have to do two blips because the first one isn't enough, and then the 2nd one is too much and I have to wait for the rpms to drop. Just can't seem to get the blip consistent.

The heel and toe only works for me if I hit the brake with the inside of the foot. If I step on the middle of the brake, I can't reach the gas pedal by just rotating the foot. So the foot goes almost in the middle of the two pedals, a little bit more on the brake.

It is also easier under hard braking because brake pedals usually sit higher than the gas pedal. So unless the brake is being pressed hard, the gas pedal is too low to reach.

 

[erich]

The heel and toe only works for me if I hit the brake with the inside of the foot. If I step on the middle of the brake, I can't reach the gas pedal by just rotating the foot. So the foot goes almost in the middle of the two pedals, a little bit more on the brake.

It is also easier under hard braking because brake pedals usually sit higher than the gas pedal. So unless the brake is being pressed hard, the gas pedal is too low to reach.

I need to check my initial foot position again. I think I tend to have my heel in front of the throttle and then rotate my foot to the brake. Which then means to roll back to the throttle is near impossible and there isn't any travel at the bottom of the throttle pedal if I used my heel.