Originally Posted by Mike-in-Orange
Franc, I'm with you 100% on this. My first car back in the '70s had a manual gearbox (full synchro) and my father taught me how to double clutch when downshifting. I did that for 200,000 miles on that car without a single hiccup out of the gearbox. I did the same for another 150,000 miles with an E30 BMW - still no gearbox issues. My Miata, same thing. I see no reason to change with the Crossfire. I do plenty of canyon runs and the process has never held me up. Plus, with the Magnaflow exhaust, it just sounds wonderful!! And yes, I double clutch even while doing the ol' heel and toe.
Our house is basically on the side of a small canyon, and as I come down the main road in 5th at about 65mph I'll get hard on the brakes and roll my foot as I double clutch down to 4th, then 3rd as I slow to turn into the neighborhood. Our house sort of overlooks this intersection and with the house windows open my wife can hear me coming home - heck, even the dogs know the sound of my car approaching!
Yeah, dad may have been a bit old school to teach me this technique, but he grew up in Belgium and did some racing before immigrating to the States. He hung out with a certain Paul Frere right after WWII - Google that name if you've not heard of him. My dad never pursued racing to anywhere near the level Paul Frere did, but they both cut their teeth at Spa Francorchamps. Dad new how to control a car!
I love the sound made when double clutching. It just screams that you and the car are mated.
Perhps those who don't care to do it are fine with doing things simply, perhaps the heel toe thing is a hard technique, or perhaps it is a walk and chew gum thing.
It seems logical that maximizing the energy availabe improves the overall speed of the vehicle over the ground. Losing energy to the application of brakes converts momentum energy to worthless heat and is a wasted opportunity.
This is how one can drive an underpowered car on a twisted autocross and amplify their resources to beat a higher powered car.
I do it all the time.
As I recall, so did Paul Frere
roadster with a stick