Originally Posted by
Basic
You are doing it wrong. Rev-matching means that before you downshift, you bring the revs UP to the speed necessary for the gears to mesh with no grinding. This was necessary in the days of straight cut gears and no synchromesh for mere driving, and is used with modern transmissions usually just for spirited driving and proper technique.
To be honest, I wouldn't use the transmission in the Mirage to slow the car unless panic stopping or "racing" as the synchros really don't feel all that robust, and brake pads are cheap...
DL - I agree that you are not doing it right. But since the advent of synchros, and for 2 wheeled racing, rev matching is not about gear clash. On 2 wheels, rev matching is a technique to lower lap times (via efficient acceleration upon corner exit) without crashing.
Now with slipper clutches, it is either much easier or maybe not even necessary, I've never used a slipper clutch. Many guys I raced with couldn't rev match, but I found it quite easy on a racebike because it is an action finessed by hand and you don't have handle the throttle like its a prom queen. I'll get back to a car application in a second. Imagine doing ~150 mph in 6th gear at the end of the front straight at Roebling Road, and you need to hammer the brakes and go 3 gears down to 3rd for turn 1. I never touched the rear brake as it would just lock the rear. And I would brake hard enough that the rear tire was barely on the ground. Any skidding and the back end either gets weird or wants to drift out, or the rear tire chatters. Any of those cases, its difficult to be steady and fast in the corner.
But with max front brake, I would just give a quick yank down on my right arm which would roll my wrist enough to blip the throttle. Simultaneously I would quickly yank/release the clutch and push down on the shifter. This extra engine rpm of the next lower gear would slow the rear tire but certainly not lock it. It would rev the engine so that the engine speed and next gear down's transmission speed would match. And I would enter the next lower gear smoothly. This aids breaking a little but also identifies almost subconsciously the gear the rider is in. In the end you get a little more braking, you get into the appropriate gear for coming out of the turn, and all this happens as smooth as it's going to get during that braking event under racing conditions.
Back to the street. I rev match almost EVERY time I slow. Just out of habit. I put my right foot on the right edge of the brake pedal and when rev matching I tilt the right edge of my foot over on the gas pedal and push it a quick tidge to get a rev out of it. On the street, in the Mirage, I usually only do this 1 time, 1 rev match. I do it into 3rd mostly because at the point in which 3rd is give out, it's almost at a stop and there's just no need to do it in 2nd. Granted it is not as smooth in the Mirage. Cause I can barely hear what the engine is doing (how much it responds to my foot) and it's just not as smooth doing it with a foot versus a hand. But I manage to do it fairly smoothly most of the time.
I will rev match into 4th if it looks like I won't have to stop, and if it looks like 4th would be the appropriate gear to be in when the slowing discontinues (like approaching a traffic light that is soon to turn green, or when stopped traffic far ahead are accelerating after a red light has turned green). And will rev match 3rd to 2nd if I'm going to make a turn (not stop) and 2nd will be the appropriate gear to be in coming out of that turn (like turning into a parking lot). Oh and when rev matching early enough and not needing to be covering the brakes yet, it is much easier to rev it to match the next lower gear selected, at which point I move my foot over to the brake.
I thought it would be a cool video (to me) to put a GoPro on the rear bumper of the Mirage and listen to the revs. I think the 3-tapper sounds nice and it would be cool to hear the rev matching.
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View my fuel log 2020 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 42.4 mpg (US) ... 18.0 km/L ... 5.5 L/100 km ... 51.0 mpg (Imp)