[Cialug] OT: safe/reliable fuel-efficient cars.

[David Champion]

Dan Hockey wrote:
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: cialug-bounces at cialug.org [mailto:cialug-bounces at cialug.org] On Behalf
> Of Nathaniel Petersen
> Sent: Monday, March 02, 2009 12:53 PM
> To: Central Iowa Linux Users Group
> Subject: Re: [Cialug] OT: safe/reliable fuel-efficient cars.
> 
> On Mon, Mar 2, 2009 at 10:04 AM, David Champion <dave at dchamp.net> wrote:
>> The pedals are *supposed* to be close together. Otherwise you can't
> heel-toe
>> when you downshift. :)
> 
> Huh.
> 
> Forgive me if I'm being dense, but I thought when you heel/toed it was
> with the break and the gas not the clutch and the break.  Not sure how
> that would work otherwise.
> 
> See, this is why I double clutch downshift.  But tractor-trailer
> habits die hard.
> 
> -Nick
> 
> Did you ever shift without the clutch? I was a fill in truck driver at my
> former job, I went back to driving four days after having my left foot
> operated on. I had to learn really fast. Down shifting without the clutch
> was even more exciting.
> -dh 

You are correct, you're using the gas and the brake together with your 
right foot when you do a heel-toe downshift. For whatever reason, sports 
cars seem to have all 3 pedals close together.I've seen some people who 
will do left-foot "trail braking" with a manual transmission, or do left 
foot braking when they start into a braking zone, then switch feet when 
they have to shift. Personally I think that's too much to concentrate 
on. If you want to see some neat examples of that, watch the old movie 
"Grand Prix" with James Garner, from 1968. It has an extended scene of a 
driver's footwork as he does a lap around the track.

I've done shifting without the clutch before with an old F-100 truck, I 
didn't feel so bad about trying it there, but that had a little more of 
a robust transmission than a modern economy car. :)

Here's a clip from that movie, BTW...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iw-MPf4GUU0

-dc