So this heal toe you speak of

[.RJ]

I like to wait to downshift until as late as reasonably possible - its a greater risk of missing a gear and f'ing up the corner entry, but its a lot harder to zing the motor to 10,000 rpm by missing a gear if you downshift as soon as you start braking.

[WRXRacer111]

That, and it increases your margin for error... if you screw up the downshift/foot slips off pedal/whatever AFTER you're done braking, the consequences are not quite as damning.

[ultimagtrlover]

Hmmm....when learning to rev-match, I felt it was essential for me to look at the tach. Why? Because by looking at the tach, you can visually see the difference between rpm levels different gears have at a specific speed. For example, say I am going 60 miles per hour in 6th. That's about 2200 rpm. When I put it into 5th, assuming no loss of speed, I am at 2700 rpm. The difference is 500 rpm. This tells me that I do not have to give the engine that much gas in order to execute a perfect rev-match. Now, if I am at the same speed, going from 5th to 4th, the rpm's increase from 2700 rpm to 3700 rpm, which means that I will be needing to give the accelerator a more aggressive shove to bring the rpm's higher to allow for a perfect rev-match. What I am trying to say is that by looking at the tach, at slow speeds (not in racing but for practice), you can identify the precise rpm's needed between each gear at a specific speed in order to execute better rev-matches. From my experience driving many cars, I have yet to find a car whose rpm drop/increase is consistent throughout each gear. The idea of just jamming the gas w/o an idea of how high the rpm's need to be when downshifting seem like precious hundredths of a second lost waiting for the revs to fall. Lastly, another thing to consider is that some cars rev quicker, which further effects how much gas you should give in order to perfectly rev-match. Those with short gearing and light-weight flywheels don't need as much gas to execute a perfect downshift in comparison to heavy-duty axles and long gearing. As a contradiction to some on this thread, I DO think you can perfectly heel-toe, there's just that much more practice necessary to get it right. Too bad my car's pedals are pretty poor to heel-toe easily. Gimme a '98 Honda Civic and it's a different story!!!

[BLINGMW]

all I know is I sucked at it last weekend :?

[ScottyB]

i actually did the exact opposite than Ciro when i was learning to rev match. after i was reasonably decent at estimating the rev-increase for each downshift based on various road speeds (by looking at the tach), i'd put an index card taped over the tach. this made me force myself to learn based on sound, vibration and pedal feel. it was rough at first but i got acclimated in a week or two of constant driving. nowadays i can rev match pretty well without concentrating on the gauges

[Sijray21]

to learn based on sound, vibration and pedal feel. it was rough at first but i got acclimated in a week or two of constant driving. nowadays i can rev match pretty well without concentrating on the gauges

i think this is the best way to rev-match. i never really look at the tach and it's based on how the car/truck feels. i did pretty well learning on the Civic i used to have, now i know the Integra i have pretty well. I've also tried this in a truck that did not have a tach and i was able to rev-match easily. Just try and feel it out and you'll have a much better idea for the pedal feel and characteristic of the car.

[white_2kgt]

rev match, ha, just give it gas and release the clutch as the motor winds down

[.RJ]

rev match, ha, just give it gas and release the clutch as the motor winds down

I dont think that worked too well for you Chad

[white_2kgt]

rev match, ha, just give it gas and release the clutch as the motor winds down

I dont think that worked too well for you Chad

Why is that? We are talking about heel toe, which you do on a downshift, not upshift .

[D_Eclipse9916]

Rev-matching using the tach and speedometer sounds like a good idea, but when the hell are u looking at your gauges when your coming into a hard left at 50mph? Learn by feel is the only proper way. If you have time to watch your gauges while racing like a hawk, then your going too slow.

[Eclipsor]

IMO, the only time you should ever be looking at your tach is to judge your performance through a corner. If you know that, on a good run, you can take corner X in fourth gear at 5300 RPMs, then you'll know you improved a bit when you take that same corner in fourth at 5400. Rev matching is done by sound and feel, not looking at the tach.