09-02-2006, 11:14 AM
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!!!