Heel Toe?

[Miguel - Newera]

If you only blip the throttle on downchanges, this will cause wear on your synchros. Eventually the cones will wear and you'll have no synchro left on some gears. This is why a lot of older cars have crunchy gearboxes, especially if they're driven fast regularly!

It's not hard to learn to downshift properly by double de-clutching - and once you know, it's second nature! It's also a lot quicker to downchange, if you've got say - a tired gearbox as you won't have to wait for a tired synchro to work. You just release the clutch quickly, because the whole mechanism is already spinning at the speeds it needs to.

Once you know how to double de-clutch properly on downchanges, then do it whilst you're pressing the brake with your right toe (And use your heel to operate the throttle).

Remember - Before Synchromesh was invented, everyone used to have to synchronise gears, maybe your grandma could do it - so can you!!!

It's also useful to know how to synchronise gears for other reasons: For example, if you get a broken clutch release mechanism you can get home, without grinding gears (And potentially breaking the gearbox if you force changes.. ).

Simply start the car in 1st at traffic lights - and synchronise all gear shifts by blipping correctly in neutral on up & downshifts. It's a useful technique to learn. Try it on an empty road, feeling for when the gears click into place, as the engine revs (That you blipped to) drop.

Here's a slightly amusing story about driving clutchless:
At university, as a peniless (& lazy - 'cos I couldn't be arsed to replace the bent clutch fork!) student - I drove a £75.00 Citroen 2CV for 3 months without a clutch pedal....Much to the amusement of friends. One day in Central London the throttle jammed wide open. Being late for wherever we were getting to, I used the ignition switch to modulate the engine power... still clutch pedal less, of course! We were in hysterics...

Later, with 5 of us in the car on the way back to Brighton, although I'd released the stuck throttle, the cable snapped. We couldn't just leave the car and had no money for a train anyways, so I took off & tied my belt to the throttle cable and pulled that through the floppy window to operate the throttle - We still got home no problem. I kid you not, lol!! Ah, fond old memories. That old 2CV was great fun and we were foolish