Dog box question

[Jim]

I've never driven a car with a dog box. I know they are good for smashing thru the gears on the upshift, but are they just as quick on the downshift? ie, are they suitable for circuit racing?

[Datman]

Secoh,

They are thing to use on a circuit car. They take a bit of getting used to (I hear), but they can make a huge difference in the right car.

Some of the Cars in IPRA use them, the Rx7's coming down the straight sound like motorbikes on the upshift. The best one I saw was a mazda 808 10A Peripheral Port. It sounded amazing, almost like a sequential gearbox. The same car has since had the gearbox removed, and a standard box (supra maybe???) put in. The difference in lap times was amazing - much slower.

[Jim]

Hmmm...

thanks mate....I've emailed for some prices out of curiosity.

[Jim]

ahh crappo, they dont do dog gears for the kombi box at least the ratios are cheap enough though

[Cookiemonster]

Which place is this?.. im interested in a dog box too.

[Jim]

http://www.albinsgear.com.au

[jeremy]

They can be just as quick on the downshift as the upshift. Lots of practise is needed though to get it right otherwise there will be a lot of grinding. If you get the dogs engaged it is a bit of a rough ride until you get used to it.

[Datman]

Albins have a very good reputation. A mate of mine has albin's gears in his supra box.

[de_rift]

you heard of heal toeing?

you need to do this in order to be any better then a standard gear box on the downshift. If you don't do this, you need to use the clutch to downshift.

[Angle]

If you don't need the clutch then why would you heal and toe de_rift ?

[Datman]

From what I understand, you need to match the revs on the down shift - if you don't want to use the clutch. If the revs are close enough to being matched, it wont go into gear.

I think that's right??????

[Angle]

Yes but you don't need to heal/toe to match revs ...
Anyone heard of left foot braking ?

[Cookiemonster]

I have. When you stand too close to a car and it drives off.. and you hear a *crack!*. Thats your left foot breaking.

[Jim]

left foot braking is fine if you have taken the time to get your left foot how to do it to any degree of finesse, and if your pedal set is actually positioned in such a way as to be able to do it. Couldn't do it in the toyota as my foot and knee would hit the steering column, and the R32 isn't much better.

[thehelix112]

Drive an old carbied car with no choke for a couple of months, teach you REAL quick.

I don't really understand the whole clutchless changes too well. I've done it, but not too successfully.

So if you want to left foot brake then it goes something like this.

Right foot off throttle.
Left foot on brake.
Move stick out of gear.
Right foot taps throttle to bring up revs.
As the revs rise you push the stick into gear (gently/hard?).

So it seems that the trick would be to blip the throttle not too hard. Coz when that happens the gear will engage but the revs will still be rising thus the car will absorb the extra momentum from the engine spinning too fast and it will shake. Not a good thing while racing.

Is this about right?

Dave