I think the Mini is my favorite car in our long term test group to drive for one reason only:
The thing is so dang easy to blip shift !
I'm not as good as the others on staff with the finer techniques of driving, but I try to practice my blip shifting while in traffic and around town. The Mini has a pretty responsive motor to rev it up, an easy throw gear, the pedals are nicely spaced apart and the clutch has a nice catch point. It's so easy it nearly over inflates your confidence.
When you get it just right and the little engine is buzzing loudly as you come to a corner, it's a sweet feeling. You can almost imagine you're Lewis Hamilton speeding through Monaco...
Scott Jacobs, Senior Photographer
blueguydotcom says:
10:58 AM, 05/21/08
That is fun with the Cooper S. It's so easy to blip for corners. This morning I hit a sweeping 90 degree arc just perfectly (long-off-ramp onto a wide business blvd)...doing freeway speeds, shifted the weight just so with the brakes, and zipped through that corner with increasing speed and 4th gear pulling me faster. That felt really nice.
Sigh, now I really miss tracking my BMW. :(
johnmarco says:
11:12 AM, 05/21/08
Can you explain what a blip shift is? Is that where you shift without using the clutch?
blueguydotcom says:
11:18 AM, 05/21/08
john,
A blip shift involves this series in very quick succession:
1. Clutch in
2. Throttle up
3. Downshift
4. Clutch out
You're now in the higher rev range for the corner and when you exit the corner you'll have full torque on tap as you're in the right gear. You never want to shift mid-corner or post-corner. Essentially, you're in the right gear for exiting...when executed perfectly it feels like heaven.
Heel-toeing is similar. In BMW/mini cars, you actually brake for a corner, clutch in, roll your foot on the accelerator (keeping it on the brake too) and downshift. In this, you're using your maximum power up to the last second, then getting the car fully suited for the corner and exit. I prefer heel-toe for really tight corners. On smoother-longer corners the blip is perfectly acceptable.
joefrompa says:
12:27 PM, 05/21/08
In this case, more commonly known as rev matching. It's when you "blip" the throttle in between shifts to match the engine rpms to the rpms the gear would need to travel at the speed you are currently at...
I.e. let's pretend I'm in neutral going 20mph in my Civic SI. I intend to shift to 2nd gear. My engine needs to rev at 3000 rpms in 2nd gear going 20mph. So I quickly press the gas pedal to get the engine to 3000rpms and then I engage 2nd gear and let the clutch out....
It saves your clutch wear and alot of drivetrain shock.
Joe
SubyTrojan says:
01:17 PM, 05/21/08
FWIW, double-clutching will save synchro wear on many gearboxes out there.
Great shot of the shift knob, Scott! It reminds me of how uncomfortable the ridge/lip of the shift knob might be as Caroline previously mentioned.
http://66.160.188.111/roadtests/1468
joefrompa says:
01:36 PM, 05/21/08
Suby - I disagree personally. I think Double-clutching is an outdated mode in this age of double and triple synchronized 1-3 gears.
Further, it usually results in a lower engine speed than the gear requires (due to the extra time it takes) and therefore may increase clutch wear due to greater slippage.
Joe
SubyTrojan says:
01:51 PM, 05/21/08
No worries, Joe. Now finish your CarSpace page already!
dougtheeng says:
01:56 PM, 05/21/08
"Great shot of the shift knob, Scott! It reminds me of how uncomfortable the ridge/lip of the shift knob might be as Caroline previously mentioned."
I don't find it too bad, but I have big hands too.
sabastian says:
05:57 AM, 05/22/08
One of things that I loved about the Mini during the few test drives I've taken was how comfortable I felt almost immediately. Just a few blocks had me feeling like Tiff Needell.
stingray454 says:
11:21 AM, 05/23/08
"It saves your clutch wear and alot of drivetrain shock. "
More importantly, if you're taking a turn at near the car's limit, especially in a RWD car with a large and/or high compression engine, rev matching downshifts helps keep the car balanced and the rear wheels from locking up. You can easily throw a big engined RWD car into a spin if you downshift late into a turn without rev matching.
Some cars almost require you to rev match downshift or they'll oversteer on you. The Porsche Carrera GT was that way - many have been destroyed because their drivers didn't realize this. My old 1970 big block Corvette was another one (7.4L V-8 with 10.5:1 compression, 3:90 gears, front heavy car - very easy to lock the rear wheels in a downshift).