[radms]

Hey guys,

I took at 370Z out for a spin (not really a fan) but I thought the downshift auto-rev match was very cool, and I understand the new Scion/ Subaru - FRS/ BRZ do this as well. I'm sure I'll get a few comments from the purists, but I thought it was very cool. Would it be possible to get an ECU flashed to allow this? I'd assume that if possible, it would only work with the DBW 06+ Eliges?

 

[glagola1]

I test drove a FRS and didn't notice anything like this. Also, yes. Use your right foot.

 

[Almighty]

Why not just heel/toe?

 

[SwingLo]

New Corvette has it.

 

[72D]

Heel and toe is cooler! Don't be lazy...

 

[JWA]

BRZ/FR-S don't have it. Only the 370 and now the new Vette, as far as I know. drive a 370 and thought it was an annoying gimmick, but then I'm used to doing it myself.

To your real question - I'm sure it could be done with a clutch sensor tied to the speed, gear, and rpm data from the ECU. Wouldn't be easy or plug-and-play though.

 

[glagola1]

How does it know what gear you are about to put it into?

 

[Wmangm]

Vette uses a hall effect sensor to determine the gear you are going to.

Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App

 

[me73]

These last 2 posts describe why you can't add this with just an ECU reprogram. The blip needs to happen when going down a gear, so the car needs to sense when you intend to downshift and into what gear.

Besides, I'm sure the stock ECU has no provisions for such an input so even with a sensor it wouldn't know what to do with the data.

 

[road racer]

Only the 370 and now the new Vette, as far as I know.

F10 M5 and the new Cayman/boxster (as an option). That's it for new cars I think.

I'd argue that the Ferrari 360 and 430 family with F1 had it also. You don't think of it that way though because the clutch pedal is also automated.

The 350z was the first 3 pedal car to get this feature.

I didn't like it on the M5. For one thing, I can do it just fine myself, thank you very much. For another thing, sometimes it would and sometimes it wouldn't, so you had to adjust your driving style to match what the computer wanted to do with the gearbox. Seems to defeat the purpose of the manual to me, partly anyway.

I found it much more usable on the 350z.

Haven't driven the C7 vette or 981 Porsche.

 

[spiller]

my brother has a 370 and i think its a pretty cool feature, plus you can turn it off if you want to go traditional. The Elige is not the easiest car to heel toe in because the footwell is so damn small, takes a bit of practice but not impossible. The right footwear is imperative I find.

 

[rosscarlson]

As someone who considers himself a "purist" I actually agree that this system is extremely cool. On of those why haven't we thought of this years ago kinda things. What's great about it is while you're learning you can let the car do the matching then as your skill progress you can start doing it yourself. Say you're new to the track a car with this is perfect as it lets you grow with the car. I consider myself very good at heel-toe and there's no doubt the 370z was smoother than I was every time.

I'd think it would require a module to interface with the ECU and a sensor to know what gear the car is in. Then it's just math to determine the RPM/Speed/Gear. My guess is licensing will be the real issue...

 

[da40flyer]

I just helped my buddy install this in his 2007 Corvette about 2 weeks ago. The video shown on the website is his actual vehicle.

Auto-Blip Home

It is a pretty slick system. Basically 4 connections.

-Power
-Connection to wires coming off of the DBW throttle
-Connection to wires coming off of the brake
-Connection the wires on the clutch

The way it works: it has to see a certain brake pressure, then see a clutch disengagement, then it will blip. If you press the clutch first, it doesn't blip.

You can adjust the delay from clutch depression to blip, as well as the duration of the blip. Works well.

The way it is designed, it could easily be adapted to just about any DBW vehicle....

 

[ACE51]

your right foot

 

[road racer]

Auto-Blip Home

It is a pretty slick system. Basically 4 connections.

-Power
-Connection to wires coming off of the DBW throttle
-Connection to wires coming off of the brake
-Connection the wires on the clutch

The way it works: it has to see a certain brake pressure, then see a clutch disengagement, then it will blip. If you press the clutch first, it doesn't blip.

You can adjust the delay from clutch depression to blip, as well as the duration of the blip. Works well.

The way it is designed, it could easily be adapted to just about any DBW vehicle....

Sounds pretty terrible. If you are coming to a stop, hit the brakes then the clutch (I normally do this), with no intent to engage a lower gear, you get an extra blip.

If you actually want to downshift, you have to use the same exact timing everytime to get the blip timing where it needs to be.

meh.

 

[da40flyer]

If you are coming to a stop, hit the brakes then the clutch (I normally do this), with no intent to engage a lower gear, you get an extra blip.

That is where the calibration comes into play. You set it to come on only if a certain brake pressure is met (you decide what that is for your driving style), to keep it from doing just what you said...

 

[Maelstrom]

I think the worst part would be getting accustomed to not driving properly and then driving like a total idiot when you get in a normal car. I don't know about everybody else, but I bought a car with a manual transmission because I like driving a manual. Rev-matching and heel-toe, are all part of the fun.

 

[rosscarlson]

I think the worst part would be getting accustomed to not driving properly and then driving like a total idiot when you get in a normal car. I don't know about everybody else, but I bought a car with a manual transmission because I like driving a manual. Rev-matching and heel-toe, are all part of the fun.

I would imagine you could easily turn the system off for street driving as you're right that would get rather annoying. I also agree that learning heel-toe is the right solution but remember that takes time. If this is something that was available when I started tracking my car I would have installed it immediately. That way I wouldn't have to worry about hurting my tranny on track by making a bad shift and I could focus more on the line/style and not have to worry about shifting. The difference in new students I have that drive a manual (and can't heel-toe) and those with PDK/autos and the PDK/auto guys are always better/faster on their first day. The manual guys are always confused about when to shift and how, often going into a corner with the clutch depressed because they aren't sure. So they don't get as much out of the day as that's another thing that we have to deal with. Even trying to get them to just run in 3rd/4th and shifting after the corner to make it easier they still get thrown by it.

So an inexpensive system that could be turned on/off would be pretty ideal. Practice on the street. Come to the track and use the system. Get better then turn it off. Once you've got it pull it out and sell it.

One big difference I see with this system vs. the 370 (don't know about the Vette) is that the 370 actually matches and stays there - meaning if you're in 4th at 80mph and you put clutch in and shift into 3rd (all the time with clutch in) the revs will jump and STAY there waiting for you to release. It sounds like with this system it would just blip assumig you're going to dump the clutch nearly immediately (which does make sense). I'm sure the 370 way would be smoother as you'd have more time for it but I still bet this would work great.

-Ross

 

[6i9]

Cant believe no ones posted this. It's already been done to a Lotus.

http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f3/...ipper-set-up-heel-toe-impaired-driver-159970/

It's too much complexity/work and I am adept at doing my own downshifts but this is still pretty impressive to have a system like this retrofitted from scratch

 

[Gunpilot]

That's the thread I was looking for! I knew it had been done.