A review from Car and Drive said we can do a flat-foot shift in second and third gears and the Mazdaspeed3 engineers said it's perfectly safe. Anyone know what this means or how to do it? Part of the review is down below.
"Calls to Mazda yielded tips: Pop the clutch at 2900 rpm, upshift at 6000 — redline is 6700 — and flat-shift through second and third (which means don’t lift at all — the mechanical equivalent of dropping a Steinway on the clutch and half-shafts and violating our test procedure).
“Don’t worry,” the engineers said, “it won’t break.”
It didn’t — even after painting the pavement Bridgestone black with more than 30 hole shots. Working the shifter feverishly — the low ratios in first and second mean two shifts happen before 60 mph — we finally scorched a 5.8-second 0-to-60 time and a 14.4-second quarter-mile at 99 mph."
"Calls to Mazda yielded tips: Pop the clutch at 2900 rpm, upshift at 6000 — redline is 6700 — and flat-shift through second and third (which means don’t lift at all — the mechanical equivalent of dropping a Steinway on the clutch and half-shafts and violating our test procedure).
“Don’t worry,” the engineers said, “it won’t break.”
It didn’t — even after painting the pavement Bridgestone black with more than 30 hole shots. Working the shifter feverishly — the low ratios in first and second mean two shifts happen before 60 mph — we finally scorched a 5.8-second 0-to-60 time and a 14.4-second quarter-mile at 99 mph."