OT? Prototypes

[DrivenCrazy]

This has to do with Danica, but really it's OT. If it needs to move, my apologies.

This was from the article saying Danica will be driving the Rolex 24 with Rusty Wallace, Boris Said and Allan McNish:

Initially, Patrick was uncomfortable trying to heel-and-toe brake and accelerate in the Daytona Prototype, before Wallace explained that the car used a different technique.

OK, so what is the "different technique"? Heel/toe is not quite for "braking and accelerating", but for downshifting and getting the engine RPMs to match the higher RPM of the lower gear that you are going into. That said, what is it about Prototypes that allows (necessitates?) a "different technique"?

[CamKing]

That said, what is it about Prototypes that allows (necessitates?) a "different technique"?

I'm not sure, but it may be due to the rev-limiter.
It may be hard to "heel/toe" without hitting the limiter and killing the power.

[FCYTravis]

Daytona Prototypes have sequential gearboxes with shift-without-lift - in fact they're the same Xtrac and Emco boxes as IRL cars have. Just pull the lever.

The purpose of heel-and-toe is to free up the left foot to actuate the clutch. However, there's no need to use the clutch when shifting a DP, except when starting from a standstill. Hence, the technique is unnecessary.

[DrivenCrazy]

Thanks 'Travis. This is interesting to me. (way moreso than discussing marketing in endless circles)

So she was probably clutching to shift at all times.

When you have a shift-without-lift like that, and you are downshifting coming into a turn, do you still blip the throttle? If so, not using the clutch just means you can left-foot brake, and blip with the right, true???

[Danske]

Some teams did have auto-throttle-blipping on downshift through a sensor on the shift lever, but the series took it away. :P

[DrivenCrazy]

Thanks for the info, folks!