308 video: Is this the way they teach kids to shift these days?

My clutch is the heaviest on any car I have driven and I've driven a lot of old manual cars (at least my old aging brain can't remember a heavier one).

It will give me cramp as well in stop go traffic. There are two clutch pedal designs. The later design needs less effort.

 

I guess it depends on the car. I remember that 77 GTB I have a thread on somewhere here in the archives, had a clutch the was so hard to press that I didn't see how anyone could drive the car. I drove Ric Schumann's 78 (Euro and to this day still the best sounding 308 I have ever heard) and didn't notice much difference with my QV. In fact I don't even remember anything about the clutch.

I know Ferrari changed the pivot geometry early on the injected series. Maybe Ric's car was modded this way, who knows.

 

And a lot higher than that when they hit the highway entrance running it up close to redline after only about a minute of running. I just hope he had warmed the car up earlier. Other than that he didn't do bad. Man I do miss that sound but I think I miss the smell more.

 

On the blipping the throttle in neutral whilst stationary - I can't see what the big deal is really.

He's not revving the nuts off it, just giving it a gentle few blips, which chances are, is the driver thinking he's helping warm the car up a bit quicker than just having it sitting idling.

It may also be the case that someone has informed the driver that you have to blip the throttle of an older Ferrari whilst it is stationary to keep the spark plugs from fouling up (I seem to recall reading that the Dino 206/246's were particularly prone to this, so an assumption may have been made that the 308 is the same).

TBH, the original criticism of the driver in the video seems a little unfair. Having read the the thread title, I was expecting to see the driver slipping the clutch, mis-shifting, and making poorly timed gear changes. Instead, it seems that the main thing the driver is "guilty of", is coasting in neutral to a stop, and blipping the throttle whilst stationary - Hardly the biggest issues with driving technique!

 

It's less exciting to me when I'm in stop/go traffic and this is downshift #107 in the past 14 minutes.

 

I thought he did great.

 

I agree, that was a little boring. Regardless, I don't find that the clutch is difficult to depress at all and I have never taken the car out of gear to coast to a stop. The carb owners manual states, "do not coast downhill with the engine stationary as this will render the servo assistance of the brakes ineffective due to lack of manifold depression and therefore greatly increases the force to be applied to the brake pedal and reduces the braking efficiency." As marginal as these brakes are, I would apply this rule for all driving conditions.

 

That passage is referring to not coasting with the engine switched off, not idling in neutral.

 

Yep.

He did great. That Scuderia was loud! Anyone know the back story?