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Speed shifting...
Speed shifting can be a big help but you should practice it a bit. The reason it helps is it keeps the RPMs High and, the obvious, it takes less time. But you have to have everything right, Vehicle speed, rpm and a quick clutch and equally quick hand. Because you are doing everything so fast if one of these is out of sync, you can bog the engine (higher gears) or if you give it too much throttle you can loose traction (lower gears). About the worst that can happen is if you miss 4th and hit 2nd or miss 3rd and hit 1st. Then you can do some damage to the tranny and engine. But if you are quick you can slam the clutch down to prevent the damage. The only other problem is shifting before the clutch is in or after the clutch is out. My advice for this is to avoid jerking the shifter as hard as you can until you are pretty good at it. That way you'll feel the gears and be able to let go of the shifter before any damage is done. Once you learn how to do it, Oh man is it fun.
This whole speed shifting thing is exactly why people argue over what is faster in a drag race. Autos or manuals. If geared properly with the right stall converter an Auto is very tough to beat because it takes human error out of it. But a good Speed shifter can make it up in seat of the pants feel for what the car is doing on the track. FWIW
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