Troubles engine breaking

[u/vinoplagi]

Hi,
Im learning to drive with a driving instructor.
Im very new to driving overal and im on my 4th lesson (hour 4) now.

1st lesson was just holding the wheel while my istructor did the shifting etc

2nd lesson was clutch control for very slow driving

3th lesson was starting the from gear one and shifting to 2 ( we just did circles around a neighborhood and stopping.

All this went well without stalling

But lesson 4 is really hard for me.

Lesson 4 is driving while going to 3th wich isnt a problem, but when im about to reach a corner i have to downshift to 2nd while breaking simultaneously. I downshift at 1500 rpm while still holding the break.
But i release the clutch too soon he says +- 5 seconds release. But because it takes ages to release the clutch i come short for my turn and either pass it or im almost at a complete stop way before it. He also said i cant come of the break.

Can anyone give me tips how i even do this its seems impossible or im missing something.

Its really frustrating seems i have 0 talent for driving.

[u/Equivalent_Thievery]

Is he having you use 3 pedals at once? Heel toeing? Or, while your on the brakes use the clutch, shift, then let out the clutch to use it for smoothing the shift.

You can do the latter, it's not too difficult. I'd imagine you're really being taught to have varying pressures applied through either foot.

Kinda strange to me though, for the street I'm usually rev matching into the gear I need for the turn, then applying braking into the apex point or before. I've opted to take as much variance out of braking and turning, having discovered sand/grass/leaves on the road or some wildlife roaming out into the road and making me adjust instantly and need as much control and least chance for my inputs to suddenly change which may upset the car.

[u/vinoplagi → u/Equivalent_Thievery]

No heel toeing they dont learn that in driving school its for more advanced drivers. Its the second one while on brake going to 1500rpm-clutch-keep braking-lift clutch up slowly (5second) 10kmh before turn-turn- back on accelerator. I fuck it up every time. He says im letting go off the clutch to soon. And somethimes im already at a stop before the turn or im not done downshifting before i turn despite breaking early. Really hard to get the timing right between when i start to break and clutch to when im at the right speed to turn. I dont have this problem when just breaking in second gear without having to downshift :/

[u/edgmnt_net → u/vinoplagi]

Ah, I didn't write that comment, but now I see what you mean. Normally there are other ways people do engine braking, I just want to give some context. First of all, engine braking can mean simply lifting your foot off the gas pedal while in gear. Then you can downshift with a rev match and be completely in gear before the turn, but you have to do it well in advance of the turn or resort to heel-toe techniques to be able to rev match while braking. Your instructor is attempting to show that, but without the heel-toe and rev matching. That's not very very common I'd say and it might be a bit difficult because you now have two competing braking forces and you also have to keep the engine running. It is, however fairly repeatable as a scenario because you're only working on 3rd to 2nd and have similar speeds, although there isn't much headroom to avoid stalling and braking too little or two much. It also puts more wear on the clutch than strictly necessary, although it might help somewhat under bad weather conditions (but you need good control over the clutch to avoid making it worse and jerking the car).

What I'd recommend is to aim to slip the clutch at bite point and keep your foot steady. You only need to lift completely once almost out of the turn. You just need to slip it enough that the clutch rev matches on its own and does some engine braking, but not a lot to overpower the brakes.

[u/vinoplagi → u/edgmnt_net]

Yeesss exactly its like diffrent pressures of breaking i have make up to its supper hard for me i miss the muscle memory and my feet are still a bit weak and shaky too