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In my ongoing quest for absolute knowledge and world domination, I'm trying to figure out what has the biggest influence on shifting "quality" in our little cars. I've never opened up a transmission and confess to know very little about how it all works.

My car's shifter has always felt very notchy and sticky.. It's usually pretty hard to move it in and out of gear. Of course when I'm on the track driving around, slamming it from 3rd to 4th and back to 3rd isn't much of a problem! But for instance putting it in neutral in the pits is a pain. It takes so much force to move it out of gear, that it usually ends up in another gear anyway. Something like "hey, lets get it in neutral - 3rd gear - click - 4th - click - 3rd - click - 4th DAMN IT - click - neutral".

Again, driving in the track isn't a big deal, unless I need to find 2nd gear for whatever reason. And there are usually a couple of reasons that I wouldn't mind using 2nd gear for! But even when I can find 2nd gear, getting it out of 2nd is so hard that I usually mess up the shift into 3rd. Ok, so that was only once, but I'd rather not do it again.

Is this just the way it works and is the only solution a longer shifter lever (more throw, more leverage, probably a better feel from what's going on)? Or is there anything that might be getting worn out that I could check?

Sounds like linkage. Generally, a Vee linkage setup is pretty crude. Mine is difficult to find R, 1 and 2. I can find them if I hunt for them. As long as 3 and 4 work well on the track, that is all I care about.

2ND can be a bitch at times,otherwise all is fine,2nd and R are close thats the problem, and at MOSPORT you only need 3rd and 4th anyway,and as we run 5 out of our 6 races at Mosport(Yawn) its fine.

i've only ever used 2nd on race starts a few times depending on where i am on the grid even then its pretty useless. even the tightest hairpin at shannonville which would be ideal for 2nd gear isnt worth going for cuz it'll mess you up, plus the gear runs out pretty quick on acceleration your're better using the torque in the engine and run all the way through 3rd, your're not gonna make any time up going down to 2nd and then going up from there.

you run the risk of over reving the motor too if you dont have a shift light either running in 2nd.
i've never seen a vee in ontario that can consistently blip down from 3rd to 2nd.

the fact its so hard to move out of 2nd sounds like you need a linkage or "hockey stick" adjustment

Smazzy is right most shifting issues can be traced to the linkage. Slowly go from connection to connection and check for free play. A tiny amount of play in an apex joint will translate to half the rotation at the tranny. Inside the tranny, operating sleeves, clutches and detent systems effect the feel of shifting as well.
Sometimes an internal component will inhibit shifting but it's fairly rare. Popping out of gear is another issue and much more common.