No one in my family has a manual but I learned how to drive from my friends and since no one lives around me anymore im kinda screwed... But my question is..

How can I learn this technique from online? And will screwing up really mess my clutch up? Is this a real performance way to shift? Any thoughts welcome!

 

Dont learn online. Just do it. And it shouldnt hurt the clutch. The point of heel toe shifting is to preserve the clutch and tires by rev matching. Left foot goes clutch, right goes toe on the brake and use your ankle movement to give some gas to rev match. Normally, for me, its 1-2 quick blips from the heel on the gas to get the revs to where they should be. The only real way to learn to heel toe is to just do it. Oddly, I'd heard the MINI was ibcredibly easy to heel-toe in, but I strugged at first...probably due to my size 13 shoes...I kept hitting the kick panel by the gas pedal.

The electronic throttle lag doesnt make it any easier either. I was coming from a japanese car with a real throttle cable.

 

Its hard to match revs at low rpm's ( normal city driving ). Its especially difficult on the R56S. On my '12S, I turn the sport mode when I want to heel toe (double clutch downshift). The pedals are perfect for heel toe.

 

Can I maybe get an example?

Like your going 55 and need to downshift..

Would you start to brake, and as your hand starting to pull on the shifter you start "blipping" the gas? Then as you finish in the lower gear you off the gas and ready?

Don't know if I got that thought out clearly lol

 

If I downshift I dont even really touch the gas untill it's needed, since I rarely downshift in daily driving I just throw it in neutral if I need to stop or traffic is bad. Then as I need to move throw it in the appropriate gear and charley mike. (continue mission for you civilians)

 

So basically their really isn't a "performance way" or technique to downshifting or up shifting. Either way you have to run through the gears.

 

Youtube is always a good source. Try there.

 

I skip gears sometimes. 4th to 6th is a common occurrence for me. Don't take my advice really. I'm just driving how I was taught by my Dad and we got 400,000 + miles doing that technique with original clutch, engine and transmission from a 95 Mazda Protege. So that's what I do.

 

That's actually a real good video, better then those crappy phone quality videos with someone that doesn't look like they understand the technique.

 

Try the mini club near your area. I would like to think that someone there knows how to heel-toe. There are bound to be some die hard trackies that can show you in real time. There are some nuances that will make it easier that is not on the video.

It is not so easy in the beginning, but after some practice it is second nature. Learn not to skip gears initially as this is a begineers sure fire way of blowing up an engine in a money shift.

 

You should try regular rev matching first. That's where you blip the throttle as you're downshifting, but it doesn't involve the brake pedal. You're gonna need to learn to blip the throttle just enough to get the engine to the amount of revs you want and that's the simplest and easiest way to do so. Once you get that down, you can slowly start incorporating the brake in a proper heel-toe maneuver at your leisure.

That's the advice i got when i first learned to drive stick about 6 months ago. Although i can rev match like the best of them, heel-toe still gives me problems due to an old ankle injury but at least i am still able to downshift smoothly when needed using the above technique.

And don't forget to check YouTube for instructional videos. Sometimes a written explanation just isn't enough and it can help you correct poor techniques before it becomes a habit