Can someone explain this driving method? (Am I even calling it the right thing?) Is this only for racing? Sorry to seem so dumb, but I've heard it mentioned but have no racing experience.

 

Heel&Toe is a method of controlling engine speed while you shift gears...

If you are racing, pushing your engine to the limit, the worst thing you can do is to treat it with carelessness. Picture this: You are screaming into a corner at high speed. You downshift (to help braking and to get ready for exit) by JAMMING it into the next lowest gear and popping the clutch. This has two effects: 1. Your drive wheels react suddenly and may lose grip and 2. Your engine speed rockets to the rev limiter in a fraction of a second. Neither of these are good.

Instead, match the engine speed BEFORE you shift this way... Clutch with your left foot, brake witht he HEEL of your right foot, and blip the gas with the TOES of your right foot (HEEL and TOE). This way, you have clutch control, actual braking, and control of engine speed. You can then use a coombination of engine speed and brakes to slow the car AND be ready on the gas coming out of the turn without having to hunt for the right gear.

This is VERY difficult to those who haven't tried it. The main thing is, NEVER let your TRANSMISSION slow the car. Downshifting is done to allow the engine to slow the car. This method helps avoid TRANNY braking...

did ANY of this make sense?

 

I would offer in-depth explanation

 

About a year ago, I learned about this technique and began practicing. After a while, you will find a position of your right foot that makes this manuever workable, mine is braking with the left side of my foot, and using the right side to blip the throttle, as opposed to tilting my foot and making actual heel - toe contact. It has the same affect basically. The hardest part to learning it, i thought, was learning to lead the revs enough, since you are breaking, and changing the location of where the engine and transmission speeds are matched, which makes it like trying to hit a moving target so to speak.

This technique makes driving much more intersting, and with practice make you a much better driver, leaving the car much more balanced for cornering. If you search on Kazaa for racing videos, there is a japanese video that has some very good shots of heel-toe in action (skyline GSR :smile: :smile: :smile

 

Hey, thanks guys! I'll give it a try. Is it the kinda thing that you can practice when just driving around town?

 

>>Hey, thanks guys! I'll give it a try. Is it the kinda thing that you can practice when just driving around town?

For your very first few times, I would recommend going into an empty industrial park - just in case, my first time doing it, I shot forward a good bit, while braking, from too much throttle blip, so definately exercise caution until you are well used to the funky foot position and relative necessary rev position. After a few good downshifts, I began just practicing in spirited driving around town, and now it has become somewhat natural to do.

 

I'm with Chandler here. There's not enough room to actually heel-toe for my feet in the MINI. So I practiced with the left side versus right side of my right foot. It took about 2 weeks or so to pretty much master and I know use it ALL of the time - every time that I downshift, basically. My favorite is 6th gear to 3rd gear coming of a highway at high speed into a curve. I know to blip the throttle exactly 2000 RPMs and I come out perfectly. It's a lot of fun actually. You can practice while driving just make sure there are no cars around you the first few times you attempt it and only do it at slower speeds when you first start. Good luck.

 

>>Can someone explain this driving method? (Am I even calling it the right thing?) Is this only for racing? Sorry to seem so dumb, but I've heard it mentioned but have no racing experience.


Once you learn how to heel toe you'llwonder how you went without it. How you place your right foot is really a personal preference. I think the easiest way to do it is to turn your right foot to the left and press the brake with the ball of your left foot and the gas with the heel of your right roof. That's how the majority of race car drivers do it.

However I have a size 13 foot, so there isn't enough room for me. I use the left part of my foot for the brake and roll my foot to the right to blip the gas.

BTW I'm the one who taught Greatgro (I'm his brother)

What you should really do, it double clutch at the same time you heel toe. Once you get the hang of the heel and toe adding the double clutch is easy. Do you need to double clutch for the street, of course not (it's much more fun)

On the track footwork is everything. I'm an instructor and I also race almost every weekend, and everyone learns the apex's etc. What separates the fast drivers from the slow ones in racing is FOOT WORK. The faster and smoother (smooth is much more important than fast) your foot work is the quicket your lap times will be.

Double clutching is simply using the clutch twice on each downshift. Suppose you are sifting from 3rd to 2nd. Put the clutch in, start moving the stick from 3rd to 2nd, when you reach neutral let the clutch out immediately and put it back in again as you blip the gas, then put the stick in second and let the clutch out.

Double clutching actually makes the downshift much smoother and makes it easier to heel toe. Hope this helps.

RaceCarDriver

 

I gave it a bit of a try... I'm gonna need some practice!!!! First off, my right foot is no longer on the floor-- should it be? If I use each side of my foot, instead of actual heel and toe, maybe my heal could stay on the floor... If my toe is on the throttle petal, the best i can fit is my arch on the brake (size 12 shoes)... but it seems do-able. If I can get my feet comfortable, then i can work on the timing. Learning a new way to drive (after driving manual transmissions my whole life) is WAY COOL!!!!

 

Way to go Beagle, get some practice in for the 4th!! It is s000000o much fun comming of a hard right hander at 4500rpm, pegged in your seat, smooth as a babys bottom

 

Precisely the same story I was going to tell. I learned it many years ago when racing a Super 7. Back then, the transmissions (especially synchros) were less forgiving than they are today. After wasting many days rebuilding trannies, I learned that it was cost effective to expend a some hours in an unused parking lot honing my shifting skills.

 

>>I would offer in-depth explanation

And here is another link to a site with an article about it:
http://apps.edmunds.com/ownership/ho...2/article.html

Great stuff. Easily used in daily driving and once learned you will NEVER go back! :evil:

 

I have driven in this manner for as long as I can remember... started out in a Datsun 510 (converted from an automatic)... My size 10's have always been more comfortable with my heel on the floor at the gas pedal, toes tilted up and to the left to reach the brake (ball/toe, whatever fits). I roll my foot to the right to blip the throttle and match the revs... matching the revs is most important and contributes greatly to the smoothness of ones driving... I once had a passenger question wheather the car I was driving was a stick or automatic... yes, that smooth.