Heel and Toe Shifting Technique?

[AgaBoogaBoo]

I tried this by putting my toes on the gas and heel on the brake but it's not working out very well for me, not really sure why since I've only tried it a few times but I think it has to do with the location of the gas pedal, or maybe I'm just doing something wrong.

Basically it's a matter of applying brakes and at the same time downshifting and rev matching, right? Anything you learned that helped you with learning to successful brake while downshifting and rev matching to lower gears?

 

[Platypus]

when your deepest thoughts are broken
keep in dreamin' boy cause when you stop dreamin'
it's time to die
and as we all play parts of tomorrow
some ways will work and other ways we'll play
but I know we can't all stay here forever
so I want to write my words on the face of today

 

[KokomoGST]

Dude... it's the other way around... toe on the brake and heel to tap the gas...

actually, the way I "heel/toe" is with the left and right side of my foot. practice the coordination of your feet with the car off a few times... you need moderate to heavy braking to really make use of the technique and getting it smooth is difficult. The car should not unsettle at all even with an extreme 5th gear down to 2nd gear downshift (my most common use of heel/toe)

EDIT: corporate... what are you smoking? gimme some...

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

When I was trying it, I was trying to go through all the gears, maybe that's my mistake?

 

[Platypus]

Originally posted by: KokomoGST
Dude... it's the other way around... toe on the brake and heel to tap the gas...

actually, the way I "heel/toe" is with the left and right side of my foot. practice the coordination of your feet with the car off a few times... you need moderate to heavy braking to really make use of the technique and getting it smooth is difficult. The car should not unsettle at all even with an extreme 5th gear down to 2nd gear downshift (my most common use of heel/toe)

EDIT: corporate... what are you smoking? gimme some...

i write a letter to a friend of mine
tell him how much I used to love to watch him smile
see I haven't seen him smile in a little while.
haven't seen him smile in a little while

 

[jcwagers]

Is this just something that you want to try or is it the technique that you actually want to use? I'm partial to the "left foot on the clutch, right foot on the brake.....let off on the clutch, move the right foot to the gas and go" method myself.

jc

*edit* Nevermind, I'm an idiot. I need to read the threads closer sometimes.

 

[PowerMac4Ever]

Originally posted by: jcwagers
Is this just something that you want to try or is it the technique that you actually want to use? I'm partial to the "left foot on the clutch, right foot on the brake.....let off on the clutch, move the right foot to the gas and go" method myself.

jc

He's training for the weekend downhill races..

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: jcwagers
Is this just something that you want to try or is it the technique that you actually want to use? I'm partial to the "left foot on the clutch, right foot on the brake.....let off on the clutch, move the right foot to the gas and go" method myself.

jc

Well, right now I just want to try but if I can get efficient at it, I'd like to use it I suppose. I want to get involved in autocrossing in a class with similar cars and I figure before I put money into it I should learn some techniques and become efficient at them

 

[GTaudiophile]

Text

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
Text

Thanks!

 

[KokomoGST]

Originally posted by: AgaBooga

Well, right now I just want to try but if I can get efficient at it, I'd like to use it I suppose. I want to get involved in autocrossing in a class with similar cars and I figure before I put money into it I should learn some techniques and become efficient at them

You don't need heel/toe for autoX (yes, I do autoX so I'm not talking out of my @$$)...

Here is all the tranny does during 95% of the autoXs you'll ever run.

1) Launches in 1st
2) 1st gear -> 2nd gear shift

In fact, in some cars with really tall 1st gears... you'll never even leave first! Generally you don't need to downshift through each gear while doing heel/toe. The only reason why you see race car drivers downshift one gear at a time is due to the nature of sequential trannies. They're kinda forced to go through all gears. It's faster to just rev-match into the gear that you'll be using to pull out of the corner with.

Heel/toe is described in Henry Watts' "Secrets of Solo Racing" slightly differently in than in the URL GTaudiophile posted but generally as long as the car is not unsettled and you're in the right gear to accelerate out of the corner, you're golden. BTW, if you're going to autoX, the Watts book is almost a must read despite it heavy RWD bias.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Double clutching question

what is the point to releasing clutch in neutral, revving, then pressing clutch and shifting into gear versus gear to neutral then to gear?

 

[DougK62]

Originally posted by: AgaBooga
Double clutching question

what is the point to releasing clutch in neutral, revving, then pressing clutch and shifting into gear versus gear to neutral then to gear?

That's for vehicles that don't have synchronized gears. Unless you're driving a big rig or a very old vehicle it's useless.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: DougK62

Originally posted by: AgaBooga
Double clutching question

what is the point to releasing clutch in neutral, revving, then pressing clutch and shifting into gear versus gear to neutral then to gear?

That's for vehicles that don't have synchronized gears. Unless you're driving a big rig or a very old vehicle it's useless.

Ah, ok, thanks!

 

[PowerMac4Ever]

Originally posted by: DougK62

Originally posted by: AgaBooga
Double clutching question

what is the point to releasing clutch in neutral, revving, then pressing clutch and shifting into gear versus gear to neutral then to gear?

That's for vehicles that don't have synchronized gears. Unless you're driving a big rig or a very old vehicle it's useless.

The main point of double clutching is to prevent wear on your synchronizers. To say it's useless on today's cars is incorrect.