So, I'm fairly new to the manual transmission (doing a LOT of practicing before I get my evo later this month), and I want to start doing heel-toe downshifting. Is the goal to hit the gas enough to get the tach up 1k-ish rpms so as to get the next lower gear in at the right rpms? or just hitting the gas so the rpms are higher, and letting the synchro do the work of matching?

Thanks in advance!

 

Heel and Toe is to match the revs for when you shift down for cars that don't have syncros. But since the new cars out there have syncros etc. You don't really need to Heel and Toe.

For me, I just blip the throttle to rev up the rpm for downshifting.

do a search, it's been discussed before

 

Thanks! You answered my question just fine. I did look at the other discussions, but they didn't seem to adress this issue specifically....thanks!

 

heel-toe also works for track use in corners when you want to break, and keep power up.

 

^---thats not correct. Heel-Toe is used to smoothen out the downshift. For example if your going into 2nd from third at a high speed, when you let off the clutch the car will jerk and youl loose traction and probably die. Now if you brake and rev and downshiftall at the same time (aka heel-toe) the car will be in the best gear to enter the corner smoothly and accelerate out. If you really want to lean i think there is a How to done online just search google.

 

Right on the money....Double clutching is what racerhead2 was referring to. Double clutching is fun. I do it, but 100% pointless in newer cars. I'm actually trying to stop double clutching because it's pointless...

 

"...and die" sorry, just found that funny

Anywho, just to elaborate on this a bit. When you're braking hard in a racing situation, you do your best to keep the tires from locking up. Modern cars have ABS but true racecars don't. This type of braking is referred to as threshold braking, where you're on the "threshold" of tire lockup, but you havn't locked them up. If you then threw your car into a lower gear and let the clutch out fast, the engine would act as a supplemental brake and cause the tire to lock up, to avoid this, you simultaneously hold the brake pedal and blip the throttle to match the revs of the motor to the RPM it would be at if you were in the next lower gear before you let out the clutch. This lessens the impact of the engine braking, reducing the risk of inducing lockup.

- Steve

 

...and not dying

 

gotta love heel-toe

 

Well...I would not agree that double clutching is pointless. Remember that synchros do wear out. The more you make them work, the sooner you'll have to replace them. Proper double clutching can preserve those guys almost indefinitely

 

A good example of the need for a heel-toe downshift.

Autocross at Texas Motor Speedway on the infield road race course. Fast 3rd gear left hand sweeper into a tight 2nd gear gate. Co driving a friends car.

He asked how I was coming out of this so fast. Explained how a heel toe down shift with a big blip on the gas was working for me.

He tried it on his next run. He went in fast and then the next thing we saw was his car doing a 180 spin into the grass. When he came back to grid I explained to him that I said a BIG blip on the gas. He locked up the wheels with a small blip thus the spin.

He spent that evening cleaning out grass and rocks from the car <grin>.

When a heel toe down shift is done properly it will put a big grin on your face.

Jim H.

 

I would learn to rev match first. You need to get an idea for how fast the revs come up to determine how much gass needs to be added during the downshift.

Once you have learned to do this smoothly you can then start to figure out how to do it while under braking. The amount of revs should now be second nature

I would start by learning heel toe in gradual braking situations where there is a need to go from third to second. All it takes is practice.

Good luck,

 

And another note to remember. The only way to line up the clutch disk/input shaft, flywheel, and the output shaft together before you shift into gear is to double clutch. If you don't, the clutch disk and input shaft will spin free in neutral and require the synchros to do the work of matching everything. If that is how you do it, plan on replacing your synchro cones prematurely.

 

if you practice on the street, revmatching and heel-toe will become second nature and you'll start to feel weird NOT doing them.

 

just do it a billion times once u get the evo. that's the only way to nail it. I got my first speeding ticket ever learning to heel-toe my evo. Well worth it if u ask me.