Hey, I was just wondering if someone could give me a step-by-step of the heel toe downshift. I know the basic idea, but I need a more in depth explanation so I can practice it. Thanks.

 

Brake
Step the clutch
blip the throttle (depends on how much, you want to match the rpm of the transmission)
downshift
release the clutch

 

There are many differences between what people say about heal toe, but in general, this is how its done, and how I do it:

First off, you should already have a really good feel for the brakes at threshold and how the car reacts to blips for downshifting. Be an expert at rev-matching and threshold braking before you try to combine the two with one foot!

My problem was when I first started I thought too much about the same foot doing two tasks and got bound up. If you think a little more fluidly, the problem goes away. Eventually your brain simply sees the 3 tasks it has to complete and in how much time and your feet do them however necessary.

So under hard braking, I usually have my foot almost upright, as if I wasn't going to heal toe and was just braking as usual. I then rotate my heal out keeping the ball of my foot and maybe 3 toes still putting pressure on the brake pedal. The ideal is to change the angle of your ankle without changing the pressure on the pedal-- this is extremely important while threshold braking in a car with no ABS. Clutch in, and blip. It takes some practice, but basically you want to clip the accelerator with the end of your heal. You don't want to hit it with much more than the very end of the heal so that you're not getting any feedback from the accelerator, you want all the pedal feel to come from the brakes. The angle of your foot depends on how close the pedals are and where the transmission tunnel sits compared to the accelerator. Sometimes you don't use much angle at all and its no longer heal toe but left side/right side [of foot].

This is where you gear down. This is something you DON'T want to rush, especially on an Evo. People get so bound up kicking pedals that they jam the next gear in and snap off the clutch. That's not right and why trannies go out so often on cars driven "spiritedly". Again, practice feeling out the synchros without involving the brake and try to replicate that while heal-toe-ing. It might be worth it to go practice concentrating JUST on the downshift and making the brakes a little rougher until you can manage shifting delicately.

Anyway, on clutch out, the rev-match should have made NO difference in longitudinal acceleration (or deceleration in this case)-- no jerking or bucking and no lunging. This is VERY important. You can really botch a braking zone if you misplace a clutch-out or rev-match. The Evo's have it easy because all four wheels are being powered, but imagine you have a nice well balanced RWD car and you slip the clutch out and lock the rear wheels while at threshold braking on all four... its a mess.

Practice Practice Practice in many different cars-- as many as you can get your hands (and feet) on. They are ALL different, even in the same make. As you get more experienced, you can usually start to increase your learning curve and get better faster at learning cars.

There... that detailed enough for you?

 

Here, not trying to toot my own horn, but this is heal-toe in a STOCK H-PATTERN BMW. It has a light clutch and flywheel, but you can see what's possible with practice and how fast you can be, even smoothly, if you get the hang of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAO-R7x1Vbo

P.S. Ignore how loose the car is... it was scary.

 

good write up.

matt, do you have a regular ride in the turner beemer for all koni challenges? i was going to go when koni was running in NJ but was in florida that weekend. will definitely make it next season for sure. sorry o/t.

 

We have a minimum height we are required to run and its based on the lowest part of the car-- including all plastic bits that fall off. We run the cars usually a bit higher than necessary to avoid being below spec if we drop a part or something like the plastics that cover the underbody.

The Jersey race was a joke, probably good that you didn't go. In the 2.5 hour race, we only had green flag racing for like 40 minutes. It sucked. It is an AWESOME track and I can't wait for next year to see how it improves.

We're all pretty friendly over in the Turner tent, just come over sometime if you're at any races. Hopefully I'll be with TMS again next season, so if I'm there, ask for me and we can talk. I always love talking to people I meet on the forums in person!

 

Very impressive driving, and heel toe shifting.

 

yeah i will definitely keep that in mind.

 

Oh, and I realized what you said before. Sorry I went off about ride *height*... everything looks a little smaller on an iPhone...

Yes. I do have a regular ride with TMS. I'm driving the ST car right now and I have one of the old 325i Touring cars that I club race when I can. I will hopefully be back with them next year but we'll see!

 

cool. well i will be sure to make the at least the jersey race next summer. that is the same weekend at the Rolex series race too, i think. it is such good racing and so inexpensive for tickets compared to crappy NASCAR, where road racing is a rarity and grossly unmastered specialty. i will keep and eye out for you and the TMS tent. then we can watch you heel toe for real---a sorry attempt to get back on topic. sorry for highjacking.

 

I always found the stock pedals in the evo to far apart and it makes this a bit hard

 

Very good write up Matt, and I agree completely.

It has become such a fluid motion to me that I find myself heel-toeing driving around town without even conciously thinking about it, it's one of those things you just have to train your mind (and feet) to do, just like you did when you first drove a car.

Like he said, practice a ton and on as many different cars as you can and you'll find yourself getting the hang of it in no time.

If you google heel-toe I bet there's a few pictures of how Matt is describing his foot (since it isn't really a heel toe but a side-side sorta thing, big toe brake, little toe gas )

 

check these out: www.srpracing.com

These pedals are made specifically for your car and are designed for high performance use. These offer improved sizing for heel/toe, height adjustability, and better grip.

 

If you have the basic idea, you probably have enough information to get you started..you just need to do it now. A few people have already described it adequately. Start off practicing the pedal and shifter motions whiel the car is off. When you feel comfortable, take it on the street and try it in straight lines. It took me a while to get used to it, but after a while, it just sticks.

 

Good point... try it with everything off first, including getting the feel of the shifter. It won't be perfect, even the brake pressure will be odd, but it will help for sure.