Heel - Toe

[MATT@WORKS]

I feel there is way too much hype going on about the heel toe business. I personally struggled with it at first, but just practiced CONSTANTLY on the street. By the time I got into racing, it wasn't a problem.

For someone who is struggling:
Don't concentrate so much on how hard it is, or if you use the rotating method or the side-to-side method (depicted by application and preference), but try to just KEEP DOING IT. I see so many different ways of doing this technique and I feel its nonsense for someone to say the right or wrong way to do it. The only purpose of this is to slow the car and make downshifts for the exit of the corner. Deviating from this central idea is not progressive to a new driver's skill.

[drush08]

i had a lil bit of a problem at first but a lil practice in the canyon.....

and sum driving shoes....

got it down!!!

[Robevo RS]

yes i think most of the guys think ,the key for the good driving is a heel and toe.. I heard many times like, whoa that guys is doing heel and toe!
Most of the beginners, when they go to the track they focus so much on it ,actually they loosing time ,balance etc.
It happends . The heel toe is good for rev matching. It will not give you Major advantige. So my opinion is first get out and get some usefull seat time on the track . And someone stated before me ,practice on the way home or just in a regular day. It will come to you sooner or later. BUT don't pay attantion too much on the track! Keep the car and yourself together on the track focus on the race. What you practice ,will come out itself.

[MATT@WORKS]

Originally Posted by Robevo RS

yes i think most of the guys think ,the key for the good driving is a heel and toe.. I heard many times like, whoa that guys is doing heel and toe!
Most of the beginners, when they go to the track they focus so much on it ,actually they loosing time ,balance etc.
It happends . The heel toe is good for rev matching. It will not give you Major advantige. So my opinion is first get out and get some usefull seat time on the track . And someone stated before me ,practice on the way home or just in a regular day. It will come to you sooner or later. BUT don't pay attantion too much on the track! Keep the car and yourself together on the track focus on the race. What you practice ,will come out itself.

Agree... If you look at the technique's purpose, which is just to get yourself in the right gear for the exit of a corner while slowing the car down to the proper entry speed, losing both the right entry and exit speed due to the fact that a driver is botching his heel/toe completely depletes the purpose of it. Again, WAY too much hype going on with this technique. I DO think a great track driver needs this down to be competitive, but I know plenty of "good" drivers that don't use heel/toe and are exactly where they need to be. If you learn it early on, sure, it could help you to use it off the bat, but as I said, if its causing you to make mistakes, then its useless. Someone with this problem is obviously in what Bruce Lee would call the "artistic" stage. They are concentrating way too much on the art of driving, or the fancy techniques instead of working on the "non-artistic" style where everything is basically burned into your mind and all the techniques flow out of you when you need them instinctively.

[comradeandrew]

When i used to wear gigantic DC shoes, driving stick was so annoying, especially since i was just starting.

Lacoste carnaby FTW

[MATT@WORKS]

Originally Posted by comradeandrew

When i used to wear gigantic DC shoes, driving stick was so annoying, especially since i was just starting.

Lacoste carnaby FTW

Yeah, it can be. It depends on the car. You CAN get used to any setup as long as it doesn't completely hinder you by blocking a pedal somehow... so no clown shoes/elf shoes.

[TouringBubble]

Just some insight on my heel/toe experiences ...

I learned the technique in a 1.8t VW that has the low accelerator, just like the Audi mentioned. I have fairly large feet (size 13), so the rolling, ball of the foot technique was easy for me to learn. After about 2 months I had it down ... it was second nature, much like shifting.

The problem I ran in to with that technique is that under heavy braking my foot would be over both the brake and accelerator. Because I was used to that foot placement, I would set up for the instinctively and end up in heavy braking and half throttle. In a situation like that, it's quite difficult to roll your foot the opposite way to get out of the throttle. You have to re-position your foot on the brake, and that is kind of tough with grippy pedals. This was not good and almost got me in to trouble a few times on the street.

When I got the Evo, the same technique worked fine, though the AWD did make it a little more upset on a slight mis match. A couple of days and I had it down again.

Then I bought some Pumas and basically had to learn all over again. With the Future Cats, the sole is just barely big enough to touch the brake and throttle at the same time with the roll left to right technique, so I had to learn the "right" way ... that uncomfortable backward heel shift to the throttle.

It took a few weeks of constant practice to get used to it and a couple more to make it habit. However, I definitely prefer the uncomfortable, backward heel shift technique 200% over the wide-footed roll. You will not ever find yourself with your foot in the wrong position and that may save your car, or your life, if you practice this on the street.

Also, I don't think that the roll technique would be as useful on the track for the same reasons ... under heavy braking you could end up on the throttle as well. So, if you plan to use the technique at all in a track setting, I would suggest learning the heel shift technique.

And, as a small note ... the reason the technique feel backward (toes on brake and heel on throttle) is because it IS backward. When the technique was developed, race cars had the brake pedal on the right and the throttle in the center, which is a more ergonomic setup for this technique.

Originally Posted by WikiPedia

The name, stemming from earlier automotive designs where the accelerator pedal was on the left and could be actuated with the heel while the brake pedal was actuated with the toe, is misleading regarding how the technique is carried out in modern cars, i.e., operating the brake with the left edge of the foot, while rocking it down and to the right to operate the throttle.

The more you know ...