How's Your Heel-Toe?

I don't know how to heel-toe. I really need to learn. It kills me from having decent lap times.

Klayfish wrote: I don't know how to heel-toe. I really need to learn. It kills me from having decent lap times.

Don't just heel toe - double clutch.

I could never really get the hang of it until I read somewhere to "think about it as two separate shifts" (shift 3rd to neutral, blip throttle, then shift neutral to 2nd - for example). Since it makes sense to your legs to roll on the throttle as you release the clutch pedal, the blipping becomes much easier, and thinking about it as two shifts ensures the timing and order of everything is correct. Then you just have to remember to keep your foot on the brake the whole time.

I'm taking it from the street to the track this summer. It is taking me a while to move it from brain-involved activity to muscle memory, but it gets better every session.

The best tip I have gotten for this stage of the process is, do the shift a little earlier before the turn than you otherwise would. It lets me get my full brain capacity back in time to still look through the apex and judge my entry speed.

Re: Jeff's entry into the climbing esses at 140mph shows the kind of commitment I doubt I will ever have. Damn.

I'm I the only one that Toe Heel? ie I reach over with my gorilla toes to stab at the accelerator.

In reply to RossD:

You might be. That seems like it would be a whole lot more difficult.

It depends on the car. My E36 with the floor mounted gas pedal was easier to heel toe using the "rock the foot sideways onto the pedal" method, where you kind of jab with your pinky toe.

Most japanese cars I've driven lend themselves better to the pivoting the ball of the foot to rotate the heel into the pedal method. Like I have to drive the miata this way. If I do the BMW method, my foot doesnt reach.

RossD wrote: I'm I the only one that Toe Heel? ie I reach over with my gorilla toes to stab at the accelerator.

With some cars this is easier, I do it with my Samurai w/ stock pedals but I heel-and-toe in the Corolla (with oversized pedals...otherwise I'd need to wear clown shoes to hit two pedals at once)

I'm convinced that with anything but a BMW-style ultra-long gas pedal (which it looks like the car in this video has), only contortionists actually heel-and-toe, it's more like side-of-foot-and-toe.

Relevant video: Behold the king of fancy footwork:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/yyVHj3sHVHQ

Also this old asian guy:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/MfRy6R9-vj4

Good lord, the people running out of the way of the speeding rally car freaked me out a little...