I tried with the car and its kinda hard becase the brake and accelorator are not even and the brakes are more stiff and the gas pedal needed to be pressed down more. I was driving a wrx the other day and it was pretty easy to do because the two pedals were more even.

Its ahrd to describe, still noob at the heel/toe and wanna learn more about it.

 

I do it in every car I drive. I've done it for so long that it really is a habit now.

Truthfully you can only really smoothly heel-and-toe when you are driving at 6/10 or great driving pace, and usually on the street you'll only get 1-2 gears to go through. It really is the most satisfying part of driving a manual transmission car.

I hated when Formula 1 moved to semi-auto shifting in the late 80's, and I personally think the trend towards paddle-shifting in sports cars is deplorable. IMHO it doesn't require the same level of skill and detracts from driver involvment.

 

Practice a lot. I have had races where at the beginning of a race the brake pedal would be at the same plane as the gas pedal when at threshold, and at the end of the race the brake pedal would be almost at the floor. So literally, braking with the ball of the foot, and blipping with the heel, with the planes of the pedals being 3" different.

As a driver, you must be able to adapt to the changing conditions of the car, you can't set up something like that and expect it to be the same all the time.

So mostly, practice will get you used to this. It is hard to threshold brake on the street too, so sign up for a lot of track days.

 

it will be harder to do a smooth heel and toes @ street, since u dont brake that hard!but, again as ppl above said, practice is the main thing
just keep practicing , and heel/toe will become a habit to u everytime u trying to turn!
i heel/toe even when i am approaching a red signal light!

 

I











...wish

 

i've rev matched my downshifts for a year or 2 now, so i should probly start to work on it.

 

I think the Z is the easiest car to heal and toe I've driven. Much better than my Miata or RX-7 race cars. Just practice what feels good to you. If you really want to try difficult, left foot brake. I never did get that down.

 

Not to jack the thread, but can someone explain to me what matchrevving and heeltoe is? I have the main gist of what heeltoe.

 

I've been rev-matching since I've had the car and I've tried to do heel-toe. I can't seem* to get it down right because my shoes don't seem to be good ones (basketball shoes). Now if I had only socks, I think it would be easier.

reallyredZ, rev-matching is matching the rpms of the engine to the transmission, which gives you a smoother shift. This is what I do for downshifts: If I'm at 2k rpms, I put the clutch in, rev it to 2,600k and let the clutch out and I usually get a really smooth shift.

Heel-toe is using the heel of your foot to brake and the toe (ball of your foot) for the gas pedal. Since you're using the clutch with your left foot when downshifting, braking with your heel and rev-matching with the ball makes things a bit faster. It's like left-foot braking in an automatic/F1 car.

Edit: seem* not see

 

One more thing redrallyZ. Since I don't heel-toe, I have to brake in between shifts when I rev-match approaching a stop. You can usually tell someone with a stick-shift car that rev-matches if their brake lights go on and off as they approach a light. It's not really necessary to heel-toe coming to a light, but it's a good way to practice.

 

Doesn't everyone?

If you are having trouble, try it toe-heel instead of heel-toe. I use toe on the brake and the lower-outside of my foot on the gas. Seems easy to me. Keep in mind though, I wear size 12.

 

I usually heel-toe at every turn. Practice makes perfect.

Then if I'm feeling really spunky I'll double clutch with it too.

I always use the ball of my foot on the brake and my heel on the throttle.

 

My feet are too big, but I've learned to be able to almost do it with the side of my foot on the gas.

There just isn't enough space for me to fit my foot above the brake easily enough to be able to get my heel over comfortably without dragging the carpet.

 

The term "heel-toe" is actually a misnomer because you in fact don't use your heel. The term "heel-toe" originated years ago, back when the throttle and brake pedal were opposite of each other and all cars had floor-mounted pedals. (Think of the way your ankle operates).

Why is this important? If you don't rev match, the motor and the rear tires are operating at different relative speeds. Therefore, when you downshift and don't rev-match, you're placing a strain on the drivetrain (and can break traction of the rearwheels).

So how do you heel-toe? Well, your left foot will always control the clutch. Now, with your right foot, place the left side of the ball of your foot on the brake. When you depress the brake pedal, you will roll your foot and use the right side of the ball of your foot to blip the throttle. So when you're downshifting, you can make revs.

The Z has excellent pedal placement and is a very easy car to heel-toe. I do it everytime on nearly every downshift (with the exception of when I'm at low speeds). Practice around on the street, and you'll eventually get it...

 

I try to heel-toe at every corner and red light that i come across. it makes driving more enjoyable. i will try what john says and roll my foot, but i have actually been using my heel and the ball of my right foot. thats why i never wear boots or anything with thick heels when i drive my Z.

i always get looks though when i rev match because my invidia exhaust is so loud when i blip...

 

John, I hope there is time at MO for you to teach me. I suck at H-T. My goal this year is to learn how.

 

I also heel/toe almost every turn I make. Usually I go down from 3rd to 2nd gear, use heel/toe, and make turn. Just make it habitual stuff when you drive around street, and you will get it.
But yes, it works out best when you drive quite fast tho.
Depress the clutch, blip the throttle with heel, and shift down, engage the clutch. If you do it smoothly, it makes you feel so good. It's all about the beauty of manual

 

Thanks for the excellent explinations guys. I appriciate it. If there wasn't a foot of snow on the ground-I would try it. Again, sorry for the thread jack.

 

I actually learned it the wrong way (which most of you all are doing), and it's possible, but it's much more difficult, inaccurate, and not conducive to the way human ankles / feet are designed.

When done right and at speed (driving 8/10th+), heel-toe sounds dreamy... my favorite is hearing high revving motors do it, especially Ferraris and E46 M3s...

 

My suggestion to you is familiarize yourself with it on the street before you do it on the track. You are more likely to make errors when you're first learning and when you're driving at speed, it could really throw you off balance. Plus, that's something less that you would have to focus your development on at the track. That being said, I'm at the point where I'm driving much faster than I used to, and I've found my heel-toeing to get a bit sloppy (don't get off the throttle fast enough and I'm making the brakes work harder). Hoping to get some track time next weekend...