Can someone please explain to me exactly what heel/toe shifting is, and what "blipping the throttle" is? I apologize for my ignorance. I'm very new to the performance realm, so a thorough explanation would be really appreciated... any other good performance shifting techniques, too!

 

I can't help you on the heel toe shifting as I still have not completely got it down yet, but "blipping the throttle" is primarily for downshifting a manual. It's just a little touch of the throttle right before you disengage the clutch after downshifting. It gives the RPMs a little boost so that the engine is already running at near the same RPMs as the gear you're about to be in. It makes for a smoother shift, etc. and some cars with the clutchless shifting (i.e. Ferrhari's F1 shifting system) already do it for you.

Hope this made sense to you. And if you have any more questions, we're all here to help!

 

Maybe this will help.

 

Man, you need more than 4-limb independance to do that - how long does it take to do that dance - anyone here regularly do that heel-toe shuffle thang?

 

350zSpeedRacer pretty much has it explained. Clutch in, top part of foot (toe?) on brake, side or bottom of foot (heal?) blips the throttle (a quick rev of the throttle) to rev match the engine revs with the gear revs.
Its used for high speed cornering, it keeps the car smooth while its at its cornering limits...while downshifting, if you just let the clutch out without rev matching it may jult the car just enough to spin you out.
The trick is keeping a constant pressure on the brake while bliping. It is very hard to master, but damn its fun trying!

 

It only takes a couple of weeks to get it smooth enough to where you start to feel the benefits. The rest is polishing. The trick is being able to judge how far to push the throttle down when blipping in order to match the revs at the precise moment you engage the clutch. Here's a tip:

Drive at a constant speed, say 40mph. Now change down a gear, say from 4th to 3rd or 3rd to 2nd. Note the differnence in engine revs. I think most cars step up in the 650 - 1000rpm range.

Let's say the answer when going from 3rd to 2nd is 650rpm. I would try blipping the throttle to increase revs by 1000-1500 (depending on how quick you change gear). If you get the timing right, the revs will have fallen off to 650 by the time you engage the clutch.

If you feel the engine being made to speed up when engaging the clutch, you can either change gear quicker or increase the rev blip, which is your starting point.

If you feel the car lurch forward, then don't blip as high.

Hope that helps. It's like most everything else about driving, it's all about muscle memory.

Fly

 

all this time i thought heel and toe was a barney song my kid likes to hear haha

 

If you wan to see it on TV, watch the Initial D anime series. There's lot's of heel-toe action there.

 

or you can go to kazza and download the best motroing vids...
they are crazy over there in japan!! lots of foot dancing during their driving!!

 

Have any of you "mastered" this technique in the 350z yet? Unless I get an extra joint added to my ankle, I don't see how this would even be possible in my Z. The brake and accelerator pedals are offset by quite a distance! I can almost get my heel on the brake and my toe on the accelerator, but can't see doing it the other way.

 

Try using the side of the bottom part of your foot instead of the heal, on the acc. And the ball of your foot (under your big toe) on the brake.

Check out this read:
http://www.happytogether.com/318ti/notebook/shifting/

It goes into great detail about heal and toe shifting, double clutching, syncros, gearing, rev match etc etc etc. Great read.

 

I agree, the brake and throttle in the 350Z are not set up well for heel and toeing. We race a Formula Vee and this process is critical for racing.

A few thoughts:

Why do you downshift (and heel and toe) at turns? It is NOT to slow the car down. It is to be in the the correct gear when you are ready to roll on the throttle and exit. Therefore, if you are approaching a turn in 5th that you want to exit from in 3rd, do not downshift into 4th, then 3rd. Go directly from 5th to 3rd.

During the heel and toeing process, which is the most important pedal? The brake. Don't screw up the braking part of this process. If you do, you can flatten one corner of the car. Screwing up the throttle is much less dangerous.

As mentioned above, you don't need to necessarily use your heel and toe. In the Vee, our Miata, and now the Z I use the ball of my foot on the brake and roll the top part of my shoe over on to the throttle. I end up with the part of my shoe near the laces on the throttle.

I may try to add a lip to the left side of the Z's throttle to improve the heel and toe process. Has anybody done that yet? Are there any kits on the market (Nissan, other marque, or aftermarket) to do this?

 

Though I still haven't driven the Z yet, from what I've seen sitting in one at the dealership, the Z's pedals are perfectly fine for heel-toe. If you are missing the throttle, you just need to practice a bit more until it becomes second nature.

 

Thanks - very new to this and need all the help I can get. As an engineer, I tend to take directions very literally, and I just couldn't see it like the picture showed.

 

wat is the point of heel toe

 

The main reason for a heel-toe downshift is to overlap (in time) the downshift with the braking. If you have to do these sequentially (first brake, then downshift, then turn) it takes longer than it would if you can brake and downshift at the same time. So you'll get around the track faster if you can heel-toe. You can easily practice heel-toe on the street, and it's far more safe to do it there than trying the first time as you head toward that tire wall at the end of the main straight, wondering what happens if your foot slips off the brake pedal...

Dave

 

The point of heel & toe is that you can blip the throttle at the same time as you are braking. If you don't heel & toe you have to let off the brake while you blip the throttle to rev match, then get back on the brake. You can rev match without heel & toe but it's much smoother if you can heel & toe, and smooth is the key to highest speed through turns.

I must admit I never mastered heel & toe. I do a good job of rev matching, but when I learned to drive a clutch I never gave it the time that heel & toe requires to master, and now my clutch habits are long-ingrained. Now that I have my 350Z I want to master heel & toe, but I'm not willing to get out on the roads looking like a total clutch newbie! I think I need to find an abandoned airport or something and spend a day or two making a fool of myself where nobody can see!

 

heel toe shifting is also important when you drive with a drifting style... being able to put your car higher in its powerband without making disruptions in the driveline is very important when trying to modulate your throttle as you turn. throttle control is much more responsive at higher rpm. however usually getting to those higher rpms would require ppl either get off the brakes or put a lot of strain on the motor and driveline.

btw. i use the left and right sides of my foot to do hts my feet are too big to turn sideways unless the tranny tunnel was removed :P...

watch rally drivers as well as best motoring vids to get a better idea.


ohh, and during normal driving i'll blip throttle when downshifting but i dont usually try to heel toe shift unless i'm just wanting some extra practice or trying to brake quickly.

best way to learn to heel toe shift i believe is to just get used to blipping throttle quickly while downshifting comming to a stop.. you'll have to move your foot from brake to hit gas and make rev match before the shift then get back on the brake,,, soon you'll get tired of the loss of brakes and start heel toe shifting naturally.. i did

 

at a corner, if you feel like you DONT need to downshift, you can brake and keep your revs up at the same time, while depressing the clutch, then at the apex, "slowly" releasing the clutch. (when i say slowly, i mean fast without dumping the clutch.)

hope this helps
b careful on d road
vic

 

sands: that demonstration is wrong...(slightly off)...

u are supposed to blip the throttle while the gear lever passes thru neutral...

here is how i do it (from 3rd to 2nd):

1) brake w/ right foot (toe)
2) clutch in
3) shift to neutral
4) clutch out
5) blip the throttle w/ right foot (heel)
6) clutch in
7) shift to 2nd
8) clutch out
9) continue to brake

keep in mind that u are supposed to finish downshifting before u finish braking...

i'm still not a master at this skill yet...but i'm getting better...