Heel and Toe
05-15-2005, 11:47 AM
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Heel and Toe
Heel and Toe is a driving technique that allows you to smoothly brake and down shift at the same time.* This technique is often confused with double declutching which is a seperate process that can be used to assist your shifting,* although the tewo techniques are best if used together.
Use of the Heel And Toe technique on a race course allows you to down shift while still braking in a straight line for a corner.* This allows you to keep both hands on the wheel through out the turn and puts you in the right gear before you need to be in it,* allowing you to power away through the apex of the corner and along the following straight.* This means you aren't coasting through a corner and wasting time.* Because the shift is done smoothly there is no sudden change to the balance of the car and so the risk of spinning,* locking up your wheels or otherwise doing something that loses you time & speed is reduced. Remember,* smoothness is the key to speed.
On the road this technique is useful for smoothing out your driving,* and if used in conjunction with the double declutching technique can be used to smoothly power away at traffic lights that change before you have stopped moving.
How do you heel-toe ? There are two parts to the heel and toe technique,* the actions you need to perform and a process called rev matching (also explained in double declutching).* The actions required to heel and tow requires a great deal of patience and practice,* we suggest that you only practice these at race events or when there are no hazards on the road.* You may wish to practice the movements in your car while stationary (with the engine off) just to get used to them.
The exact actions for heel-toe depend on your vehicle setup and your own personal preferences.* Basically these are as follows :
(A note for people from those silly little countries that drive on the right hand side of the road,* in New Zealand we drive on the left so you might have to reverse the instructions shown below in terms of left/right)
1. Begin braking with your right foot.
2. Depress the clutch pedal with your left foot.
3. If you are intending to double de-clutch while performing the heel-toe,* move the gear stick to the neutral position and let the clutch out, otherwise move it to the gear you are selecting but don't let the clutch out yet.
4. With your right foot blip the accelerator - but keep braking with your right foot at the same time (more on this follows)
5. If you are double declutching as well depress the clutch pedal again with your left foot and move the gear stick to the new gear.
6. Let the clutch out
Whats this you say ? Operate two pedals with one foot at the same time ? Yes,* thats exactly what you do - but how depends on your vehicle setup and your personal preferences.* There are two methods,* which are as follows :
1. Use the ball of your foot (the part just behind your toes) to brake,* when you want to blip the accelerator twist your foot and use your heel to depress the accelerator pedal.* This is where the technique gets its name,* and is the only way you can perform this technique if the pedals in your vehicle are along way apart.* Some people prefer this technique because they feel they have less chance of their foot slipping on the pedal than the other method - but others find this more likely to cause slipping.* In small cars without a lot of foot room (such as an MR2 or MX-5/Miata) you may be better off using the second method.* This method is often reffered to as being the 'old way',* as in the past many vehicles had the brake on the right and the accelerator in the middle,* and so the heel was used to brake and the toes to blip.
2. When you place your foot over the brake pedal,* only use half your foot,* let the other half hang off the brake pedal over the accelerator.* This only works in the pedals in your car are close enough together,* although the addition of proper racing pedals with a flange on the accelerator will help.* It is important that your foot not press on the accelerator until you want to blip it,* so you must apply pressure to the brake using only one side of your foot.* Some people dislike this method because they feel they may slip off the brake when only using half of their foot,* but some feel more comfortable with this than the other method.
Regardless of the mechanics of your movements you need to make sure that your pressure on the brake pedal does not change when you blip the accelerator.
Once you've got the motions down to second nature,* you need to start rev matching.* It is the process of rev matching that smooths everything else and actually makes heel and toe useful.
Rev Matching can be practiced with a lot less bother when double declutching with the use of the heel and tow technique, as there is less to concentrate on.* When you rev match you are attempting to bring the revs up to the same level as they need to be for the car you're in to do the same speed you are doing at that point in time,* in the new gear you are selecting.* Say you're doing 50 kph in fourth gear, at two thousand revs,* but you want to change down to second for some more power.* If you simply try and change down,* several things will happen :
1. The gear box may resist the shift,* if it doesn't your synchros are doing their job but you're wearing them out.* The actions covered in the double declutching article will avoid this.
2. The car will need more revs to do the same speed in the lower gear so it will start to engine brake,* unless you apply the accelerator at the same time as you clutch out,* in which case the car is like to take off with a bit of a leap.
3. You will change smoothly,* but only by letting the revs drop off to a lower level,* resulting in a slower shift.
In either of the cases mentioned in point two,* this will result in a jerky down shift.* In our example, we were doing two thousand revs in fourth,* lets say we need to be doing 4500 revs in second to keep going at 50kph for the vehicle we're driving in.* In order to rev match you must blip the accelerator enough that when you clutch out (in step 7 of our action list) the revs are at 4500.* This means that when the engine engages with the drive system again,* through the transmission,* everything is running at the speed it needs to be at and so there is no braking or sudden acceleration - nor do you have to wait for the revs to die off resulting in a slow shift.* Learning how many revs you need for different speeds and gears in different vehicles takes time and practice,* but when you get it right it will feel so good you'll be grinning well after you stop driving.
Note,* if you plan on using heel and toe you may want to have your pedals adjusted so the brake pedal is level with the accelerator when it is fully depressed.* Before you do this however,* consider the types of events you'll race in most often,* if you're driving on grass or gravel alot its unlikely you'll have many opportunities to use the brake pedal to its maximum extent - at least not without locking up the wheels.* If you're primarily racing on the track or sealed surfaces,* then its probably a good idea.
Why is it so important to be smooth when driving ? Well,* on the road the smoother your driving the better your passengers will feel and the safer you'll be.* At a race or other event being smooth lets you use 100% of the vehicles abilities for what you want it to do,* rather than for counter acting sudden jerky movements.* For example,* lets says you're racing on a sealed surface but one that doesn't have a lot of traction (maybe its wet or something).* You change down a gear and plant your foot to get more power,* but the sudden increase in power causes the tyres to slip on the track and you spin your wheels.* Even if this only happens for a 100th of a second, you just lost time.* In addition to this,** sudden changes of power while cornering or braking can cause you to spin,* slide,* swap ends or even roll in extreme cases.
If you're a smooth driver you'll be able to get alot more out of any given vehicle than a driver who isn't as smooth. It may take more time & practive before you're faster than a more agressive driver,* but that driver will eventually get to a point where the only way they can go faster is to become smoother (otherwise they're asking the car to do more than it car at the same or lower speeds* than you are).* Its a lot harder to learn to be smooth when you've been racing aggresively for a long time,* so its better to learn to drive this way to start with.
Use of the Heel And Toe technique on a race course allows you to down shift while still braking in a straight line for a corner.* This allows you to keep both hands on the wheel through out the turn and puts you in the right gear before you need to be in it,* allowing you to power away through the apex of the corner and along the following straight.* This means you aren't coasting through a corner and wasting time.* Because the shift is done smoothly there is no sudden change to the balance of the car and so the risk of spinning,* locking up your wheels or otherwise doing something that loses you time & speed is reduced. Remember,* smoothness is the key to speed.
On the road this technique is useful for smoothing out your driving,* and if used in conjunction with the double declutching technique can be used to smoothly power away at traffic lights that change before you have stopped moving.
How do you heel-toe ? There are two parts to the heel and toe technique,* the actions you need to perform and a process called rev matching (also explained in double declutching).* The actions required to heel and tow requires a great deal of patience and practice,* we suggest that you only practice these at race events or when there are no hazards on the road.* You may wish to practice the movements in your car while stationary (with the engine off) just to get used to them.
The exact actions for heel-toe depend on your vehicle setup and your own personal preferences.* Basically these are as follows :
(A note for people from those silly little countries that drive on the right hand side of the road,* in New Zealand we drive on the left so you might have to reverse the instructions shown below in terms of left/right)
1. Begin braking with your right foot.
2. Depress the clutch pedal with your left foot.
3. If you are intending to double de-clutch while performing the heel-toe,* move the gear stick to the neutral position and let the clutch out, otherwise move it to the gear you are selecting but don't let the clutch out yet.
4. With your right foot blip the accelerator - but keep braking with your right foot at the same time (more on this follows)
5. If you are double declutching as well depress the clutch pedal again with your left foot and move the gear stick to the new gear.
6. Let the clutch out
Whats this you say ? Operate two pedals with one foot at the same time ? Yes,* thats exactly what you do - but how depends on your vehicle setup and your personal preferences.* There are two methods,* which are as follows :
1. Use the ball of your foot (the part just behind your toes) to brake,* when you want to blip the accelerator twist your foot and use your heel to depress the accelerator pedal.* This is where the technique gets its name,* and is the only way you can perform this technique if the pedals in your vehicle are along way apart.* Some people prefer this technique because they feel they have less chance of their foot slipping on the pedal than the other method - but others find this more likely to cause slipping.* In small cars without a lot of foot room (such as an MR2 or MX-5/Miata) you may be better off using the second method.* This method is often reffered to as being the 'old way',* as in the past many vehicles had the brake on the right and the accelerator in the middle,* and so the heel was used to brake and the toes to blip.
2. When you place your foot over the brake pedal,* only use half your foot,* let the other half hang off the brake pedal over the accelerator.* This only works in the pedals in your car are close enough together,* although the addition of proper racing pedals with a flange on the accelerator will help.* It is important that your foot not press on the accelerator until you want to blip it,* so you must apply pressure to the brake using only one side of your foot.* Some people dislike this method because they feel they may slip off the brake when only using half of their foot,* but some feel more comfortable with this than the other method.
Regardless of the mechanics of your movements you need to make sure that your pressure on the brake pedal does not change when you blip the accelerator.
Once you've got the motions down to second nature,* you need to start rev matching.* It is the process of rev matching that smooths everything else and actually makes heel and toe useful.
Rev Matching can be practiced with a lot less bother when double declutching with the use of the heel and tow technique, as there is less to concentrate on.* When you rev match you are attempting to bring the revs up to the same level as they need to be for the car you're in to do the same speed you are doing at that point in time,* in the new gear you are selecting.* Say you're doing 50 kph in fourth gear, at two thousand revs,* but you want to change down to second for some more power.* If you simply try and change down,* several things will happen :
1. The gear box may resist the shift,* if it doesn't your synchros are doing their job but you're wearing them out.* The actions covered in the double declutching article will avoid this.
2. The car will need more revs to do the same speed in the lower gear so it will start to engine brake,* unless you apply the accelerator at the same time as you clutch out,* in which case the car is like to take off with a bit of a leap.
3. You will change smoothly,* but only by letting the revs drop off to a lower level,* resulting in a slower shift.
In either of the cases mentioned in point two,* this will result in a jerky down shift.* In our example, we were doing two thousand revs in fourth,* lets say we need to be doing 4500 revs in second to keep going at 50kph for the vehicle we're driving in.* In order to rev match you must blip the accelerator enough that when you clutch out (in step 7 of our action list) the revs are at 4500.* This means that when the engine engages with the drive system again,* through the transmission,* everything is running at the speed it needs to be at and so there is no braking or sudden acceleration - nor do you have to wait for the revs to die off resulting in a slow shift.* Learning how many revs you need for different speeds and gears in different vehicles takes time and practice,* but when you get it right it will feel so good you'll be grinning well after you stop driving.
Note,* if you plan on using heel and toe you may want to have your pedals adjusted so the brake pedal is level with the accelerator when it is fully depressed.* Before you do this however,* consider the types of events you'll race in most often,* if you're driving on grass or gravel alot its unlikely you'll have many opportunities to use the brake pedal to its maximum extent - at least not without locking up the wheels.* If you're primarily racing on the track or sealed surfaces,* then its probably a good idea.
Why is it so important to be smooth when driving ? Well,* on the road the smoother your driving the better your passengers will feel and the safer you'll be.* At a race or other event being smooth lets you use 100% of the vehicles abilities for what you want it to do,* rather than for counter acting sudden jerky movements.* For example,* lets says you're racing on a sealed surface but one that doesn't have a lot of traction (maybe its wet or something).* You change down a gear and plant your foot to get more power,* but the sudden increase in power causes the tyres to slip on the track and you spin your wheels.* Even if this only happens for a 100th of a second, you just lost time.* In addition to this,** sudden changes of power while cornering or braking can cause you to spin,* slide,* swap ends or even roll in extreme cases.
If you're a smooth driver you'll be able to get alot more out of any given vehicle than a driver who isn't as smooth. It may take more time & practive before you're faster than a more agressive driver,* but that driver will eventually get to a point where the only way they can go faster is to become smoother (otherwise they're asking the car to do more than it car at the same or lower speeds* than you are).* Its a lot harder to learn to be smooth when you've been racing aggresively for a long time,* so its better to learn to drive this way to start with.
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