Joehunk

Heel/toe is a bit of a misnomer. It should really be called "ball-of-the-foot-and-toe", but it doesn't roll off the tongue quite as well. You hit the brake with the ball of your foot, then angle your foot outward so your toes can catch the throttle. The Evo (or at least my Evo 9) is set up very nice so that a good amount of pressure on the brake puts the brake pedal dead even with the throttle (most cars don't match up this well).

I have started heeling and toeing during daily driving just to get used to it. I have only owned the Evo for about 5 weeks but I will start autocrossing it eventually and I want it to come naturally by then.

As far as double clutching, I like it because it just feels better to me to be in neutral when decelerating toward a corner. The Evo has a nasty decel whine at high rpm for one thing, and I find it easier to control the deceleration without engine braking in the mix as well. I suppose I could just hold the clutch in the whole time too, but again it just feels better to me to do a quick shift into neutral, then concentrate on braking.

DangerousDan

iTrader: (8)

heel and toe comes from older cars in which the pedals were spaced out much wider. try doing it how you do it in your evo in a mustang, you will see why it's called heel and toe some cars still have this issue, and I believe all trucks do.

medvr

I pretty much practiced heel and toe on the F355 Challenge arcade. The next month I was on the track and it was a piece of cake.

Now daily driving has become something to look forward to, especially late night controlled spirited driving.

JordanS4

iTrader: (11)

The Evo's pedals are set up very well for heel toe. What I like to do is use my toe/ball of my foot on the brake pedal and my heel on the gas. Since I am first and foremost braking, I can control the brake pedal much better this way by positioning my foot like I was slowing normally. Then, I simply raise my heel and give the throttle a nice firm blip. The heel is heavy and not as sensitive so it makes it easier IMO to give it the proper amount of throttle without hesitiation. I find this way to be more comfortable, and it is the proper "heel-toe" method.

ODUB

iTrader: (8)

it's just instinct for me. i heel-toe everytime i downshift no matter where i am. makes sure that i'm always in the gear i need to be in, and i can accelerate, brake, turn, or do whatever else i need to do when i need to do it. i don't even notice myself doing it anymore.

DAve4g64Mitsu

iTrader: (2)

well this isn't exactly at the topic, i heel toe, but not double clutch on the street but i Think at the Least a match rev should be used when down shifting

DAve4g64Mitsu

iTrader: (2)

heres why i think a match rev should be used at the least, when u downshift without matching the rev your using your tranny to FORCE your motor to rev up higher and the TB plate is still Closed, engine is making like idle combustion or lower combustion then what the revs are at.

DAve4g64Mitsu

iTrader: (2)

i causes the motor more stress and a unliking static Shift shock in your tranny, (i'm sure all you guys and gals have felt it before), it also forces more stress on your shift fork as well.

DAve4g64Mitsu

iTrader: (2)

match reving u match ur trannys gear speed and engines rev speed for a Smooth grab which causes no shock or jerk or Forcing of your engine to rev up high on a closed throotle body

TouringBubble

iTrader: (2)

When the heel/toe technique was developed for race so many years ago, most race cars had the brake and accel pedals swapped. This allowed for a more natural motion with the heel on the accelerator and toe on the brake.

There are several ways to heel/toe in modern cars. I've had to learn two of them.

People with larger feet generally learn the "left side of right foot on brake and right side of right foot on accel" method. To do this, you basically position your foot directly between the accel and brake at a slight angle (1:00 or so). Then you just rock your foot to the right to blip the accel while on the brakes. The problem I've found with this technique is that under heavy braking you depress the brake to a position lower than the accelerator and end up hitting both. this isn't good .. especially on the street.

The second way is more like a "ball of foot on brake and lower half of foot on accel" technique. This technique uses a slightly less comfortable foot position (around 10:00) but give much more control and flexibility once you get used to it. It's also easy to get your "heel" out of the way under heavy braking. I learned then when I bought a pair of Pumas and the soles were not wide enough to use the previous technique.

Either way, I almost always rev-match or heel toe on the street. Yeah, brakes are cheaper than a clutch, but using engine braking correctly saves wear on both components and is the best approach. Proper rev-matching on the street wears the clutch very little and saves brakes as well, so it's a win win.

DAve4g64Mitsu

iTrader: (2)

Yeap i agree with u on that one 100% and less stress on the tranny as well and crank since the tranny isn't trying to force the crank to rev faster, rather then u use the gas to make combustion to rev up, it also saves motor abuse and motor damage as well

Evo IX MR

I have found it very useful to rev match & downshift and to heel-toe on a daily basis. It really saves my brakes because I barely have to use them because I downshift constantly. When I do need to use the brakes I will heel-toe also so that I barely have to touch the pedal. I have 23,000 miles and more than half of the life left on the pads with pretty agressive driving.

ldstang50

iTrader: (3)

I recently completed the Skip Barber 3 day race school at Limerock. On day one in the morning, you do a heel toe and double clutch exercise.
The cars we were using had no syncronizers in the transmission so we had to double clutch to get a smooth downshift.
Before getting into the motion, the reason you heel toe or double clutch is to get the car in its optimal power band for exiting a given corner.
If you don't understand that, think of it this way. You are coming down a straight at 130mph in 4th gear, you have to slow down to 50 to make your turn in. Since you will be going through the corner and exiting at a much slower speed than you are at entering you need to downshift to your optimal gear. Instead of braking then downshifting, you save time by downshifting while braking. But you can't just let go of the clutch when shifting to a lower gear w/o rev matching while cornering, there is where you get snap oversteer (in a RR car). So while you are at almost threshold braking you either roll your foot or turn your foot so you can press on the gas pedal to 'goose' the throttle to match the engine rpms in the lower gear with your wheel speed. This way you don't get clutch snap oversteer.

I was never able to get the double clutch downshift smoothly in the Formula cars, I just did a heel toe, making sure I got the rpms up before releasing the clutch for the lower gear. There is a lot of mechanics going on when doing a double clutch heel toe downshift. With todays transmissions being synchronized there is no need to to a double clutch downshift, you can just do a heel toe.

As far as daily drivng purposes the evo's pedals are spaced very nicely to do heel toe downshifting. What I mean is, you don't have to press on the brakes very hard to be close enough to reach the gas pedal comfortably to heel toe. We Evo owners are lucky in that respect.

RallyDave

Heel-toe is best learned daily driving if you ask me. You'll get used to it really quick, just be careful at first and make sure to hit the right pedals and keep plenty of distance from the cars around you If you want to really go fast, practice left foot braking at the same time.

TwStDeVo

iTrader: (62)

can someone explain all the processes of heel-toe-shifting? ive never done it but want to learn, also for brake boosting.