Heel and Toe shifting

Here's a good thread on it. http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5500

Here's a thread on double clutching http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12884

Here's a good article with pictures http://www.edmunds.com/ownership/howto/articles/45792/article.html

 

Using the heel of your right foot to apply the brakes while, at the same time, using the toes of your right foot to dip the throttle; all this while your left foot is working the clutch... This comes in handy, for example, when going through a turn; keep the revs high, this way when you shift and declutch, you get more power coming out of the turn...

 

Let's see if I can explain this in a manner that's understandable. Heel and toe shifting is used when racing to "blip" the engine to bring the revs up when downshifting. When you are braking hard and need to downshift, if you simply step on the brake and push in the clutch, revs will drop. Then when you downshift and let the clutch out, you'll lose traction on the rear wheels.

So, to avoid that, you have to hit the gas pedal while downshifting to match the revs of the engine to what they will be in the new lower gear.

To do this, you hit the brake with the ball of your right foot. As you move the gearshift into neutral, you let out the clutch, "blip" the gas with the right side of your right foot (or, if you have room and depending on pedal configuration, the side of your heel), then push the clutch back in. That way, as you slide into the lower gear and let the clutch out, the revs are up and you don't lock up the rear wheels. The whole time, you're keeping pressure on the brake with the ball of your foot.

Does that make any sense? In the good old days, before sychromesh transmissions, this was called double clutching and allowed you to downshift without chewing up the gears. It takes a little practice, but once you get the feel of it, it's not that hard.

Hope that helps.

Steve W.

 

I was taught to use the ball of your right foot and big toe to depress the brake leaving the right side of your right foot to reach the accelerator. Once the brake has been engaged to the threshold you need, you will clutch-in, neutral clutch-out, ROLL your right knee out to get that right side of your foot to "blip" the accelerator (and do it hard, no wimpy blips), clutch-in shift and clutch out. Slide right foot off the brake and go.

NOW I have to perfect left foot braking for the SMG!

 

LOL Sounds like you and I went to two different racing schools. I was taught to brake with the ball of the foot, blip with the heel. Sounds like you were taught just the opposite. Two ways to skin a cat, I guess. Should be interesting to see the concensus which way is more popular.

 

This is impossible for anyone with a larger than size 6 shoe on a car with properly placed pedals. It's all bass ackwards as you need the "feel" part of your foot (the toes) to be on the brakes trying to find the fine line between lockup and traction and the "numb" part of your foot (the heel) smashing the throttle to blip the revs up.

Anyway, to answer the original poster's question, when braking hard for a corner, you must use 3 feet. Clutch to downshift, brake to slow down, and throttle to blip the engine to match the revs in the lower gear. You do this by working both the clutch and throttle with your right foot.

If you have no idea why you'd need to blip the throttle, then let us know cause that's a lot of typing to do and I'd rather not have to if you already know why.

Bill in Brooklyn

 

I don't use my heel or my toe. I find it easier to use the sides of my right foot. It works best with sneakers, thanks to their width and the added friction of their sole material.

Part of the fun of driving a 6-speed Ferrari through the twisties is trying to improve one's heel and toe technique!

 

You must have some right foot!

 

I'll give you the long version....

"heel and toe" refers to a technique used to achieve smooth downshifts with a manual transmission. Once upon a time this technique was mandatory to avoid grinding the gears on any downshift, but the invention of the syncromesh transmission (thank you Dr. Porsche) eliminated the requirement to double clutch your downshifts..... and double clutching is where "heel and toe" originally came into play. Today most cars dont require double clutching but the "heel / toe" method is still crucial to smooth driving on the track in particular. First, some info on how this came about and why, then details on why it is so important today.

HEre is a dramatic oversimplification: When you are driving along the driveshaft coming out of the transmission is spinning along at a different rpm than input shaft coming from the clutch/flywheel which is spinning at engine rpm. When you shift gears, the two meshing gears are thus spinning at different rpm. Syncromesh slows the gears and assists them in meshing without grinding. When downshifting you end up with the two shafts spinning at very different speeds and the syncromesh really has to work to help them mesh. BUT.... you can really speed up this process while at the same time eliminating the need for the syncromesh to work so hard (and prevent it from wearing out) by double clutching your downshifts.

So.... what is double clutching? Lets assume your driving your manual shift Ferrari and your in 3d gear flying toward a tight corner. You get hard on the brakes and shift to 2nd gear. To do so, you press in the clutch, move the gear lever from 3d to 2nd and let out the clutch. Inside the transmission the input shaft and output shafts were spinning at very different rpms and your syncromesh did lots of work. Also... if you didnt keep the revs up a bit during the shift when you dropped the clutch the car lurched about badly (very bad.... more on this later). To avoid this.... you could have used "heel and toe" and double clutched the downshift: clutch pedal in, take the car out of third gear, let the clutch pedal out, blip the throttle, press the clutch pedal back in, put the gear lever into 2nd, let the clutch back out. This is done as one VERY fast and smooth action. IT sounds like lots of actions.... its not. Its ONE action done as fast as you can once your good at it. It is also done while you are hard on the brakes!

So.... I am hard on the brakes, I am pressing the clutch in and out 2 times and at the same time I am blipping the throttle.... and I only have 2 feet. How? "Heel and Toe". While your left foot is operating the clutch, your right foot does the brakes and blips the throttle at the same time. You have the balls of your feet on the brake and when you need to blip the throttle during the downshift you roll your foot to the right and depress the throttle pedal with the side of your foot while maintaining brake pressure. Thus you can modulate the brakes and at the same time be blipping the throttle during your downshifts.

Now.... today most cars have extremely effective syncromesh transmissions and there is no need to double clutch to get a smooth shift. I went to the effort to explain how double clutching works because its STILL a good idea. When you get good at it, you can downshift while double clutching even faster than normal AND you are placing far less wear on the transmission because you are matching the rpms of the input/output shafts manually rather than making the syncromesh do all the work itself. In my Daytona, my 911S and all the other cars I have owned I double clutch all my downshifts.

Why is "Heel and Toe" so critical? When your flying into a corner at maximum velocity and you want to get through the corner at the highest possible speed the last thing you want to do is upset the balance of the car. If you just nail the brakes, slam it into 2nd from 3d and drop the clutch.... the car is going to lurch a bit. This lurching from the shift, even if its just a TINY bit of a lurch.... represents weight transfer across the vehicle. If your at maximum cornering velocity... you have all 4 of your tires at or close to maximum grip. Now your little bitty lurch loads one tire up a tiny bit more. Ooooooops. That tire now loses grip....the others are thus overloaded and lose grip.... and you spin or worse. When you are on the ragged edge of tire adhesion you CANNOT do anything that will cause unwanted weight transfer across the vehicle!

But... if you had used "Heel & Toe" to blip the throttle just the right amount during that downshift while braking so that when you released the clutch into 2nd gear the revs had matched just perfectly.... neither you nor the car would have felt a thing. No lurch at all.... no weight transfer.... no unwanted loading of a tire.... no spin.....BUT you are able to carry more speed through the corner. SOMEONE WHO IS NOT USING THIS TECHNIQUE WILL NEVER BE AS FAST AS SOMEONE WHO HAS MASTERED IT!

Thus as you can see, if you drive a pure manual shift transmission and you really want to go fast... you MUST learn to effectively "Heel & Toe". Besides... its fun! Also you should learn to double clutch your downshifts. When you have it down it DOES give a faster shift and is less effort on your transmission and it gives a much smoother shift because by double clutching your requiring far less work from the syncros.

Remember.... when it counts ALL of this is about getting a perfectly smooth downshift.

One of the huge advantages of the F1 semi-auto transmission is that the computer does this rev matching for you. No longer is a smooth downshift and thus the maximum velocity through a given corner depend purely on the skill of the driver.... now with the F1 transmissions the computer does it for you. When you pull that lever the computer automatically operates the clutch, selects the gears and matches the engine revs to achieve a perfect and smooth shift. Meanwhile the ABS system prevents the ham fisted driver from getting too hard on the brakes and the stability control system prevents the moron from pitching the car off the track. The computer is just about driving the freaking car for you!

Yuck.



Terry

 

There is of course no "right" footing to heel toe. Every car's pedals are placed differently so all of us may use different techniques. There is, however, a "right" result that, no matter how you place your right foot, we all obtain differently.

 

Doht!! Brake and throttle dammit ... brake and throttle.

But thanks for the comment on my foot ... my shoe seems to think so.

Bill in Brooklyn

 

Bingo, it depends on the car and how the pedals are placed and the size of your feet. I wear a 13AAA and on most cars my preference is to use the ball of the foot on the brake and the heel on the gas; if the pedals are close, you can use both sides of your foot, but I do not think this is as accurate for braking.

 

Actually, i never went to racing school - how i explained it is just the way i was told... Quite frankly, i don't do it that way, myself... Like someone else mentioned, i use the side of my foot... In any case, it's not something i do a whole lot, anyway... Most times, i break enough that can take my foot off of the brake; from there, i just dip the throttle, shift, declutch and call it a day...

 

Braking to the slow the car down, throttle to get the revs up ('cause since you're not yet in gear, the throttle will only rev, not accelerate the car) so once you ARE in gear, the revs are already up there and you can just take off...

 

Don't forget that your clutch is in at this point. After you've braked enough, and have blipped the throttle to get to the expected revs for the lower gear (or in the ballpark at least), the clutch comes out.

btw, ideally, you want to do all of this before entering the curve -- shifting during the curve can upset the car's balance.

 

I would think of it like this. When you downshift normally (without braking) you always blip the throttle to match the revs before releasing the clutch right? If not you should

Figure when you downshift the RPM will go up about by about +/- 1,000rpm depending on what car you are in. Mine increases by about 1,000rpm so when I downshift I usually bit the throttle to about 1,500rpm higher because by the time I let release the clutch my rpms will have dropped slightly as a result of me not keeping my foot on the gas. This idea usually makes for a seemless downshift when practiced.

When trying to learn and practice heel toe downshifting, go to a very deserted area (even a parking lot practicing 3rd to second downshifts). Take things VERY slowly...speed will come with practice and precision.

Say you are cruising in 3rd at 5,000rpm and want to heel toe.

You're not on a race track yet, so gently apply the brakes. When it comes time to downshift:

1- Push the clutch in

2-However you need to (depends on what car you are in, and your feet size), quickly blip the throttle to about 1,000 MORE than your current rpm. Again, how much rpm you should blip the throttle to is unique for every car. The amount you should blip the throttle when downshifting is also dependent on how much pressure you are applying on the brakes

3-After you blip the throttle quickly, move the gear lever into the lower gear

4-As soon as the lever is in the right gear, release the clutch. If you blipped the thorttle properly and gave it the right amount of power, you shouldnt feel any sort of jerk. The ultimate goal is to not be able to feel your downshift at all.

The key is being slow at first and working on being as smooth as possible. Ferraris aren't super forgiving, and its no fun to damage the gear synchros or clutch. So if you have another manual transmission car (preferably a sports car) I would reccomend practicing on it first.

One of these days Im going to make a detailed video about how to heel toe. Having people visually see whats happening helps tremendously! Its so hard to describe a technique like this; we all learn and teach things differently. For me it just took reading a thread like this and going out and practicing for a couple of days to get the technique down. All it takes is more time and practice to do it well consistently. When you do learn though, it will be one of the greatest feelings ever! You feel much more connected with the car!

 

And where do you need this going to work? I've raced balls to the wall numerous times & never had a problem or need w/ fancy footwork. What gives?

 

i recently raised this same question to an automotive veteran and he basically said there's absolutely no need for it unless you're racing as it's really only a time saving trick - and by time i mean, a few seconds...

With that said, i don't know if this is done any longer in F1 since they're using F1 gearboxes; i don't know if there's a "heel/toe" type of method to driving with an F1 box...

 

Ill do it!