Heel & Toe... are you any good???.....

[lsop]

This was the video i meant to post up :oops:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxkQmcDsulU

Amazing video showing the heel and toe and also the left foot braking. How do they drive like that with everyone standing so close! Its bad enough doing a blue light run through Norwich in a Volvo, like we had to on Monday afternoon! Choc-A-Block from Boundary to City Centre!

[ScoobieWRX]

I have a shedload of respect for the police and am in awe at times of the difficult job you guys do, especially on some of these pursuits or when on call to attend in busy traffic. I genuinely wish there were more of you on the roads.

However...i am deeply jealous of the fact you also get to practice your Heel & Toe technique, regularly, and in anger. Not fair!! :lol:

[DunkRA]

ive tried it a few times on track but never really got anywhere with it

[lsop]

However...i am deeply jealous of the fact you also get to practice your Heel & Toe technique, regularly, and in anger. Not fair!! :lol:

Heel and Toe is something that they dont teach and something I wouldn't really want to use at work in the Volvo's. We are taught the system of car control which is sorting everything out (position, speed, gear) before the hazard/corner. We are taught to change gears via double clutch / rev match after you've brake to get your speed off, just not both at the same time.

I drive totally different at work than I do on a track. Heel & Toe for the track though no probs

How long til my next ring trip.....Couple of weeks!! :lol: :lol:

[Maxx]

Practice.

I guess Maxx might have a proper guide written down.

Again, quick apologogy for not being around as much as i'd like, hence responding to this post .. anyway ..

Good stuff being said, especially about using the side of your foot rather than the traditional "pidgeon-toe" heel blip method. The problem with this is that as you press down with your heel, you naturally release some of the pressure with the toe (as your foot pivots in the centre. This costs more, in terms of uneven braking, than it gains.

As Bladey suggested I do have "something" written down some time ago, in one of my track coaching follow-up email, I did this bit of text which covers the technique "a bit" with quite a good slo-mo video animation but also, and IMO more importantly, it discusses WHEN to do it (i.e. timing). The other thing is that it is very difficult to practice this technique in your road car as you are not braking hard from max revs (are you now boys :twisted: ) If you are not pressing the brake quite hard there is nothing to brace your foot against, it's not impossible with a medium brake but more difficult and will often put someone off from even trying. In saying that, if you want to learn it then by all means try it on the road, just to get the feel of moving the foot in this way, but don't get disheartened that it's so hard to do. On track, just try it on one particular corner at first and pay attention to the timing stuff in the following text.

On the h&t, I think it's just a case of
waiting too long to actually do it. You have the general technique I feel. This is
a good description (with animation) of the technique :
http://www.trackdayracing.co.uk/heel&toe.htm
But what it doesn't say or demonstrate is WHEN.
I have some text about "when" which I have copied below :

For optimum downchange using H&T you try and engage the lower gear at a point at which it
would be using (v.close to) maximum revs. Take a 4th to 3rd change on a car with say max usable
revs of 7,000. You'd brake, dip clutch, rev engine to 7,000 and a bit as you simultaneously engaged
3rd gear and let the clutch back out as you come off the gas. This means you also benefit from the
engine braking effect in 3rd gear plus the revs you were pulling in 4th gear don't die down quite
as much as if you'd left the change longer.

Now what you were generally suffering from was the revs dieing too much after you'd
started braking, you needed to do the h&t and downchange much earlier. Because the revs
and speed had died so much you were actually getting more of a "push" from the h&t
downchange, rather than a slowing down effect. The good news is, IMO, it's much easier
doing it sooner rather than later as it takes less "precision" on the gas pedal. Basically,
you press it to the floor, whereas if you are looking to rev to say 4 or 5k you have to be
much more precise and with a variable brake pedal, thats very difficult.

Maxx

[ScoobieWRX]

I'll keep practicing then. However...i still get the lurch towards the window when pressing the accelerator pedal because the break pedal gets pressed even more than it was as the same time.

I'm sure in a couple of millenia i should get the hang of it.

Maxx, Thanks for the link to the website, looks a very useful read and the demo was interesting if a bit short. There must be some larger format video's somewhere that clearly show H&T in detail while used in anger.

Perhaps the next time you're racing you might film your feet in action for us novices to see clearly.
Nice one :thumb:

[Tommy]

I find I'm fine with H&T on the road but there's more practice required when I'm on track. This is because I'm braking so much harder so my foot is positioned much further 'in' and so the relationship has changed to the accelerator.

Practice practice practice!

[TubbyTwo]

do this alot in the MR2, pedals are spaced just right for it 8)

when done properly its great on a decent B road 8) 8)

[Rob S]

I find it easy in my E34, and difficult in the E30, for me its all down to the pedal spacing.

[Bladerider]

for me its all down to the pedal spacing.

No sh1t Sherlock !!



Im surprised you're not pressing the clutch and winding up the windows with your knee at the same time !!



J.