burton@fortune.UUCP (04/20/84)
#N:fortune:1500035:000:345
fortune!burton Apr 19 18:15:00 1984
-0-
I've heard about "heel-and-toe" driving, but I've never been able to accom-
plish that in one year of driving a 280ZX. Any suggestions?
Philip Burton 101 Twin Dolphin Drive-MS 133
Fortune Systems Redwood City, CA 94065 (415) 595-8444 x 526
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{ihnp4 [ucbvax | decvax!decwrl]!amd70 harpo hpda }!fortune!burtonstekas@hou2g.UUCP (J.STEKAS) (04/20/84)
Heel-and-toeing is done when downshifting and breaking at the
same time. This keeps you in the right (low) gear for coming
hard out of corners. I'm sure everyone & his brother will post
something on this but here's how to heel-and-toe.
Picture this - I'm braking hard to slow down for a corner
with the ball of my right foot on the brake. To downshift
I push in the clutch peddle with my left foot while rotating
my breaking foot c-clockwise until my heel is over the throttle
peddle - all the time I'm hard on the brake. As I downshift
I use my heel to tap the throttle and bring the revs up to what's
needed for the next lower gear. Let up the clutch and your in
the right gear. The process is the same as normal downshifting
accept that the shift occurs while your still on the brake.
To make this work, you need to adjust the brake and throttle
peddles so that when you brake hard the brake and throttle are even
with each other. Then practice until you get a feeling for how many revs
you need in different situations. Wind the engine up slightly more
than you need to get a jolt of acceleration when you let then clutch up.
Use less revs if you want to add engine braking as well.
The important trick is to TAP the throttle to get the revs up.
NEVER use your heel to maintain high revs for a prolonged period.
If you're using your heel to keep up the revs it means you started
the process to early. Also it isn't the bottom of the heel which
works the throttle but usually the side of it. In my case, I like
to catch the edge of the throttle with the bump of my ankle. Just
experiment until you find a comfortable way of working both peddles
at the same time.
Jimstekas@hou2g.UUCP (J.STEKAS) (04/26/84)
>Without going into any detail, the actions Jim has described >as "heel-toeing" are almost completely wrong. >Roger Webster Yes, I admit some of what I said gave some wrong impressions about heel-toeing. Those things happen when you start to think briefly about what has become a reflex action and start typing away. To clarify - Heel-toeing is a technique for downshifting SMOOTHLY while breaking hard. It should be used for setting up the car BEFORE a turn, NOT at the cornering limit. Jolts of braking or acceleration are NOT the goal of heel-toeing, they are they result of improper technique. After reading about all the recent liability decisions, I better add that only professional drivers trained at expensive European driving schools should even consider using this technique - and then only with written permission from their mother and Bob Bondurant. Well EXCUUUSE me! Jim
sysred@psuvax.UUCP (Ralph Droms) (04/27/84)
Depending on the arrangement of a car's pedals (and my feet), I sometimes
find it easier to toe-and-heel with my heel on the brake and my toe on
the accelerator. The braking "feel" is not as sensitive; but cars
on which this method is necessary are rarely much fun to drive at
10/10ths, anyway. E.g., a nicely executed toe-and-heel downshift,
followed my a smooth acceleration through an early apex, just isn't
as much fun in my Omni as in my Bugeye Sprite (which, of course, has
its pedals arranged for easy heel-and-toeing).
--
Ralph Droms
Computer Science Department (814) 865-9505
312 Whitmore Lab {allegra,ihnp4,akgua}!psuvax!sysred
The Pennsylvania State University sysred@penn-state (csnet)
University Park, PA 16802 sysred@psuvax1 (bitnet)