Race craft/heel toe help

[Vettel-ish]

I am going back to Blackhawk farms next week and I am struggling with turn 1 and turn 9.
Both are 90 degrees after a straight. The issue is heel toe. I know how to rev match downshift, however I do no know how to heel toe. So that being said I have been going into the turns getting hard on the brakes, letting off, coasting, then push clutch, shift to 3rd. then very slowly let off the clutch as the revs drop. At this point I am doing around 40. I did this too fast on a lap and the rear locked up a bit, really scared me.

Would you recommend braking early. Coasting and as I go to turn in rev match down shift and try and carry some speed though the corner?

My real concern is Road america next month where I can hit 150 plus. Dont want to lock up on a downshift and S^&% my pants. As I work on my craft I did reach out to these guys and bought this.
http://www.xineering.com/dbw.html
thoughts?

Here is my lap for reference. I appreciate the help!



I did ask honey badger already and thought I would ask the community as well.

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[Ewheels]

I had similar issues and the best advice I received from an instructor was practice, practice, practice.
I was about to get the Auto Blip thing but decided against it.

My instructor said when I'm driving my car around town (assuming your car is also streetable) heel-toe downshift EVERY SHIFT. I was horrible at first but after about a month, it was completely second nature. Obviously the track is not an ideal place to practice heel-toe so for this event coming, I would suggest braking early and get your shifts done sooner.


Additionally, I had problems getting my foot over far enough to roll onto the gas pedal. I bought the Steeda Heel-Toe gas pedal which simply extends the gas pedal closer to the brake pedal. This helped me A LOT

 

[Bridgie]

The Steeda heel toe plate is a worthy addition to the gas pedal too. If you don’t have the natural Ankle twist to brake and shuffle you foot over, this makes it so much easier, whilst still having the confidence of the ball of your foot on the brake.
Agree with the above, practice on every downshift whilst around town to become second nature, then start with one corner on the track to implement and go from there.

 

[NightmareMoon]

The Steeda heel toe plate is a worthy addition to the gas pedal too. If you don’t have the natural Ankle twist to brake and shuffle you foot over, this makes it so much easier, whilst still having the confidence of the ball of your foot on the brake.
Agree with the above, practice on every downshift whilst around town to become second nature, then start with one corner on the track to implement and go from there.

Agreed with the above. I have the steeda pedal and it helps if you don't have big feet, as the factory pedals are spaced apart to avoid accidental blipping of the throttle pedal while braking.

Practice practice practice! If you can rev match, you're more than half-way there.

you're going to make mistakes, especially under pressure at a track day, so give yourself a little room.

While attempting to heel the throttle pedal, make sure you're still giving the brakes 100% effort. That's hard to practice on the street tho (braking full pressure tends to surprise the traffic behind you) so make sure nobody is following if you're practicing hard.

Keep in mind that on the street you're not going to be as deep into the brakes as you will be on track, so the pedal alignment is going to be a little different. You'll be tempted to try to raise the gas pedal to make it easier to reach, but at the track this won't be a problem.

Also double-clutch downshifting is the next step after you learn to heel toe. Its the smoothest way to pull off a shift, so consider watching some vids on that too.

 

[FordMustacheGT]

I second the advice of heel-toeing every down shift when you’re driving around on the street as a way to build that muscle memory. My Mustang was my first stick shift car (I’d driven stick before, just not regularly) so I basically learned to heel-toe every shift under braking and I really don’t think twice about it.

You can use highway exit ramps to practice heel-toeing while under heavier braking, it’s fundamentally the same but it take a little practice to recalibrate to the higher brake pressure and greater throttle input that are required.

It’s also useful to practice the sequence of motions with the engine off. I’ve found that this helps me pay more attention to the actual pressure I’m putting on the throttle pedal. With the engine on I don’t notice the throttle input as much as I hear the engine rev.

 

[sabid23]

Rev matching on your down changes will certainly help avoid the rear end locking up. Heel and toe is a good solution but is also another skill to master - when there are already many other new skills to master in track driving!

You just want to lap as fast as you can but it can seem alien at first to effectively be doing two things with your right foot at the same time!

Getting better pedal ergonomics should help you here (as already suggested in this thread by @Ewheels ).

The autobliper you mention also seems like a good work around but I wonder if you are potentially adding unnecessary complexity to your car for the sake of some practise. Practise of a life skill you could then use in any car in the future?

If you do decide to give heel and toe (and I think you should tbh) then you might be surprised how little you really need to touch the throttle for it to be effective.

Worth baring in mind too @NightmareMoon 's recommendation about ensuring you prioritise the brake pedal.

When you start looking at performance data, drivers often release brake pressure when doing heel and toe downshifts. This results in lost lap time and potentially less stable car on entry. In that case the general recommendation is to focus on the brakes not the heel and toe.

I actually wrote up a bit more about this here but hopefully you have enough to go on here now? When you get it, it really does become second nature and a real driving asset. Best of luck and let us know how you get on!

https://www.yourdatadriven.com/heel-and-toe-2-ways-you-can-improve/

 

[Elp_jc]

Two things. First, 'heel-and-toeing' is MUCH easier at the track, since the brake and gas pedals are close to even. On the streets, it's a lot harder. My un-flexible heels don't allow me to do it... but if I added a throttle extension, there's no way I'd be accurate at the track, so it's a separate learning curve IMO. Hopefully you have flexible enough heels so you can practice it without any modifications, with both light and heavy braking, so you get the hang of how much ankle movement you need under different braking conditions. In addition, you need to practice with just ONE throttle mode, or there's no way you'd remember a myriad of combinations. So practice in the throttle mode (whether individual, or tied to a driving mode, like on regular Mustangs) you plan to drive at the track.

Finally, on your lap, you're leaving WAAAAAY too much time on the table by not downshifting. Sometimes you were even below 3K rpm, and accelerating from there. That's way out of the powerband, as you know. So you need to be in the right gear for maximum acceleration out of curves. Better slow in-fast out, than fast in-slow out. Hope this helps. Good luck.

 

[TopJimmyCooks]

Lots of good advice above. I would add:
1. If the rear wheels are locking up, you need to give it more gas. You can’t really give it too much gas, but you absolutely can give it too little (as you’ve experienced, and yes...that‘s a “pucker” moment. I’ve done it a number of times.)
2. If you don’t have them, get driving shoes. I was holding out thinking they were not necessary until I had an “off” as a result of a poorly executed heel-toe (not enough brake power due to soft running shoes). Since then, I’m all about the shoes when heel-toeing.

 

[TopJimmyCooks]

A couple of resources:
https://rmr.pca.org/heel-toe/
https://www.edmunds.com/how-to/heel-and-toe-downshift.html
Good luck!

 

[Brian@BMVK]

I'll second all the advice above. It takes practice and getting a feel for the muscle memory on the street is the best way. I have big feet so I do the whole foot roll rather than a true heel toe. Once you have the motion and feel down, it's time to do it while amping up the braking forces. As mentioned, make sure are doing this with some room from any traffic (and some speed!).

 

[Vettel-ish]

Going to try and improve slow in fast out for sure. I will practice a bit tomorrow with heel toe and see it i cant get it like 10% figured out.

 

[fatbillybob]

I used to heel toe left foot brake now I race a paddle shift car. I never used my heel but the right side of my foot rolling to the gas in place of the heel. That is easier and alllows more precise throttle. pedal position is everything with the gas pedal height set up for the brake pedal height near lock-up/ABS. A mismatch here makes for difficult heel toe.

Here is some insipration:

 

[Dana Pants]

I used to heel toe left foot brake now I race a paddle shift car. I never used my heel but the right side of my foot rolling to the gas in place of the heel. That is easier and alllows more precise throttle. pedal position is everything with the gas pedal height set up for the brake pedal height near lock-up/ABS. A mismatch here makes for difficult heel toe.

Here is some insipration:

I can’t believe the crowds he has to drive through. The world isn’t like that any more.

 

[NeverSatisfied]

While practicing on the street is nice, I’ve found it not that helpful when it comes to track time. The brake pedal is at a substantially different height And pedal pressure on the street vs track.

heel-toe is a bit of a misnomer in my opinion. I’m a size 9 shoe and no pedal extensions. I press the brake with the left side “ball” of my foot and roll the right side of my foot to the throttle by rotating my ankle. My foot’ basically at a ~30 degree angle left of vertical.

one thing I’ve seen consistently as newer drivers downshift is doing it too early in the braking zone. I try to time it so I’m complete just before turn in and initiation of trail braking.

the advantage of waiting is you are lower in the rev range which allows you to be less precise with the rev match without upsetting the car and it puts less stress on synchros.

 

[Radiation Joe]

I used to heel toe left foot brake now I race a paddle shift car. I never used my heel but the right side of my foot rolling to the gas in place of the heel. That is easier and alllows more precise throttle. pedal position is everything with the gas pedal height set up for the brake pedal height near lock-up/ABS. A mismatch here makes for difficult heel toe.

Here is some insipration:

This is the version of that video that I always associate Audi rally with. You have to like the band Bush to appreciate it.

I can’t believe the crowds he has to drive through. The world isn’t like that any more.

When I was 8 years old (Can-Am was current) and unsupervised, my friend and I crossed between what used to be turns 8 and 9 (now 10 and 11) at Laguna during a race.

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