ur-n-8

Any advice on learning how to "blip" while braking on down shifts? Hoping to do some track days and any advice would be appreciated. Also if any advice on peddle placement.

Wheelman916

Wear flexible comfortable shoes. Heel toe

Wheelman916

At speed, on track

brigade24

even with my super small feet..i don't feel i have enough room for proper heel-toe.

i use pedals that widen so all you do is an "ankle" roll type of thing...i think razo makes them. i gottem from amazon.

Joseph Freda

Practice while driving on the street. You need to build up the muscle memory on how to do it without thinking about it. There is so much going on at the track, it is not the time to try it out.

FASTFATBOY

iTrader: (23)

Something you don't need to do on track for a very long time. This is for very advanced drivers.

You only use 3rd and 4th gear on 95% of tracks in these cars anyway.

As a beginner, you can leave the car in 4th gear on most tracks.

Midnight02

iTrader: (8)

With a size 14 shoe and the very little room we have to work in our cars I've simply accepted this isn't a technique I will learn any time soon.

79_T/A

iTrader: (1)

Listen to fastfatboy. These cars have torque, use it to your advantage. Also, high RPM engine breaking just makes brake hop worse in these cars anyway. Let the brakes do the work.

Joseph Freda

I kinda agree, but not entirely. Heel toe braking is not the first thing to master in the car. It is much more important to learn how to find and use the optimum line, get the feel for the car in the corners while making "g's". Heel toe is for the more advanced driver once you make it HPDE 3 level. However, heel toe is needed to get that last couple of seconds a lap out of the car. Coming off the brakes to push in clutch for down shifts really upsets the balance of the car on corner entry. I can heel toe but personally I never got really good at it. When ever I would blip the throttle, I would loose fine braking control. This would not work for street cars, but what eventually worked best for me was going to a dog ring transmission. Then I didn't need to use the clutch. I learned how to left foot brake, blip the throttle, and pull on the shifter, and off you go. It had a huge effect on my lap times. I can hover my left foot over the brake, and use the brake and throttle simultaneously to balance the car. If any one has done any go kart racing, you know what I'm talking about. Again this is not for the beginner, but for the driver looking to get the last little bit of time out of the car.

EchoMirage

iTrader: (3)

exactly.

i dont 'heel toe', i roll my ankle, hitting the gas with half my foot. practice with every single downshift on the street first. a messed up downshift on the track could wreck your trans, rear, motor, or lead to a spin and total wreck.

ur-n-8

Thanks for the advice. I can see that a shoe with more feel would be helpful.

orthopod

iTrader: (1)

I learned real quick my first event what a big advantage (after taking the proper line, braking correctly, etc.) being able to heel toe downshift is because I could not heel toe and I had my instructor who obviously could drive my car and it was a completely different animal headed into and coming out of the turns. Now I am practicing every single time I downshift on the street. I have been over to Alan Blaine's (who is an AMAZING wealth of information BTW) shop nearly every night for the past week getting some things done on the car and wrenching alongside him and one of the biggest things we have focused on is cockpit ergonomics (recaro profi spg seat mount positioning, a new hurst stick modified by him, pedal that he developed, shift **** he developed, etc.). Part of that is a improved gas pedal that he fabricates for the F body (I will start a build thread soon and post pics) that improves the space relationship between the brake and gas pedal for a proper heel toe downshift. It has made a huge difference and is some of the best money that I have spent on the car.