Kerry

I'm having a very hard time learning to heel toe. The pedals are too far apart (my feet are too narrow) to straddle both pedals and my leg hits the bottom of the steering wheel when I try to put my heel on the accelerator pedal.

Any suggestions?

Signed,
Clumsy

ZBlue996Kam

You might want to try side toe than heel toe.

You can use the right side of your foot to control the gas pedal. If you get really narrow foot, try the tilt you foot a little bit but use the side of your foot instead of heel of your foot.

wilam

Have you tried pointing your right foot/toe as far as you can to the left, such that your toe is on the brake and your heel is on the top portion of the gas pedal? It might be a little awkward but your foot should be long enough to reach both pedals and since the Porsche gas pedal is hinged at the floor, you get better control of the gas pedal. They taught this technique at PDE.

Palting

There have been numerous posts on this board regarding the gorgeous aftermarket pedals, such as RUF, techart. But, What I've found out is that under heavy braking, thet type you would need to do coming off the straight, the brake pedal is actually deeper than the tip of the gas pedal. At least this is on the C4S. I just rotate my heel towards the gas pedal, then roll a bit to the right, and I get the perfect blip to rev match. I still can't do it consistently, but I know it can be done. Try it with the car at a dead stop. Just push down hard on your brake pedal, and note where the gas pedal is. Unless there is something wrong with my car, the sole of your foot should end up lower than the tip of the gas pedal.

Kerry

Thank you for the ideas, gentlemen. I will give it a try.

Flying Finn

Wings Pedal looks something that might help you. Check Panorama, they have an ad there.

1AS

The Wings pedal is great on the 964 but is too wide for the 996 (I tried it on my tt). With the Wings pedal on the 996, it's hard not to hit the gas when you brake hard. It might be worth checking with them directly to see if the are making one more suited to the 996.
Palting's suggestion is the same way I do it. Bringing your heel to the right (kind of rotating it counter-clockwise) as you are preparing to blip is the way I'd explain it. By the way, it's much easier the faster you go and the harder you brake, and very difficult (and not necesary) at the street speeds yu'd like to practice at. The reason is that higher speeds equate to longer braking distances, and harder braking covers up any small jerking which occurs with minor mismatches in revs. AS

Flying Finn

Sorry, I didn't know that it doesn't fit with 996. About heel-toeing, I do it as Alexander & Palting have mentioned, feels much safer to me. (if you don't tilt you foot when doing this, you might slip your foot from the brake pedal while braking hard...)

RJay

A couple of further things to mention. One is that seating position can have a big impact on you're ability to H&T properply. Try experimenting with the height and angle of the seat, you may find a more effective location. The second thing is that I, and others (in fact several instructors at my local PCA have made a similar observation) have found is that due to the fairly wide vertical separation between the brake and gas pedals, it is very difficult to H&T on the street. The pedals are perfectly spaced when relatively serious force is applied to the brake (as in a track situation) but a light application of the brake pedal doesn't deflect it sufficiently for the pedal to be parallel or below to the accelerator, which makes it awkward to execute proper H&T technique. Hope this helps.

Karl S

There are actually two version of the Wings pedal for the 996 and I have tried them both. The extra wide version includes a lip at the top and might be perfect for someone with a narrow foot to be able to just roll their ankle to do the throttle blip. It was too wide for me and I would occasionally catch the throttle under hard braking (which is exactly the wrong time).

I have since installed their normal width pedal for the 996 and it works just fine for me. You can adjust the pedal in 3 dimensions to get it at just the right height and angle relative to the brake. I have mine as far down as it will go onto the gas pedal and cocked a little to the left. I can usually catch it with just an ankle roll but under very hard braking, I use my heel, because as someone else said, the brake pedal goes too far past the throttle to catch it with an ankle roll.

You may want to contact Wings and see if they'll send you one of the pedals and let you exchange it for the other width if it doesn't work for you.

Good luck.

Karl

Kerry

Thanks again for your very helpful replies. This is one board were you can find people who know of what they speak - very rare.

RJay - I'll try your suggestion about the seat as my leg hits the steering wheel now. It's good to know you have to use heavy braking for the pedals to be aligned. I knew Porsche must have setup the pedals correctly!

Karl S - Thanks for the info on the Wings pedals. If I still can't get the stock pedal to work I'll give them a try.

Tom 77

I bought the WINGS pedal but found it too high when used on the track. Rjay is right, the position of the pedals are perfect under heavy track braking but useless on the street. Modified the WINGS so its flush against the gas pedal and that works great. The real trick to Heel and Toe is move the seat real close and practice, practice. Lots of seat time