Seriously, I don't think that there's any one "right" way to drive on the street. It depends on traffic patterns, driver skill and driver "what I feel like doing". My original post was about a balance between spirited driving and engine wear. Also, is a Porsche some kind of strange animal that likes and needs to be driven hard to stay healthy. Question answered by concensus.

Heel and toe is cool. it's a useful skill if you're racing and facilitates rev matching if you're hustling. In south Florida, traffic is such that I'm stopping and going more than I'm going and turning. I find that the need to downshift occurs when I decide to pass someone on the highway, meaning I'm speeding up rather than slowing down. I know some kind of rev-matching takes place but it's not a heel and toe.

Anybody ever have the opportunity to rev match on the way up the gears, and not use the clutch at all? I learned this years ago driving around Manhattan in an old AMC Gremlin manual. You can also downshift without the clutch if you match the revs just right and apply just the right amount of pressure to the shift lever. I think it was a trick developed for long distance road or track races to save the clutch. I don't see the need (read:have the *****) to try it on my Porsche, but since we're talking about shifting...

 

Driving a shifter kart. You only use the clutch to start, after that it's all rpms and bangin gears, up and down

 

Sounds like fun. I've read that many F1 drivers came up on shifter karts and recommend them as great practice for getting familiar with race car dynamics.

 

Going up the gears the transmission input shat is spinning slower then the crank. By letting *off* the throttle you are effectively rev matching.

I've shifted all my manuals at one time or another without using the clutch, including my Porsches.

Going up is easy, going down is harder, matching the revs exactly is critical.

In a street box, the synchros get in the way and take a lot of abuse. Real race boxes have straight cut gears and, correct me if I'm wrong, either no synchros or a different syle of synchro that is designed to be used without a clutch.

I used to shift my old MkI Jetta without a clutch to save my left leg. That box was nice and loose and the car was worth like $1000 at the most so I wasn't too worried about it anyway. Rev matched the shifts and never a grind up or down.

Its a good skill to have if and when the clutch hydraulics fail. Just last year I drove my Audi Allroad across town from my house to the shop where I had the repairs made. Did it late at night to avoid traffic. I had to stop three times. In that case I shut the car down, put it in first and used the starter motor to get the car going. Clutchless shifts after that. The audi 6 speed is overbuilt so it handled it fine.

 

Yeah, I had lots of confidence shifting my $500 Gremlin uo and down. It takes more guts going down - you push the stick towards neutral while you let off the gas. Pop, your in neutral. Then you rev back up with pressure on the stick towards the gear you hope to end up in. When things line up just right, Pop, you're in the next lower gear. Fun? Used to be. Useful? Not much every day but if you ever entered a 24 Hours of Daytona and you bled out your clutch hydraulics...

 

Since I do several DE's a year, I fall in the Heel and Toe group when street driving. Why? Because I discovered long ago that at ANY speed, as long as you keep practicing, you will do much better at the track when the time comes. Heel and toe, rev-matching when downshifting, double clutching, etc are all common skills taught by very reputable driving schools such as Skip Barber, where I graduated from the advanced racing school a decade ago. From the beginning, the instructors maintained that when driving your street car on the street at normal speeds, you should still use all the techniques so that they are still fluid each time you arrive at the track.

They were absolutely correct.

I have had 10 years since then to try it both ways (doing it vs not doing it), and as a result I focus now on downshifting with rev-matching (it actually is better for the synchros that way), double clutching down (actually better for the clutch and flywheel that way), and reading and driving "the line" when ever I go around curves on the road. Any road.

As for the non-track drivers, you can do whatever you like. Lucky for you, Porsche has some of the best synchos in the business so you can do whatever you like when it comes to upshifting and downshifting.

Just don't bang UP through the gears like a drag racer.

If 0 to 60 is how you measure your manhood on the street, buy a muscle car.

 

*sigh*

At some level, this commentary and related examples illustrate the distinction between being able to drive (having the minimum skill set to get a license) and actually being a good driver. There is a difference. [Interesting side note here]

For example: say you are cruising on the insterstate in the middle lane at the speed limit (65) in 6th gear and a car in front of you brakes hard forcing you to do so as well. Then, you need to swerve to avoid something in the road, or the car in front. If you are still in 6th, you will be hard pressed to do anything except change lanes. If there is a fast(er) car approaching, you won't be able to accelerate much and you might create another unexpected situation. But, if you were a natural at heel-toe, you could grab 5th, or 4th, or even 3rd and be in the right power band to safely avoid the situation and prevent another one from developing.

Of course, this is just one example, and there are many others.

Please keep in mind that no one is saying heel-toe MUST be done. But, IMO, its pretty closed minded to say it should NEVER be done, or "it's ridiculous," or "reckless," or people are "idiots." Those are pretty strong words for something that is admittedly not understood.
-td

 

Jake, if you're reading this post, I think it would be interesting to retell your experiences running your 996 at redline.

Also your take on revving the car near redline often in daily driving.

 

Slow in and fast out. Repeat often.

 

That's what she said?

 

Rev matching during everyday driving I get. Heel toe? Well...........Nope, I'm good. I'll stick with my original statement(s).
Rev matching is not the same as heel toe, at least not by definition. Heel toe is when part of your foot (the toe) is on the brake, and the other (the heel) is on the accelerator pedal so you can brake and blip the throttle as needed. Something that is definitely necessary when coming into a corner from a high speed/high gear position. It's important to be able to get down into the proper gear for the corner and to do it quickly ergo the need for one foot on two pedals.

And, I don't recall saying it should NEVER be done.

Look, I get it. I know the "heel toe" guys, I've meet them. They tell me how great their carbon fiber ashtray lid is and how the $8K wheels they just put on make them go faster. And, I'm sure they heel toe all the time.

 

Sweet.

-td

 

I thought the heel and toe was actually like the Chevy Chase skit - you don't actually blow... I think you use the right toes to brake, the left toes to blip the gas. Your heel stays on the floor as a fulcrum. I could be all wet here, but I don't see how your heel can be used for either gas or brake in this maneuver. I should probably try a driver's ed course but for now, can anyone shed light on this method?

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Because shifts over 4000 rpm in 4th put me way over the posted speed limits here in Florida.

 

Hi Mark;

In some cars it works to brake with ***** of the foot (the toes) and then catch the accelerator with your heel. The old 911 is set up so you *can* do it that way because the gas pedal hinges right off the floor, but few, if any, people do it that way because it requires significant contortion of the foot and because you don't have the fine control of the throttle at the pivot point..

Likewise - in old Italian cars the gas pedal hung up from under the dash way up high. In that case you could brake with your heel and twist your toes over to catch the accelerator. That's most likely where the saying comes from.

The most common way nowadays, and the way that comes as second nature to those of us who heel and toe every downshift (like a lot of people here I have to consciously try to not do it) is to apply the brake with the ball of the foot under your big toe at the edge of the brake pedal closest to the throttle. That puts the ball of the foot under your baby toe right on the throttle pedal. Your foot straddles the two pedals you see.

Then you can wobble your foot side to side to blip the throttle and modulate the brake pedal as necessary.

Porsche pedals are (or should be) set up so that when the brake is down hard it is exactly even with the throttle pedal at the top of it's stroke.

No, your heel will not be on the floor board - just as it isn't now when you brake normally.

It becomes second nature after a while and contrary to what you may have read here, it does make for a smoother ride and it's easier on the machinery.

Carry on good sir.