BBMGT3

I don't think its an exaggeration. Thats why you need to practice every single time you get into the car. Within a few hundred attempts one or two will feel good. Then you'll keep doing it. 60,000 is maybe when you can actually modulate brake pressure perfectly, be shifting from 5th - 2nd, and have someone filling your mirrors, and be on someone's bumper going for the pass.

I've been working on it now for about 6 months, and I try to H/T every single shift I do - period. Am getting better.

Veloce Raptor

IMO the biggest challenge to heel-toe, once you get the basic mechanics & timing down, is to avoid having your right foot come partially off the brake pedal while blipping the throttle. This can really unsettle the car (among other side effects), is slower, and appears on data graphs as the classic double-spike brake profile.

BBMGT3

so true. Gets harder the more gears you need to go through, and WHICH gears. 4-3 is now dead easy. 3-2 is trickier (not sure why). 4-3-2 is harder still and finally 5-4-3-2 is the worst, practically guaranteed in my case to lose brake pressure between shifts...

KaiB

Spend a lifetime driving "chitfercars" which won't idle, have no brakes (i.e. must pump brakes, double clutch because syncros are gone and stall if the revs go down) and you get good in a hurry! Anyway...

...you really can speed up your learning curve by training 100% of the time you're in a vehicle of any kind. In your DD with auto trans, brake with your right foot in the H/T configuration (i.e. half half, whatever it takes to do it, force it).

In your wife's car, the configuration will be different - do it.

If your DD is a shifter, do it always...at idle at red lights, practice holding the brake and reving gently. Practice very light braking and very light reving to get a feel....practice hard braking and light reving and the inverse.

Practice a really smooth double clutch from second to first when driving into a stop sign using heel/toe....really smooth at first and then quicker and quicker.

Do it always, 100%. You don't need a track and a Porsche.

Matt Romanowski

If you are a foot roller, an important thing to remember is to keep your heal planted on the floorboard. Lifting your heal removes our reference plain and makes it tough to keep consistent brake pressure.

KaiB

Iffn yer heal is on the floorboard, then where does the tow go?

Veloce Raptor

On the tow hook

Matt Romanowski

Heel on the floor, big toe on the brake, pinky toed on the gas.

Like this. Maybe it only works if you have loafers

KaiB

Matt, you must be an engineer.

Matt Romanowski

Nope. I'm missing something, but not sure what it is!

KaiB

Perhaps that the humor had been replaced with the "loafers" video and coment about heel (heal) position on the floor.

Your response was so dry, I wondered that perhaps you might have been lost in second order functions. Most certainly no to worry.

Disagree about the heel position on the floor making modulation more precise though.

Matt Romanowski

You wouldn't be the first person accusing me of having a dry sense of humor!

Interesting about the heel. It's in a couple of books and I find it helps students a lot. Also, if you look at lots of sports racers and formula cars, they put a peice of metal tube on the floor just for a heel rest. But, I would guess depending on technique, everyone is different.

guardsredcab

To me, the most interesting thing in the video Matt posted (other than the loafers of course) was how dramatic Senna's movements were in modulating the throttle coming out of corners. I always thought the movements were supposed to be as smooth as possible so as to not upset the car. But, he's stabbing at it, coming all the way off, etc.

Veloce Raptor

IIRC, the NSX understeered badly, especially on those old street tires. So it appears he is using aggressive tthrottle steering to get it to turn.

jkb157

Dave,I am entering my 3rd year of racing in pca.At present I do not have a data system and I am wondering how important it is if when using a coach?