i had a few questions about heel toe driving. i researched a lot about it and tried doing it today but it didnt work out that well here are a few questions:
- what is the best way to pratice
- my feet are some what big(11.5) does that make it harder or easyer to heel toe
- is this hard on the car? (brakes are for slowing down not downshifting)
i feel like im learning to drive a stick all over again

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HP is irrelevant

go anywhere that is safe if you mess up your braking and practice, practice, practice. repetition is the key.

it should make it easier. wider, in this case, really is better too.

proper heel-toe technique will not harm the car.

keep practicing!

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- chris

'07 987CS
'71 911E

Here's a nice article from edmunds on how to do it.

http://www.edmunds.com/ownership/how...2/article.html

Thanks Kroupa! The article was very helpful,and at last having a wide foot(EE) may payoff. Now practice, practice, practice

Actually, I would think that brake+blip throttle downshifts are *better* on the clutch and syncros than just brake & downshift... unless the short, no-load revving shortens engine life over the long term. Can anyone comment on this?

I agree about practice, practice! As posted elsewhere, I have found, that I really have to twist my foot to get a good jab at the throttle. Compared to my other cars, the Cayman is a bit more challenging to HT, or maybe I'm still too new to bottom hinged throttle pedals.

-jay

Nice article, but one quote in it is incorrect:
"As you can see, "heel-and-toe" is a misnomer. It actually involves the ball of your foot and the side of your foot."

There is another way of doing it, with the ball of your foot and with the heel, hence the name, heeltoe. So it is not a misnomer.

Which way you actually do it depends on your feet, flexibility of your ankles, pedal setup and so on. Try both and use the one which best suits you and your car. (and look up some of the "best motoring" vids on youtube, they often have a miniframe with the feet in the picture, very entertaining)

Heel & toe:

Attached Thumbnails

 

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Dan

Since the Cayman has a bottom hinged gas pedal, the method described in the article (IMO) will probably work best unless you have a short foot.

It took me a long time to get my technique down. I would blip the hell out of my 964. I had a "breakthrough" at Porsche Driving Experience at Road Atlanta several years ago. One of the instructors there got me to lift my heel off the floor boards. With your heel/ankle pressed into the floor, it doesn't rotate well at all. Now when I hit the brakes, I brake with "ball" of my foot (meaty part under the big toe), heel an inch above the floorboard and I can easily rotate my ankle to right to blip the throttle with the right side of my foot.

Here's another tip - practice the maneuver in your garage with the engine off. It will help you build "muscle memory". Repeat this mantra out loud as you practice - "Brake, Clutch, Downshift, Blip, Release"

My own technique varies slightly from the Edmunds article.

In their example, they have you blip the throttle, select 3rd gear, then release. I would select third gear, then blip and release.

Why would I select the gear before blipping? That comes from driving a car with a lightweight flywheel. The revs spin up immediately and fall off nearly as fast. If I blip the throttle, then select a gear - my revs are dropping faster than panties after the prom.

On the track, I'm hard on the brakes, dip the clutch, select a gear - MY HANDS ARE BACK ON THE WHEEL, I blip the throttle - I LISTEN/FEEL/WAIT for the right RPM and then release the clutch. Now I can begin feathering the throttle on corner exit.

We had a nice discussion on this here (or the first 20 or 30 posts anyway ... then it degenerates somewhat). I started practicing rev matching first and then moved to heel toe.

OK, I'll admit this is probably a silly question, but here goes.....Is there any point in the "heel/toe" technique in normal driving or is this just a track tool?

Grey Eagle

I found that practicing on the street didn't give you a real good feel as to whether you were doing it right or not unless you were braking from high speed or rpm, just like on the track. Heel/Toe at low speeds is much harder to match rev's like in approaching a stop light.
I was told in racing school that heel/toe is something you should always do on the street because your clutch will last longer. At $2000 for a clutch in the Porsche, I heel/toe.
I have only one track event in the CS so far but there was nothing sweeter sounding than the motor at high revs when Heel/Toe downshifting going into turn one at LRP.