Problems with Heel/Toe in a DC5R

[Shaun]

Ok, so I've noticed just driving around town that I can't really Heal/Toe in my DC5R.

I taught myself how to when I was driving around in my last car, and rev matching was pretty easy. But I just can't seem to get the hang of it in the integra, even after 6 months. Is this something everyone has problems with because of pedal position? or is it just me ?

The issue is that to get my heel onto the accelerator I have to put too much pressure on my toe and end up jumping on the brakes pretty hard. I have spoons up front, so a little braking does a lot of stopping.

I'm looking at doing some track days pretty soon, so I wanna try and learn before I get out there.

Any advice/tips would be mad.

[Flippit]

Generally heel toe is ment for hard braking which meens the brake pedal would be compressed quite a bit and getting your heel on the accelerator would be quite easy.

General town driving you'll find its harder to heel toe cause the brake pedal wont be compressed much to have that comfortable slide of the foot to the accelerator.

[tinkerbell]

the pedals should be very close together - so that you can just use the ball of your foot and then roll your foot so the pinkie toe edge of your racing boot blips the throttle.

impossible with standard pedals.

and as flippit rightly says - it's impossible to try 'around town' - you need to be going well over 100km/h for it to be of use.

[Apu]

As the others have said, around town / in traffic...it's pointless.

If you find the position uncomfortable then try using heel/arch on the brake, and jab the accelerator with your toes. That worked for me in my Alfas thanks to the offset pedals and peculiar positioning. I found I had to do the same with Beemers where the accelerator pivots at the bottom. I've reverted to the more traditional heel/toe for my Japanese cars.

[wongy]

I still do heel toe for normal driving sometimes, just cuz I can :P and I consider it as good practise, but only sometimes when im running a yellow light or slowing down from 5th to 4th I mighy heel toe but most of the time slowing down for lights I just rev match,but in your case it should be easy, shouldnt be too hard, just keep practising.

[tinkerbell]

um, hard to tell, but surely you are joking?

[amee-reb]

yea dw man i thought the same thing when i started doing it on street driving. i know exactly what you mean by jumping on the brakes. then when i went out on the track i was able to do it easily. its basically exactly what flippit said. i just thought i should share and say the same thing happened to me when driving on the street.

[wongy]

um, hard to tell, but surely you are joking?

Lol, I do seriously heel toe when I daily drive sometimes, its second nature to me cuz ive gotten used to it lol

[M@lew]

You'll find it a lot easier when you try it on the track so I wouldn't stress.

I think the concern about trying it on the street is if you try to rev-match coming to a lights or a turn your foot may slip off the brake causing you to move into the space where you thought you'd stop. i.e. Busy intersection, car in-front.

But also your shoes make a bit of difference when trying to heel toe for the first time as well.

[tinkerbell]

Lol, I do seriously heel toe when I daily drive sometimes, its second nature to me cuz ive gotten used to it lol

that's impressive - you virtually have to be going "as fast as you can" to do a proper heel-toe downshift.

are you sure you are not talking about something else?

can you describe how/when you do heel-toe when driving on public roads?

[tinkerbell]

shaunEKlaser - check out this article regarding heel-toe downshifts, hope it helps:

http://www.turnfast.com/tech_driving/driving_heeltoe

[wongy]

Im not slamming on the breaks though lol, most of the time im lightly pressing the brake whilst rev matching, u dont have to go as fast as you can to heel toe, in saying that I dont always do it, like I said in the post above if im coming to an amber light I do a heel toe your referring to where you step on the brakes abit harder whilst rev matching, shak has been in my car whilst ive done it.

[tinkerbell]

ah, so you are just rev matching in a straight line...

i am glad you are not hooning around heel-toeing through corners everywhere!

[itr5093]

Nathan (wongy) is actually quite good at it on the dc5r and the r34. I've sat with him in the dc5r some times and he does it exceptionally well lol

[wongy]

The times I do heel toe whilst coming to a stop at a light I do brake whilst rev matching which is heel toe, but most of the time I rev match yes, cuz im lazy haha