Heel and Toe.

[Anthony Micallef]

Someone mentions this on another thread. I've heared this phrase lots of times. What I want to know is how do you do it and what are the advantages of this technique especially when it comes to driving the Caterham.

 

Similarly can someone explain the advantages of left foot braking.

 

The Happy 7 Ownerteeth.gifteeth.gifteeth.gif

 

 

Edited by - anthony micallef on 9 Apr 2002 11:00:46

[Red SLR]

Heel and Toe.

 

This is very useful in the wet. If you are on track and you are in say 3rd gear and you change DOWN to 2nd without bliping the throttle you may lock the driven wheels as the difference between engine speeds and wheel speeds is different.

 

So you blip the throttle to keep the engine revs up and then when you release the clutch the engine will be at the correct revs for that gear.

 

Left foot breaking.

 

I use this to balance the car in high speed corners, you can keep your right foot on the loud pedal and then lift and dab the brakes with your left foot, then straight away can be back on the power.

 

Very usefull for long corners where you are in the same gear all the way from the braking point to the exit, also double apex corners.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Simon.

 

X777CAT

[Anthony Micallef]

Simon, thanks for that. Although Im a bit confused at wanting to keep the revs up when you change down. I thought that would cause the wheels to lock up more readily.

 

The Happy 7 Ownerteeth.gifteeth.gifteeth.gif

 

[Alex Wong1697456877]

With your foot on the brakes, changing down means that you have to let the clutch out gently. This wears the clutch, gives inconsistant engine braking and there isn't time to do it when braking hard in a car that slows down as quickly as a Seven.

 

To stop these problems, it's a good idea to rev the engine as you downshift so that the revs are right for the next gear down. This means that you can let the clutch out quickly without a jolt. To do this with your foot on the brake, your right foot needs to be able to blip the throttle whilst braking at the same time. It's more the side of your shoe rather than the heel. It's important on track. I've mised the blip a few times and the rears do lock. At about 90mph from 4th to third, it's scary.

 

So in 4th gear

apply brakes with right foot

clutch in with left foot

simultaneously change to third and blip throttle with the outside of your right foot whilst still firmly braking (also with your right foot)

as you finish the blip, let the clutch out. You should be disengaging the clutch as the revs start to fall.

 

There's a knack to it and the more you practice it, the closer you'll be able to get the revs right with the blip. It's not so much being able to aim for the right revs as it is being able to get the timing right.

 

Edited by - Alex Wong on 9 Apr 2002 13:22:52

[Red SLR]

I cant remember the technical terms for it all, but when I did a racing course they took us through it and its someting to do with the engine is at say 3000rpm (as you have pressed the clutch and revs drop) then you select 2nd gear say and release the clutch, the wheels are still spinning at high speed and the engine is at low speed, then the wheels will slow down quickly to match the speed of the engine and this makes them lock up in the wet.

 

If you make sure the engine is at the same speed as the wheels they wont lock.

 

I am sure PC will be along with all the tech terms shortly.

 

X777CAT

[Red SLR]

Or maybe Mr Wong...

 

X777CAT

[Andrew Russell]

....and then there's double de-clutching and heel and toeing together, just to get your toes and feet really moving.....

 

Andrew

[AlShack]

I would certainly start your heal & toeing & definitely left foot braking on a VERY quite road. Hitting the brake with your left foot for the first time can be quite an eye-opener when it's used to operating a clutch pedal!!!

 

Cheers

Al

[Paul Ranson]

I would suggest that the most important thing is to be able to brake hard. It's difficult to do the blip and maintain control over the braking. So concentrate on the brakes. You can often avoid the 'lock the rears up' symptom by making your downshifts later in the process.

 

Left foot braking is for rally drivers, karters, turbo engined cars, and people who don't need to declutch to shift gears.

 

Double declutching is an irrelevant technique except for vintage cars with crash gearboxes and some commercial vehicles. (Hello Peter....)

 

Paul

 

Edited by - Paul Ranson on 9 Apr 2002 12:40:17

[Peter Carmichael]

Naah I won't contribute. It is all in the archives...

 

... oh well, while I am here.

 

Gear ratios... Throughout a quickly performed gearchange, the road speed does not change that much. In a lower gear you need more engine revs for any given speed. When changing down, the engine revs need to be brought up to match otherwise there is a whole lot of energy that needs to suddenly spin up the engine when the clutch is reengaged. H&T is an essential track technique for the dry - not just the wet. You can't pass your ARDS exam without demonstrating it. I won't go into whether or not to double declutch when heel and toeing - I do, but that is my practiced preference - you can't do so with a sequential box so it is a redundant skill.

 

IMO (and this is well-documented in the archives), left foot braking (which means applying the brakes with the left foot so you can do other interesting things with the right foot, like er... let me see... modulate/apply the throttle at the same time) does bugger all to the handling of a RWD car that cannot be achieved with more mechanically sympathetic methods. The only applicable uses are for things such as bringing up the temperature of carbon-carbon brakes prior to a heavy stop. Any effect on the handling is achieved by the catch-all expedient of *going slower* than you would otherwise because, hey what a surprise, you are on the brakes. Left foot braking is a very valuable technique for FWD drive cars. I will concede the slight possibility that under heavy braking you might want to feed in a bit of throttle to promote understeer, but if you are trying to change gear at the same time the baby will go out with the bathwater (you will cock up a gear change for the sake of curing a brake imbalance) - that comment will probably provoke a barrage of follow-on questions. Forget LFB in a RWD car - it is for ignorant braggarts trying to impress people in the pub (sorry Simon).

[Buda]

For those who don't know him, simons not like that smile.gif

[sjwb]

SYNCHRONIZATION

That's all its about. Nothing more nothing less. Matching road speed to engine revs.

Heel and toe of course on a Se7en is difficult because of the pedal spacing (unless you have tiny feet of course); so, as previously mentioned the side of the foot is more appropriate.

One other thing which may be useful; set your pedal heights to suit your prefered method - and practice.

Good luck Anthony.

 

Steve B

[Big Brother]

A good bit of beginners heel and toe advice given to me a while ago was the following:

When practicing downshifts concentrate on the sound of the engine.

As you "blip" the throttle the engine note rises then falls.

You need to downshift into the lower gear "just" as the revs start to fall.

If you do not feel any noticable change of speed (pull or jolt) as you come off of the clutch you have done it right.

 

Practice on a straight section of road so that you can concentrate on your foot technique (ooohErrr) and not have to worry about steering too much

 

Steve

www.Se7en-Up.co.uk id=green>

 

 

Edited by - steve motts on 9 Apr 2002 13:09:22

[Peter Carmichael]

Oh hells bells! I've done it again. First it was "perverse little man" now its "ignorant braggart". I seem to be having a type first, think later week.

 

Which bit of it do you think simon will object to?

[Peter Carmichael]

...object to more?

[Red SLR]

Ta Buda!

 

 

PC - I must strongly disagree with you. LFB is all well and good in a 7, if you have a long (200m) corner that is say 3rd gear all the way then you can just lean onto the brakes with your left foot to brush off some speed for the turn in point and then keep you foot (left) over the pedal incase you want to bring the brakes in again.

 

LFB is a very good technique for rally cars as they often drive very sideways and they use the brakes and the throttle at almost the same time so in order to do this they need to use both feet as they cant move their right foot fast enough.

 

X777CAT

[Red SLR]

Also I am not an ingorant whatever, and I am bigger than you so dont push it!

 

wink.gif

 

X777CAT

[Peter Carmichael]

The sound thing is exactly right. Think of every movie soundtrack that has *enthusiastic* driving sequences. Think of childhood vrrooming noises. Have a look at something I wrote earlier which has the section that includes:

 

...BRAAAAAA (Mansfield) AAAAAAAAAAP WOM BRAAAAAAAAAAP EEEEEEE WRAM WRAM BRA...

 

Where:

BRAAAAAAAAAAAP = Accelerate

WOM = Change up

EEEEE = Brake

WRAM = Change down (with a throttle blip)

[ECR]

When approaching a corner (in a competition situation) you need to keep the power on for as long as possible (for obvious reasons). In order to do this you start braking at the point where the brakes are JUST short of locking given the brake pedal pressure that is needed to safely complete the corner. In this situation any extra braking effect given by a downchange trying to speed up the engine to match road speed will lock the wheels and the car will begin sliding. Your carefully chosen route round the corner will then evaporate.

 

Besides that it sounds nice.....

[Red SLR]

MMMMM, now go and drink your milk and you can have your afternoon nap....

 

X777CAT

[Alex Wong1697456877]

Just cos Roger's officially an Old Fart, doesn't mean he has to go and have a nap after making a posting!

 

 

 

....ohhhhhh - you meant Peter........ I see.......

 

smile.gif

[oilyhands]

Double de-clutching is what Simon has described as heeling and toe-ing, heeling and toe-ing is the art of using the toe/ball of the foot to brake, while simmultaneously using the heel or side of the foot to blip the throttle in a double-declutch as you change down, double de-clutching is about sycnhronising the speeds of the first motion shaft/engine and third motion shaft/wheels snd avoiding an unsettling tug at the rear wheels, it has a secondary use for a crash box which has no synchromesh

 

Left foot brakings origins were in 70s rallying on the loose with powerful FWD cars, the idea was to maintain the neutral balance of the car by braking and accelerating at the same time, this lessened the cars tendency to snap from understeer to oversteer when braking and lifting-off for cornering. The flying Finns became extremely adept at this.

 

Only lazy B******s use it on RWD cars and its a black art to endow your left foot/leg with the sort of sensitivity it need to modualte the brakes when its only been used to stomping down on the clutch pedal rather than moving a pedal progressively.

 

Oily

[Red SLR]

no,no,no!

 

I did not mean Double de-clutching!!!!

 

Let me read my post again....

 

X777CAT

[Red SLR]

No idea where that has come from, my process for H&T is...

 

Approach corner, brake with ball of my right foot, clutch down, blip and change down at the same time and let the clutch back up and turn in.

 

 

 

X777CAT

[Andrew Russell]

...and to further confuse matters, the Merseyside Police Advanced Drivers Course used to teach you to double declutch at all times, going both up and down the box. The argument was that it allowed the synchros to slow down and prevent excess wear and tear....( if I recall correctly) In practice, I think with inexperienced feet trying to master the technique, it caused more harm than good!

 

I understand that this may have had its origins when the Police used to be supplied with Riley Pathfinders, rather than Subaru Imprezas and the like.....

 

Andrew