Heel and Toe Downshifting

[VenomGTX]

For those of you who do this in this in their Mustangs - what's your secret? I can't seem to figure out how to pull it off without contorting my ankle in an impossible way. I've had two S197s and two New Edge Mustangs and the story has always been the same. The positioning of the gas and brake pedals doesn't seem conducive to this technique (gas pedal is too low in relation to the brake pedal) and I can't figure it out. Is there a way to raise the gas pedal to make things easier or am I just doing something wrong?

 

[MTBSully]

google "svt gas pedal mod". I am too lazy to do it for you

 

[Devious_Snake]

actually those year cars you mentioned are not set up ideally for that, the new S550's are set up better. I tried and found it a bit difficult, choice in shoes helps too.

 

[1badd89]

My heel toe'ing is usually "left side of foot right side of foot'ing".

 

[VenomGTX]

google "svt gas pedal mod". I am too lazy to do it for you

I've seen the one for SN95 cars where you use a piece of plastic on the throttle cable to shorten the length and raise the pedal, but I don't think that works on S197s and their drive-by-wire pedals.

 

[HuntFishCobra]

maybe I'm doing it wrong but it seems to work pretty good in my 03, and I dont think it had the pedal mod. Maybe it's my shoes... lol

 

[Zerohe]

To be honest, I've never understood this concept and i just went and watched Youtube videos, and it still doesnt make sense. I do all my rev matching and downshifting manually, but operating every pedal normally. Work on either of my vehicles would be a fortune if i managed to ruin something, and Im already hard enough on them.

 

[chao5.0]

I have modified Steeda pedals for heel-toe downshifting, and its not even heel-toe, more like inside of foot and outside of foot downshifting as described earlier.

 

[SirShaun]

The shit is over rated. It's only required in cars that are very light and powerful (Open Wheeled Cars) to keep the ass end from coming around by upsetting the weight balance by overpowering/shocking the wheels.

It's used to combat the equivalent of spinning tires every time you down shift.

 

[Voltwings]

To be honest, I've never understood this concept and i just went and watched Youtube videos, and it still doesnt make sense. I do all my rev matching and downshifting manually, but operating every pedal normally. Work on either of my vehicles would be a fortune if i managed to ruin something, and Im already hard enough on them.

The shit is over rated. It's only required in cars that are very light and powerful (Open Wheeled Cars) to keep the ass end from coming around by upsetting the weight balance by overpowering/shocking the wheels.

It's used to combat the equivalent of spinning tires every time you down shift.

Its for use on a track. Most corners i come into, i can be hard on the brakes (right foot on brake) and then pump the clutch with my left foot to downshift as i am transitioning my right foot back to the gas. This works because you're essentially going from lets say 4000 rpms in 4th to 4000 rpms in 3rd you know - changing speed but not rpm.

That does not work for every corner in every car however. Sometimes you'll need to do a traditional downshift - like 4000 rpms in 4th to 6000 rpms in 3rd, but you're already in the braking zone ... what now? You would need 3 feet to both rev match your downshift and be slowing down, but heel toe basically allows you to do this. Check it out here.

This is the owner of 949 racing in a miata. https://youtu.be/C3RgIjeFO9E

 

[Zemedici]

It is literally impossible to do in my 04 due to the way I sit as well as the pedal setup. The gas pedal is a good 3" deeper than the brake pedal, there's just no way. I've just become quick at transitioning from gas to brake to gas. hahaha

 

[snakecharmer]

To be honest, I've never understood this concept and i just went and watched Youtube videos, and it still doesnt make sense. I do all my rev matching and downshifting manually, but operating every pedal normally. Work on either of my vehicles would be a fortune if i managed to ruin something, and Im already hard enough on them.

Ditto. I simply can't do it and I've had multiple people try to teach me. I simply can't contort my foot that way.

 

[Rct851]

All I know is I sound like a a jackass braking coming off the freeway lol

 

[MFE]

It's easy, if you don't try to use your heel and your toes. Use the left side of the ball of your foot on the brake and roll your ankle so the right side of your foot blips the gas pedal. Easy peasy.

 

[czwalga00gt]

In rally we just use our left foot on the brake, right foot on the gas.

 

[ViciousJay]

Just rev match

 

[Swiss Boss]

I install the extra wide on my Boss 302 and work pretty good for heel-toe. But I would with the medium wide if I was to do it again.
http://www.srpracing.com/

 

[colin450]

Doesn't really seem like its necessary to know how to do it on the street. I've tried it a few times in my GT500 but never really cared enough to learn/teach myself.

 

[Voltwings]

Doesn't really seem like its necessary to know how to do it on the street. I've tried it a few times in my GT500 but never really cared enough to learn/teach myself.

You're right, it serves zero purpose on the street. However, the street is the place to practice and learn, 120+ mph into the braking zone of turn 1 at TWS is not ...

 

[03'Darin]

Heel toe down shifting is difficult to do smoothly in a street type driving situation. It's used for road course driving/racing and when done correctly eliminates additional slowing of the rear tires when downshifting under aggressive braking. While threshold braking into a turn downshifting can cause even the slightest bit of additional rear wheel slowing potentially causing rear wheel lockup which usually leads to wheel hop.

Here's a link to a video of a near crash of mine last weekend at Watkins from rear wheel lockup that resulted in wheel hop and some loss of control. This was actually the result of over aggressive braking over some pavement transition. This is similar to what happens when you don't heel toe shift under braking. I just don't have any video of that situation. I'm in the nasty rusty cougar that's behind the white BMW that comes by on the left of the camera car. FWIW I did catch it and continued through the corner.

Apparently I fail at embedding

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv7W77EiQbw