Heel/Toe, Driving Shoes Mia Culpa!

Jay Laifman · 03-17-2009, 08:37 AM

Ok, for years, I have added to a thread here or there about heel/toeing an early 911 (mine's a 73) and how I haven't had a problem by making sure my foot was up off the floor when hitting the brake, and rotating my heel over for the blip of the gas. I've never understood the problems people have had.

Well, a few weeks ago, I bought myself a pair of them fancy driving shoes. And, you know what? I can't heel/toe anymore!!!

Seems I tended to drive with running shoes, which has a decent heel. But, with the driving shoes, there is no heal, and the gap all of a sudden became a problem I've never had.

So, now I understand!!!!!

esotoracing · 03-17-2009, 12:17 PM

heel and toe is really a loose term. I have never in my life used the heel for heel/toe. wether it was a racecar or a street car, i always used the side of my foot or use the front half footprint and split the two pedals. In racecars the pedals are so close together that you waste time using the heel and almost always have to use the side of the foot.

for your application, maybe try an aluminum brake pedal thats wider

Jay Laifman · 03-17-2009, 12:22 PM

Thanks. But, I'll just stick with my Nike's rather than any "fancy" racing shoe! :-) I was just sort of conveying my apology for previous posts where I said I had no problem - as I now see how different shoes could cause different results.

Besides, this car only sees a track once ever 5 years or so. We've been having too much fun with karts these days!

naparsei · 03-17-2009, 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by esotoracing

heel and toe is really a loose term. I have never in my life used the heel for heel/toe.... i always used the side of my foot or use the front half footprint and split the two pedals.

Agreed. The "roll" is what I use. It works for everything, although for 911s it's tougher than other cars, IMO.

Fast Corners · 03-17-2009, 01:11 PM

It depends for me. I use the roll method on my 996 and on the 944/968 series cars but I use a classic heel & toe method on the early 911s (pre-73's). A couple of reasons for this: 1) that was the way I learned on the early 911's. 2) the narrow accelerator of the early cars is pretty far away from the brake pedal.

Jay,

You may want to try out some of the other driving shoes that are available. If a thicker heel is what you need you may want to check out the Piloti line of driving shoes. I have a few pair and they are a good mix between a tennis shoe and a driving shoe.

You can also adjust the brake pedal height or add a pedal cover to the accelerator.

FC

teenerted1 · 03-17-2009, 01:26 PM

your brake pedal is probably too far back to allow driving shoes to work
you can stick with your running shoes or bring in the brake pedal.
another choice is to get one of those accelerator pedals with the extra tab on the bottom.
or some guys put a block or a second bug accel pad on there so they don't have to adjust a brake pedal in a different position.

i don't like the feel of running shoes and didn't like the fatter accel pedal or the moved brake pedal so i just HEEL toe in the Porsche and roll my foot on my other cars.

BernieP · BernieP's Garage

I've always been curious, do you use heel & toe to double clutch, that is to blip the gas in neutral with the clutch out or just blip with the clutch in?

s_morrison57 · 03-17-2009, 01:42 PM

I used to race Formula fords and did the roll thing as well, had a scary thing happen once, I got into the car in the wet and after about 5-6 laps when I rolled my foot it slipped between the pedals as they were wet from my shoes, did the left foot brake and didn't hit any thing or anyone but had a heck of a time getting my foot out from in between the pedals, as a solution to this I would dry my shoes on a towel before I got in , put some skateboard deck material on the pedals and put a "y" on my brake pedal so I had 2 brake pedals, had to split them cause the sterring colum was in the way, left foot pedal was real small but I got used to it and used it lots , you don't really have to use the clutch in a Ford, I would as much as I could but in a pinch I would go back to the left foot breaking, 1/2 hour race = about 450 - 500 shifts up and down and I would use the clutch for maybe 200 of those shifts

Zeke · 03-17-2009, 01:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BernieP

I've always been curious, do you use heel & toe to double clutch, that is to blip the gas in neutral with the clutch out or just blip with the clutch in?

Heel and toe has a history. Technically, one would raise the clutch pedal a little while pausing at neutral to bring the tranny up to engine speed while downshifting any gear. Drive a really old truck and you have to do this. Some really old race cars didn't have synchromesh trannies and you had to do this or not get in a lower gear. Even cars of the 50's often did not have a 1st gear synchro.

Now for today's really good trannies, when downshifting you only have to raise the RPM to match the tire or road speed if you don't want to break traction on the rear wheels and possibly lose control. You can double clutch if you wish to save the wear and tear on your synchros, but the higher the gear or closer the ratio, the less need for a double clutch.

I double clutch into 1st with a throttle blip a lot on the street. At less than 7 to 10 MPH, I sorta hate to accelerate in 2nd, even softly. Stop and go traffic brings that situation about all the time.