Heel and Toe

[Keith Fahlgren]

>Anyone please explain the concept and benefits of Heel and Toe.
>I remember years ago when this topic was being discussed among my circle of
>friends (car guys and otherwise) and while one guy was explaining how the
>right foot is used to heel-n-toe..ie heel to gas and toe to brake at the
>same time, another guy just blurted out..ARE YOU MAD!...we all had a good
>long chuckle, beer just guzzed out of our noses!


Jackie Stewart had a good description in one of his books.. it might have
been Faster! but I'm not sure. Anyway you have to recognize two things: some
people are messed up and the pedal layout for early race cars wasn't the
same as today. Many cars had the gas in the center and the brake on the
right. So.. heel and toeing for these people means heel on the gas and toe
on the brake. It is the reverse today for normal people, so your freinds was
wrong: heel on the break and toe on the gas. Now, he may have been talking
about the exception.. those people that have screwed up ankles and can put
ther heel on the gas and toe on the break.

The order of the heel and toe doesn't really matter in the end.. it's use is
for downshifting while breaking [this is really good for going into a
corner]. Many have said that it only has racing applications, but I for one
do it on almost every corner.. in fact I just got to the house and know I
did it for the last three... :-)

The benifit: you can manipulate all three pedals at once. Left on the
clutch, to downshift.. right heel on the break to slow down [into the
corner] and toe on the gas to get the revs matched to make a flawless
downshift.


I hope that helps,
Keith