H/T Shifting revisited

[Sesshomurai]

Ok, so I learned to do my version of H/T shifting last year and did it fairly well.
I have wide feet so my technique worked for me, but basically I was braking with the ball of my foot and blipping with my pinky toes.
Turning my whole foot to get my heel over the gas was too klunky for me, didn't wor and it forced my knee into the steering wheel some.

I used a snug pair of steve madden wrestling style shoes for my technique though. Worked great.

Well, now I just received an awesome pair of Puma race shows I ordered. Because of how the rubber sole is shaped, my technique doesn't seem as stable as before. The shoe is more rounded on the sides.

So it seems I have to change my whole technique and tried turning my foot clockwise about 30 degrees, braking with the the ball still but angling such that my toes can blip the gas. Sorta works.

Advice welcome. Kinda sucks to relearn this again.

 

[Grant 302]

I do it the opposite way--ball for blip, toes/upper sole for brake.

You could also look into getting a wider gas pedal from Autovation or something similar. http://www.autovation.net/

Do you mean heel for the blip? The 'ball' is under your big toe.


I brake with the ball and roll the foot over use the outside heel to make the blip.

With my Terminator, I used to brake with the heel and blip with my toes, but it was such a mess and hard to modulate the brakes.

 

[Sesshomurai]

I do it the opposite way--ball for blip, toes/upper sole for brake.

You could also look into getting a wider gas pedal from Autovation or something similar. http://www.autovation.net/

Thanks for the link. I thought about a wider brake pedal. That might help.

Using my heel for anything would be like using a sledge hammer instead of a scapel. Too much knee involvement for me (I'm 6'3").

I'll practice straddling the ball of my foot across the upper right part of the brake, leaving enough toes and foot near the throttle to execute a blip without using my ankle or knee (as would be needed to flex your heel).

 

[2012YellowBoss]

I have resisted changing brake/gas pedals because I figure if I can get proficient at doing it with a street setup first I can do it with any setup. Well that that's the idea anyway not sure how well it will work in the long run. I have gotten use to braking with the ball of the my foot (the area under the big toe) and just rocking my knee to the right, works well for me. When I tried twisting my foot it did not work out well, many times I got it stuck between the pedals and the engine would over rev

 

[VoodooBoss]

This will solve your problem.

http://auto-blip.com/auto-blip

 

[2012YellowBoss]

This will solve your problem.

http://auto-blip.com/auto-blip

That would take all the fun out if it! When I hit a perfect multi heal-toe off the Tri-Oval or before the Hairpin, it puts a big smile on my face

 

[Sesshomurai]

I have resisted changing brake/gas pedals because I figure if I can get proficient at doing it with a street setup first I can do it with any setup. Well that that's the idea anyway not sure how well it will work in the long run. I have gotten use to braking with the ball of the my foot (the area under the big toe) and just rocking my knee to the right, works well for me. When I tried twisting my foot it did not work out well, many times I got it stuck between the pedals and the engine would over rev

That's how I was doing it too and it was second nature. The problem is that I learned it with a certain shoe I had gotten comfortable using. The new race shows I have, have a narrower and rounder sole and I don't get the kind of grip on the foot ball I had before. In fact, it slipped a couple times, which I don't want happening at 145mph. So it concerns me a bit how to accommodate this new shoe pattern. lol

Rick, that device is interesting. Maybe scary even!

 

[VoodooBoss]

That would take all the fun out if it! When I hit a perfect multi heal-toe off the Tri-Oval or before the Hairpin, it put a big smile on my face

Not for some of us.

 

[VoodooBoss]

Rick, that device is interesting. Maybe scary even!

John and I used this device in the academy cars at Chuckwalla last week. I thought it worked very well. I'm trying to get a unit to review and if I do I'll do a complete write up including installation for the forum.

 

[2012YellowBoss]

Not for some of us.

I have put in many more track days then you have been able to do, you know the whole no job thing. Hang in there it will happen, I thought for the longest time it was impossible to do. Then one day the light came on, still far from perfect but I can sort of do it now.

 

[Sesshomurai]

John and I used this device in the academy cars at Chuckwalla last week. I thought it worked very well. I'm trying to get a unit to review and if I do I'll do a complete write up including installation for the forum.

That would be awesome. My only fear would be if it starts 'malfunctioning'....lol

PS. The new corvette has built in 'auto blipping' which I thought was kinda cool.

 

[F.D. Sako]

that auto-blip unit is very interesting. it would allow me to take the boss to the track before i finish learning heal-and-toe technique.

i know the 370z's had the auto-blip option, that's where i first learned about them.
I'll be anxiously waiting for that review now.

 

[VoodooBoss]

Lots of new cars come with this feature. That includes the Audi R8 V10 I drove which does the blip on the dual clutch tranny. I was impressed with how well the A-B works but I want to see how easy it is to install and how effective it is in my car on tracks I'm familiar with.

 

[F.D. Sako]

Lots of new cars come with this feature. That includes the Audi R8 V10 I drove which does the blip on the dual clutch tranny. I was impressed with how well the A-B works but I want to see how easy it is to install and how effective it is in my car on tracks I'm familiar with.

Im hoping the installation is somewhat simple, OBDII connection and a wire tap to the DBW cable.
i'm guessing they didnt mention installation during your test drive; i dont see any info about installation on their site.

 

[ArizonaBOSS]

Do you mean heel for the blip? The 'ball' is under your big toe.


I brake with the ball and roll the foot over use the outside heel to make the blip.

With my Terminator, I used to brake with the heel and blip with my toes, but it was such a mess and hard to modulate the brakes.

Yes that's what I meant, ball for brake, heel for throttle.

 

[VoodooBoss]

Im hoping the installation is somewhat simple, OBDII connection and a wire tap to the DBW cable.
i'm guessing they didnt mention installation during your test drive; i dont see any info about installation on their site.

Install instructions are on their site. From my brief review one wire to clutch, brake and throttle sensors and I imagine a hot lead. No OBD connection which is a good thing since I already have two devices connected to it. It's a small unit and they had it mounted on the center console above the shifter. I'll try and find a better location that's not as obvious yet still easy to access.

EDIT: BTW they said it would take a half hour to install.

 

[bobby.is.rad]

As a suggestion to anyone heel-toeing at the track for the first time: Don't try to downshift into a lower gear too early. Meaning you shouldn't be at 6,500 RPMS when you downshift into a lower gear. I had to break myself of this tendency with the help of my instructor. It's puts too much strain on the transmission. Not only that, it's much harder to be smooth when you are engaging the clutch at that high of an RPM. The way I started thinking about it was that you're not so much trying to slow the car with engine braking as you are trying to make sure you can smoothly get on the throttle exiting the corner. If you're braking hard enough to need to downshift, almost all available traction is likely being used up by your brakes anyway. No need to drastically move the brake bias to the rear with too much engine braking and upset the balance of the car. Smooth is fast, fast is smooth.

 

[thebull]

Auto Blip is the way to go....I'm going to put the go pro on the rear bumper next time I do a track day so you can hear it in action...The thing is incredible. My instructor has been racing for 20 years and was amazed....Think it helped by lap times a bit too.