Heel and Toe Question
Discussion
Just to add my views:
I heel and toe all the time as I don't like the feeling of not doing it; just a personal thing.
I have experimented with double de-clutching, but I can't sense any extra smoothness compared with single de-clutch heel and toe, so I hardly ever bother in modern cars.
I heel and toe all the time as I don't like the feeling of not doing it; just a personal thing.
I have experimented with double de-clutching, but I can't sense any extra smoothness compared with single de-clutch heel and toe, so I hardly ever bother in modern cars.
I've been doing some informal track instruction with a friend of mine lately, and I have to admit it makes me whince when we are changing down for a corner without matching the revs! As I said before, it is just a personal thing - to me heel and toe is part of smooth driving, like steering gently or using the throttle gently.
Thankfully he's nowhere near the limit during braking, and it hasn't rained when I've been in the car yet!
Thankfully he's nowhere near the limit during braking, and it hasn't rained when I've been in the car yet!
and the harder they try the worse it gets. 
Well, I'm hoping that we get to the point where he's going quick enough to notice the negative effects of not matching the revs! Strange thing is, he seems to have settled at lap times that are about 10 seconds off the back of the grid... 
Mind you, it's not bad for someone who's never been karting (yep, you read that correctly), and has never got into sims on a PC.
Mind you, it's not bad for someone who's never been karting (yep, you read that correctly), and has never got into sims on a PC.Interestingly, when I did my police driving course, both standard and advanced, we always had to double-de-clutch when going down through the gears.
One thing that was very controversal was that we would often come to a halt in top instead of dropping down through the gears.
After several weeks of intensive driving training it does become 2nd nature and even to this day, I double-de-clutch and come up to traffic lights, roundabouts and the like in top gear.
Cheers
JC
>> Edited by datasafe on Saturday 1st October 13:35
One thing that was very controversal was that we would often come to a halt in top instead of dropping down through the gears.
After several weeks of intensive driving training it does become 2nd nature and even to this day, I double-de-clutch and come up to traffic lights, roundabouts and the like in top gear.
Cheers
JC
>> Edited by datasafe on Saturday 1st October 13:35
datasafe said:
Interestingly, when I did my police driving course, both standard and advanced, we always had to double-de-clutch when going down through the gears.
One thing that was very controversal was that we would often come to a halt in top instead of dropping down through the gears.
After several weeks of intensive driving training it does become 2nd nature and even to this day, I double-de-clutch and come up to traffic lights, roundabouts and the like in top gear.
Cheers
JC
>> Edited by datasafe on Saturday 1st October 13:35
Very interesting, I discussed this with a Police Driver during a Ridedrive course and he was very much of the opinion that big block changes for junctions etc can have a unwanted by product of being in the wrong gear at the wrong time if something unexpected happens and you actually want to accelerate out of trouble. I am certainly not comfortable pulling up in 5th!
Cheers,
Steve
As usual in driving, I think the answer is that it depends on the circumstances. More often than not, I'm happy to stop in top and block change down. However, in different circumstances I might want to take a rolling lower gear if it could be helpful or I need the flexibility.
On the bike, in identical circumstances, I may do things differently too ...
On the bike, in identical circumstances, I may do things differently too ...
Fat Audi 80 said:
Very interesting, I discussed this with a Police Driver during a Ridedrive course and he was very much of the opinion that big block changes for junctions etc can have a unwanted by product of being in the wrong gear at the wrong time if something unexpected happens and you actually want to accelerate out of trouble. I am certainly not comfortable pulling up in 5th!
Cheers,
Steve
EXACTLY my thoughts. I put this point across on another thread and got shot down for it, but if I had to swerve or steer out of the way, I'd rather have the revs up so I can balance and control the car. direction changes at very low revs are bad news - I don't feel in control at 1,500 rpm!
I find heel and toe nearly impossible in my car (small feet, big gap, tiny brain) and don't like having anything other than full grip on the brake if I decide that braking is what I need on the public road. However, since I'm nearly only ever changing down because I want to go faster, this is not an issue as I'm off the brake when I want more power, and can blip up the throttle to match revs.
Only issue is if I leave things too late, and can end up destabilising things slightly. But that's my fault for not planning better.
Only issue is if I leave things too late, and can end up destabilising things slightly. But that's my fault for not planning better.
Gassing Station | Advanced Driving | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff