This is the one manual driving skill that has eluded me for some time now.
In my previous car, the pedals were setup so that it was virtually impossible to execute any type of heel-toeing.

Since my TSX is broken in enough now so that any amount of over or under revving won't harm the engine, I thought that it'd be a good time to experiment.

So what do you guys do?
Do you use the left part of the foot on the brake, right part on throttle?
Or big toe on brake, rotate foot counter clockwise to place heel on throttle?
Does it make a difference that the TSX uses floor mounted/hinged throttle pedal, as far as which method is easier?

Any tips on how to practice before trying to do it with the car in motion?
I was thinking maybe I can practice with the car off (but the brake pedal locks up) or at red lights just holding down the brake and blipping the throttle


Also indicate your shoe sizes

 

I'm a size 11.

I use the left side of my foot on the brake and the right side to blip the throttle. I did a track day once, and the instructor was joking that one would need a second articulation in the ankle to do actual heel-and-toeing the way you describe it.

I find that the bottom hinge on the gas pedal in the TSX (similar to race cars) is much easier for heel-and-toeing, vs. the standard setup. It takes a bit of practice, to rev-match perfectly, and it's not something that you can really practice while not in movement. You can try to apply brake and blip the throttle to practice the motion with your foot, but the difficulty IMHO is to apply the right brake pressure, while blipping the throttle to the right level.

At first, I found myself over/under braking, or over/under revving the engine, making my attempts somewhat jerky. With practice, i found I'm getting better, if not a pro yet.

Good luck with this!

 

I heel toed in my AT yesterday.








I wish.

 

hahahahahaha!!!! hahahahaha!!!

 

the floor mounted gas pedal took some time to get used to.

 

this is what i did, just so i get an idea of the footwork needed.

size 10.5

 

I bolted on a set of Ultimate Pedals (see the Group Buy in the Black Market section) with the heel-toe gas extension on the upper left of the gas pedal. It helps a lot...I'd recommend it if you are willing to pay for it.

 

THose look pretty cool! looks much easier on the ankle!

 

I'm a size 9.5

For starters I think it's huge that you practice rev matching first before you try heel toe braking. Rev matching is something I do on a daily basis when needing a giddy up. I'm sure you know the practice, but while cruising try moving through your gears by just hitting the clutch, dropping down one, blipping the gas, and releasing the clutch.

Once you've got that down you should try heel toe braking. You'll have to rev match this time with the braking factor invovled. I think what's more difficult for me rather than actually getting the motion down is compensating the revmatch to meet how fast I'm braking.

I prefer to use the side to side method due to the close proximity of the pedals on this car. On the 1st gen eclipse I go toe to heel because my feet aren't wide enough to comfortably tap side to side (it's also a top hinge, not floor - personally I prefer the floor hinged gas pedal because they're usually wider and I learned on it). I guess it's all a matter of preference and practice.

Just watch some Best Motoring, they show some amazing footwork all the time. Even goes to left foot braking

And remember, learning how to precision drive is a progressive process. I'm still learning and improving daily! I think it took me about 3 months of driving to comfortably rev match with +- 250-500 RPM's when jumping down two to three gears.

Good luck!

 

Practice the rev matching first! That's a must!

Another way to figure out the best way to position your foot is to try and blip the throttle when you're sitting at a red light in neutral.

I wear 9.5, and angle my foot at about 10-11 o'clock. Also keep in mind that the type of shoes you wear will make a differece for you, especially when you're learning.

I find that heel and toeing is a bit more tricky in my 06 TSX because there's a slight delay when you blip the throttle because of the DBW.

 

If you're a member of TOV, here's a vid with an alternate method of heel and toeing in a TSX (it's in part 1 I believe):

http://www.vtec.net/articles/view-ar...icle_id=147731

 

I prefer the traditional use your toes to brake and heel to blip. I use it on track and on the streets and it's all good. It's difficult on the street because you have to be careful not to apply too much brake while blipping.

 

I got rev matching down for the most part.

Tried some heel-toeing on a straight stretch of road today.
Applying too much brake pressure and too little throttle blip.

Argh, it's so difficult to get it just right... feel like giving up

 

Don't give up. You'll master this skill in time!

And then, you'll wonder how you ever drove without it!

 

You're halfway there. Instead of putting your weight on your toes where the pivot point is, put the weight in your heel!

 

 

When I first started heel-toeing, I found that I could only do it in heavy braking situations as well. So I kept practising at these particular places where heavy braking was required, and then gradually moved to more subtle braking situations.

It takes time. You might try blipping the throttle twice before releasing the clutch. I found that also helped me get my timing right when learning how to rev match and heel-toe. Also makes your car sound a bit more like a motorcycle.