Hello again AZ!

I'm learning how to drive my TL a bit more aggressively, and heel-and-toe downshifting is a part of this process.

However, I feel like the gas and brake are a bit far apart in the TL, so I heel-and-toe with my actual heel and toe, not with the ball of my foot:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuoZeuSgEj4

I have found this style to work for the time being, but I didn't know if I should give more effort to trying to do heel-and-toe with the side of my foot, like Ayrton Senna (may he rest in peace) does in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8By2AEsGAhU

How do you guys recommend doing heel-and-toe in the 3G TL specifically? I figure it's called heel-and-toe for a reason.

Where I'll be using heel-and-toe, if you're curious: link

 

well as a long time track guy, I've been heel-toe shifting and left foot braking for years now and there is no "correct" way to do it really. It's all technique, what works for you and your car's pedal positions may be totally different than a different guy in a different car.

Personally, I tend to use the ball of my foot on the brake pedal and more or less the side of my foot on the gas pedal. With the TL's gas pedal hinging at the bottom, it's kinda non standard than what a lot of cars have, like my old RSX-s for example. And because of that, if you tried to use the absolute heel of your foot, it'd be so low on the gas pedal (right by the bottom) that it'd be harder to move the whole pedal anyways. Better to keep the side/heel of your foot a little higher up to give better feel/modulation of the gas pedal during shifts.

but once you learn how to do it, you'll never forget how to make it work for you. I heel-toe pretty much everything I drive on the street cuz it's just habit and is arguably easier on the car. Not huge downshift that are obnoxious, just enough to lessen the wear on the clutch.

Answer your question?

 

I find i use the side of my foot/edge rather than the bottom of my heel to modulate the gas as well.

i do have to say though its hard for me to perform a heel/toe unless i'm moderately braking, which gets me closer to the gas pedal. My old integra's brakes were so spongy i could heel/toe easily cause i could get closer to the gas pedal with the brake pressed.

I also double clutch the heel/toe which is what the first video shows in the second half.

 

Just takes practice. Heel-toe is actually a misnomer. Like others said your usually using the side of your foot to blip the gas. I have an automatic so I don't know the distance or debth of the pedals on the TL. Even if I did different people are going to have a very slight difference in technique. I do it in the NSX (and my old Saturn before I sold it) with out thinking about it.

Sit in your driveway and practice the motion. Afteryou get the hang of it go drive on a empty road and practice. You'll eventually get use to doing it with out giving it any thought. They key is timing the clutch release and gas blip and the amount of gas to give to rev match.

 

I can't even heel-toe in the slightest...
Can only double shift and rev match =t

So props to you if you can even do it a little!

 

Watched the Senna vid. I think you need a pair of those Gucci loafers. That's the ticket.

 

You can do it just patience and practice

 

Yes! Thank you so much.

 

I can't heel-toe very well, but I don't find it necessary in street driving. I would recommend though (if you haven't already), perfecting seamless double-clutch downshifts.
Preserving our fragile honda synchronizers takes priority in my mind over braking and downshifting simultaneously.

Now for the real reason I'm commenting on this thread. Please don't drive aggressively on the first 3 miles of Flagstaff Road! It's a cool road with lots of technical turns, and it would be sweet if it was closed off from all traffic. In reality though, it has more bicycle and hiking traffic than any other paved road I can think of! During daylight hours, it is pretty much impossible to drive the first 3 miles (up) without passing 5-10 cyclists. Even at 10:00 at night, I've seen some idiots riding up in the dark.
The hiking trail crosses the road frequently, and a lot of the crossings are directly after blind curves.

If you want to drive aggressively on windy mountain roads, choose less populated areas. Farther up Flagstaff is cool, and comes to a fun dirt road eventually, which leads out to Gross Reservoir.
My favorites close to Boulder are: Sugarloaf rd (off the canyon/hwy119), Sunshine Canyon, Lefthand Canyon and Lee Hill rd.
None of these are as technical as Flagstaff, but they're also far less populated.

I don't mean to sound critical, just trying to make sure you stay relatively safe out there.
Just remember every time you're in the mountains, Boulder is a cycling, running & hiking mecca. Any great driving road is also a great cycling road.

 

Yeah, I realize it's important to be safe and share the road!

My friend and I did 70 in his car on flagstaff once…now THAT was scary.

 

i've started to try it on the TL this morning because of the extreme confidence I was inspired by when I drove my friends 300zx NA the day before, I can race that car like a madman and HTing is so easy it inspires confidence and bliss. MIss the easiness of it such as on my old integra

I tried braking w/ my foot higher on the brake pedal so my heel can be towards the middle of the gas pedal on the TL. I'll give it another go tomorrow when ever i want to stop, the slight jerks are pissing me off when i try it in the tl due to the pedal config =(

 

hows it working out DC2many?

 

Yes, the larger throttle-by-wire pedal Honda is using now is quite different. Especially since it's hinged at the bottom instead of the older cars that are hinged at the top. I have big feet (12-13). I just roll over the side of the brake pedal to blip the throttle with the right edge of my foot.

One thing I do like about the throttle-by-wire pedal is that you can kinda use it as a footrest. If you put your heel right at the base of the pedal, you can take a lot of strain off your leg. Really helpful on long drives. This doesn't help with heel-toe though. Mainly just freeway cruising.

 

 

its harder to heel toe on the tl due to the "slight" lag with the dbw.

its best with a throttle cable because there is no lag

i tend to do a 6-5-4-3-2-1 on m friends s2000 just because i miss driving a car with a throttle cable... dbw ftl

 

Fuck. IPhone zoomed out and hit the like button wtfffff

Anyways @ nukeem only hting when I have more brake pressure and in that instance I'm adapting to rolling the side of my foot

 

Timing was my biggest issue. Blipping the gas at the right time otherwise you look retarded downshifting LoL

 

^Put away your pride and just practice. Nobody is paying any attention to you anyways.