Heel Toe Shifting: For Rally, Racing, and the Street 

Bro...

Fist bumps all day 👊

Sorry I'm a year late but I was doing bro stuff. 💪👊

I have to admit, I have never experienced this scenario. But that is because my car has never once had AT as an option.

✋😎🎼

Its just so satisfying, even though i Drive a Camry

My mom's car is a matic... So sad.. Really wanna heel toe

best part

I rev match in the works van. It makes everyday driving smoother and saves wear on your drive train.

I haven't learned heel toe but I love my manual Forester and rev match every downshift

Good on you, mate. Just use rev matching from day one so it becomes second nature - it will make you a better driver! Also it is very satisfying to make perfect shifts. ;-)

Welcome to the club, your already Elite

Sameeeee I never drove a manual but I am to go drive a 6 speed mustang this friday....its not that difficult right? Cause I dont wanna stall too much

@@SamSabin not at all for car nerds. just find perfect clutch point from which engine input starts engaging with transmission (with practice) and little press on gas pedal and you will be launching perfectly without any lag

@@compilationstuffs9412 you are so right I went yesterday I got it perfectly...then stalled it 30 times in the same spot....but I got it right after another 10mins

eyecrunchyfraug Thats really up to the pedals set up and positions. Most of the road cars, its easier to roll the feet. However on older race cars such as Porsche’s, BMW’s etc, the throttle pedal was usully further away from the other two and attached to the floor, hence you had to reach it with your heel, thats how the term “heel n’ toe” come to be.

How come? Bad synchros?

@@290aiden If I may: No, to prevent bad synchros.

Yea me too. I drive a beetle so it preserves my old synchros

Me too, I had an old E30 with worn synchros. So I had to learn how to double clutch heel and toe. Now I do it to all manual cars. Including my R32 GTR.

@@ch13t yea it feels better I also do it in normal cars (Kia Rio and picanto) Haven't had the privilege to drive something like a GTR

Thanks Dillan!

Saved me a few times in rush hour traffic when people slam on the brakes cause they weren't paying attention to the traffic ahead of them.

Thanks Daniel! It's been a lot of fun

MIATA (Miata Is Always The Answer)

@@derekisthematrix only hairdressers and bank clerks drive miatas

@@ianholmquist8492 then everyone else is missing out. Try driving one and you will likely enjoy it a ton.

Get one as a daily driver, makes you commute a blast

@@derekisthematrix you have a very good point...

Thanks Andy!

Just turned 36, living that bald life from here on out

I always thought they were proclaiming their first accomplishment!

it's just tradition at this point

I feel like it’s the same thing when getting on/off a plane...or into a movie theater/concert with assigned seats. It’s almost a compulsion to be first at things I think haha. It’s weird. Although,in racing, that helps I suppose.

probably because someone like you cares enough to be mad about it and dedicate a comment to it

@@hustlerfour Who said I was mad? Just asking an honest question, although if you don't know the person I understand the difficulty in decyfering emotion from text.

Same! them focus's have the gas already to the floor damn near.

Thanks Matej!

Matej can you recommend a rally school in ČR or Slovakia?

**cries in european**

We're hiding in the woods outside Littleton NH, don't tell anybody lol

Sometimes you can use washers to space the gas pedal up closer to you Look up under the dash and you'll see where it mounts to the firewall You can usually unbolt it and add some washers to space it up and / or change the angle. And/or do the same with the brake pedal, shimming the top out will change the angle This is VERY common with race cars, especially normal sedans and hatchbacks The engineers take heel toe into account in sports cars, not in most standard street cars

I used to too. But I just do it everyday when I drive and it got a better over time.

practice practice practice, do this daily driving ahd the pressure will get smoother over time. Thats the feeling i got each time i change car, the i learn the "new" car. (i always have cars over 10 years old.)

When I had a rally Datsun 1600 heal toe was really easy as the car was light and the brakes weren't big enough to be twitchy. Now I daily drive my VFII SS Redline which has massive brakes and is a heavy powerful car. It's actually a lot difficult to heal-toe as the brakes bite hard and the engine needs a big rev to match the speed correctly. It's actually not worth the hassle.

My dad often uses an alt pair for driving, usually onitsuka tigers.

Nice, good style with a decent price.

I can't do it with boots either but Wyatt was doing it so i guess we just gotta git gud.

If you get into this kind of driving, spins and mistakes are part of the game. The better you want to get, and the quicker you want to get there, the more spins and crashes you'll have along the way. This is why we always start in a big safe open area with cone courses, to dial in any new skills / techniques and get a lot of solid repetition before trying it out where there might be real consequences. As far as FWD, you're absolutely correct that the throttle will pull you out of most situations, but there are too many variables to say that's the "only way". If you have too much speed for the corner you're coming into for example, you've gotta figure it out with careful braking. Seat time is the only answer, lots of it, and get some training and coaching along the way if you can!

Most modern cars with electronic throttle pedals have a delay, they intentionally have slower smoother throttle response unless you're in "sport mode" or similar. Old cars with throttle cables (injected or carbureted) will have good throttle response and it'll be easier to rev match.

We have wanted to do this video for awhile, we just need to find EXACTLY the same car in manual and automatic so it's a fair fight

That's the worst, especially when your feet are wet or snowy. Skateboard or similar griptape is the easy solution, that's what all the rally cars including WRC teams use and you can have a lifetime supply for short money.

Depends on car entirely

Well, naturally, but I'm more talking about larger, squishier cars that have potential but are held back by slow transmission such as Crown Vics, Caprices, older Chargers, and 300s

@@towcat I'm two years late but you'll have to figure out the amount of gas to give it. A lot of those cars are engineered for fuel economy so I'd bite the bullet and just go manual

We have a video on that, feel free to check it out! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ZFwGFplCshU.html

Definitely practice!! Your left leg is used to the ON/OFF movement of clutching.

@@jacobyoconnor568 ☺ I figured that was the "trick". I've not made the mistake too many times of stepping on the "clutch" of our automatic (aka insta-brake)

Position your left heel further away from the pedal so you’re braking more with the toe than the ball of your foot. That way, it takes a bigger ankle movement to produce the same amount of pedal travel - giving you finer control.

Practice never hurts BUT also keep in mind that most in actual rally cars and race cars, we get rid of the vacuum brakes. This gives you a much stiffer brake pedal and most drivers like it when they get the hang of it. If the brakes are too stiff (like hard to stop the car) you can change the master cylinder size or pivot point on the brake pedal. You've probably also seen the racing pedals and pedalboxes that go in race cars too, dual master brake setups etc... None of them have vacuum brakes.

manufacturers do this to minimise the risk of inexperienced drivers hitting brake and gas at the same time or mixing up the pedals. to fix it you could maybe screw a piece of wooden block on your pedal lmao idk. seems like it would solve your problem but it's sketchy so do it at your own risk. the ideal option would be to get an aftermarket pedal box but that can get costly.

Heel toe the other way, heel on the brake and toe on the gas pedal.

@@ndimbisonandrianampoinahen442 tried it, feels risky because im not usef to breaking like that.

Had this issue in my last car (2009 Golf 2.5). It had a very touchy brake that would cut throttle after a certain amount of pressure on the brakes. Learned to barely apply the brakes before that throttle cut and heel down just far enough to catch the throttle. On the other hand with my newly acquired E46 it's easy again.

If it's a Subaru you can buy a pedal spacer to bring the throttle up. Probably a similar spacer can be made for any other car

Just gonna leave a comment here because I wanna know too

My car is similar and you just have to find a foot position that works for you. I prefer twisting my ankle and using right side of my foot instead of my heal to heal-toe.

There is no single way to heel-toe downshift. It's true that some cars are more difficult than others. The main thing is keeping the braking force where it needs to be, as you're first priority is to slow the car, however you can do that while still matching revs is all you need to do even if it seems like your big toe is the only thing touching the brake. Don't forget you can buy aftermarket pedal covers (just install on the throttle pedal to raise it to better meet your foot) or change your shoes to something wider if you need to. For instance my S2000 I could easily use Puma shoes when I was going to drive it and have no problem. My Evo it was easier to use Piloti shoes at first as they were wider. Eventually, with enough practice of heel-toe, you'll be able to just figure it out on the fly after a couple turns regardless of shoes or spacing without even thinking much about it. Good luck and have fun.

You need to adjust your seat, try to find which position works best for you.

Some cars are significantly tougher to heel toe shift... Sometimes you can use washers to space the gas pedal up closer to you. And/or do the same with the brake pedal, you'll see where it mounts to the firewall up under the dash. You can loosen the nuts / bolts and see if an adjustment would help at all This is VERY common with race cars, especially normal sedans and hatchbacks The engineers take heel toe into account in sports cars, not in most standard street cars

Downshifting before the turn is definitely easier and safer, but trailbraking + heel toe will be faster if you can pull it off.

🤙🖖👋

Just get in touch with an email and we'll schedule a visit on a fun day when there's a lot going on. No charge.

because they don't know how to, or in daily driving when you rarely downshift, simply go into neutral and use the brakes more (cheaper/easier to replace brakes than trans/clutch components)

Glawen the Goy Bro what? No.

Glawen the Goy You shouldn’t even be driving in neutral, Always brake in gear, And downshifting is helpful even in daily driving

Rev matching is the only way to downshift quickly and smoothly at higher RPM. It's not about synchronizing the transmission input shaft to the output shaft... It's about matching the engine RPM to the rotational speed of the driveline Without it, you either need to release the clutch slowly (bad) Or release it quickly with the engine at low RPM and have a super jerky shift (more bad) And if you're going quickly the tires will potentially lock up (can be very bad)

Engine RPMs drop when you shift out of gear. Blipping the throttle raises the RPMs so the downshift is smooth and doesn't jolt the transmission or entire car.

Only if you are gonna double clutch, the transmission should be in neutral and the clutch out when you blip. Then you clutch in again, move the trans into gear, blip again if desired to match the engine shed to road speed, clutch out.

Good question. RPM drop as soon as you clutch in. The blip is expected before you go into gear. Whether the stick is in neutral or stil in previous gear depends on how responsive is your engine to throtle blip. The exact timing may be different from car to car.

@@matejgriac5544 I usually keep clutch in, move the shifter to the lower gear, blip the throttle and release the clutch. So, from your answer I assume that there is no help in achieving smoother gear change by keeping shifter in neutral while blipping. I was just curious, why Wyatt kept it in neutral, while blipping.

Blipping in neutral, if you let the clutch out before you blip, will raise the input shaft speed along with the engine speed. This is "double clutching". To do this, you have to press the clutch twice-- once to get to neutral (then release), blip in neutral, then press the clutch again to shift to the next gear, and release. Engineering Explained has a good video that explains what is going on in the transmission when you do this. It reduces wear on the synchros. In a heel-toe shift you skip going into neutral, clutch out. Instead, you push the clutch in once, hold it in while you blip and shift gears simultaneously, so it saves a fraction of time.

That’ll come from practice, your feet aren’t used to making those movements, it’ll get there

Sounds like the brake pedal is much higher (closer to you) and the gas is down closer to the floor? Sometimes you can use washers to space the gas pedal up closer to you... And/or do the same with the brake pedal, you'll see where it mounts to the firewall up under the dash. You can loosen the nuts / bolts and see if an adjustment would help at all This is VERY common with race cars, especially normal sedans and hatchbacks The engineers take heel toe into account in sports cars, not in most standard street cars

In that case you're riding the clutch longer and will inevitably wear it out sooner. Adding a blip means quicker and smoother shifts, and spending less time riding the clutch is also better for defensive driving.

Releasing the clutch slowly is typically fine for normal daily driving. It does wear the clutch disc slightly, but under gentle conditions it's not too bad. If you try driving faster, this wear increases, and eventually you'll wear out the clutch disc. Matching the revs lets you downshift faster and gets rid of that wear on the clutch, which makes it a big advantage when you're driving quickly on a twisty road or on the track.

Wtf, they let you take the car home?

Nah, it’s all on their website. Just covers vehicle insurance, gas, instruction and tires. They got private one on one instruction for $3000-$5000 a day.

@@dslbroski4922 holy shit, from that amount of money i buy a used crappy car and figure everything out by myself, fly into a ditch and then buy an other car.

The 5 day course puts you through FWD, AWD, and RWD vehicles with professional in-car instruction, with no damage costs, at our purpose-built 600 acre facility. The course has been developed over the past +20 years and is the best preparation anyone can do for getting REALLY good REALLY FAST at skid control and driving at the limit, safely and having a great time. We understand that not everyone can afford it (which is a big part of why we started this channel) but please don't make the mistake of thinking that taking a course here is anything less than an absolute bargain. You will spend many years and destroy many vehicles attempting to train yourself to a similar standard that you'd achieve in one week here. Six grand is very short money in this sport, and the school would be one of the smartest investments you could ever make as a driver.

​@@Teamoneilrally Of course, i don't doubt your school's value. If the real life lectures are just half as good as these videos, it certainly does worth the costs. People spend these amount of money on brainless trips that have no benefits other than getting skin cancer and some nice pictures they'll never look at. But still, to many people, especially from other countries this price sounds incredibly high. If i will ever be able to afford it (and the school still exists :D), i will certainly take a visit. Until then, i have to stick to your videos and possibly breaking some cars in the process :D

In some cars the accelerator pedal is just too far back to make it work without biting the steering wheel. Some pedalboxes just suck for heel-toeing.

Menetetty_ floating gears is a term mainly created by truckers, it’s when you upshift without using the clutch (not in an aggressive manner). You get off the gas to unload the drive train, and then pull it out of a gear and into the next. this is a pretty tricky technique that doesn’t offer much advantage besides bragging rights. if it’s done incorrectly you’ll be very hard on your transmission. my advice is don’t worry about floating gears, especially if you’re into racing.

@@robertcraig1614 alright yeah I wouldn't do that to my car lol, is there any real technique to upshifting?

@@Winterstormadvisory you can also power shift, which is shifting normally but without letting go of the gas, is a bit better for racing but you shouldn't do for every day driving, since it puts a lot of stress on the clutch.

Menetetty_ Not really, like mentioned above there’s power shifting if you really don’t care about your clutch, (power shifting is mostly used in drag racing, not any endurance/circuit/rally racing whatsoever). With different gearboxes and ignition cut (sometimes called no-lift shift) there’s some different techniques, but you’ll learn those when you buy that piece of tech. You’ll often find driving in a race environment is not only about speed, but also care, drivers won’t beat on the car that much, as the risks outweigh the rewards. If you’re learning to track your car or just push it, go easy on the drivetrain, it’ll cost you less in the long run and you’ll often find there are larger gains to be had with driving technique as opposed to reducing your shift times to the absolute minimum

ei sun double clutchata tarvii kun heel and toe. Imo tää video oli aika paska, paljon parempia videoita mis selitetään paremmin on olemassa...

You can trail brake and heel toe shift as you approach the apex It won't imbalance the car at all if you get it right It sounds like your pedals just aren't setup that well for you in the Subaru? The brake pedal looks really small in the XV, link below to one on ebay A lot of drivers bend the brake pedal stem slightly so the brake is closer to the gas You would want to remove it and put it in a vise for this That or perhaps you can find a wider brake pedal (from a WRX or even an automatic XV) You could also take the rubber pad off and weld a larger pedal face to it www.ebay.com/itm/Brake-Clutch-Pedal-Assembly-Original-SUBARU-XV-CROSSTREK-13-14-2013-2014-OEM/202741730859?_trkparms=aid%3D555018%26algo%3DPL.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20131003132420%26meid%3D19d95bc3bae740c4b3098f791497199b%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D12%26mehot%3Dpf%26sd%3D173680268880%26itm%3D202741730859%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

@@Teamoneilrally Thanks for the tips!

Adjust it

@@DavidM-zm5gz How hard is that to do, would you say?

@@datsoon9236 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-zIiuH5RCoN0.html

It comes from years of shifting without the clutch, where you have to go to neutral, blip, then downshift. Same for double clutching: clutch in, neutral, clutch out, blip, clutch in, downshift, clutch out. When you get used to doing the blip in neutral, it works in all situations, but for heel toe alone you are correct that you can blip as soon as the clutch is in if you'd like.

@@Teamoneilrally Appreciate your clarification. Subbed!

Awesome, thanks Jeff!

You need to blip while in neutral to raise the engine RPM to where it will be when you engage the lower gear and release the clutch. If you're at 2k RPM in 4th and you know when you go to 3rd it'll end up at roughly 4k RPM, clutch in, neutral, blip to just over 4k RPM, go 3rd and clutch out and it'll be a super smooth shift

Team O'Neil ok. I’ve been doing it wrong. I’ve been; clutch in, shift to 3, clutch still in, blip gas to match Rpm, clutch out.

They've already done one mate

Here you go ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-CwqVTikzOp4.html

It's all a matter of finding out what works for you in the car that you are in! Keep in mind most racing cars have no vacuum / power assisted brakes... The brake pedal is pretty hard but it means you can press the brake pedal fairly hard without over-braking like you're talking about. Street cars have nice soft brake pedals for easy operation, but that makes it easy to over-brake, and there's not a lot you can do about it. The style you've developed is a great solution.

@@Teamoneilrally appreciated! 👍

Which bmw have you got? From the bmw’s I got, e30 to e46 it’s really easy to do, even in my e23 it’s a second nature!

@@Dstructeur1 i dont have a car i just Wonder

Absolutely BUT it's usually pretty easy in BMWs because the engineers took this into consideration and put the pedals close enough together (compared to many cars where the pedals are far apart and/or on very different levels).

heel on the brake and toe on the upper part of the throttle worked for me on my focus that was like that

I made a little spacer (or that had it 3d printed) to lift my gas pedal in order to improve the brake-throttle-arrangement (Fiesta ST here). This worked perfecty for me. Maybe that is an option you can look into. Cheers

I cable tied a block of wood to mine. Been there 6 years haha

Same! I wonder if the pedal positions are easily adjustable or they will freak out if I ask about it in the dealership :D

I only double clutch when skipping down a gear

@@LunarStrike when skipping gears it's really helpful, less wear on the shncros and clutch, but more importantly- it's satisfying as hell, being able to switch gears quickly is a plus also.

You're exactly right, the clutch should go down all the way. Maybe it's possible! We should try it.

@@Teamoneilrally The only situation where the clutch shouldn't be fully pressed down is when launching, so why not have a foot operated "button" or any other binary mechanism which is tailored to be heel and toed? Yes I do recognize that this theory crafting will eventually boil down to a bootleg implementation of the mechanisms of sequential gearboxes but it's fun to think about...

You might need to use your heel if the pedals are too far apart (or feet are too small) to just use the sides of your foot and roll your ankle... Like in a pickup truck you can expect to use your heel more than in a sports car or something.

You absolutely can just put it in neutral, when you're coming to a full stop it's the best thing to do. You only need to downshift if you're going to accelerate again, like coming into a corner in 5th and you know you want 3rd on the way out.

Any time you're downshifting while braking it's useful. I am lazy and haven't learned it yet but probably several times a day I have a situation where I wish I took the time to figure it out.

Subaru pedal boxes dont really work to good for that, sadly rolling your ankle is the best way I've found.