Thanks for watching! If you're into learning driving technique find my 25-part tutorial series here: goo.gl/rteGhu Find more of my F1 videos (such as classics like Schumacher v Hill) here: goo.gl/9EjGB8
You have potential to improve your videos. Please rehearse your speach before recording and don't try to explain everything in one take. Fluidity is key
Practice, practice, practice. I had the same problem when I first started trying to heel and toe. It's now second nature to me and I do it in my road car everytime I change down.
Same, but on the track I imagine you're going to be braking as hard as possible unlike street driving. How I practice a HT through 2 gears is finding a loop on the freeway and drop from 5th down to 4th then 3rd while using freeway speed to give me the speed needed to brake harder and more evenly
heel and toe was really hard for me, the first week that i practiced the technique I thought that it was impossible, I just couldn't do it; but in the second week of practicing something happened, and all or the sudden one day I was heel-and-toeing. Funest part of driving
Yeah I think that you improve your muscle memory and then everything clicks into place. Is it yet easier now? There's nothing better than a perfectly timed heel and toe in a noisy car!
It's the same as when you first learn to drive a manual. After a while you can do it without even thinking about it. Some people just take longer than others.
for me, driving a Caterham was the key. There, the pedal box is so small that it positively encourages heel/toe. Having gotten so used to do it on the race track, I now use it day to day in my road car.
As Scott Suggested, the way i learned was to simply rev match on downshifts first without braking. Once you get comfortable doing that, then add the brake pedal. The hardest part for me when learning heel/toe was applying constant pressure on the brake pedal when blipping the throttle. I used to apply too much pressure on the brake pedal as i was pivoting my foot which caused the car to lurch.
+Belal Khan Hi! Thanks for watching. You're right that is the hardest part - trying to keep a constant pressure on the brake pedal. Make sure your pedals are set up correctly, as if they are too far apart your foot becomes a lever and it's almost impossible to keep a constant pressure.
+Driver61 Yep, and it also depends on how responsive the throttle is. I notice on cars with a mechanical throttle respond much much better than the drive by wire systems we have been seeing pop up in cars over the past 10 years. I really dont like how all the newer cars are headed towards electronic everything. I would like the mechanical throttle back along with hydraulic power steering.
Belal Khan this was the story of my life too. I could downshift and blip the throttle ok but couldn't maintain even pressure on the brake... but I am improving slowly. Lots of practice and time.
That's what makes me scared to try it. When I come up to a corner I'm like, "Hey, I should try heel and toe!" And just the way my foot rotates and I'm pressing the brake with my toe, I'm thinking, "I have absolutely no fine control over the brakes like this." And just the added thought of trying to press the gas with the side of my foot with a certain pressure and then trying to brake smoothly with the other side with a completely different pressure?! No way. But I'll work on it. Some day I will be a heel-toe expert.
I know this is 5 years ago comment, but these days..drive by wire have gotten better. It's all in the ECU. So readers, don't be scared. As long as you have a manual and the willingness to learn + cash to upgrade to another ECU(incase you're driving older DBWire car), you can do it too.
What everyone fails to mention of this Senna clip is he's in a right hand drive NSX or whatever Honda/Acura. He's shifting with his left hand. His formula cars were right hand shift before the paddle era. He was completely fluent. It did not matter. Truly a great beyond on so many levels.
As far as professional drivers go, that barely makes any kind of difference. Don't get me wrong, it's still Senna being amazing. But of all the things to take note of in that clip, that's barely anything. Especially when considering the driver
@@sonicstep oh for sure it's not unique to him, it's just the added mystique of Senna doing his thing while he was still around. There's a good clip of him test driving some rally prepped cars around Wales I think. Back when he was with lotus I think... Can't really recall, but he certainly seemed to get a kick out of it.
Senna did live here in England for at least a few years during his F3 days. He was even banned from the roads after he was caught doing 125mph past Heathrow airport. The rumour is the traffic officer said to him "Who do you think you are? Nigel Mansell?".
That video of senna is a really good resource for learning technique. It not only shows heel-toe technique but is also a really good example of how to use the throttle as a steering tool when exiting the corner. You can see how he adjusts his throttle input to push the car wider or bring it back in, thus maximizing use of the available area on track. Dude was such a phenomenal driver
I’ve read many articles and watches a few tutorials on heel toe some 12 years ago and practiced a lot. I still practice heel toe on the road with some frequency. It’s an awesome skill to have. This was a very fine tutorial.
You only need to actually use this technique when driving hard, and therefore when you apply the brake you will press it down far enough that the throttle or gas pedal will be easy to reach. If your brake pedal is too high, it’s because you aren’t braking hard enough to need to heel and toe.
In my road car, the pedals are placed in such a way that I "heel and toe" the same way senna does in this video- using the side of my foot to blip the throttle rather than my heel. In my Datsun race car, the pedals are very far apart I have to actually keep just my toes on the brake and stretch my heel across to the throttle to blip it when down shifting.
if you're at 8k rpm in 5th and you change down to 4th, the proper explanation of what happens is that the gearbox will be spinning too fast for the current engine speed, and the engine won't be able to raise it's speed quickly after releasing the clutch, so the gearbox will "jam" to match the speed of the engine, locking your wheels and overreving the engine. It's not the engine braking that's locking your tyres, it's the speed differential between the two. Engine braking in itself is always present when you lift the throttle, but it's not sudden like when you improperly downshift.
It's engine braking taken to its extreme, as the end result is still BRAKING. Violent and damaging as it potentially may be. It's something you might do in a run away diesel situation to stop the vehicle, by killing the engine with the transmission.
The result on a track is that your drive wheels lose traction when rapidly decelerating and changing down without heel+toeing. I experienced this at about 90mph at Castle Coombe! So it's pretty essential on a track. I've been teaching myself h&t. The hardest thing for me is positioning my foot on the brake pedal so that I don't have to reposition half way through braking to properly h&t. Slowly getting there. Sounds damn cool too.
Yep, without blipping the throttle you either have to dump the clutch and you can hear and feel the car crying, or wait for the engine to slow down which may mean you have to brake earlier for longer or brake harder, risking locking up due to braking anyway. If you let the clutch out very slowly to engine brake the car over a large RPM range without blipping the throttle, you can damage the clutch anyway.
The trickiest bit (to me) is keeping steady pressure on the brake pedal while blipping the throttle. When I started practicing, a lot of braking maneuvers must've looked like a novice trying to brake in a heavy truck (meaning: I was adding unwanted braking force mid-maneuver when I shifted my foot around to blip). Thing is: In a lot of cars the accelerator and brake pedal are positioned in such a way that you'll hardly run into a situation where you can brake hard enough (in traffic) to pull off a good H&T-downshift. Meaning that unless you have to stomp on the brakes relatively hard, you can't get the pedal low enough for it to be in a good position for a quick blip. At least that's how it felt to me in my last two cars (Golf V & VI). My current ND MX-5/Miata has perfect pedal-placement for H&T, however. I'm still going about it with too much thinking though (it hasn't become second nature yet). So sometimes I will use the side of my foot, sometime my actual heel - both are perfectly doable in this car, depending on how you position your "toe" on the brake pedal. I know it isn't really necessary in a modern road car and in traffic - but it still feels great being able to string together a couple of perfect downshifts while braking hard into a corner - or even when coming to a stop at a set of lights .. ;)
This video clip of Senna with the split screen showing tach and speedo and footwork and hands and roadway and narrative simultaneously is brilliant. I wish more videos used this format to analyze technique. The most comprehensive tool short of a private lesson. Thanks for putting this together!
Would like to add that newer road cars usually have a very sensitive and soft brake pedal, and that makes a little harder to match the exact pressure to correctly reduce the speed while you also increase revs.Great video and graphical illustrations btw.Never get tired of practicing heel n toe.
You can use heel toe just driving round town. Dont have to be driving fast to want to downshift smoothly. For example. I always heel toe, as just downshifting and letting the clutch out could be a little rough on the clutch. Matching engine and wheel speed is also a good technique to preserve your clutch in everyday driving situations
@@ibra1616 actually im not sure if you can really control the brake pressure delicate enough but i know i can heel tow in a daily driving scenario But theres three condition to make it happen first the brake should never be too sensitive but also should still be able to lock up the tyre Second is wearing soft bottom shoes i realised wearing soft shoes like sandals can give a better feel for the pedals and also allows me to bend my heel and toe i tried it with industrial shoes man its hard but i slowly master it by moving my thigh instead of the heel toe part Third is although its possible to heel toe in daily drive but it has to be when the roads are not bumpy and not turning fast and brake slowly and knowing that you are gonna do it and has to be at a steady pace.
I learned this technique at Snetterton on the back straight. Nothing focuses your mind more than knowing if you fuck this up you are going to have a very bad day! Needless to say I worked it out rather quickly although in that particular car I had to have half a foot on the brake to be able to do it which requires a lot if pushing on the brake when you only have half your foot on it!
Thank you for what you do! Just started building and tracking my 01 Boxster S 7 months ago. First time tracking. Car is amazing in corners. Your vid inspired me to replace crappy stock pedals with racing gear few days ago. Started at Laguna Seca 3 months ago at 154, 2 days ago down to 144. Love heel toe first attempt. Your videos force me to really study and implement race craft. Thank you!
Ive finally started nailing these. When doene right the sound is incredible. No mechanic ever told me i needed to do this stuff, must be they love replacing clutches. Yes, requires the right shoes.
Excellent as usual. In learning heel and toe it was suggested to me that it helps to concentrate on blipping when the gear lever is passing the neutral point not when still in the starting gear. That way you avoid the revs dropping again before reengaging the clutch. In e end it needs to be so quick it makes no difference but it helped when learning to delay the blip v slightly.
What I have never heard anyone talk about is using the side of your foot to roll the accelerator pedal (as senna is doing here), versus using your actual heel to actuate the throttle. I myself have always done the former. This has been highly effective in nearly every car I have ever driven, on and off track, with the exception of a 991.2 GT3 with the factory pedal placement. For me, I get much more precise brake modulation by using the left side of my foot, and am free to blip the throttle smoothly by rolling the right side of the foot.
What a supremely well done tutorial. I love the charts at the beginning. Scott always get to the first principles, it fits perfectly with the way my brain works, which needs to conceptualise before I can start to intuit things.
There is nothing as as great and fun as doing the perfect heel n toe downshift as you take a turn in a well tuned car with the proper exhaust system. I love doing it on my 85 Porsche 911 which is equipped with a Bursch exhaust system.
Did this technique all the time when I was racing saloon cars and track days etc now it’s just a natural technique that i use daily on the commute to work
The best heel and toe video so far, thanks for that, I'm still learning this technique and it will help a lot. I'm beginning to enter in Track Day events and got lots of tips in your website. Keep sending these videos!
+João Paulo Azevedo Thank you very much! Make sure you check out Driver61.com for the full articles and sign up there to be notified about new articles! Good luck with the track days!
The most useful of all the heel and toe videos I have watched on RU-vid. Thanks a lot. It gives lot of clarity and some confidence to practice the technique.
Great explanation, have always wondered physically how best to do this technique and it looks easier if you are naturally ‘pidgeon toed’ Curiously, I’ve always done this with motorbikes when downshifting. Similar procedure but easier in that you can brake, dip the clutch and blip the throttle without moving from normal riding position. (Applying both front AND rear brakes whilst downshifting and blipping the throttle is a little more difficult though but you soon get used to it)
I knew a guy once, a truck driver, he could go up and down the gears all day without using the clutch at all. Only time he used the clutch was for starting from a dead start and when he came to a full stop. I've tried it and it works, but muscle memory will have you applying too much pressure to the brake peddle with your left foot. I've gone from 5th to 2nd, using this technique, without locking up, or over reveing the motor. Just set yourself up for the turn, lift accelerator, slip into neutral, hard brake with the left foot, blip accelerator, pick your lower gear, release brake, enter turn. It works!!
Many cars have gas and brake pedals too far apart making the heel and toe technique physically impossible. Here is a short list of cars I've tested for heel and toe: Good: 2015 Mazda 3, 2014 BMW 1, 2014 BMW 5, 2020 KIA Proceed GT, 2019 Fiat Ducato (yup, heel and toed a rental Ducato while transporting some furniture) Bad/Impossible: Alfa Romeo MiTo, 2014 Peugeot 208, 2019 Ford Focus ST Line, 2017 Fiat 500 XL
Jeffrey Wilkins .... 2015 Fiesta ST here.... pedals not optimized well for heel toe while wearing light weight thin soled shoes, as one would want for performance driving. Although I can do it fine in work boots and a particularly wide soled dress shoe I have.
Excellent guide Scott, I was just looking bk at some of your older videos and this one I love. Your really detailed but conveyed in a easy to understand guide. I love your teaching techniques
I've tried to teach my son on XBox... But even for me it was tricky to do it (luckily Forza has many spares!) Thanks for sharing, awesome and in detail.
I learned this technique in military learning to drive an old military truck where you hav to do this because the gears are not synchronized. And after a while you can drive without using the clutch all together. Just shifting the gears using the throttle. Now that's a bit tricky.
I can heel and toe pretty well when I'm driving my Mazda around town. Trying to do it while going 100+mph into a braking zone while hard breaking and maintaining consistent brake pressure and looking through the corner to the apex has proved... challenging.
This came in my recommendation but I didn't give attention to it and refreshed but while it was loading I saw the thumbnail and scrolled onto it faster than senna and clicked on it
My main goal is to learn this to be able to overtake in style. I'm always a little ashamed when driving behind someone slower than me and then as soon as I downshift you hear and feel the differential locking up a little to rev match.
Racing games are a great way to practice this as well. If you are serious / need it for track day then get a good set of pedals might be worth it. Fanatec Club Sports feels like a slightly tuned road car while the Heusinkveld's are supposed to feel like a race set. Have not tested the later but switching from my Fanatec's to my companies AMG Mercedes is super close.
You have the same sensation playing drums, which obviously requires similar hand foot coordinaition. What happens is, that these unknown motoric patterns are managed by your cerebrum. It's basically like a computer that is trying to run a program on the fly. As you repeat the same pattern over and over again your brain will literally save it in your brain stem. It then becomes pretty much a simple file which can be opened from your harddrive, so to speak.
i think senna's "grip testing" by stabbing the throttle rapidly and proper left foot braking in a roadcar is way harder to learn than revmatching downshifts.
One thing Scott did not mention is for this technique to be effective, is that you have to commit to maximum braking, so after you have mastered the uphill downshift, I suggest you practice on a straight piece of road, commit to maximum braking, heel and toe, go from 4th to 3rd, then 3rd to 2nd. Once you are comfortable doing this in a straight line and have a good appreciation for the braking distances, then try it around a corner, preferable on that you can see around.
For me, its a pretty easy concept to grasp after practicing on the street. The problem I find is, not many vehicle have the peddles positioned in a manner that makes it easy.
Well not many vehicles are meant to be driven like a race car, the heel toe I only useful in racing situations or driving illegally fast on the streets which most cars are not designed for. I keep reading dumbass comments of people talking about doing it in their civics and focus like it even compares to a race car of any kind lmao.
Thank you so much for all those amazing videos! Is it too much to ask for a video comparing the different techniques Schumacher, Senna, Prost, Mansell etc used?
learned in an 91 rx7-gxl and it was a total pain without any pedal modification. my 06 sti pedals are perfectly set up for it though which is super nice. don't like having to goof with pedals to make it comfortable to do.
He does this on a right side sitting car here which is even more impressive considering he's from Brazil and predominantly street cars there are left side sitting
I don't usually thumbs up videos but this is a really really smooth tutorial, even if I didn't even remotely like cars, I'd still prolly be interested in this tut.
My simple advice is before trying to heel and toe, just rev match with a throttle blip and down gear. Once you can do that properly, introduce the brake pedal heel toe method.
To anyone who watches this, there is a much more simple explanation. Sych your heel and toe, no need to overthink it. You an also sit in your car with the engine off and practise the movement, even with the shifts. The blips are so fast that actually rev matching will be fairly automatic. It does take time to learn, but I will never understand why some people who do this put so much effort into trying to make it sound more difficult than it is. I could do it when I was 10 in my fathers 964. Just get that heel working and always use your heel for it, even if you don't have to break. No need to muck about with the front of the right foot for the blips.
I really appreciate your efforts here. I wonder, though, whether your explanation could be clearer if you treated the reasons for rev-matching first, then the reasons for overlap. Perhaps you could show fully separated braking and rev-matched down-change, then explain why overlap is benefical, for greater clarity? A couple of minor details to add, as well - first, in principal it's usually best to plan the down-change early in the braking, as soon as the firmest second stage of braking is established, so that you've got the most solid platform from which to rock across to the throttle. Secondly, the verb is "to practise"!
In case you would like to know, the shoes Senna is wearing appear to be shell cordovan venetian loafers. Nowadays, Rancourt makes a great version of this shoe.
Hey man, for example if you are in a track going at 200 kph on a straight in 5th gear and you are approaching a tight super slow turn that needs 1st gear. Do you shift down to 4th, 3rd, 2nd and then 1rst sequentially? Or can you jump some gears? How did F1 drivers do it back in the day? You save brakes by shifting down sequentially right? Awesome video!
Heel and toe into 1st gear is not a great thing to do unless you are a professional rally driver. Double clutch into 1st gear, since shifting into first gear is tricky when car is moving.
I was doing this even in my mom's Smart Fortwo on manual (of course with no clutch). Downshifting in turns even at low speed was really scary without doing it.
This would all be very useful if I wasn't 6'4" and drive a WRX S4. The trans tunnel is so wide you have to do the whole "left half brake, right half gas"
Great video. One thing I always wondered about that Senna video, is that he often stabs the throttle a few times before the apex, which doesn't seem like a normal technique. Was this from his big turbo F1 days where he was trying to keep the turbo spooled / on boost? Obviously not applicable to the NSX! Or is he testing for grip? Thanks
Mark B I agree with flowermouth, and I also think that that's a racing technique for cornering speed/balance. E.g. when you trail brake into a corner, a lot of the weight pitches to the front of the car, so in order to counteract potential oversteer he feathers the throttle to balance the weight distribution between the front and rear. I'm not certain, but just my two cents.
You're both right. Ideally you want to brake enough so that you can accelerate slighly while exiting the turn. If you cannot accelerate because of too much speed, that's what you can do. I've never been to a track and this may be a great technique but I would never use it on the road (on the track you can give up control for speed, on the street that really takes balls I have to say, especially on two wheels...).
Interesting points. I've been racing for many years and can say that mid corner, if you're getting understeer, jabbing the throttle can help the car turn in more by provoking it into understeer. But this doesn't fit with how quickly he plays with the throttle. I still think it's to do with his F1 driving style of spooling up the turbo (which of course wouldn't work on a NA NSX) of he's just testing the balance / behaviour of the car. Maybe Scott can tell us!
Nice video. I just bought a Porsche 997.1 Twin Turbo with a manual and am trying to learn the heel toe technique...so far all I can say is it is harder that you'd think...it definitely takes lots of repetitions. One thing I have wondered a bit though, given my motorcycle road race background, is why cars haven't started using slipper clutches like the high powered motorcycles do, so when you go into a corner and downshift the clutch slips a little bit so it doesn't unsettle the vehicle?
