Two Guys Rally

How To Heel-Toe
[ April 7th, 2008 ] By: Charles Smith Posted in » How To

Performing a Heel-Toe Down Shift

1. Start braking with your right foot
2. Clutch In when the Engine is in/below the low end of the power band
3. Move the Gear Selector into the next lower gear
4. Blip the throttle with your heel by rotating your right foot while keeping pressure on the brakes with your toes
5. Clutch Out smooth and easy
6. Keep Braking

Step 4 is what makes the Heel-Toe a Heel-Toe. Its name comes from the fact that the toes of the right foot and the heel of the right foot are on separate pedals. Specifically the toes (balls of the feet) are braking while the heel blips the throttle. Depending on the pedal setup of the car a Heel-Toe becomes an Inside-Outside where the Inside of the right foot brakes while the outside blips the throttle.

Steps 3 and 4, after practice, happen simultaneously. The six steps end up taking very little time to execute with practice. To make it even more complex steps 3 and 4 can also be expanded to include a Double Clutch to be easier on the transmission. Double Clutching during the Heel-Toe procedure adds 3 steps to the process:

1. Start braking with your right foot
2. Clutch In when the Engine is in/below the low end of the power band
3. Move the gear selector into Neutral
4. Clutch Out
5. Blip the throttle with your heel by rotating your right foot while keeping pressure on the brakes with your toes
6. Clutch In
7. Move the gear selector to next lower gear
8. Clutch Out smooth and easy
9. Keep Braking

Why Heel-Toe?

Under braking and cornering a sudden load on the drivetrain (because of a failure to match RPMs in a downshift) could cause the drive wheels to lose traction. The Heel part makes the downshift smooth while the Toe part keeps the braking pressure on. A properly executed Heel-Toe also keeps the car balanced while braking.

Keeping the drive wheels loaded with the engine’s torque will also make braking lock-ups of the drive wheels harder to do.

Just as with Double Clutching the point of a Heel-Toe is smoothness and it gets easier and easier with practice. Remember, keep it smooth and the speed will come.