Have about 120k miles of driving experience driving a 5 speed. Only 20k on my honda accord.

I decided to step up my game a little bit and learn how to heel and toe shift. Anyone have some tips for me?

Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heel-and-toe

Videos http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=IuoZeuSgEj4 and http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=JliPGde8jMM from Car & Driver.

As you can tell from the video, it's not so much the "heel" but rather the edge/side of your right foot that's doing the throttle blipping.

I recall getting a performance driving book from the local libaray when I was just half way through high school, and read up heel and toe techniques inside out, forward and backwards.

It wasn't until a year or so later before my parents bought a standard transmission car, my father who had driven standard "3 speed on the column" on a Datsun 510 could not believe I was able to drive this new stick-shift car quite smoothly in less than 5 minutes.

I still do a little bit of this during downshifting especially when the RPM is high when spirited driving is involved! :)

what i am finding is the brake pedal is too sensative and it doesn't compress far enough :banana:. I have to use the side of my foot on the gas and the left side of my heel to brake.

when you first start off you'll pretty much be on the brakes hard to rev, but after practice you'll be able to control the left side of your foot for good braking controls that meets the situation and your right foot will be able to rev it to reach the rpm you want to get to.

i guess i will also have to work on rev matching, for the most part I would simply let the tranny rotation slow down with braking without raising the engine rpm. guess i have ways to go

Practice blipping the throttle without the brakes first on downshifts, so you can tell how much you need to push to rev match.
You'll know you've gotten it right when you don't feel the downshift at all.

On my 6 speed it's damn near impossible to heel/toe, as the combination of hyper over assisted brakes and drive by wire don't really allow it. I do a lot of blip downshifting without using the brakes.

I admire you if you can master it, I never could. Blipping the throttle for a downshift is easily done but not with one foot for me.

I would recommend fooling around (trial and error) within the restraints of a parking lot before taking this skill out on the road (or better yet, the track), to avoid endangering others. Best of luck!

well from my experience so far it is only useful if you want to carry a lot of momentum out of the turn. TL-S sway make this a little more enjoyable.

3 to 2 shift seems to be where this skill is most useful because of the amount of braking that takes place.

Practice blipping the throttle without the brakes first on downshifts, so you can tell how much you need to push to rev match.
You'll know you've gotten it right when you don't feel the downshift at all.

On my 6 speed it's damn near impossible to heel/toe, as the combination of hyper over assisted brakes and drive by wire don't really allow it. I do a lot of blip downshifting without using the brakes.

you just need more practice! haha, i too have hyper over assisted brakes and dbw.

3-2? Oh, sorry, you are driving the 4 with only 5 gears.

Even turning onto the street I live on, I make the 90 degree turn (right) at about 30 in 3rd. Of course with the 6 you don't have to work it that hard to power around the corner.

I've very rarely had to drop to 2nd, or should I say I don't lose that much momentum to need to.

Maybe if I was driving very hard I'd do that, but then putting the power down would overwhelm the front tires.

AznX TL,
Tell me about it, I've tried. I don't enjoy throwing myself into the steering wheel. Just resting your foot on the brake and trying to rotate your foot results in near wheel lock. That plus the either too much or not enough revs made me give up.
I wish the car had the brakes my GSR had, firm and predictable.

Yeah firm and predictable is not how I would describe my brakes, i wish the brakes had a more linear. I have thrown myself into the steering wheel a few times then compensated my mashing the gas a bit, at the same time watched my rpms fly up while my left foot is halfway down on the clutch.

I'm more conferable just using both feet, as needed - Oh, i forgot I got an automatic...

The 7th generation Accord is almost impossible to heel-and-toe, due to the pedal spacing/height, and the over-sensitive brakes. I have many years of heel-and-toeing experience, and I just can't do it in the Accord. So don't feel bad if you are having a tough time.

pedal spacing between brake and gas pedal? wondering if changing the pedals would help..

If you are adventurous, you could try bending the gas pedal rod up and closer to the brake pedal, but it is possible that could create unintended consequences, like the gas pedal being in an uncomfortable spot for normal driving.

ouch, i was like thinking aftermarket pedals

isnt heel and toe shifting hard on the clutch because u r "blipping" the gas with your foot still on the clutch.....

I never could master it, best of luck to you.

isnt heel and toe shifting hard on the clutch because u r "blipping" the gas with your foot still on the clutch.....

-press clutch in
-downshift
-brake and blimp the gas with your braking foot.
-re-engage the clutch once you've rev matched
-then take off like a rocket at the apex.
all of that in a faction of a second. it takes some practice, but i now do it without really thinking about it. and obviously you only do it on turns.

I do a lot of blip downshifting without using the brakes.
Same here. It's fun.

As RacerBoy already mentioned, the car has to be conducive to heel-and-toeing; the Accord IS NOT. And it's not only pedal spacing, but relative pedal height with brake pedal depressed. As far as I know, only Porsche really pays attention to that, with BMW a distant second. And yes, rather than the heel doing the blipping, it's really the right side of your foot (by moving your knee to the right). Take care.

Yeah I've been having a tough time learning it mostly because of the spacing between pedals. I've gotten pretty good at rev matching when I want to downshift to go faster. But, Fred and JC, I don't know how you guys just blip downshift when making a turn because you need to apply the brake to slow down? :dunno:

I have considered installing aftermarket pedals on my car to aid in heel and toe shifting. I have not looked at many pedals, the one momo pedals I saw on neuspeed seemed to be larger than the stock pedals. Anyone know if the tl pedals are larger..?

Yeah I've been having a tough time learning it mostly because of the spacing between pedals. I've gotten pretty good at rev matching when I want to downshift to go faster. But, Fred and JC, I don't know how you guys just blip downshift when making a turn because you need to apply the brake to slow down? :dunno:

i should make a video for the 8th gen :lmao:
but you brake with the corner of your foot, around the area of your big toe. then you just roll your right side of the foot over to blimp the gas. it takes practice, it was alot easier for me to do it in high speed corners at first because i dont have to brake that much, or even braking on a straight just practice it while downshifting to a stop.