theblue
Active Member
this thread made an interesting read... I have some thoughts to share as somebody with both track and autoX experience:
heel toe is needed at track days because you're threshold braking at the edge of traction as late into the turn as possible - as a result of this you can't afford to take your foot off the brake so you move the heel over to the gas to assist with the blip to down shift. For this reason you would never use the "left half of your foot on the brake" or "use the heel on the brake" because you don't start the heel toe on both -- you start on the brake and then move to the gas (you would never just use the heel on the brake under normal driving).
People often talk about using the heel toe on the street and it's a little different there. You're not truly threshold braking so you have time to heel toe in just about any style you want no matter how wrong it would be at the track. You are only braking as much as needed so you can be more relaxed. I don't really heel toe on the street unless really driving hard but I always rev match every time -- I'll be exiting the highway and I'll brake, then off the brake to rev match down, then back to the brake... heel toe is just not needed when only driving 7/10th.
Left foot braking is something that I do in autoX to hold boost and slow down... you don't left foot brake and clutch -- I only use it to maintain a gear (2nd in autoX) but yet not drop too far out of the car's powerband. You can also get more feel which doesn't hurt. Again, not something for the street really.
heel toe is needed at track days because you're threshold braking at the edge of traction as late into the turn as possible - as a result of this you can't afford to take your foot off the brake so you move the heel over to the gas to assist with the blip to down shift. For this reason you would never use the "left half of your foot on the brake" or "use the heel on the brake" because you don't start the heel toe on both -- you start on the brake and then move to the gas (you would never just use the heel on the brake under normal driving).
People often talk about using the heel toe on the street and it's a little different there. You're not truly threshold braking so you have time to heel toe in just about any style you want no matter how wrong it would be at the track. You are only braking as much as needed so you can be more relaxed. I don't really heel toe on the street unless really driving hard but I always rev match every time -- I'll be exiting the highway and I'll brake, then off the brake to rev match down, then back to the brake... heel toe is just not needed when only driving 7/10th.
Left foot braking is something that I do in autoX to hold boost and slow down... you don't left foot brake and clutch -- I only use it to maintain a gear (2nd in autoX) but yet not drop too far out of the car's powerband. You can also get more feel which doesn't hurt. Again, not something for the street really.