How To Nail The Perfect Heel And Toe Downshift
Heel and toe downshifting is widely recognised as the ‘holy grail’ of driving techniques. It looks cool, it sounds awesome and high profile journalists like Chris Harris have made it famous on the interwebz. So who wouldn’t want to learn it?
Well, many of my friends have been put off attempting the technique because it looks rather ‘intimidating’; a skill reserved for pro drivers. Thankfully this is not the case - you don’t have to be Ayrton Senna to pull off the perfect downshift. In fact, it’s one of the easiest skills to master, and once you’ve cracked it, you’ll find it as simple as operating a light-switch.
How do I perform a heel and toe downshift?
Heel and toe downshifts are performed in the braking zone of a corner, so we’ll run through the process methodically:
As you approach the braking zone, move your right foot from the throttle to the brake pedal. When you reach a speed where it is appropriate to downshift (to avoid over-revving), rotate your right foot so that your heel is hovering over the throttle. Alternatively, if you’re in a track focused machine where the pedals are close together, you can use the side of your foot in place of your heel.
To change gear, depress the clutch with your left foot, then rotate your right foot while you’re still braking and give the throttle a short, sharp stab with your heel (or the side of your foot), then select the lower gear. When you blip the throttle, be careful not to over-rev the engine, which is a major problem in vintage race cars with no limiter. Once you’ve selected the lower gear, release the clutch smoothly and with purpose.
If you’ve done everything perfectly, the downshift should have been buttery smooth with minimal forward weight transfer.
Why is a heel and toe downshift smoother?
If you don’t use heel and toe, when you depress the clutch to select a lower gear, the revs will drop as the engine is disconnected from the gearbox, but the wheel speed will remain high. So when you downshift and release the clutch, the clutch speed and the engine speed are completely mismatched. This will cause a shock to the driveline resulting in sudden engine braking.
This can upset the balance of the car, and in some circumstances - usually wet and greasy conditions - you can lock the driven wheels entirely.
So the advantage of using heel and toe is that when you blip the throttle during the downshift, it matches the engine speed with the road speed. Therefore, when the clutch is released, there should be no sudden jerk, which reduces forward weight transfer and the likelihood of lock-ups. As a result the car remains stable on the way into the corner giving the driver greater control.
Can I use it on the road?
Absolutely. Any technique that helps to keep a car balanced and under control is worth using on a day-to-day basis. Just like left-foot braking, it will make you a smoother, quicker, and ultimately safer driver on the road.
However, we do recommend that you have the right car/pedal set-up. If you’re in a car with pedals spaced far apart, heel and toe-ing can be a real challenge. Try to practice in a car where the brake pedal, when fully depressed, sits at the same level as the throttle.
Like with everything, practice makes perfect, so get out there and nail that technique!
Comments
Those people saying it looks difficult have most likely never even tried it. After a bit of practise it will become rather simple :)
Am I the only one that heel-toes with my toes on the accelerator and the heel on the brake ?The only way i can do it, the other way around feels a bit weird for my foot! (and no I’m not bad at it, I can do real fast heel-toes also.)
I think thats the way its supposed to be, because you brake with your toes and don’t need to re-position them and are able to stay on the brake as you rotate your heel over the accelerator.
I can’t heel-toe in my vans but I can do it in my steel toe boots with very little problem. But I also work so much that I don’t have time to get used to driving in vans.
I’ve been using the side of my foot rather than my heel (like in the Race-setup picture) because it’s easiest with the way the pedals are positioned in my Impreza. The biggest issue I have is that it seems I come close to slipping off the brake and can only overlap the two pedals because my feet and shoes are quite big. I should probably get more grippy shoes/pedal…. Anyone else get this problem? Is the way of using your heel safer in that respect?
On my old YJ Wrangler this was the only way to do it properly.
My dad taught me how to do this when I was 16 driving a Ford Explorer of all things. Every enthusiast should understand how it works and with practice it will become routine. It’s better for your car and it engages the driver in the process. Good luck all.
I really want to learn how to do it, even just being able to say “I can heel and toe shift” is good enough for me
Oh believe me. When you learn it you’ll find a lot more nice things about it than just being able to say you ca do it :)
My Mustang its impossible unless you have your foot to the floor on a track. STI has peddles in the right spot and its easy as pie. Ford why for you no want me to heal toe on the street?
I heel/toe maybe a quarter of the time in my A6. Not perfect at it (yet) but I generally am pretty accurate matching revs about 75% of the time. One of my friends thought it was pretty neat when I heel/toed from fifth to third a couple weeks ago, and nobody else has seemingly noticed.
You wouldnt think so but the pedals in my saab are actually spaced perfectly to do heel and toe downshifts
I get to drive a mini and WRX so pedal placement is not an issue for me but for those with pedals that don’t want to cooperate, is there a way to modify the pedal? Just curious if anyones tried and their outcome.
You could try 3D printing an attachment.