How to Heel-and-Toe Downshift a Manual Transmission Car

The name's a bit deceiving, but the technique of heel-and-toe downshifting allows a driver to downshift while braking in a straight line. It's a racing technique that can be easily adapted to normal road driving in a manual transmission car. Heel-toe downshifting is designed to put you in the right gear so that you can drive through a corner with maximum speed and power. From a technical standpoint, the technique is designed to match the engine speed to the wheel speed.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Car with a manual transmission

1. Begin braking with your right foot as you approach the corner. Use the ball of your foot to apply pressure to the brake pedal. This provide the optimal brake pressure since the ball of your foot is aligned with your knee.

2. Placing the ball of your foot in the center of the brake pedal will allow the right side of your foot to hang off the brake pedal and be closer to the gas pedal. This will be important for the next few steps.

3. Press in the clutch pedal with your left foot.

4. While still applying pressure to the brake pedal with your right foot, roll your foot to the right so that you touch the gas pedal. Use the outside edge of your right foot to press and release or “blip” the throttle. This will briefly raise the engine’s RPM to match the speed of the wheels and ensure a smooth shift. Only practice will help you figure out the precise amount of throttle blip required in your car, but you can try between 1,000 to 2,000 RPM to downshift a single gear.

5. Move the shift lever into the gear that you want to select. This is usually one gear lower that the gear you were in prior to braking.

6. Let out the clutch with your left foot.

7. Take your right foot off the brake and turn into the corner. Accelerate smoothly out of the corner in the correct gear.

Tips & Warnings

• Heel-and-toe downshifting works best if the brake and gas pedals in your car are close together.
• Experiment with foot placement on the brake pedal to determine the optimal braking and blipping position.
• Practice makes perfect. Practice the sequence while your car is parked and engine is off. Then work your way up.
• Be careful not to press the gas pedal until you want to blip the throttle. Applying brake and gas at the same time while the car is in gear is not good.
• The hardest part is figuring out the right amount of throttle blipping so that the engine's RPM matches the gear you're selecting. Blipping the throttle too little or too much will unsettle the car's balance and you'll feel a jerk. You know you have the technique down when you feel nothing and it's perfectly smooth.

[monsterstyles]

on 9/26/2007 Also imperative is brake vs throttle levelling. When brake is heavily depressed, the heel of your foot should be able to be "slid" accross to the throttle to blip...if it is not, you will end up lifting your foot to blip which will reduce brake pressure and the car will lurch all over the place.

[monsterstyles]

on 9/26/2007 Important to note that it is not just the benefit of getting into the right gear; heel-toe (with brake) or just blipping (no brake)on the downshift is absolutely imperative when the car is at the limit under high-speed corner entry as it stabilises the rear of the car without any lurching or "chirping" of rear tyres...or even worse, complete loss of traction and a spin!

Something that frustrates me no-end is people punching down through the gears in their performance car without blipping on the down-shift...drive me crazy!

The best way to get good at this is to make sure every single downshift you don on the street is blipped or if while braking, using heel-toe. "Blipping" is without using the brake...blip the throttle a little just before you let the clutch out on the downshift. WIth a little practice you will find yourself "matching" the downshifts perfectly...lookin like a pro!

[Jonno]

on 9/25/2007 Great article - thanks! There are some quite good heel and toe diagrams here: http://www.drivingfast.net/car_control/heel_and_toe.htm. Might be worth a look.

[Cafa]

on 8/14/2007 Having a CAI (cold air intake) installed in your engine improves throttle response, meaning, you'll need to blip the throttle less, and therefore move your foot less. Great article!