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      03-18-2009, 09:44 AM   #1
jragan
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Heel & Toe-ing the Z4M

I, personally, am having a hard time blip-ing on downshift with the stock pedals. I can't see there's any way for me to heel-toe and it looks like the only thing I could do is along the lines of a side-step. What "maneuver" have you guys found that works best for you?
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      03-18-2009, 09:56 AM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jragan View Post
I, personally, am having a hard time blip-ing on downshift with the stock pedals. I can't see there's any way for me to heel-toe and it looks like the only thing I could do is along the lines of a side-step. What "maneuver" have you guys found that works best for you?
You'll actually find the more you "performance drive" and the more you become immersed in that community that most people actually don't use their heal and toe they put half on the brake half on the gas and sort of roll their foot over.
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      03-18-2009, 10:46 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by O-cha View Post
You'll actually find the more you "performance drive" and the more you become immersed in that community that most people actually don't use their heal and toe they put half on the brake half on the gas and sort of roll their foot over.
Bingo. Add in a set of pedals from Ultimate Pedals with the extended gas part and its easy as pie!
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      03-18-2009, 04:50 PM   #4
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how tall are you / how close are you to the steering wheel? i'm 5'8 and i drive (when i'm trying) as close as possible to the steering wheel and haven't had any problems with heel-toe blips. maybe a more flexible/stretched out ankle needs to be worked on?
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      03-18-2009, 05:49 PM   #5
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I find this car easier then other BMWs, pedals are closer.
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      03-18-2009, 06:30 PM   #6
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i use the sport button. just a small tap and the revs shoot up. that way when i heal toe i dont have to mash the brake to get the revs up a bit.

the ultimate pedals are also very helpful.
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      03-18-2009, 09:53 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MMMazing07 View Post
i dont have to mash the brake to get the revs up a bit.

.......
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      04-23-2009, 03:31 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by O-cha View Post
.......
He means that, without sport mode on, he can't get the revs up quickly enough under light braking since the "elevation" of the two pedals is still too high in those conditions. In heavy braking situations, it's much easier to mash the gas pedal since your foot is already burying the brake. But what he really needs to do is A), learn to twist his ankle more and B), give the revs more time to build during the clutch-in phase. Like a fraction of a second more. I'm one of the people who finds sport mode to be TOO touchy most of the time. And, as it doesn't make the car any faster, I almost never use it.
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      04-23-2009, 04:36 PM   #9
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Since my original post, I've actually gotten quite proficient at "heel-toe-ing." To get in the habit and work on the technique, I made it a point to heel-toe every downshift during "normal" daily driving and when I had my next track day I did very well. What works for me is sport off, a little bit of the inside of the ball of my foot on the brake with the rest as much on the gas as possible and rocking my foot over to the outside while depressing the brake to get more blip.
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      04-23-2009, 04:57 PM   #10
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That's how I do it as well, foot pretty much straight up, ball of foot on brake, right side edge on gas.

Good to hear it's working for you now. Practice makes perfect. I heel/toe in everyday driving too.
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      04-23-2009, 05:42 PM   #11
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      04-23-2009, 06:45 PM   #12
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Here's a couple of diagrams I made, originally intended for class-room sessions at some of the schools we teach...

This is the "traditional" definition of a heel-toe. Heel of the foot on the gas, toe of the foot on the brake. The position of the car in diagram indicate how quickly and how short of a distance you typically have to get this accomplished.



This is the alternative way I was taught, it's especially effective on cars where the pedals are close, or for guys with repeated ankle sprains/injuries where rotating the foot in via a traditional sense of heel-toe becomes increasingly difficult with age. Keep left side of the ball of your foot on the brake, rotate your whole foot to the right to catch the gas pedal with the right side of your foot. Takes some practice, but it comes easier for me on a BMW.



On cars like a Nissan 350Z, where the gas and brake pedals are far apart and meant for a traditional heel-toe, since I don't have a lot of flexibility in my ankle anymore, I rotate my foot the OTHER WAY and catch the brake pedal with the ball of my foot on the right, and rotate my foot forward and catch the gas pedal with the tip of my toe. Works just as well.
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      04-23-2009, 08:42 PM   #13
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The BMW is also extremely difficult to heel-toe in the traditional sense because the gas pedal is hinged at the floor, where your heel would be so there's very little movement to be had that close to the hinge.
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      04-23-2009, 10:54 PM   #14
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That's very true, good point.
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      04-27-2009, 10:20 PM   #15
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That's an excellent diagram!
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      05-01-2009, 10:29 PM   #16
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Maybe my feet aren't big enough, but the height difference between the brake and the gas pedal is too great to do this effectively (for me, anyway). Does this only work under really hard braking?

I've found that I can rev-match without heel-and-toe down to third with no problems. That works for most street situations, although I'm sure it would be useless on a track where the braking zones are much shorter.

And props to The HACK for some nice diagrams. Well done.
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      05-02-2009, 02:57 AM   #17
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Now that I think about it, it probably helps that I have huge feet. I guess using the side of your foot wouldn't work to well if you were like a size 8 or something.
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      05-02-2009, 12:45 PM   #18
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I'm a size 7 (stop laughing...) and rocking my foot over works just fine for me. It takes practice to do it well, but if you go out of your way to do it for every down shift in daily driving, you'll get the hang of it (that's what I did, in prepration for the track...just make sure you give yourself ample room between you and the car in front of you as you'll find, in the beginning, you won't be using enough brake and will run up on people)
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      05-02-2009, 03:51 PM   #19
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Quote:
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I'm a size 7 (stop laughing...)
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      05-03-2009, 12:50 AM   #20
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Quote:
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I'm a size 7
Dude, how tall are you??
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      05-04-2009, 03:53 PM   #21
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I wear a 10-1/2, so it's not small feet, I guess. Just need to practice more probably.
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      05-04-2009, 05:10 PM   #22
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Quote:
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Dude, how tall are you??
5'6.5" (gotta get that half inch in there!)
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