Heel and Toe Downshift

Edmunds.com

Heel and Toe Downshift

Heel and Toe Downshift article on Edmunds.com

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ibdefaria

Never heard about this.. i usually slowdown first and while turn step on the clutch, change gear and accelerate while slowing let go off the clutch.

peterhope

thank you for posting this. ive been trying to understand heel & toe properly before practicing it, and i think this has made everything click for me. im practicing it now and my heel toeing is getting much better thanks again

glam1

Very useful information. Thanks.

hirondel

One of my proudest accomplishments was learning to heel-and-toe AND double-clutch simultaneously. Completely useless in the late-model Camaro (6-speed Tremec T66 gearbox with B&M shifter) where I performed it regularly, but that car had a good pedal setup, making it fairly easy after some practice—and after finding the right shoes.

painter33_

Here and in another "shifting" article, twice described as "using the clutch to slow the car" is really "free wheeling", a dangerous practice at best, in which no gears are engaged and only the car's brakes can be used to slow and/or stop the vehicle. If one employs this bad habit, a brake failure means that very bad things will occur. Cornering with the clutch depressed is absurd. Downshifting, something I learned when my father taught me to drive on a column shifter, was and is always accompanied by a little kick or tap on the accelerator just prior to engaging the clutch. I just makes sense to match the RPMs to the proper gear. I've always owned manual transmission cars and have never had any clutch work done on my cars - this dates from 1967 to the present. Why a term, "heel and toe" has to be invented for drivers is beyond my comprehension. Just downshift properly, and that's all, folks.