Heel toe

[ForcedFirebird]

Put a camera on my feet for this weekend's race. Sure do wish I already had left foot braking under control, but here's the rookie's footwork...

[Ocell]

I love these views! I'm hoping to set this up for my track weekend in a week and a half. Any tips on mounting the camera? (My interior probably isn't as stripped as your's, though. Just a guess.)

I can't critique because I'm still working on my own technique. I think I end up using more of my heel on the bottom of the gas pedal. I haven't figured out using the sides of my feet in this car yet.

[ForcedFirebird]

"Heel toe" is a term, not law. However you blip the throttle doesn't matter.

I screwed the clip on cam mount to the plastic trim under the cluster and flipped the vid 180 degrees.

[ELVA164]

That upside down is freaking me out, but cool otherwise! Interesting you E30 guys don't have to double-clutch. It was my understanding that helps synchro boxes live much better in race situations.

[Ocell]

"Heel toe" is a term, not law. However you blip the throttle doesn't matter.

Oh, I know. I wasn't saying you were doing it wrong, just relating how I've gotten it to work for me so far. I WANT to use the sides of my feet, I just haven't gotten a feel for it yet with the floor mounted pedal. I'm glad you posted so I can see if there are adjustments I can do to make it work for me.

Right now hitting the base of the pedal with my heel gives me a decent blip and my downshifts are great under hard braking, but I can't modulate it enough to make things work under moderate or light braking.

[Wh33lhop]

Cool footwork vid! You didn't ask for critique but I'll give you some of my bro-theory anyway.

You leave a lot of time in between clutching in and blipping. This leaves a lot of time for the motor to drop revs. As soon as the clutch goes in, the motor's free to rev. Blip the throttle as you clutch in and you will downshift faster, need less of a blip and be more accurate as well.

If you ever decide to double-clutch, blipping immediately will make it faster and easier. Clutch in/blip/shift to neutral simultaneously, quick declutch and reclutch/select next gear simultaneously. It's a nice quick smooth motion when you do it right. I've seen a lot of people try it but do it very inefficiently.

The "toe-toe" method where you use the sides of your feet seems more accurate to me with a bottom hinged gas pedal since you'll have more leverage at the top of the pedal and it'll require less force, but more travel. If you wanna learn, just sit in the driveway somewhere (or on the side of the road if you don't want to piss off your neighbors) put some pressure on the brake and get used to blipping the throttle with the side of your foot. Then try it in motion in a secluded area. I'd go out and drive just to practice when I was 17, there's nothing stopping you.

I said blip like 15 times and now it's bugging me.

[econti]

I'd go out and drive just to practice when I was 17, there's nothing stopping you.

This is how I learnt. Picked it up quickly enough
I have super wide feet though, so barely need to rotate my foot to hit the accelerator

[e30s50dan]

Gotta love that sound!!

[ELVA164]

On a related note, do you preload the shift lever?

[TobyB]

Interesting you E30 guys don't have to double-clutch.

do you preload the shift lever?

aluminum shift forks on 4th FTW! Pro3 guys seem to get a season- or maybe 2, at most-
from a 260.

I was comparing data on a front straight pull as a poor man's dyno, and noticed
that my competitors didn't have steps for shifting, whereas I did.

I'm leaving time on the table.

And the trans in the car.

Although the last fluid that came out of there was pretty alumashiny....

t

[ForcedFirebird]

Thanks everyone for watching and the tips etc.

I am still a rookie. Only have 6 Spec e30 races under my belt, lots of HPDE and Chump races too, but that's very different than going out with a pack of 6-12 cars nearly identical to you, and taking a green flag. I still have a lot of work to do on my driving, but it's a blast regardless.

Gotta love that sound!!

m20 power!

[akorcovelos]

Are you using a clutch stop? Looks like you have an awful lot of clutch pedal travel, so unless your clutch is about shot you can cut a bit of time reducing the pedal travel.

I also notice you leave your foot on the clutch all the time, I found my shifting is much cleaner when I use the dead pedal unless I'm actually shifting. It's also better for the clutch since just the weight of your foot resting on the pedal is nominally reducing the pressure on the clutch.

There is no need to double clutch a synchronized trans, it only wastes time assuming you're getting the throttle blip right and accurately rev matching for the selected gear. A dog box race trans is a different story completely.

[Wh33lhop]

There's no NEED to double clutch, but it will cut the synchro wear in half if done right.

[ForcedFirebird]

Are you using a clutch stop? Looks like you have an awful lot of clutch pedal travel, so unless your clutch is about shot you can cut a bit of time reducing the pedal travel.

I also notice you leave your foot on the clutch all the time, I found my shifting is much cleaner when I use the dead pedal unless I'm actually shifting. It's also better for the clutch since just the weight of your foot resting on the pedal is nominally reducing the pressure on the clutch.

There is no need to double clutch a synchronized trans, it only wastes time assuming you're getting the throttle blip right and accurately rev matching for the selected gear. A dog box race trans is a different story completely.

The car isn't finished, so there is no dead pedal. There is a clutch stop, but again it's the clutch that was in the car since we got it and has a couple of 14hr chump races on it before this past weekend.

Try to make this long story short, I had my street 4dr e30 for sale to fund my Spec car and borrowed the chump car to get my license. The same day I passed my competition evaluation my dad wrecked my 4dr on t5 Sebring (frame damage). So, I borrowed the chump car again to race this past weekend. Just threw some scrubbed RR's and Bilstein's on, but still didn't have good springs, sway bars, camber plates etc.

Here's an in-cabin race from Sunday. Not very exciting, though. I was more worried about making my no-contact races to complete my license than being competitive. I will use the chump car once again next month, then plan on having the 4dr pulled and caged for Oct.

[ELVA164]

Yeah, my questions regarded synchro life. A dog box is a different story because the clutch is only an option in the first place! :-)

That's interesting info about a trans lasting a season or two with aggressive shifts. Toby, do you double clutch or just shift more slowly to help it live?