I was just wondering if any of you guys who drive manual XR's (and T-Series) heal-toe on downshifts (i.e. brake with your toes and blip the throttle with the heal of your foot as you change down). I do, but i find that the throttle pedal is too far away from the brake pedal and I feel very uncomfortable when i do it in the AU, (as opposed to my daily car which has the pedals much closer together and makes heal-toeing pleasurable). Are aftermarket pedals the solution?
I've seen a japanese testdrive dvds and the guys were driving like what your saying here. I thought they were doing that to keep the turbo running???They were just crazy and damn good drivers ,but I don't understand why they drive like this????
Originally posted by ayman I've seen a japanese testdrive dvds and the guys were driving like what your saying here. I thought they were doing that to keep the turbo running???They were just crazy and damn good drivers ,but I don't understand why they drive like this????
The idea behind it is that you match engine revs to road speed as you downshift. The benefit is that you 'smooth' out the shift i.e. no jerking (from the mismatch between road/engine speed when if you engage a lower gear quickly). This means you can be very agressive and fast in your downshifting, like when you're on the track and coming down from warp speed and using both the brakes and the gearbox to slow you down. And plus you get to hear the engine revs as a result of the blip on the throttle; it sounds magic in a car with a great exhaust note (like a T-Series or XR8). When you watch the Supercars, look out for pedal cam. They'll show you it and it looks mad!
I know Tickford cars are based on family sedans but they are bloody hard to do this in unless you have big feet (which i don't; I'm only 5ft 9"). Maybe the big displacement of the pedals is due to the fact that the pedal box is primarily for autos which you obviously don't heal-toe? May'be Tickford could engineer a fix? I'm probably asking too much, but the truth is all thoroughbred sports cars are designed to heal-toe. If you look at BMW, Lambo, Ferrari etc pedals for eg, the throttle is angled toward the brake pedal.
Cool, i feel better now, i found that the brake and accelerator pedals are too far as well. So the only time i blip the gas when downchanging is when i don't use the brake.
I've tried heel n toe and it feels weir, like my feet have to be so parallel. :oo1: :oo1:
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Originally posted by EF_Falcon_GuY Cool, i feel better now, i found that the brake and accelerator pedals are too far as well. So the only time i blip the gas when downchanging is when i don't use the brake.
I've tried heel n toe and it feels weird, like my feet have to be so parallel. :oo1: :oo1:
Yep, that's the prob; Your right foot has to be almost horizontal to reach the fricken gas pedal! In a proper pedal set up, your right foot has to be just offset to the right at the heal in order to reach the gas. Sounds great, looks great, feels great with the right pedals!
Unfortunately big feet are not the answer, my size 15 (thats as big as I'm admitting to) right foot is great with regards to the pedal gap, however the big dopey legs they are attached to mean that there is not enough room under the wheel to turn my foot.
Oh well, thank god for synchromesh :s6: :s6:
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Thought it was time to try a turbo for a change :)
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