Though I make no pretenses at being a world-class autoxer, I will claim to
be pretty fair at so-called "heel and toe" on the street and on the track.
I use the left edge of my shoe/foot for the brake, and press straight down
(towards the floor) as lightly or as hard as required.
I use the right edge of my shoe/foot for the throttle, and tilt my shoe/foot
towards the floor as much or as little as required, to get the revs (by ear)
that I need.
Didn't make this up, of course, the Ford Mustang (4 Foxes to date) and Honda
(many Civics and Accords) cars that I drive/drove are set up this way from
the factory, even with the automatics in the case of the Honda at least.
In the case of my dated Pinto, I had to make up a special gas pedal to make
this possible (using a modified "Maidenform strategy": Lifts & Closes vs
Lifts & Separates). And I understand from Mathis' book on Mustangs, that a
popular change to make this technique easier on standard Mustangs is to use
the automatic brake pedal lever on the sticks to form the equivalent of the
Mustang SVO stickshift setup (which is what I autox).
My point being, that if your car is set up with the pedals far enough apart,
or at a different plane, that the technique I described above doesn't work,
then you would change either the brake pedal, the throttle pedal, or both.
Street Prepared specifically allows this (didn't note what class you're in)
under 14.2.I and the update/backdate rule. And I recall some other classes
do the same, one way or another.
'Course the real secret is a turbocar, with 300#/ft of torque completely in
by the time you reach 3000 rpm, and a second gear effective ratio of 8:1
(2nd gear X rear axle ratio). Then ya dinna havta shift outa second
a'tall. ;] ;] ;]
Richard Nichols
rnichol1@san.rr.com
1986 Ford Mustang SVO 1C
Member #001 VirtualTeamSVO (VTSVO)
1972 Ford Pinto Sedan 3J - Original Owner/Restored
At the San Diego Automotive Museum
-----Original Message-----
From: Brad Moriarty <Brad_Moriarty@prospectus-ma.com>
To: autox@autox.team.net <autox@autox.team.net>
Date: Friday, June 18, 1999 6:51 AM
Subject: H & T revisited
>
>
>
>I don't mean to disappoint here with a non-rule based question, but I've
>been trying the Heel and Toe business since the thread several weeks ago
>and I need some assistance from the collective intelligence out there:
>
>I can do it on the street quite well, matching revs etc. and thought I
>would be all set to apply it on the course but I've encountered a few
>problems that only seem to arise at 10/10ths.
>
>On the street I'm not applying maximum breaking force so I can press the
>throttle open with the side of my foot and simply slide my foot over, off
>of the brake onto the throttle so my foot is in the typical position on
>each pedal most of the time.
>
>On the course, at maximum braking force, my pressure on the brake pedal
>makes it very difficult to effect the "slide" so I end up releasing the
>brake by twisting my foot, pressing down with the throttle side and lifting
>up with the brake side.
>
>This feels pretty weird as I end up driving through the corner with the
>side of my foot pressing on the throttle until I can lift and reposition.
>
>When I try and force my foot to slide over at 10/10ths I end up releasing
>the brake very sharply and over doing it on the throttle which unsettles my
>softly sprung car and makes the down-shift go as smoothly as Skippy
>Superchunk.
>
>Clearly I'm new to this so any advice on technique would be greatly
>appreciated.
>
>Thanks in advance,
>
>Brad
>
>`97 528i
>
>
>
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