On Wed, 28 Apr 1999, Ron Bauer wrote:
> My suggestion is to learn how to do it and practice it all the time. Any
> stickshift I drive in an autocross or on the street, is driven with heel and
> toe downshifts. I do this regardless of whether it's aggressive driving or
> not. The more you can practice things in a real world environment, the
> better prepared you'll be at the autocross.
And so I've been trying to learn to heel-and-toe. My problem is that in
my car ('98 Mustang coupe), there is a few inches difference in height
between the brake and accelerator -- the brake pedal sits even with the
clutch, up high, but the gas is 2-3" lower, maybe more. On my wife's
minivan, the brake and gas pedals are lined up so well I often tweak the
throttle accidentally if my foot is too far to the right on the brake.
It's an automatic, of course, but if it were a manual I could heel-and-toe
it. I can trail brake it on off-ramps really well <evil grin>.
So is this just a car that can't be shifted heel-and-toe? I haven't been
able to do it at all. I have to really point my big ol' feet like a
gymnast to reach both pedals at the same time. I can't "blip" the
throttle without crunching the brakes at the same time, there's just not
enough ankle travel left. And I think a block of wood on the throttle
would put me into ESP from GS, not to mention looking a little silly.
Comments?
Dale
---
The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new
discoveries, is not "Eureka!" (I found it!) but "That's funny ..."
-- Isaac Asimov
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