just something i came up while trying to drive without my usual left foot braking every time. with and wanted to ask about. instead of the traditional brake with toe, gas with heel, i find it way easier to control the brakes with my heel and gas with my toes. seems like a more natural position for turning my foot.
so why is heel toe traditionally done the way it is, and is there a disadvantage for my way.
It should be easier to rotate from your heel (alternate heel-toe) than from your toes (normal heel-toe). Most people should be more flexible rotating from their heel rather than their toes. Maybe it goes with the fact that a lot of people's toes point outward too.
I've tried both ways of heel-toe and this is what I came up with:
The alternate method you use does help with flexibility so it should also help with reach. If you twist your ankle to the right you can see that its a lot easier getting it horizontal than twisting it to the left. It should help with pedals that are farther apart. To blip the throttle, you press with the toes. The problem is that I tend to lift my heel to press with my toes. But that can probably be corrected.
Now if I could find that Nascar video, I'd have an example but no luck...
With the traditional heel-toe, it tends to be harder to twist the ankle that way. It works with pedals that are closer together. Obviously to do it you have to have your toes on the brake. Now what you do next really depends. Some people like to use the outside edge of their foot to press the pedals when they are close. Some like to swipe their heel and hit the accelerator. Some like to float their heel over the accelerator and press it down. Some... well you get the point. I find it easier to maintain brake pressure because I have more control at my toes than at my heels and because I don't lift my toes when I press with the heel.
It's really driver preference or whatever he/she is most comfortable doing. There aren't really significant advantages or disadvantages other than comfort or reach. Most problems can be corrected with practice.
Why it's done that way? No idea. Maybe the majority have more toe control than heel control.
Disadvantages? None if you're comfortable with it. It does have reach and comfort as a natural advantage though since most people are more comfortable twisting their ankle to the right.
I drive a corolla too, and I just don't have enough space to turn my foot to press the brake with the toe and the gas with the heel. There's just no space under the steering wheel for my knee, so heel and toe is not really possible for me, maybe I'm just too big for the car. But pressing the gas with my toe and the brake with my heel would be possible, though I've never tried it.
From the stories that I have heard, originally, it was your heel on the brake and use the ball of your foot to blip the throttle. I think this was probably because of completely mechanical brakes and a long distance to between the pedals.
Later, it became toe/heel shifting because most people started switching to the ball of your foot on the brake and the heel or the side of your foot for blipping the throttle. Maybe this was because the pedals were closer together or it offered the driver a better level of control and speed when doing the shifts.
There are a lot of problems for doing it either way and it depends on the car configuration, the size of your feet, the distance between pedals, the throw of the pedals, the flexibility of your ankle, etc.
The key is smooth brake application and control while being able to accurately match the revs. However you accomplish that is good.
I never brake with my heel, so it would feel unnatural if all of a sudden i'd do that and try to reach the throttle with my toes. I think it just wouldn't work at all for me
Plus I've got more feeling in my toes than in my heels, allowing for preciser braking. Imo attempting to blip the throttle precisely is less important than braking precisely.
In other words, the emphasis is on the braking and not the blipping. If you miss the brake it could be very bad. If you miss the blip, there may be no problems, so I prefer toe-brake (because that's what you always use, that's what you're used to) and heel-throttle.
As most pedal configurations look like this, you'd have a very hard time pressing the brake with your heel and moving over to the throttle with your toes... Throw in the fact that you almost never have any room above the pedal faces and you'll soon see why it's done like it's done in RL...
Heel toe is just a name. Depending on the person and pedals people do it all different ways, even not using the heel at all and just the left side of your foot on brake and the right side on gas.
It doesn't really matter as long as you are braking well and getting the engine rev'ed
Index and middle fingers on the brake. Thumb, ring, and pinkie fingers on the throttle. Hold the brake in steady, then flick your wrist down and click down (standard) or up (GP shift) with your foot.
