Did my first heel-toe downshift!

Big deal, yaah? But the first one for me. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" /> Only thing is I used the ball of my right foot to kinda brake and blip the throttle at the same time. From cruising in 4th, pressed the brakes down, depressed the clutch and gave the throttle a blip while holding the brakes, shifted in 3rd, clutch off, brakes off, hard left, throttle on and away we go....ahhhhhhhhhh, tastes great AND less filling <img border="0" alt="[cherrsagai]" title="" src="graemlins/drink.gif" /> Hope to practice a whole lot more now that I have tha basics down <img border="0" alt="[bigbye]" title="" src="graemlins/xyxwave.gif" />

No Fear!

Chicago: It takes a lot of practice to feel really comfortable, but it will come. Just have patience. You may also want to try "double-clutching". In the old days this was basically required on racing cars that did not have synchronized gear boxes. I've heard varying opinions on whether or not it's worth doing on new gear boxes. I learned while learning to heel-toe and I like the rhythm of the two combined. Basically this is how it goes: brake, depress clutch, move gear lever to neutral, release clutch just past friction point, depress clutch again, blip throttle, shift to lower gear, release clutch, release brake, apply power. It is more complicated, but if you think you might like to do it in the future it may be worth learning both at once. I picked it up from one of Bob Bondurant's books years ago. Happy driving!

I find the stock pedals a bit unconfortable for heel-toe. Has anyone installed aftermarket pedals, such as aluminum pedals, in the 996 that helped with heel-toe?

Carlos, Yeah, I have the Cargraphic alu pedals, and the gas pedal has been moved just slightly to the left. Makes things easier. Greetings, --Pierre

Thanx Pierre

Also, I had my accelerator pedal built up. You can put 2 stock pedals on. Over that I had an aluminum pedal added. It is easily adjustable. At street speeds it makes blipping easier because the accel and brake pedals are closer to the same plane. On the track, however, under heavier braking due to higher speed, the brake pedal was actually lower than the accel pedal and a couple of times I was on both when trying to slow down. I was able to remove one of the extra stock pedals between runs and the positions were just right. So 2 stock pedals and an aluminum one for the street and one stock pedal and the aluminum one for the track. The aluminum pedal can also be mounted shifted over to the left, but I have not found this necessary. Regarding double clutching on the track, I learned to do this at the Skip Barber Racing School, as their cars do not have synchros. You must double clutch a non-synchro tranny to help the gears to match up. In our synchro cars it is not needed and will actually slow you down on the track, as it just makes each shift slower (imho). After you practice heel and toe on the street for a while, consider signing up for a driver ed track event. The skill will contribute to your smoothness on the track and is considered an important requisite for acheiving solo driver status! Have fun, sloD