I have done my fair share of racing on the streets but never understood the "heel and toe" technique. Could you please explain?
Jean S. Vargas
Drivers use the "heel and toe" method to smoothly combine braking and downshifting as they approach a corner. Good drivers know that blipping the throttle between gears in a downshift to speed up the engine to match the tire speed keeps the wheels from locking and stops the back end from getting loose. Heel-and-toeing simply combines blipping the throttle with braking. On early European sports and racing cars with a central throttle, the pedals were set up so the driver could use the ball of his right foot on the brake and the heel of the same foot on the gas. On modern cars, the driver uses the right side of his foot to blip the gas and the left side of the same foot to push the brake. Done correctly, your foot pivots quickly on its ball, giving a rapid blip to the throttle with the right side while the left provides steady pressure on the brake. See our how-to video above.