Heel & toeing and left foot braking in Formula Ford.

[gfm]

For what it's worth, and I've been racing for over 30 years, how can you downshift a gearbox with no synchromesh without toeing and heeling? Just go crash crash crash through the unmatching teeth and jarr the transmission and unloaded rear wheels at the same time? Surely not.
And left foot braking still has to be the biggest waste of time for 99% of users. Left foot braking is all about getting rally cars turned early in a corner, keeping the rear wheels slipping, and keeping turbo chargers full of charge, dependant upon brake balences and stuff; nothing to do with the quickest way round a circuit.
This is a huge red herring IMHO.

[Walshy]

Heel and Toe is a must if you want to be smooth in a Formula Ford. If nothing else, it saves from 'Bogging down' in the slow corners by keeping the revs up.

With regards to left foot braking, certain cars won't allow it due the positioning of the rack (Swift '92 for example), but if the car permits, then it can be very handy. Take Oulton Park and Druids. Some people take it in third. Some in fourth. There is no right or wrong, it is just a mind set, but if you take it in fourth, then a little progressive left foot braking keeps the car nice and smooth on turn in. I find..........

[GM Man]

Of course you blip the throttle on FF. Have you ever watched testing? All the fast people give the throttle a big stab before knocking it down a gear. This enables you to use a bit more rear brakes as well since youre matching the revs and not upsetting the rear so much thus decreasing brake distance, especially for hairpins.

Left foot braking wont help you go quicker in a FF, since you will have problems operating the clutch and the brake at the same time on downchange with your left foot =)

Regarding an earlier post. I think why less people toe heel in FF now (winter series...) is because not many of them where very experienced drivers..to put it in a nice way.

If you left foot brake in a fast corner all you are really doing is taking grip away from the front but not from the rear. So in theory you are not using 100% of the cars grip but maybe 95% since you are asking the front tyres to steer and brake at the same time. The rear tyres will keep pushing anyway so that will then be like lifting off the throttle a touch. It is then, again in theory, better to bleed of the throttle just a bit so you are decelarating or keeping constant but on power, just using the grip to slow the car.

....but then again theory and real life are two different things so its a case of "whatever floats your boat"

[Triple J Motorsport]

Surelt it's h&t down and no clutch up?

I can't LFB because of the steering column

John

[mattray]

Well I am in GM Man's boat!

[swift]

I agree with the majority of the comments so far: heel & toe a must keeps you smooth and saves the box. I've just completed my 3rd season on the same set of dogs. But perhaps I'm just showing off!!!! Definitely a must in the wet unless you want to end up facing the way you've just come from.

Seriously though having spoken to a couple of zetec team bosses they were constantly bemoaning the number of dog rings they were going through, with their drivers using clutchless changes both up and down the box. I can't honestly see the point in not using the clutch on the way down the box as what time are you going to save? You're braking anyway, so what's the point?

Now, what about "power shifting" on the way up the box? Anyone tried it? Do you need shares in an exhaust valve company?

[Walshy]

How you doing Mr Swift. I always Power Shift. You wouldn't believe the difference it makes. The car really launches itself through each gear and I have never had to change dogs. You try power shifting on a test session, then go back out and use the clutch on your shifts. You will see what I mean. I agree with you on the down shifts though. Apart from having to be spot on or you lock the rears, it really isn't worth it as you are losing speed.

[Redracer77]

my uncle has raced the same Chevron F3 car since 1977 and he has never healed and toed in his life. Just able to match the revs every time. I have always done it because it was what Jim Russell Racing School told me!! Once you have cracked it is a good this to use and like Swift said, in the wet it is very important. Walshy, how do you power shift? Just keep your foot planted on the throttle and ram the gear change in without using the clutch? Do you need to life off?

[Bob Pearson]

I've just caught up on all this, been out of the country for a couple of days. I think it's right about transmission wear being increased without heeling and toeing, we go through clutch plates faster than some people who do heel and toe, but then again we have virtually no gearbox damage when others get plenty.I also agree about the unsettling in the wet, what I can't find any definate evidence of is the car going quicker if you heel and toe, and that, for us is the important question.
Over the years I have met all manner of people who tell me that if you can't heel and toe you will never be quick and then beat them by miles.
So transmission wear and downchanges in the wet I agree with, but speed in the dry? Hmmmmm, can't see it.

[kartingdad]

I think the power shift thing really only works if you have a rev limiter fitted (Electrical,multi use), rather than the exhaust valve system ,(mechanical,single use!) fitted as standard to all FF1600's. As the revs stutter on the limit, the load is taken off the dogs and you pop the next gear in.

Stu used to use the clutch up and down the box until I told him to look at this link: http://www.hewland.com/svga/help.htm

Since then 15 meetings and test days - 1 dog ring, oil like new every time I looked. Just got to find a way of making the engine as reliable now.

[protos 666]

HI Guys,

I have been looking at your responses, and if you are interested in Zetec in how to change gear and go fast this is what to do:

On the up shift, you keep your foot flat and ram it through the gears

On the down shift, you heel and toe,

although you can left foot brake but it takes a lot more effort to get it right and surely you want to go as fast as you can with the least amount of effort ???

But if you do this your cost of keeping your gearbox healthy will go up! but then are you out there to be average or to win ?

[Barny]

The need to H&T I find also depends on the spacing of the ratios, if they are very close it is not so important and you can power shift up and down smoothly, but if there is a big change with a large rev drop then H&T is compulsory.

[Redracer77]

Kartingdad, Nick from UCLAN sent me this link a while ago but not had time to read it till now so you promted me. I understand most of it but not sure if William Hewland was saying not to use the clutch on upshifts? Did he say just a slight lift of the throttle and select the gear without the need to use the clutch?

[ScottDay]

How do you do it properly?

Is it a case of lots of practice or what?

[JNWRF01]

Protos - I am amazed you can just ram it into gear with your foot flat unless you dip the clutch slightly..

Do exactly as Mr Hewland says and you won't go wrong..

[JustinDawkins]

I don't use the clutch on the way up - just a slight lift. Except for 1st to 2nd at Mallory the where the rev drop is high, and often doesn't go in (partly because the dog is ****ed!). I H&T on the way down.

[protos 666]

HI Guys,

I have been looking at your responses, and if you are interested in Zetec in how to change gear and go fast this is what to do:

On the up shift, you keep your foot flat and ram it through the gears

On the down shift, you heel and toe,

although you can left foot brake but it takes a lot more effort to get it right and surely you want to go as fast as you can with the least amount of effort ???

But if you do this your cost of keeping your gearbox healthy will go up! but then are you out there to be average or to win ?

[Bob Pearson]

As I'm not an FF man, only FF2000 and Renault, could someone explain to me how this exhaust valve system works which appears to be allowing you guys to flat shift on the way up?

[JohnMiller]

I think it was a joke Bob. Like you'll bend the valves if you overrev it.

Have to admit don't h&t much in FF1600 as I find I cock it up too often. Powershift with no clutch and NO lift is easy except, as Justin says, perhaps between first and second but then only a tiny bit if clutch.

[kartingdad]

redracer, Stu just lifts ever so slightly and since adopting that method has only missed 1 gearchange all season, bending 3 valves and making it tricky to keep Hutch and JL's VD at bay.

Stu says the gears just slot in sooo easy now, and as I said, the box and oil stays very healthy. i would think in a kent if you shift up without a lift, apart from the carnage inside the 'box you run the risk of an over rev if it doesn't go in first time, with the consequence of bent valves.

Having said that, Hutch uses his clutch both up and down and we didn't have the heart to tell him about clutchless upshifts as he's far too quick anyway.

[Walshy]

Redracer57.

Yep. I just keep my foot planted. It takes a bit of getting used to as the left foot automatically wants to press the clutch pedal. So you end up clutching some times and then finally, you don't use it at all. You have to be pretty sharp with the shifts though. If you catch it spot on, the gears just slip in and the car feels like it has some sort of launch control on it. 2nd to 3rd can cause problems until you get it right. Apparently, it is made even easier with the use of Glebe ratio's, but I wouldn't know. Another thing would be the gear oil. I have tried several types and I found the best to be Rock Oil. It's the motorcycle gear oil. It looks like water and smells like cat pi$$, but does the trick. If you remember back a couple of years when Pikey hit Stockton up the back coming out of Deer Leap when they were running 1 2?
Well, we talked Pikey into power shifting and he got the hang of it. The reason he hit Stockton up the back was that Stockton's car slowed that 1/2 second while he hit the clutch for the gear change and Pikey's car was hard on it as he shifted to 3rd. Luckily for Pikey, he was carrying an on-board camera that recorded the whole incident, so the Stewards ruled it a racing incident. Chris wasn't to happy. So there you go. As I said, once you get the hang of it, it really makes a big difference.

[Mr Jinxx]

No-one uses a clutch on the upshift.

On the downshift, you either heel-and-toe, or you bang it straight in, at the right revs, clutchless - that depends on the car, the conditions (wet/dry) etc. You never want to lock your wheels under any circumstances, else yuou've lost time.

But you NEVER change down like your granny does in a road car.

I, of course, always change down like my granny does, but then again I'm not a racing driver.

And my granny is.

Here she is..... http://tentenths.com/forum/showthrea...k&pagenumber=3

[Red Dog]

Originally posted by Mr Jinxx

On the downshift, ....... you bang it straight in, at the right revs, clutchless -

How do you get the right revs without blipping the throttle on the downshift....willpower?

[Mackmot]

I dont think Will Power is good enough to heel and toe

[Mr Jinxx]

Same as you do if you have to double-de-clutch on the old cars or wagons, etc. You get used to the sound. Experience.

I reiterate, I am telling it as Alex tells me - I've never done it. I heel and toe in a road car as a matter of course (if the pedal configuration allows) but never flat shift. But that's the way the top lads do it, I'm told.

If I drive an automatic, I left-foot-brake (or can swap seamlessly to right foot braking, doesn't matter). So if I can do it, I guess a racing driver can swap easy as pie. Alex told me when he drove the Renault V6 (where you have to left foot brake) that it takes roughly 20 seconds to acclimatise. He normally right foot brakes in FRenault/F3.