Guy's i am very interested in learning how to be a real race car driver. I am a very capable driver with very good instincts, but i really need to learn finess and good techniques.

I found a tutorial online, on how to heel-toe. Is this the correct procedure? It sounded logical to me, but sounds pretty hard to master. I will be practicing this alot from now on.

Heel toe Tutorial

What other pointers can i get from some veterns? Is Skip Barber a good school? I'd like to learn most of the basics before attending such a costly class, that way i can really pay attention to the detail of what they would teach you there.

 

Skip Barber is the best!!!....best racing school...look at the list of drivers who started there:
Skip Barber Alumni


I went through the program a few years ago and did two seasons in the Formula Dodge series.

That tutorial is funky nobody really does it like that anymore...hard to describe heel and toe except to say it is not really heel and toe...too awkward that way.

Most drivers simply roll the outer edge of their foot against the throttle to "blip" it while deprssing the brake with the ball of your foot. One of the tricks of "heel and toe" downshfting is getting the pedals adjusted right. Most street cars are not set up for it. Watch SPEED's coverage of the CART races they sometimes have in ****pit cameras to show the footwork.
Pick up a copy of Skip's book "Racing to Win"...very good inexpensive way to prep for the school...but no substitute for one on one with the pro drivers.

p.s. They have a "Racing to Win" video as well.

 

Depending on what it is you're looking to learn I'd say the best choices from your location in CA are: Skip Barber at Laguna Seca, Jim Russell at Sears Point or Bob Bondurant at Phoenix AZ.

If you're interested in a pure racing school using baby-racer type cars, all three have what are essentially identical programs (instruction and prices). Really the only differences are the track and type of car used. Cars used: Barber - Formula Dodges, Bondo-Bob - school-specific version of the more traditional Formula Ford and Russell - Formula Mitsubishi cars. The cars are more-or-less identical in terms of performance, although the Bondurant cars have rear wings (but for the intro courses I don't think they allow the students to change the wing set-ups).

If learning to drive a performace car on the street, all three also offer classes that teach basic race car driving styles but use specially prep'd street cars instead of the junior racing cars for the classes. At Barber the cars are Neons, Dakotas and Vipers. Bondurant offers Ford Mustangs and at Russell you can use your own car. Again the only major differences between the three schools are the track and type of car used. I would recommend these courses over the racing car versions if you're more interested in learning to drive your car better, as they are a little cheaper and the vehicular dynamics will translate better for street driving (especially if you use your own car at Russell).

Completion of any of the schools' 3/4-day racing courses allows the graduate to obtain a regional SCCA competition license from which to continue developing driving skills. If you're not interested in a driving career but want to have some fun and learn proper technique, you should consider the one-day courses. They are relatively inexpensive, but still offer good instruction and track time.

Cheers, BT

 

i probably shouldn't have sold my neon acr.

 

you can buy the "Best Motoring" a japanese video magazine...in which you can find a lot of footworks done by those japanese pro...see those in motion can help you learn much more faster...i actually learned heel-and-toe and double-clutch from them too...by the way, taking class from school is the best and saftest way to learn racing techniques...good luck

 

My brother (and some other people on this site) said that you can't heel-toe on my coupe. Is this true? I've been trying to do it, but i don't its because of my car that i can't. How long did it take you guys to learn this technique?

 

Autowek magazine dated 9/3/02 has a list of all the driving schools to go to as well as what the program is about, many are quite different

 

actually it should be more easier to do the heel-and-toe on most european cars since the location of both gas and brake pedals are designed really close to each other...especially for bmw...in fact you don't need to use your heel at all...from my experience...i first use left side of the toe to press on the right side of the brake pedal...then depress the clutch...shift to neutral...release the clutch and use the left side of the toe(it's still on the right side of the brake pedal) as the pivot point and swing the right side of the toe on to the gas pedal to increase the rpm and remove the right side of the toe from the gas...depress the clutch and shift to the lower gear and release the clutch...and that's all...it took me about couple days to learn this by myself...but it takes time to refine the skill...good luck : )

 

You should really come to our driving/racing school one of these days. All pro instructors (who are also racers).

We have one on Oct. 8.

Thanks

Brad

 

JPM is by far the most impressive graduate.