mark b

and blipping the throttle.. what are some tricks that you use to make it easier to do on a c5/c6 corvete? Give an example of what pedals and hardware used to make it easier.. thanks

Jason

Practice.

TheKomoman

I know Elite Engineering makes a replacement gas pedal that kicks over towards the brake pedal at the bottom. I have found that shoes make the biggest difference rather than hardware. Running 2 weeks ago at NJMP I forgot to change into my Piloti's and had my sneakers on the first run. Second run I put the Piloti's on and my foot slipped off the brake pedal THREE times on me! Went back to the sneakers and didn't have any problems at all. Now I've worn those Piloti's a lot and never had trouble with them before so I probably just need to clean up the sole but it's a good example of how footware makes a difference.

Also there is no one right way to throttle blip. Some folks pivot their foot, some roll it over, and I know I use a combination of the two. Practice, practice, practice....

longdaddy

park the car with trans out of gear and parking brake on and practice for a few minutes every few days

Lawdogg

Elite Engineering road race pedals helped. And, as was said, the right shoes.

Kubs

sothpaw2

For me personally, practice alone was not enough for it to be comfortable for downshifts in short, high speed braking zones (ie T14 at VIR...need to get down from 140 to 75ish and shift in a short time before the beginning of the driveway).

First: A race shoe is mandatory. I use wrestling shoes, basically same thing, only $40 a pair.

2nd: Rather than use a gas pedal extender, I use brake pedal extender that I custom made. This way, if the brake pedal gets lower, you don't get gas+brakes when you go for the brake pedal as you do with the Elite gas pedal. The custom brake pedal extender reaches almost to the gas. It has a rough surface for grip so you I never worry about my foot slipping. It's easily removable, and I can put 1/4" shims under it to extend it a little higher if the brakes get hot at the end of a hard day.

IMHO the shoe plus brake pedal extender (plus plenty of practice) is what is needed to do this correctly in any situation in the Corvette.

Jason

What helped me the most was my daily driver was a stick shift and I practiced every...single...downshift. Looked like a moron, missed shifts, over revved, the pedals were in completely different orientations, inline 6cyl vs V8 monster, but it's all muscle memory training and it does help.

69autoXr

In my case, I found this not to be true, actually the racing shoe was a hinderance to getting a good blip. In my car, it seemed I could never get a good blip, despite having a custom made double-wide throttle pedal. Less than ideal pedal alignment didn't help. I could heal toe my daily driver all day long, but it was always a struggle in the Corvette. What did eventually help me was to try a wider shoe. In my case it was a pair of Sketcher's and now I have some Converse to use this year. I have small feet, so it's likely that guys with big feet need a narrow shoe, but bottom line to the OP is that you have to find what works for you.

Falcon

Find a cloverleaf on the interstate, it is a perfect place to practice. Using the on/off ramps you can get get a lot of practice and you don't have to speed. The cops might stop you after a few iterations, but they can't get you for speeding or careless driving.

CHJ In Virginia

Practice, Paractice, Practice - The other thing that helped the most was an Elite gas pedal extension bringing the pedal closer to the brake so I could roll my foot over rather than having to rotate the leg and foot. Shoes also play a big part - a good pair of flexible driving shoes allows you to "feel" the pedals and control better.

sothpaw2

You are right that you need the wide shoe if you are not using a wider brake pedal. By using the wider brake pedal, you can use a very narrow shoe and still reach. The race shoe allows you to feel the pedal more with your foot so that you can better control the mount of "blip".
Also if the pedal is lower or higher than you like, the feel from the race shoe allows you to find the gas pedal much faster because you can feel it without that thick sole from the sneaker.

I go to work now with my race shoes on and wear them all day so that I can practice to and from work.

mark b

thats what i do, but mine is a 4 banger scion TC much slower speeds when you downshift..

JimbeauZ06

Ditto on the practice and the shoes. I bought the Elite gas pedal two years ago and it's still in the box somewhere in my garage. I use stock pedals and Piloti shoes but it still didn't happen overnight.

Too me the most challenging part to learn or at least to get comfortable/confident with was braking hard from speed with only part of my foot on the pedal. This is easily practiced during daily driving and once it becomes second nature to go for the brake with only the outside edge of the ball of your foot, you've got one of the hardest parts out of the way.

The second part is the rhythym of the downshift. Many struggle with the timing of everything from pushing the clutch in, moving the lever, blip the throttle and release the clutch as if it were a 1-2-3-4 sequence of events as opposed to something that happens pretty much all at once. In particluar the blip and clutch release seem to be difficult for many people to do simultaneously.

RTR PCA just did a full day Heel and Toe Clinic for our lower run groups at Pocono during our May DE event. We had classroom and static instruction on footwork and timing of the shift, followed by braking and blipping practice, then pulling it all together with tons of practice time (between DE sessions) on the front straight with three braking zones in each direction. We got tons of positive feedback on the event and will probably do it again next year.

Jim 47

Mark: On my 05 Z06 I bolted on a 1/2" thick alunimum plate, about 3 x 2" in size on the top of the brake peddle. This both raised the height of the peddle and also brought the brake peddle surface closer to the gas peddle. This modification allowed more of my right foot to be pessing dodwn on the brake while it was easier to rock my foot to blip the gas peddle. Also as the pads wore down the higher brake peddle was an advantage keep the depressed brake peddle and the gas peddle at close to the same level.

You can experiment with the thickness and width of the gas peddle plate to get this mod just right for you.

What ever mods you decide to make, you've got to get on the track and put all this foot motion into action, regardless of the technique you decide to use. Practice untill your not even thinking about what your feet are doing and it is absolutely second nature to you

Jim

Bill Dearborn

Every Vette I have had from 1987 until now has been easy to heel/toe downshift as long as you forget the part about the heel. On the first stroke of the brake pedal it will drop to the level of the gas pedal and as long as the left side of the ball of your foot is on the brake the right side of the ball will be over the gas pedal unless you have very narrow feet. When the clutch goes in blip the throttle by rolling the right side of the ball of your foot onto the gas pedal and move the shifter to the next lower gear. I looked at the Elite Engineering pedal extenders but it looks like the extension is at the bottom of the gas pedal instead of the top where it would need to be for a narrow foot.

Bill

Team Lazy

Ross Bentley talks about practice on the street in his book, "Speed Secrets - Professional Race Driving Techniques" which alot of drivers swear by. http://speedsecrets.com/PRODUCTS/Spe...9/Default.aspx

But the jist is that as mentioned above, you can practice heel-toe, brake modulation, smooth throttle application and corner lines etc on the street all without breaking the law.

I'd highly recommend the book to anybody that does any performance driving period, but regardless, if you drive on the track and you drive a stick daily, there's no reason NOT to be practicing heel-toe. ALL the time.

FWIW, in my C5 my foot is almost at a 45 degree angle, while the Mustang can be done almost straight up and down and still get both pedals.

Greywolfe

For me it was Elite pedal, shoes, and tons of practice.

I still need to work on it. My problem now is over/under bliping I get it perfect about 50 percent of the time and it feels good when I do.

Just need more practice.

I angle my heal out slightly but its more or a roll then a heal stab.

Experiment and find out what works best for you.

Desolate country roads at night are good spots to practice in a straight line.

Good luck.

spdislife

X 10.....also, my daily driver is an auto, but what I'll do is under braking roll my foot continually as if blipping until stopped with the goal of applying consistant brake pedal pressure.

hellrazr

First step for me was performing proper and consistent foot placement on the brake pedal, which led to consistent blip movements. Once that is there, it's just a matter of timing, and feel.

By feel, I mean that after some practice thinking about what needs to be executed and executing it, stop thinking about it and just shift. Use the force, Luke.

If you want practice, consider using visualization...you don't even have to be driving a car. It will etch the process into your mind.