Quote: Originally posted by MadMiniManiac The reason the accel. pedal is further back is so that when braking heavily (when you need h & t) the accel. and brake pedals are in line with each other.
MadMiniManiac has a point here. Let's say you're racing (or lapping, or Solo 1, or whatever) and you need to carry as much speed as you can into a corner. You're going to leave your braking to the last possible few meters, and when that time comes, you're very likely at high or max RPMs. The last thing you want to do now is downshift. Even if your RPMs were not that high and you could downshift, no amount of engine braking is going to slow the car down as much as the brakes will. So, you're going to squeeze that brake pedal for all it's worth, and just before you initiate your turn-in, you're going to downshift. The action of braking is going to slow the car, and engine, down to a manageable RPM that can be rev-matched for the lower gear you want when you track-out (exit the corner). Now you have two choices, you can use the heel & toe method of shifting at the very end of this braking zone, or hopefully you left yourself enough of a margin that you can get off the brakes and downshift before turning-in. If you're doing the latter, and if you're racing, you've just been out-braked on the inside by someone who can heel & toe. If you elected to heel & toe yourself, you clutch-in...a quick blip on the throttle with the other half of your foot...bam...and the lower gear selects nicely...you've just out-braked that car and shut the door.
Heel & toe serves a primary purpose...to accomplish more things in a smaller amount of time. But it's application is best left until the last moment. Much of the mention in this thread about the different height of brake to accelerator is a non-issue under strong/heavy braking.
Does all that rambling make any sense?
Just my $0.02
Shawn
