Heel and toe problem

[Hubert]

I find it quite difficult to do proper heel and toe on my MC, since the accelerator pedal is so much lower than the brake pedal. Has anybody experienced this problem? Is there a way to solve it? (Attach some kinda padding onto the accelerator pedal to make it level with the brake pedal...!?)

[uae mini]

i have found this problem too
seems u just have to find a way around it i guess

[Hubert]

It seems like all BMW cars are designed like this.
Somebody out there must have a solution....

I thought about buying those aftermarket metal pedals, and then attach it to the accelerator ONLY, but I guess that metal plate is probably too thin to be of any use.

[GordonD]

I have the same problem but I think iti s because the pedals are too far apart for my feet.

I have gone to aftermarket pedals which have helped but I had to grind the right hand side of the brake so I could slide my foot over. there was a silly little ridge at the edge.

One problem now is if you are braking REALLY hard it is easy to push the accelerator at the same time - not good.

[swamos]

you people must use a different technique to me, because I find that the MINI is one of the few modern vehicles that can be successfully heel-and-toed in. This kind of problem is had to solve on an internet forum

[Hubert]

swamos, do you only use heel and toe when u brake REALLY hard? I think it's not difficult to do when you brake hard, but I wanna use this technique with moderate braking too.

[QQQ]

Quote: Originally Posted by swamos

you people must use a different technique to me

Or smaller feet, what's your shoe size Swamos?

[greatgro]

THe MINI's too small (for my feet anyway) to truly "heel-toe". But I don't do it that way. I use the left and right sides of my foot on the brake and accelerator respectively and IMO, the MINI is perfect for that.

[robbo mcs]

Hi,

| have excactly the opposite problem on the mini! I find the accelerator pedal is too high and the brake pedal too low for successful heel toe.

For everyday city driving where the brake is usually only partially depressed I can heel toe fine. However, on the track when I am onto the brake pedal really hard I find it is way below the acceletor. This is unfortunate, as if I don't rev match on the downshifts it unsettles the car. At this point, hard on the brakes, about to make the turn into the corner, this is exactly what you dont want.

By the way, there are several ways of heel toe. I tend to use a technique which is more "toe-toe". I use the inside part of my foot (the ball beneath the big toe) to brake, and then roll the foot slightly, using the outside of the foot (ball beneath the little toe and edge of the foot) to blip the throttle.
Some people use actually use the heel for the throttle blip. I suspect Swamos probably uses this technique.

I am going to speak to the people who work on my car about options for adjusting the pedals. I will let you know if I get anywhere

Robbo

[swamos]

Quote: Originally Posted by robbo mcs

Hi,

By the way, there are several ways of heel toe. I tend to use a technique which is more "toe-toe". I use the inside part of my foot (the ball beneath the big toe) to brake, and then roll the foot slightly, using the outside of the foot (ball beneath the little toe and edge of the foot) to blip the throttle.
Some people use actually use the heel for the throttle blip. I suspect Swamos probably uses this technique.

Robbo

Thanks Robbo, I couldn't have described it any better. I actually use your toe-toe technique, where I brake with the ball of my foot, and brush the accellerator with the side of the foot. I find this works extremely well.

As to my shoe size, it is about a 10-11, although that's Australian shoe size. I don't know how that translates to wherever you all are.

If I wear joggers, I can sometimes have trouble pressing either the brake or the throttle . Let alone heel and toe. However I have a couple of pairs of shoes that are narrow, and these work ok.

The best of all is bare foot.

The other issue that hasn't been thought of here is that we have right hand drive cars, and most of your cars would be left hand drive. I don't know if that would affect pedal placement

[Msfitoy]

I first replaced the slip on pedal with a rally set from minicooperparts.com. Then I modified the gas pedal with a wider piece of 3/32 aluminum stock. Look in my gallery

[Antranik]

The MCS is my first car with a manual transmission so I can't compare the pedals to another manual car but they seem to be placed excellently. The pedals are quite close to eachother and there is no problem. Early on when I wasn't used to my dress-shoes, I would hit more than 1 pedal (doh!) sometimes, but it was all a matter of getting used to it. I've driven barefoot a few times around my block after washing my car and it's a freaky thing when I hit the brake coming to a stop (toe-toe) and realize my barefoot isn't large enough to hit the gas. Under very hard braking, I have to be cautious to not hit the accelerator pedal more than it needs to since it levels out, I remember it's happened a couple times, but nothing that couldn't be corrected with perfect practice. My shoe size is 12 (american) if it matters.

[Bisch]

I wear a US size 12 wide.
The best that I can do is "toe-toe" left/right. Not much room for my big feet!

[Hubert]

The "toe-toe" method is probably the most the "natural" method for this car, which is also the method I'm using now....but there's a problem.... I've got small feet. When I wear puma sparcos (say), the shoes just aren't wide enough for me to reach the accelerator while the brake is pressed. Even when I wear wider shoes, I have to be very careful that my right foot is positioned correctly on the brakes, otherwise the right side of my right foot will just fall through the gap....ouch

Msfitoy, I think I have to try your method. Thanks for the photos!

[NEMINI]

Quote: Originally Posted by Bisch

I wear a US size 12 wide.
The best that I can do is "toe-toe" left/right. Not much room for my big feet!

I wear US size 13 so I know how you feel