Heel-toe

There are two things necessary for heel- toe shifting.  

1. A good pair of driving shoes.  There are shoes that are not labeled driving shoes like the Puma speed cats but they do well for this purpose. 

2.  Aftermarket pedals faces that can be slightly offset so its easy to work the brake and blip the throttle at the same time.  

 I use to do a lot of heel-toe for fun but its not really necessary for street driving and if you concentrate too hard on doing it, it can mess up the timing of your turn.  What heel-toe is good for is scrubbing off a lot of speed and at the same time keeping the car stable as you down shift by matching the rpms so when you get back on the gas you can power out of the turn.  

What I will do now on occasion is blip the throttle and shift into second and then brake for a turn because it sounds cool and it takes a little bit of the jerk out of the car.   

I think the ankle rolling maneuver is awkward.   So I modified my throttle pedal by adding a piece of metal that is closer to the floor.   It is parallel to the brake pedal when the brake pedal is depressed.   I blip the throttle by flexing my toes, or rolling my foot to the right very slightly.    I doubleclutch every single time I downshift into 2nd gear, plus frequently on 5-4 shift if I’m doing a high rpm pass on the highway.   It is now subconscious and very smooth.  

I did this mod on the 2GR which has a plastic throttle pedal, so different than stock spyder throttle. But I’m sure a similar design could be done to the spyder pedal.

I dug up a video from a few years ago.  You can see how it works, with no ankle twisting required!    Double clutch heel toe downshifting is about half way through the video.

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Posted by: NottaMiata

Thanks, guys. I am asking because I really have trouble downshifting any time except from 5 to 4, and even then, its a timing challenge.

I need to retract my derision on the SMT somewhat ("I'm sorry in advance" is hilarious, though, plus... still zero posts). Without a third foot or some skill and mods, of which I have neither, that is probably pretty sweet. Until it breaks.

I also wonder if my quest for downshift is misguided. Brake pads are cheaper than clutch work and i am not racing. So why am I trying so hard to downshift? Oh, right, because i'm insane. Never mind...

(No, im not technically insane, I just believe if i am going to do a thing, i should try to do it the best I can. Still, perhaps I should not always do that.)

I really only have trouble downshifting to first, mainly because I don't rev it high enough. I will try my best to go through my steps.

Clutch

Throttle so the RPM jumps ~1000 (or whatever the usual RPM is for the gear you're shifting into but for our car, anything around 3000 will be fine)

Shift to lower gear

Lift off clutch

With enough practice, it becomes habit. Hope this is helpful.

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Oh ooops. You're not supposed to shift while turning. You do it before if you want to accelerate out of it. Next time you're in third, see what the rev is at when you're at 45mph then rev to to that when you want to downshift to third at 45mph if that makes sense.

The engine will turn 7k rpm, be in the gear that you want to exit the turn before the turn to slow the car. try and stay off the brakes and just steer the car through the bend.

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Slow down before turning - either by braking, downshifting or both.  Accelerate as you come through the turn.   

If you are pushing hard on the shift lever, you are wearing out the synchronizer rings.   A good shift should require finger tip pressure only.   

It could also mean you are using crapy fluid in the transmission.  Those synchronizers need fluid that is not too slippery and GL5 is.  I found the Amsol GL4 fluid makes my synchros works well so I can shift really fast without resistance or crunching.  It also has a nice positive engagement.  

As far as driving goes I never found a time on the street where I had to heel toe because it would mean that I would have to be driving ridiculously  fast on the straights to scrub that much speed for the turn.  

 It could also mean that my car grips so well that I can enter a turn at much higher speeds without losing traction that its a cake walk.  I really have to push it to shake it loose and at that point if I mess up I would end up on someones lawn with a totaled Spyder.    

I feel you're overthinking it. Just rev and shift. I would remove the precats. And second Dev's recommendation on the transmission fluid. I got it replaced last week and it's noticeably smoother.

Make the journey to the dragon, there are so many tight bends, you get a lot of practice. Each year I go I gain more confidence. I am by no way a race car driver. But, This little car is amazing how well it will simply steer through bends. And my car is Box stock engine and suspension wise.