heel/toe advise please

I could use some heel/toe in a MINI advise. Figured this was a very required skill for properly entering a corner. I sort of have it down in a straight while practicing but my brain locks up from overload while trying to negotiate turn-in, proper brake pressure, and throttle. Any tips appreciated. Thanks

Also, it's amazing how much easier it is to do with Sport on. Just too much play in the drive-by-wire with it off.

What Kurt said.  All your braking and downshifting should be done in a straight line (unless you know how to and are into trail braking) and again, the heel and toe is done at the same time as braking, matching the rpms on the downshift so as not to upset the balance of the car, release your foot from the brake pedal, turn in and hit the gas HARD, whoops, back to my racing days.  The idea is that once you take your foot off the brake pedal and transfer it to the gas pedal you should NEVER have to lift again until the next braking area (tracking, not street driving).  If you do lift, you messed up the line anyway.

Sounds like you are on the right track.  

Next topic...Left Foot braking! :)

I never got the hang of left foot braking. I have an automatic, how do I learn this awesome skill? Giggle.

I've been a left-foot braker since . . . almost forever! I didn't start out that way, but I learned this skill waaaaaay back in my '69 VW square-back wagon (I loved that car by the way). You had to keep your foot lightly on the throttle at all times or it died, so I got into the habit of using my left foot to brake. I have driven using both feet for so long that it is second nature and now the only way I know how to drive. I'm not sure I could function with the right-foot only.

I learned, with almost epicly disastrous consequences, why your left foot should never touch the brake the first time I drove the car.

With learners permit in-hand my father put me in the drivers seat of the Civic Si 5-speed. He explained the concept of the clutch, what it does, etc. and now it was time to put theory into practice. The rest of the story I won't recommend anyone teach anyone using this method...
We were in the garage and the first thing we needed to do was back out of said garage. Clutch in, foot on brake, start the car. Put shifter into reverse. I then proceeded to dump the clutch and smash the throttle all John Force style. I don't remember leaving the garage because it was truly a blur. I do remember my father turning white because we stalled a fraction of a second later in the middle of the driveway. When we looked down I had my right foot still on the floor of the throttle and my left foot on the floor of the brake. The only reason we stopped is because I stalled the thing mid-driveway. Otherwise, we would have probably been in the living room of the house across the street.

"NEVER LEFT FOOT ON BRAKE!" came out of my father's mouth as he realized I just stalled the thing for the first of many many times. His "never left foot on brake" message was ingrained in me as a beginning driver so that the left foot was always free in a panic stop to get the clutch in. It took me a long time to get over that voice, even in an auto.

At least you did not hurtle through a garage door, or a wall :-)  Sounds like a good harmless learning experience, plus a source of future smiles :-)

onramp wrote: I learned to dab the brake with the left foot while hard on the accelerator thru a corner to snuff out some understeer.  This is a pavement sensitive trick sometimes...

Thanks Pat. If the MINI was a RWD car it would be that much more perfect.