Advanced Driving Hub

Speary wrote:

Horse wrote:Recently, I read the ex-Stig's 'How to Drive' book.

One of the things he suggests is to pivot your left foot on the heel when changing gear. I can't do this, I have to lift my foot off the floor if it releasing the clutch is to be anywhere near smooth. Any thoughts?


It was a surprisingly good book too.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Drive-Ulti ... 1447272838

Don’t you mean right foot between accelerator and brake pedals. Some driving shoes have a wide bit on the right so you can roll your foot onto the accelerator when braking to give it a blip for the downchange

Nope. Let me try to explain

Horse wrote: Ex-Stig suggests: pivot your left foot on the heel when changing gear. I can't do this, I have to lift my foot off the floor if it releasing the clutch is to be anywhere near smooth.

NOTHING to do with right foot or use of the throttle and brake pedals.

If you hadn't written "Heel and toe" in your thread title, this confusion wouldn't have arisen. What you're describing is NOT heel and toe.

Horse is asking about placement and use of the heel and the toe of his left foot when operating the clutch. I know some of us do a thing called "heel and toe" with our right feet, but that often involves neither! You know sometimes words have two meanings, as the philosopher Plant once said.

David

kfae8959 wrote:Horse is asking about placement and use of the heel and the toe of his left foot when operating the clutch. I know some of us do a thing called "heel and toe" with our right feet, but that often involves neither! You know sometimes words have two meanings, as the philosopher Plant once said.

David

David. I take my hat off to you. It never occurred to me that was what was meant.

Yes, I know that's what he means, as I posted higher up. But his use of the phrase, most commonly used in the context of the right foot, has confused most participants.

Mr Cholmondeley-Warner wrote:Yes, I know that's what he means, as I posted higher up. But his use of the phrase, most commonly used in the context of the right foot, has confused most participants.

I will happily admit when I'm confused, often this occurs when I read what I think I see, not what is there. Rather ironic, isn't it, that I took all the grief about cognitive biases, when it's amply being demonstrated here, with people seeing what they *think* it is, rather than look at the details!

So, what should I have posted as a thread title about how to place my heel and toe of my shoe when using the clutch? Especially considering the very explicit and succinct first post!

You can't expect to use the well known name of a bona-fide technique out of context to describe something completely different and expect not to cause confusion... however much you protest that your OP was clear. If you mean to talk about foot placement or foot position on the clutch when changing gear then why not just say that.

One should aim not at being possible to be understood, but at being impossible to be misunderstood. The onus is on the writer to make it as easy as possible for the reader. Not the other way round.

HTH.

Sorry, it's been a long week.

You really posted it innocently meaning "where should I place the heel and toe of my shoe"? Get away with you!

You should have posted something about how supple or otherwise your ankles are, because it's about how much you can pivot your foot from the heel in a vertical plane. I can't do it enough to operate a clutch, and I suspect a lot of other people can't either.

ATB

Mr Cholmondeley-Warner wrote:You really posted it innocently meaning "where should I place the heel and toe of my shoe"? Get away with you!

You should have posted something about how supple or otherwise your ankles are, because it's about how much you can pivot your foot from the heel in a vertical plane. I can't do it enough to operate a clutch, and I suspect a lot of other people can't either.

ATB

Are you hinting that I might have attempted a bit of light-heartedness? How very dare you!

jcochrane wrote:David. I take my hat off to you. It never occurred to me that was what was meant.

Help! I no longer understand who doesn't understand, and who is deliberately misunderstanding for comic effect. I think I'd better keep my own counsel from now on.

David