Originally Posted by dskul1
Unless you have a standard transmission, and it is my understanding that most of the XF were made w/auto trans, you cannot "heel & toe". It is a racing technique of blipping the throttle/braking to downshift. Your pedals also have to be set up so that this tech is easy to do. Also, if your friend knows you have a auto trans in your XF and said this, maybe HE doesn't know what the hell He's talking about. So unless you have one of the few manual transmissions in a XF, don't worry about it.
Modern Racer - Driving Tips - Heel-and-Toe Downshift
Mine is a stick, and he knows that. THanks for the link, and I see how it would be easier on the car IF I was shifting a lot, which, so far, I don't think I am.
I will leave it to others to comment on the validity of learning this method, but so far, I am with Nick. I have other stuff to learn first, and we aren't really racing. (Riding with Nick Sunday really drove that point home... Such a smooth ride!)
Besides, at this point, I run most of the Dragon in 3rd, with only going down to 2nd in about, oh, 3 or 4 curves. But then, maybe that is where some of my time can be cut, as I'm not accelerating as fast as I think I should be - I really saw that this weekend.
Learning ANYTHING is a process, one I am really enjoying in the car, AND in my study of Japanese!
Arigato gozaimasu !