Heusinkveld Sim Pedals Sprint Interview and First Impressions

[Paul Jeffrey]

We talk to Niels Heusinkveld and try out the soon to be released Heusinkveld Sim Pedals Sprint.

Catching up with Niels Heusinkveld at the recent very busy Sim Racing Expo over in Germany, we took the opportunity to quiz the man behind Heusinkveld Engineering about his newly announced Sim Pedals Sprint set of high end sim racing pedals. With Niels in a buoyant mood following what appeared to be a largely very positive reception to the new hardware, we took the opportunity to question him about the features and improvements of the new gear, learning plenty about how some dramatic software features and production improvements have moved the product range on from the already very impressive offerings of HE Engineering.

Not content with merely taking Niels at his word, we also couldn't quite resist the chance to get strapped into the cockpit and have a go ourselves, recording a short but sweet talk and drive segment as we give our first impressions based on the limited time we had with these brand new set of pedals.

Frankly, I was very impressed, although it is exceptionally hard to gather any serious kind of feel with something like a high end set of pedals with such a short period of time behind the wheel... not helped any by a crowd of people watching on, and a camera and microphone in my face!

However, with that said I'm going to be lucky enough to take receipt of a review set of these pedals in the very near future, so please consider this more of a taster video, with a much more in depth and detailed look at the HE Sim Pedals Sprint set to appear on our various social media channels in the near future. So stay tuned, get subscribed and watch out for some new footage in the (hopefully) coming weeks...

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[Enzo Fazzi]

It feels really nice but feels for me just a tad too strong maybe 20% roughly to be comfortable driving with it I only just set it up on there website shown green and white rubbers I bought it brand new unused off a guy here on RD last month with the shifter,
but pulling the handbrake its lifting me off my seat literally I pull it and im coming off the seat,
maybe your not supposed to pull it fully in no ? like 100%

The white rubber should be fairly soft (it'll fold/buckle when you pull the handle with about 10KG's of force) Other than that, we don't offer softer rubbers for the handbrake.

 

[Furnace Inferno]

It feels really nice but feels for me just a tad too strong maybe 20% roughly to be comfortable driving with it I only just set it up on there website shown green and white rubbers I bought it brand new unused off a guy here on RD last month with the shifter,
but pulling the handbrake its lifting me off my seat literally I pull it and im coming off the seat,
maybe your not supposed to pull it fully in no ? like 100%

Sounds like you need to hit the gym

 

[Deleted member 197115]

It feels really nice but feels for me just a tad too strong maybe 20% roughly to be comfortable driving with it I only just set it up on there website shown green and white rubbers I bought it brand new unused off a guy here on RD last month with the shifter,
but pulling the handbrake its lifting me off my seat literally I pull it and im coming off the seat,
maybe your not supposed to pull it fully in no ? like 100%

Use white rubber and configure whatever range you feel comfortable with in DIView or DXTweak2, I've used smaller range with short handle (middle handle section removed).

 

[CC]

Use white rubber and configure whatever range you feel comfortable with in DIView or DXTweak2, I've used smaller range with short handle (middle handle section removed).

I only have a green rubber from what got sent to me,
I bought this handbrake and shifter from here it was all boxed brand new,
Never realised there should have been more rubbers. https://www.racedepartment.com/thre...fter-handbrake-sparco-gloves-freebies.190221/

only white rubbers I see on here is what he sold with the pedals, maybe he mixed the items up.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

Looks like as they are the same. May be Enzo can help you out and ship a spare.

 

[CC]

Looks like as they are the same. May be Enzo can help you out and ship a spare.

Yeah it looked the same just now in the left bag with the black writing on it,
Such a pity was opened and lost,
I just think this green one is too strong for casual use, shifter very soft and handbrake too hard, I don’t mind buying one if Enzo can ship it.

 

[Chrhun]

I also use the white rubber on the handbrake, that feel perfect to me.

 

[Fastard]

How is the Heusinkveld base plate for the Sprints?
Do you guys have any flex? Other concerns?

I also think to combine a set of Sprints with a Meca baseplate as it seems more sturdy.
Is anybody using this combination?

Meca Baseplate | Meca Sim Hardware

Additional baseplate for your Meca CUP1 pedal set.

meca.all4sim.com

 

[Raysy]

How is the Heusinkveld base plate for the Sprints?
Do you guys have any flex? Other concerns?

I also think to combine a set of Sprints with a Meca baseplate as it seems more sturdy.
Is anybody using this combination?

Meca Baseplate | Meca Sim Hardware

Additional baseplate for your Meca CUP1 pedal set.

meca.all4sim.com

The base plate is stable and gives options on raising the height of the heel plate which I found useful as the pedals are designed for a sasquatch and my size 9 feel could hardly reach them with the heel plate at the lowest setting.

Make sure you use the thick washers when connecting the base plate to the rig as the screws are a little long and will give slack otherwise.

Assembly and fitting isn't nice. It's worth watching one of Barry's videos on it as he shows how to tighten the nuts to your rig, which wasn't intuitive to me, and could have been designed better.

 

[Fastard]

As I still seek for HE pedal plate alternatives in order to evaluate all my options , I already sent an email to Meca asking if their plate is compatible with the Sprints.

I attach a screenshot of my rig and I will appreciate having ideas on Sprints possible mounting solutions from fellow sim racers.

 

[Kieran527]

WHy are you looking for alternatives?
The HE baseplate is sturdy, I have no flex out of mine, and would very happily opt for it again.
It has enough flexibility in terms of mounting options of the pedals, and heel plate riser.

I have my brake pedal at 45kg of force, but thats because i can repeatably apply that force for a race distance, when i had it higher, no issues with flex, but i couldnt maintain brake efficiency for the duration of a race.

 

[Fastard]

WHy are you looking for alternatives?

Stock plate will surely do the job and is also the easiest and safest way.

But as the custom rig offers me the flexibility, I just want to investigate if there could be other better options.

 

[Kieran527]

Sometimes you can look for too much flexibility in a system for the sake of it, when its not required.

If a product is functional and does the job, which lets be honest is a simple heel support and pedal holder, maybe thats all it needs to do.
No need to make things more complicated than they need to be, take the simple approach on the simple things.
Add in complexity on the things that need the added flexibility.

 

[RCHeliguy]

If you want more flexibility mount the pedals to whatever you want and set a foot plate however you want. That's what I did. Otherwise I agree that there is no point in asking HE to make the product more complex.

BTW the green hand brake cushion feels soft to me, but this all relative. I have a white cushion that is unused. The only reason I keep it would to sell it with the rest of the hand brake if I ever decided to do that. Not that I have any complaints with the hand brake.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

That's what spinach does to you.

 

[LeeHetherington]

I thought that only made your forearms bulge

 

[RCHeliguy]

It probably means I just haven't tightened the compression bolt enough.

 

[Kiryu]

As I still seek for HE pedal plate alternatives in order to evaluate all my options , I already sent an email to Meca asking if their plate is compatible with the Sprints.

Maybe you can find a smaller manufacturer that offers custom laser cuts?

When i was looking for an alternative to the HE-Sprint baseplate (because i felt it flexed a bit) i found a metal company where i could easily design a 6mm steel plate online using their own webapp.

I would recommend that you either use 8mm though or provide two additional mounting points in the middle axis of the plate.

 

[MastaMarek]

So I was set on sprints but then ... the ultimates look amazing with hydraulic damper on clutch and throtlle. I'm kinna scared of that 140kg brake force though. My real life cars that I've raced. Mx5 cup car, m2comp, e30 cup and so on. I've never driven a GT3 or GT4 car in real life. So would I feel the difference between the ultimates and sprints? thx in advance for the input.

 

[ColinMac]

Given the price difference between the sprints and the Ultimates, I’d expect there will some difference in feel.

I’ve a set of sprints on the Heus baseplate, fitted to a SimLab rig. I race most days, and am generally in the chair for loving periods, and I can’t imagine using a braking force greater than my sprints.

I absolutely love them. I can fluidly H&T between shifts and if I’m honest they feel exactly like the pedals in my Boxster. Which is how I wanted to set them up.

If you feel you have the budget, then you could consider the Ultimates. Me? I’d spend the difference elsewhere...