Left foot Braking

[Marshal]

Over the past couple of weeks I've been experimenting with using left foot braking driving on the road (which seems to stop my company Astra understeering quite so badly), so I was wondering how our race drivers here use it, and why?

Is it only in front drive cars?

Slow corner or fast, or both?

Do you brake right footed for main braking and then just balance the car through the corner with left foot, or do all braking left footed kart style (presumably then changing gear without using the clutch)?

Has anyone tried it and abandoned it?

Thanks in advance

[marcus]

Ive tried it on the road but really its of no use to the every day road user because the cornering speeds are not that high..i tried it for a bit of fun but didnt really get the hang of it...of course im used to from my kart racing but you dont have an option with that..but on some fast corners which i take flat out the kart wants to skip out sideways on me and wash off speed so by just resting your foot on the brake and applying minimal pressure (ie . not enough to hinder your speed) it seems to settle the kart slightly and keep it from sliding ..can be a very usefull technique for racing if you can master it.

I know V8 supercar driver Glenn Seton swears by it and is always braking in the middle of the corners..but with over 600bhp in a rear wheel drive under your foot you have to try anything to keep the backend in line.

[woodyracing]

i tried left foot braking with a bit of gas aswell in my XR2i on the road, it didnt slow down and i nearly hit the car infront

i need to learn more about these things, but i dont see how braking and accelerating at the same time on front wheel drive cars can have any benefit, surely its just opposite forces acting against the front wheels.

I've been practicing heal and toe on the road, and getting better at that, apart from when i time it wrong and the car jolts forward

good fun anyway.

Woody.

[marcus]

yeh im not sure how it would effect a front wheel drive car but it does work well on a rear wheel drive car.

heal and toe...uuuhhhhh..i can never get that right...they make road car pedals to far apart anyway and ive only got a small foot and find it pretty hard to do..but practise makes perfect.

[Chris Y]

Heel-and-toe is a bizarre thing. Once you get in to the habit, you can't shake it - well I can't anyway. I even do it when I drive diesel vans

With my road car, I put my foot straight up, and I use the left edge on the brake pedal (about 50% covered), and then the right edge blips the throttle. There's no 'heel' involved realy, just toe.

As for LFB, I heard that some Mini drivers (FWD) use it to swing the back-end round in some long corners, instead of trailing the brakes..

[Peter Mallett]

Heel and toe.

Exactly as you said Chris. As to left foot braking. I tried it but could never get the hang of it. You also need that foot for the clutch so unless you've got a paddle clutch and gear changer you're not going to get much benefit.

The phenomenon you've seen at mini races is not trailing the brakes chris, its applying the brakes reasonably hard whilst entering the corner. It means you can keep the car relatively flat on all four corners, it brings the rear wheels round and you can accellerate earlier. Try it, it really does work for a mini.

[Chris Y]

Originally posted by Peter Mallett
The phenomenon you've seen at mini races is not trailing the brakes chris, its applying the brakes reasonably hard whilst entering the corner. It means you can keep the car relatively flat on all four corners, it brings the rear wheels round and you can accellerate earlier. Try it, it really does work for a mini.

Yep - I've seen that, and done a bit of it by accident as well but trailing the brake into a corner while turning also can have the same effect - it's a technique I'm trying to master - next week at Combe

[Sparky]

Doesn't left foot braking (in a Mini, especially) combat that hideous understeer/snap oversteer you suddenly get when you back off the throttle for cornering?

I've had a couple of Minis (!) and I always used it to stabilise the rear when I got in too deep.

[marcus]

and just how deep was your mini Sparky ??

[Sparky]

All I remember is that feeling in the pit of your stomach when you realise it's all over.

Well, not all I remember. Let's see... Tiny Mini, Big truck, grass, telegraph pole (phew! Missed!) Ditch (Uh Oh!) Grass, Mud, nasty crunching noises, more mud, another ditch, more grass, then Hey! Tarmac! Phew!!!

Turns to petrified passenger: "Piece of cake...!"

Moral of this story: Don't listen when I say LFB will save you on a bend!!

Seriously, I have used it since, and it does work. I've never been 'that' deep since...

[RickP:Clio51]

I use left foot braking in the Clio 172 at Thruxton in the high speed corners just to tuck the front when it starts to understeer...
You wouldn't risk it in the Clio V6, because the weight is in the wrong place.
Cheers
RickP

[woodyracing]

i saw a VW Golf going round a bend at Oulton with the rear wheels locked, does this mean that he used a brake bias switch and only applied brakes to the rear ?
or could he be hard on brakes and accelerator at the same time ?

Woody.

[Peter Mallett]

Well, brakes on into corner, front goes heavy, rear goes light. Ergo locked wheels. You may have seen one wheel lighter than the other which would mean only one wheel locking up.

[woodyracing]

yeah it could have been that because i was on the inside and the weight was thrown onto the other side of the car.

Anyway, I thought the idea was to brake in a straight line before the corner ? i notice a few people mention trailing brakes into corner.

thanks
Woody

[massifheed]

That's been puzzling me too, if you continue to brake into the corner don't you run the risk of unbalancing the car? I guess by that time a lot of the speed will have been scrubbed off, just thinking out loud.