Left foot braking.

Tony Broke

Anyone use this in everyday driving?

Colin McRae won rally titles doing it, so it must be benefical.

SV

Tony Broke wrote: »

Colin McRae won rally titles doing it, so it must be benefical.

Aye, for rally driving.

DJ Hafez

Works very well on a track alright. Quite fun too. Waste of brake pads in your own car, especially if you can't do it properly

Land Of Idiots

:eek:
Don't think it's the best idea for everyday driving....

leeroybrown

The only situation where I could see it being 'normal' in daily use is in an automatic with aggressive engine braking. The car will tend to be more controlled when manoeuvring if you use both feet.

And that's not quite the type of left-foot braking you mean...

mc01a

ya it's hard!! but wen you get good doin it you can get some huge speed leaving a corner.

in every day life, no don't do it.

rabbitinlights

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcSAiRxmm0w

99.99% of drivers will never need to use it.

Psygnosis

I did this the other day in my car just to see what would happen and when i touched the brake it knocked the accelarion out. Does this happen on all cars???

leeroybrown

Psygnosis wrote: »

I did this the other day in my car just to see what would happen and when i touched the brake it knocked the accelarion out. Does this happen on all cars???

A lot of cars with fly-by-wire throttles have this cut-out feature.

timmywex

I use it now and again if going along a secondary road fairly fast sometimes, works well in my car but not aswell in others i think!

c-note

only time i do it is when someone is badly tailgate-ing me,
it really confuses the hell out of the bast4rds,
you step on the gas while ever so slightly touching the brake,
guy behind you slows while you pull away and he's left bemused,

if this dosnt work the first time, by the 3rd or 4th time he'll drop back to a safe distance.:D

AugustusMaximus

People who are not used to braking with their left foot will hit the brake as if they are pressing down on the clutch. Most likely press the brake far too hard.

Left foot braking makes no sense unless 1/10 of a second counts for you.

Pique

Couldn't have put it better myself AM...

Holsten

AugustusMaximus wrote: »

People who are not used to braking with their left foot will hit the brake as if they are pressing down on the clutch. Most likely press the brake far too hard.

Left foot braking makes no sense unless 1/10 of a second counts for you.

Aye, any time I've tried to do this, that happens.

I can't seem to control the pressure on the left foot, it's either all or nothing.

Esel

leeroybrown wrote: »

The only situation where I could see it being 'normal' in daily use is in an automatic with aggressive engine braking. The car will tend to be more controlled when manoeuvring if you use both feet.

LFB is great in an automatic. Not sure what you mean by 'aggressive engine braking' though?

tossy

lol at fly by wire!

Its drive by wire,a simple test to see if you car is drive by wire is this,while the car is in neutral press the accelerator and bring the engive up to a steady 3k rpm now with your left foot press the brake,if the revs drop you are drive by wire.

99% of people trying left foot braking for the first time will hop their foreheads of the windscreen

MURDO

HHA.

I nearly put myself through my dads 2.8v6 volvo windscreen years ago, right after he bought it... was taking it a spin and forgot all about the big brake pedal and no clutch pedal. of course went for the clutch and holy sh!t, it was like something out of james bond.. thanks god i had the seatbelt on on would have been a sore one one lol...

Yeah, deffo not for everyday driving,,, but fun all the same, on grass etc

caesar

Has been done before lads:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054870708&highlight=foot

Lol at post 12 in that thread.


Anyway I've tried it before on a private road and I can see why rally drivers would use it but I think for the everyday drivers it is best avoided.

leeroybrown

esel wrote: »

LFB is great in an automatic. Not sure what you mean by 'aggressive engine braking' though?

I've been in automatics that react quite abruptly when the driver lifts off to brake at certain urban speeds. You get jerked forward like they have tapped the brake a little harder than they should have. Aside from that, left foot braking in an automatic is arguably safer as in an emergency situation it does put you in control of the car (as opposed to the torque converter).

walshy123

used too it alot in the integra. it was rubbish in the cars and left foot braking made a huge difference. cant really do it in the vx, the peddle setup and my size 12's dont allow it. no need really as it handles a little bit better

klaus23

Like heel and toeing it can have its place in everyday driving, especially with automatics.

Apart from that, this is possibly the funniest thread I have ever read.

Capt'n Midnight

DJ Hafez wrote: »

Works very well on a track alright. Quite fun too. Waste of brake pads in your own car, especially if you can't do it properly

Not to mention fuel economy. Might be more useful if you have ceramic brakes that don't fade.

itarumaa

I use it in roundabout sometimes, if the car does understeer, but seriously you need to know what you are doing.

And it is not only left foot braking, your right leg stays in the throttle.

So you use same time the brakes and the throttle, when done right it throws the read end of the fwd car loose.

But if you panic and only use left foot braking and not throttle same time, then you will lock the front wheels and maybe crash and if you use too much of your left foot with the throttle the car will go sideways really, really fast and if you don't know what to do next, then it is bad news.

DJ Hafez

itarumaa wrote: »

But if you panic and only use left foot braking and not throttle same time, then you will lock the front wheels and maybe crash and if you use too much of your left foot with the throttle the car will go sideways really, really fast and if you don't know what to do next, then it is bad news.

Yep, i brought an impreza onto the grass on a track and spun slightly by mistiming the brake because i was too worried about a cone on the track. That'll teach me!

Luke Crowley

I drive an automatic, and I almost never use left-foot braking. In normal driving conditions, just changing down into 3rd-gear-hold, 2nd-gear-hold, etc. provides all the control I need.

I am, however, quite a big fan of racing games, which I play on my PC (and not on the M8, before anyone asks ). Here, I use left-foot braking all the time. If I'm driving a manual car in the game, I typically use a combination of conventional right-foot braking, heeling-and-toeing and left-foot braking, depending on what phase of the corner I'm in and what I need to be doing with the gears. If I'm driving a car with sequential (two-pedal control) transmission, I keep my left foot permenantly over the brake, and use left-foot braking exclusively.

Call it nerdy if you want, but it keeps me from wanting to do the same kind of thing on the street.:D

klaus23

tossy wrote: »

Its drive by wire,a simple test to see if you car is drive by wire is this,while the car is in neutral press the accelerator and bring the engive up to a steady 3k rpm now with your left foot press the brake,if the revs drop you are drive by wire.

... or by simply lifting the bonnet and checking if you have an accelerator cable, surely.

mumblin deaf ro

What is heel-and-toeing? i saw him do it in the video - is it trying cover accelerate and brake during a gear change?

warrenzevon

sounds like the best fun ever! will try it tomorrow in my citroen c5 3.0 v6 auto.:eek:
wish i knew how to turn off traction control tho!

leeroybrown

mumblin deaf ro wrote: »

What is heel-and-toeing? i saw him do it in the video - is it trying cover accelerate and brake during a gear change?

It's using the brake and accelerator at the same time with the right foot during a down-shift into a corner. The idea is to blip the throttle for the lower gear while still braking so that it engages very smoothly and allowing you to down-shift later.

xFROSTY Gx

After reading this thread I tried left foot braking. As said before my head almost hit the windscreen:o just because i wasnt used to the force needed to brake with my left foot. Got the hang of it though after a few tries and I can realise why rally drivers use it. You can accelerate out of a corner alot faster:D

ToxicPaddy

mumblin deaf ro wrote: »

What is heel-and-toeing? i saw him do it in the video - is it trying cover accelerate and brake during a gear change?

Have a look at this

Explains it perfectly.. think ya need small feet though..

Tox

Cookie_Monster

I used my left foot to brake once in my mum's auto jeep. Thing ground to a halt instantly, foot just not used to the subtlety compared to the simple clutch movement usually required of it:D

Was quite surprising

andrewh5

esel wrote: »

LFB is great in an automatic.

Agree. I do it all the time for slow speed braking.

klaus23

xFROSTY Gx wrote: »

You can accelerate out of a corner alot faster:D

I'm sure you meant to say 'turn in sharper and carry higher cornering speeds', or perhaps 'control understeer better'.

afatbollix

i use it when i want to push hard on a road... when going quick it can set up the car for coners and keep the car balanced while going around it...

also if ye lot are doing it and you then have to use the brake for a bad coner and go too slow for the gear your in.. keep using your left foot untill your slow enough to go around do not try and use your right foot to brake as you will just run out of road!!! once you start left foot braking dont take it off untill your slow enough....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYUlNXwJ8fY this guy is left foot braking all the time pritty much... i must make a video..

GiftofGab

Yeah sooo hard to get it right. The stig also uses left foot breaking.

SAABMAN

The braking part is OK, but working the clutch with your heel while braking with your toe.................now that's tricky to get used to.

tossy

SAABMAN wrote: »

The braking part is OK, but working the clutch with your heel while braking with your toe.................now that's tricky to get used to.

Is that what you think heel and toe is? :D:D:D:D

SAABMAN

Nah! I remember years ago being told that was how it was done. I didn't think any ankle could be that flexible. Tried it once :eek::eek::eek:. It's much easier with the other foot and a couple of different pedals:D

Fishtits

Left foot braking traditionally is used to turn FWD understeer into a four wheel drift, ie it reduces rear wheel grip to compensate for front wheel loss of grip & direction, keeping the overall handling in balance.

By definition its a negative reaction.

Esel

SAABMAN wrote: »

The braking part is OK, but working the clutch with your heel while braking with your toe.................now that's tricky to get used to.

It's heel on the brake, toe on the accelerator!

tossy

esel wrote: »

It's heel on the brake, toe on the accelerator!

Please tell me you are joking? please dont ever try that on a public road

Esel

tossy wrote: »

Please tell me you are joking? please dont ever try that on a public road

Well, either heel on brake, toe on accelerator, or vive-versa. The main point I was making was that the pedals involved are the brake and acceleratorm not the clutch and the brake! See here.

tossy

esel wrote: »

Well, either heel on brake, toe on accelerator, or vive-versa. The main point I was making was that the pedals involved are the brake and acceleratorm not the clutch and the brake! See here.

Maybe in the golden days but on modern (race) cars heel and toe is the art of operating the brake pedal with the left edge of the right foot and the accelerator with the right edge of the same (left) foot,while letting the left foot look after the clutch.

At least that is one way of doing it : )

jamieh

All I can say is I'm glad there was nobody behind me on the N25 yesterday morning...they would have been into the back of me!! ...I'd be holding ye responsible :P

xFROSTY Gx

klaus23 wrote: »

I'm sure you meant to say 'turn in sharper and carry higher cornering speeds', or perhaps 'control understeer better'.

Ya you get what I was trying to say anyway:)