Wednesday 24th September 2014

V8 Supercars 'Foot Cam': Time For Tea?

Reckon your heel'n'toe is up to scratch? Might be time to think again

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You know how some news channels bombard the screen with so much info you don't know where to look? There's more of the same with this V8 Supercars vid, only it's about 50 times more interesting.

Much like F1, there are revs, speed, position, gear and so on. But there's another distraction on the screen, one it's near impossible to divert your eyes from: Foot Cam.

There's just something about watching a really good driver dancing their way across three pedals. The Senna NSX vid proves that. The difference here of course is it's a race situation, at Bathurst, in the wet. Knowing the risk makes it somehow all the more absorbing.

And don't think a sequential race 'box makes it easy. Oh no. The clutch is still used on the way down the gears, McConville switching from heel'n'toe on the way in to corners and then left-foot braking his way through. Just to add a bit of edge, look out for water sloshing around in the footwell down the Conrod straight. Keep one eye on the data and you'll see some big speeds also; 273kph is 170mph.

You can't help but feel rather inadequate having watched this. Back to practicing stationary on the driveway!

Watch the vid here.

 

[Lead pic: LAT. Evidently it was sunny at some point during the weekend].

[thatguy11]

Could watch this all day long...such perfect technique

[Hasbeen]

When they first started doing this, one of the drivers had printed LEFT, & RIGHT in large white letters on his boots. Brought the house down.

[British Beef]

I tried left braking once, ended with me nearly putting my head through the windscreen. I put it down to size 12s and a lack of coordination.

I dont understand why he is tapping the brake with his left foot occasionally while he is flying on straightish bits of track?

[Dave Hedgehog]

witch craft!!

no human could possibly do such things


well i certainly never could lol

[P4ROT]

British Beef said:

I tried left braking once, ended with me nearly putting my head through the windscreen. I put it down to size 12s and a lack of coordination.

I dont understand why he is tapping the brake with his left foot occasionally while he is flying on straightish bits of track?

Exactly the same for me! I think it is so the rear wheels don't spin up too fast when they unload over crests? I still really struggle with the concept/purpose of left foot braking in this context- can anyone point towards a good source of information?

[aarondbs]

P4ROT said:

Exactly the same for me! I think it is so the rear wheels don't spin up too fast when they unload over crests? I still really struggle with the concept/purpose of left foot braking in this context- can anyone point towards a good source of information?

I think the idea is to just bring the front end back into play on the sweepers. The synch between the footcam and track position could be out..

Oh, and try doing left foot breaking in a VW.... wtf is all that about!!

[DB89]

British Beef said:

I tried left braking once, ended with me nearly putting my head through the windscreen. I put it down to size 12s and a lack of coordination.

I dont understand why he is tapping the brake with his left foot occasionally while he is flying on straightish bits of track?

I think it's to make sure there full pressure in the system again after a big stop.

[shoehorn]

I watched a V8 s/cars race a while back where the commentators explained that these cars suffer from pad `knockback,the driver is simply pushing the pads back up to the disc.
I never understood the fuss about left foot breaking as a youth,I spent my childhood on go karts left foot breaking and still drive like this to the surprise of the few who noticed,it seems natural to me and I never got out of the habit and still doing it at 42 means driving a modern auto usually means a few close shaves as they don`t like both pedals pushed together.

[Watchman]

DB89 said:

I think it's to make sure there full pressure in the system again after a big stop.

I wonder if he's just "cleaning" the brakes before he needs them for real - the wet conditions might mean there's less bite for the first rotation of the disc.

[UltimaCH]

I often use left foot braking when driving my automatics. After a bit of practice it becomes relatively simple.

[GroundEffect]

P4ROT said:

British Beef said:

I tried left braking once, ended with me nearly putting my head through the windscreen. I put it down to size 12s and a lack of coordination.

I dont understand why he is tapping the brake with his left foot occasionally while he is flying on straightish bits of track?

Exactly the same for me! I think it is so the rear wheels don't spin up too fast when they unload over crests? I still really struggle with the concept/purpose of left foot braking in this context- can anyone point towards a good source of information?

The pressure tap has two purposes:

1) Makes sure the system pressure is there for when you actually want to get on the brakes for the next corner
2) Get the water off the discs so they're primed and ready to go

And on the left foot braking, notice how he only does it on the areas of track where he knows he has gotten his downshifts out of the way - good example being turn 3/4 complex (called "The Cutting" at Bathurst) so it means he can very quickly go between the brakes and the throttle, not losing any time for each movement of his foot. Try this in karting - it means you can very finely modulate the two pedals.

[braddo]

Great video and a good insight into just how much skill and coordination it takes to race cars professionally, especially in the wet. It looks like he is braking right into the apex.

[MissChief]

Speaking of LFB of the recent crop,of F1 drivers they were all LFB'ers apart from Rubens Barrichello who was still a right foot braker.

[TartanPaint]

Try this one on the driveway with your old-fashioned 3-pedal manual... (works best at the end of a long straight into a low speed corner, with a long braking zone and multiple downshifts).

Flat out until the braking point.
Left foot brake hard as you come off the throttle to eliminate coasting time (neither accelerating nor braking).
Swap feet on the brake pedal, while still moderating braking pressure, by sliding left foot off and right foot on to the brake pedal.
Heel and toe downshifts as normal.
After the last downshift, swap feet back as before to resume left foot braking, probably trail braking towards the apex at this point so careful modulation required while swapping feet. Right foot is now ready to get straight back on the throttle, using more left foot braking to tighten in if required.

Can't find a video of it, but seen it from the passenger seat, and it's mind-blowing at full pace. No, I can't do it.

[jimAtr]

Great video, really enjoyed that. Just love the throttle modulation too and the V8 engine noise changing with it.

For people who have tried a bit of left foot braking at home and found they got a surprise this is often because your left heel is not on the floor. Your right foot generally the heel stays on the floor and when you right foot brake, your "gently" levering at the heel. Your left heel is often off the floor so you're not gently levering with your left heel, but levering with the entire power of your leg. If you can bring your left heel to the floor you may get better control.

[USABRZ]

I would think the light brake taps are to clear the water from the brake pads, so as to have them ready for full on braking.

Brilliant video!

[P4ROT]

aarondbs said:

I think the idea is to just bring the front end back into play on the sweepers. The synch between the footcam and track position could be out..

Oh, and try doing left foot breaking in a VW.... wtf is all that about!!

GroundEffect said:

The pressure tap has two purposes:

1) Makes sure the system pressure is there for when you actually want to get on the brakes for the next corner
2) Get the water off the discs so they're primed and ready to go

And on the left foot braking, notice how he only does it on the areas of track where he knows he has gotten his downshifts out of the way - good example being turn 3/4 complex (called "The Cutting" at Bathurst) so it means he can very quickly go between the brakes and the throttle, not losing any time for each movement of his foot. Try this in karting - it means you can very finely modulate the two pedals.

Cheers, this makes more sense now after watching it again. So in essence he is neutralising understeer in the corners and prepping the brakes on the straights- so impressive when you consider the speed that is being carried...

[isaldiri]

Not a footcam but I remember watching a rather impressive video of some chap working a manual box at sebring in a 996 gt3 and I think this one is the one...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73MvmT5C-ik

[Snifflytooth]

As someone pointed out earlier, he's making sure the pads are seated and haven't been knocked back.
This can happen a lot in bikes, either a tank slapper or a hard front wheel landing MAY force the caliper pistons back. Couple of dabs of the brake, pads are definately ready for action.

[British Beef]

Bring this to F1, might just be more exciting than watching the cars from the outside!!