Left Foot Braking
Discussion
:driving: Left foot braking: now thats what I call an advanced driving topic! It's something I first came across at Uni Motor Club in the early 70s, watching Castrol films of Timo Makinen rallying Minis. The theory (and practice if you're a Finnish rally driver) is that you can kill the understeer in a front drive car by braking with the left foot whilst keeping the power on with the right. Power keeps the front wheels turning while the back wheels can be made, ultimately, to lock up. An expert like Timo virtually dances on the pedals, adjusting grip and power at either end of the car to match the traction to the road surface and cornering line. Oh, and if it's a factory car, you just change gear without the clutch and let someone else buy a new transmission. Of course, I then tried it out in my own Mini and discovered that, a) it takes a lot of practice to develop a sensitive left foot, and b) you need to be really trying some for it to have any effect on dry tarmac.
As a road driving technique, left foot braking seemes pretty much like an irrelevance but then, about 10 years ago, I did a one day course with Pentti Airikkala, RAC Rally winner in 1989. http://www.leftfootbraking.com/
Pentti's approach is that LFB is just as relevant for road driving as it is for the track. For example, if you cover the brake with your left foot in a potentially tricky situation, such as a junction with a car that might pull out in front of you, or thick spray and heavy traffic on the M25, you can react to emergencies much more quickly than if you have to move your right foot across from the accelerator. And for fast road driving, LFB ensures better turn in and the ability to finely adjust you line through a corner.
Nowadays, I do consciously brake with my left foot from time to time to stay in practice and I can think of one occasion, at least, where theory became practice. I came around a blind corner to find a car coming towards me on my side of the road, overtaking a policeman on a bicycle! My emergency stop was instant and the fact that the engine then stalled (no spare foot for the clutch) quite irrelevant. And of course, while my own cars are manuals, if ever I drive an auto, it's one foot for each pedal.
It needs practice away from other traffic, but I reckon that left braking is a useful skill for road driving.
As a road driving technique, left foot braking seemes pretty much like an irrelevance but then, about 10 years ago, I did a one day course with Pentti Airikkala, RAC Rally winner in 1989. http://www.leftfootbraking.com/
Pentti's approach is that LFB is just as relevant for road driving as it is for the track. For example, if you cover the brake with your left foot in a potentially tricky situation, such as a junction with a car that might pull out in front of you, or thick spray and heavy traffic on the M25, you can react to emergencies much more quickly than if you have to move your right foot across from the accelerator. And for fast road driving, LFB ensures better turn in and the ability to finely adjust you line through a corner.
Nowadays, I do consciously brake with my left foot from time to time to stay in practice and I can think of one occasion, at least, where theory became practice. I came around a blind corner to find a car coming towards me on my side of the road, overtaking a policeman on a bicycle! My emergency stop was instant and the fact that the engine then stalled (no spare foot for the clutch) quite irrelevant. And of course, while my own cars are manuals, if ever I drive an auto, it's one foot for each pedal.
It needs practice away from other traffic, but I reckon that left braking is a useful skill for road driving.
woodytvr said:
When I had an Alfa 145 it was useful for taking wet roundabouts at speed. Also when I had a R5 GT Turbo it was great for keeping the Turbo on the boil but in reality it has no place on the road and certinaly not for emergency situation.
Any gain made by reaction time will be far out-weighed by the amount the car will travel forwards due to the engine pushing against the brakes as you can't use the clutch. If you think you need an extra 0.1 seconds reaction time to brake then your not planning ahead well enough.
Keeping the turbo on the boil was another advantage quoted by Pentti on the course, e.g. when anticipating an overtaking opportunity requiring instant maximum torque. However, I reckon turbo installations have improved (the course cars were a 4wd Sierra Cosworth and a Fiesta Turbo, both amusingly fitted with dual controls that included two steering wheels per car!) to the point where this is unnecessary, at least provided you're in the right gear. I never bother in my Impreza. Also, I was never keen on flashing brake lights to those following, whilst at the same time signalling right and pulling out to overtake!
On the subject of emergency braking, it takes most people a good deal longer than 0.1 of a second to physically lift a foot of one pedal, move it across to another, and then to press down. The difference in total stopping time can be genuinely significant and provided you lift off the throttle with your right foot, there is no issue of fighting against the engine power.
Trouble said:
get into go-karts if you want to improve left foot technique.
most karts have a single disc setup on the rear axle, so left foot needs to become super sensitive. Otherwise you try braking in a corner & by by baby, you'll be backwards quick sharp.
You're absolutely right. The same thought occured to me over the weekend. In a kart you have no choice but to left foot brake and hauling down from nearly 20,000rpm on the straight for the hairpin on our local bumpy track kind of helps you to develop the necessary sensitivity (especially when it's also wet)! I guess that's one more reason why personally I feel comfortable using my left foot in the car, even though others obviously don't.
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