left foot braking

[Reed]

i think i have a pretty good idea of what left foot braking does and when to do it but im not entirely sure so im hoping someone could explain it to me.

also it it as effective in am mr-2 (mine is an mr-s) as it would be for a f/r car

[JekylandHyde]

The basic point of left braking is to not "waste" time moving your foot from the throttle to the brake.

A specific benefit of this is also maintaining car balance. As you apply brake, the car will tend to nose forward ... as you apply gas the car tends to lean backward. If you left-foot brake while maintain some right-foot throttle you can maintain balance through the turn.

... this technique can benefit any car.

[91 Celica St]

haha untill his foot slipps off the break ad hes on the throttle exiting a turn :0....and now hes doing uncontrollable doghnuuts in the road....hahaha

seriuosly tho i do it in my celica when my clutch was gone....it would grind all the tiem when i downshifted so i started breaking pulled it outta gear revved it up and droped it into a lower gear...great methoed when your racing autocross or mountain pass style in a low HP car but its really easy not to match the rpm's when trying a no clutch downshift and you can grind if thers too much tourqe....

[JekylandHyde]

91 Celica St, you are talking about "heel-n-toe" downshifting ... not left foot braking.

They are entirely different techniques.

[91 Celica St]

mabe, i live right off a highway and the turn lane is incredibley small, i have to go from like 70 to 20 in like 1/8 of a mile with tracffic

i brake with my left foot, pop it outta gear, rev it up ad pop the gear into place...its not jerkey and i break faster...haha had to learn a new method to take that turn and not almost hit parked cars and oncoming poeple

theres an accident at that turn at least once a week cuz its almost a u turn right off the highway and people think its just a 90 so they take it at like 40 in an sucv and roll it

[JekylandHyde]

If you are braking with your left foot, how are you operating the clutch for the shift??

Heel-n-toeing is done by putting the ball of your right foot on the brake and rocking the edge of your foot onto the throttle so you can rev-match the gear change ... while your left foot is clutching.

If you are left foot braking, you are NOT shifting.

[91 Celica St]

im not cltuching..i learned how to NO CLUTCH downshift...and NO CLUTCH upshift....its fairley simple...upshifts are easyer than downshifts

[drazhartd]

I used to left foot brake in my front wheel drive probe back in the day.

Tap the brake to move the car's weight up front to help traction through a tight corner.

left foot braking wears out your brakes fast though.

[g_metalowl]

so all left foot braking is tapping the brake hard with your left foot then giving some gas almost at the same time to get the front down then letting the gas do the rest...right?

[ac427cpe]

left foot braking is to allow you to slow the car down enough in a corner to control the entrance or exit angles without losing your speed capability. you don't have to get off the gas all the way, which allows you to keep higher RPMs and still slow down.

[91 Celica St]

actually its to dip your nose down to put more wieght on the front tires so you can take a turn harder and corner better

[JekylandHyde]

Then what's the point of using your left foot? ... if you want the car to nose down there is no reason to have your right foot on the gas.

[TRD2000]

there seems to be some confused people here.

I'm in agreement with Jeckyl, if you guys want to see how it works practice it in an auto, it's easy then. you really notice the balance on the car.

i think it is also refered to as "trail braking"

Yes it wears brakes out fast, or overheats them pretty quick i've found round here.

the "clutchless" shifting Celica is doing is ballsy, and takes lots of practice. I prefer the "heel-toe" method where you apply the brake smoothly with your right heel and blip the accellerator to match revs with your right toe, then you can still use your clutch with your left foot.

ac427, if your revs go up and your speed comes down, something's slipping. But yes it allows you to transfer from accelleration to braking smoother and faster, with a resulting weight transfer. I have found that left foot braking avoids the sudden transitions that can cause loss of traction as you transfer weight and relative accelleration between tyres. HOWEVER to really utilise it you need to select an appropriate gear prior to the corner or section of road as it is difficult to change gears at the same time. Perhaps this is where Celicas clutchless shifting would be handy.

I also use the technique over crests in the road, i dab my brakes leading up to the crest which brings the front wheels down to maintain steerage, and i can accellerate again quickly to avoid loss of speed. a similar technique is used by downhill mountain bikers and motocross riders.

[g_metalowl]

so you don't really need to break at all with your left foot because just a quick tap will do right?

when i drive in my mk1 which has no spare in the front, all i do is push in the clutch letting it rev a little more then give a quick tap on the brakes with my right foot then accelerate and try not to over gas and match the previous rpms it seems to work fine going 70 or so... just wondering if there was a better way.

i usually use this technique on hills and crests more than turns.

[JekylandHyde]

Trail braking and left-foot braking are not the same thing.

Trail braking is carrying the braking portion of the driving motion into the turn. This allows you to brake later. Generally speaking, to keep a car stable, you do your braking in the straight part of the road and throttle threw a turn. If the turn is at the end of a healthy straight, you may not want to "give up" the speed you built up .. .so you brake later and carry the brkaing motion into the turn. This is fast, but risky (Especially in a mid-endgine RWD car!) because you increase the tendency for oversteer.

left-foot braking just what it says. Braking with your left foot. This is used, as stated above, to keep the car level. If you are braking with your left foot, you can apply throttle with your right ... keeping the car stable.

Heel-n-toe - is using the ball of your right foot for braking. While you do this you rock the outer portion of your foot to "blip" throttle to rev match the next gear. This is also called "yunning" because of the noise the quick revs make.