Left Foot Braking
Discussion
bad company said:
I read that using the left foot is best in an automatic and I have to say that it is perfectly logical.
I have been trying this but not easy after using the right foot for the past 38 years.
Anybody here have any tips or ideas?
Practise makes perfect Im sure you already knew that. I always use my left foot to break on the xbox steering wheel setup. With a sponge behind the brake pedal it allows more accurate braking to be achieved. Over time I got better with the wheel and it made for faster lap times etc. I cant see why the same principals cannot apply to real world driving.I have been trying this but not easy after using the right foot for the past 38 years.
Anybody here have any tips or ideas?
Its all about developing the muscles in your foot so you can control how much pressure you are applying.
A couple of thoughts:
If you plan to start braking earlier than you think you need to, you'll give yourself more time to think about smoothly applying and releasing the brakes with your left foot.
You might want to practise on the open road, rather than, say, a busy built-up area where you might need to react quickly to changing hazards. In a situation like that, your left foot might react instinctively in the way it's used to on a clutch pedal before your conscious mind can stop it. Make a deliberate decision to switch between left-foot and right-foot braking modes. When you're right-foot braking, put your left foot somewhere else - on the floor, or a footrest if you have one - and leave it there until you're ready to switch back to left-foot braking mode for a bit.
HTH
If you plan to start braking earlier than you think you need to, you'll give yourself more time to think about smoothly applying and releasing the brakes with your left foot.
You might want to practise on the open road, rather than, say, a busy built-up area where you might need to react quickly to changing hazards. In a situation like that, your left foot might react instinctively in the way it's used to on a clutch pedal before your conscious mind can stop it. Make a deliberate decision to switch between left-foot and right-foot braking modes. When you're right-foot braking, put your left foot somewhere else - on the floor, or a footrest if you have one - and leave it there until you're ready to switch back to left-foot braking mode for a bit.
HTH
Imagine you are in a go cart or something like that which is where the brake is normally and as already said try it in an area where you won't need to apply in anger for any reason.
Also try change gear, accelerate, brake, change down, etc. on an empty road to practice using that foot for different things in a short space of time.
...and if you are trying this for the first time, get ready to smash your head on your windscreen!
Also try change gear, accelerate, brake, change down, etc. on an empty road to practice using that foot for different things in a short space of time.
...and if you are trying this for the first time, get ready to smash your head on your windscreen!
waremark said:
Do you think there is any danger that you will confuse yourself and not brake as well as you could in an emergency?
A very relevant point. I'd suggest this is something to keep off the road, or at least on an empty road, until entirely proficient to the degree where it's instinctive.The Black Flash said:
What I've never understood though is, if you do go-carting, you can left-foot brake with no problems, and be able to threshold brake quite effectively after a couple of laps. But in a car? Nah.
It's the sharpness of the brakes I think. Even without a servo, car brakes are very responsive and powerful, whereas go kart brakes (at least on most hire karts) are very mushy, weak and unresponsive, so all the clumsiness of a clutch foot is soaked up. LFB is much easier in a car without a servo on the brakes (such as my Elise), but even those brakes are far more responsive and sensitive than [hire] go kart brakes.
Tiggsy said:
Why would you bother? It's not how you'd drive a manual so why have a different approach? All it will do is go pearshaped when you have an emergency and you dont know what pedal is what!
I would have thought that the different approach is to increase safety by lowering the time it takes to go from throttle to brake. That's not me saying that's significant or a good idea, but that's probably the reason. I LFB when racing to save time in this manner, and it does give a measurable advantage. As for whether it's worth it on the road, I wouldn't like to comment.RobM77 said:
would have thought that the different approach is to increase safety by lowering the time it takes to go from throttle to brake. That's not me saying that's significant or a good idea, but that's probably the reason. I LFB when racing to save time in this manner, and it does give a measurable advantage. As for whether it's worth it on the road, I wouldn't like to comment.
On a track i understand - but on a road where much of the time you arent driving at the limit (if ever!) I'd like to have a default reaction to needing to stop quick that relied on the same foot, irrespective of the type of car i was in.RobM77 said:
would have thought that the different approach is to increase safety by lowering the time it takes to go from throttle to brake. That's not me saying that's significant or a good idea, but that's probably the reason. I LFB when racing to save time in this manner, and it does give a measurable advantage. As for whether it's worth it on the road, I wouldn't like to comment.
I'd say LFB probably has a lot less application on the road. If you have to worry about the amount of time you are on trailing throttle while commuting, you are probably going too fast.Tiggsy said:
RobM77 said:
would have thought that the different approach is to increase safety by lowering the time it takes to go from throttle to brake. That's not me saying that's significant or a good idea, but that's probably the reason. I LFB when racing to save time in this manner, and it does give a measurable advantage. As for whether it's worth it on the road, I wouldn't like to comment.
On a track i understand - but on a road where much of the time you arent driving at the limit (if ever!) I'd like to have a default reaction to needing to stop quick that relied on the same foot, irrespective of the type of car i was in.
Great Pretender said:
Been doing this since I got the CSL six months ago. Second nature now.
Doesn't the CSL have a small brake pedal which is awkward to use with the left foot? The DCT M3 does - I quite like using lfb, but don't in the BMW because of the pedal layout. I conclude that BMW engineers don't use lfb; otherwise they would give smg/dct cars an automatic style wide brake pedal.Most sensible reasons for on road lfb have been mentioned above - quicker in an emergency, smooth transition from brake to throttle, and manoeuvering in an auto. But if you want to see some more advanced and track oriented uses look at an Andy Walsh DVD sold on the Car Limits website called Bending the Rules (I have no connection with him other than I bought the video and liked it).
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