Does anyone left-foot brake?

[Dr G]

Just wondering if anyone uses their left foot for braking. At auto-x, track days or even on the street?

I saw these two videos which made me think of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKeK_IpQP2s

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

[SSLance]

I left foot brake on autocross but right foot brake on a road course.

[Rod P]

yes on both...dependent on the track also...autocross is busy hands, feet and head moving quickly...road course is lesser movements

[dontlifttoshift]

Nope. Lot's of fast drivers do, it seems that more fast drivers don't.

***If you do left foot brake, please note how many pedals are in your car.***

[craig510]

For autoX you need to learn how to left foot brake. The learning curve is a bit steep with a manual. It took 3 seasons before I got a good feel and quit slamming on the brake and spinning at the end of a run. I left foot on the street most of the time as well. More practice at being smooth. My passengers don't even notice anymore.

[Bad94]

If the Auto X is a 1st gear only, I left foot brake. And if I have to up and down shift, im not sure what foot I brake with.

Road Course, I left and right foot brake.

There are times on road course, I brake with left foot, blip throttle and down shift at the same time, no clutch down shift.

[Sieg]

Daily driver automatic pickup pretty much exclusive left foot braking.

'69 Camaro T56 never have, my feet are too big and the pedals too small with minimal spacing for me to feel comfortable.

All the time on my motorcycles though......except the Bultaco. :D

[HELLCAMINO]

My Chevelle is 5 speed and Elco is auto and left brake both of them all the time track or street.

[SSLance]

To be fast at autocross, one must be smooth with the driver inputs. Left foot braking allows one to modulate throttle on\brake off or brake on\throttle off at the same time for a smoother transition without surprising the tires.

I started autocrossing with an automatic and left foot braking, after installing the T56 it only took me 2-3 runs to get to where I could shift to second after the start then place my foot where I needed it for left foot braking during the run.

Where I did have trouble was the first time I ran a Speed Stop competition. First two runs I slid into the box, left foot on the brake...killing the engine in the process. Next two runs I tried to right foot brake through the 180 and 3 cone slalom but couldn't make it smooth...so I started to left foot brake through the turns...then just lifted my left leg in the air and got it ready for the clutch as I entered into the braking area for the box.

You just do whatever it takes to get er done... :D

[jy211]

my dad does in his daily driver, but he's also the one who taught us how to drag race :bitchslap:

[rustomatic]

Since I've given up manual transmissions, I plan to try left-foot braking a bit more often...

Then again, unless you've got a decent bucket seat, you can really use that left foot for holding your human differential in place (on roads where I live). In my pickup, this is quite necessary...

[Z06vette]

I really like left foot braking. I relate it to a go cart at times. I like being able to get back on the throttle with my foot on the brake in certain situations, then coming off the brake as the throttle is on the way down. I'm not sure if its the right way, as I do it by feel and was never taught whats right or wrong (or fastest). Every once in a while if I need to down shift from 2nd to 1st for a tight slow section... sometimes i mash the brake and downshift thinking im on the clutch... I've never been on a road course. When I was running the dragon a couple months ago I found myself doing a little of both, depending on if I was going to heel-toe downshift or not.

[Chad-1stGen]

for autocross I wish I could left foot brake. However, at 6'3" my left foot is in a super awkward position due to leg to steering wheel interference.

I run a T56.

[zz430droptop67rs]

With an auto I left foot brake exclusively, and have forever.

It goes back to the days where I had a car that didn't idle for crap and I had to keep it running, and my circle track days as well.

I got into a flame war on another forum and I was told to have somebody video me from the rear while driving down the street and he "would bet" that the brake lights would be on when they shouldn't be because I dragged my foot on the pedal, and would "confuse other drivers", which was BS.

I was born with 2 feet and I'll damn sure use both of them instead of my left just taking up space. (Auto trans of course).

[Dr G]

I just stumbled upon this page on left foot braking:

http://www.motorsportsuniversity.com/2010/05/left-foot-braking.html

The first video of Walter Röhrl driving the might Audi Group B Quattro is pretty psycho. Mainly because of the spectators! But it also shows a combination of right and left foot braking that is a nice example of what can be done.

[Shmoov69]

I've never NOT left foot braked. I don't know why I learned it that way when I was 15. I don't know if it's better or worse, but in my tiny brain it seems like it would make you quicker around a track. I'm like Don I guess, I got two feet, might as well use them!

[GregWeld]

You'll be way faster when you learn to left foot brake....

[Vince@Meanstreets]

Remember these Rally guys use the brake to transfer weight in the hard high speed turns (braking while accelerating). Not sure if it would apply well to auto x unless you are doing it for lightning fast slow then go transitions.

[GregWeld]

When you ARE NOT left foot braking - what you're doing then is huge weight transfers each time you lift off the gas to stomp the brake.. then off the brake and stab the gas. Weight transfer can be your friend and it can be your enemy.

Going hard into a tight corner - lifting suddenly and going to the brakes and also asking the tire to grip to cause turn in... and you've just transferred all the weight to the nose of the car.... now you're loose. Then you lift off the brake and stab the throttle --- if you weren't on the throttle you're not moving the car forward... the time it takes to go from the brake to the throttle adds up. And it's not smooth... smooth is fast. And it's jerky and moving weight all over in sudden motions. You might feel fast because you're busy... but you're not.

Proper braking - including the use of your left foot - is critical to improving your times. And being just a bit earlier back into the throttle will also help your times... and it will be smoother. And there's nothing in the rules book that says you can't be both braking and using throttle to balance the car in certain instances. In other words - taking speed off while maintaining balance. Try it in a decreasing radius corner.

[GregWeld]

Remember these Rally guys use the brake to transfer weight in the hard high speed turns (braking while accelerating). Not sure if it would apply well to auto x unless you are doing it for lightning fast slow then go transitions.




In rally school you'll learn it's all about the brakes and the throttle, and the steering wheel is just about the least important tool.... You can make the car corner 90* with the brake and the throttle -- or hold a long sweeper - nose 45* to the edge of the road and suck the car in tighter or let it drift out just using the throttle or the brake. A quick application of the hoon handle will rotate the car
while you're still into the throttle - whip the ass around and off you go. We don't have hoon handles... That might be too sloppy for Auto X.

[dontlifttoshift]

Going hard into a tight corner - lifting suddenly and going to the brakes and also asking the tire to grip to cause turn in... and you've just transferred all the weight to the nose of the car.... now you're loose. Then you lift off the brake and stab the throttle --- if you weren't on the throttle you're not moving the car forward... the time it takes to go from the brake to the throttle adds up. And it's not smooth... smooth is fast. And it's jerky and moving weight all over in sudden motions. You might feel fast because you're busy... but you're not.


The car doesn't care if the deceleration comes from either pedal. It could be argued that just lifting is better when you just need to scrub a little speed. You are not asking the front tires to do anything but turn with all the stopping coming from the rear, which helps the car rotate and gets pointed in the right direction. Smooth is fast, but smooth doesn't mean your appendages are moving slow.

By all means, everyone should try left foot braking. It works well for some people. The idea that you will never go fast without it is just wrong. Hollis and Cashmore both have nationals jackets and left foot brake. Strano, Heitkotter, and Rhodes also have jackets and do not left foot brake. If there was an exit poll at every autocross I think you would find about 60% of the drivers do not left foot brake at all.

[Neil B]

In road racing I believe this is a divided issue. There many successful road racers that left foot brake and many that right foot brake. I road raced for many years and I did not left foot brake. I would do a 'brake check' coming into hard braking zones to pump up the brakes and ensure brake pressure with my left foot. Then I would switch feet and do a traditional heel-and-toe downshift in the braking zone. If I needed to settle the car mid-corner, I would again use my left foot on the brake without lifting the throttle. I might also use my left foot during late corner entry if I didn't get the car rotated enough during turn in. If you've got an auto or can do clutchless downshifting then I definitely see a benefit to left foot braking.

[BMR Sales]

It really depends on the car

Go-Karts - obviously Left Foot Braking
Auto-X - Right Foot
Road-Course with Paddle-Shifters - Left Foot
Road-Course, Manual & Clutch - Right Foot

On the Street, Manual Trans, Right Foot

[Dr G]

Since I started this thread I thought I would chime in. I'm glad to see that many folks actually do left foot brake. With the traditional H-pattern transmission and clutch being so common on pro-touring style cars I was not sure if many folks would have bothered with it. It's much easier to left foot brake when you don't have a clutch pedal!

I started auto-crossing in 1995 with a VW Rabbit. My friend who brought me into the sport, and is one of the best auto-crossers I know of, told me to learn how to left foot brake, or it would limit my potential. Since I did not know any better, I started doing it, and I sucked royally. But I gradually got better. The biggest epiphany for me in improving my auto-crossing was learning to stop looking at my front bumper and truly look "ahead". One could argue that left foot braking is a front wheel drive thing, but later we both switched to rear wheel drive BMW's and we both continued left foot braking with great success.

At that point in my life almost all the cars I'd owned had been equipped with H-pattern and clutch. Then my wife bought a 2002 M3 with the SMG shifting (really just an H-box with a bunch of computer controlled actuators). It had no clutch pedal and gave me the first chance to really experiment with full time left foot braking. She subsequently got a V10 M5, then an Audi S6 (auto) and I got a series of BMW 335i's, also automatics. Also during this time I was traveling a lot for work and renting cars, all auto's of course. Over the span of time I've left foot and right foot braked so much that I honestly don't even pay attention to it anymore.

I think it is a good skill for anyone to have in their tool box. In auto-x I would often brake against full engine power through fast slaloms to help settle the car. That worked great. Since most of the courses were strictly 2nd gear affairs, you could left foot brake almost the whole time, clutch or not. It definitely smooths out the transition from throttle to brake, since the two can overlap, which they cannot (by definition) when you right foot brake.

In my limited road course experience I did not really left foot brake unless there was no clutch pedal in the car.

All that being said, I think left foot braking is pretty much ubiquitous at the top levels of motorsport. F1, WRC, Le Mans, DTM, BTCC, where all transmissions are either paddle shift or sequential dog-boxes which don't require the clutch to shift (just match revs). I've seen enough in-car footage of Sprint Car drivers left foot braking on both ovals and road courses to convince me that at least some, if not most, of them do it.

With a regular H-box on a road course I'm not sure which is best honestly.

Personally, if I was building a 69 Camaro or similar I'd install a 6-speed sequential dog-box with automatic ignition retard for no-lift upshifts. I relished watching the BTCC drivers in the glory days of the Super Touring formula (1990's) banging through the gears and it just looked so fun!

[dontlifttoshift]

no-lift upshifts.

Like!

[rustomatic]

I want a "hoon handle". I think my mountain bike has one, but I just call it a brake lever...

In rally school you'll learn it's all about the brakes and the throttle, and the steering wheel is just about the least important tool.... You can make the car corner 90* with the brake and the throttle -- or hold a long sweeper - nose 45* to the edge of the road and suck the car in tighter or let it drift out just using the throttle or the brake. A quick application of the hoon handle will rotate the car
while you're still into the throttle - whip the ass around and off you go. We don't have hoon handles... That might be too sloppy for Auto X.

[Graham08]

I've seen enough in-car footage of Sprint Car drivers left foot braking on both ovals and road courses to convince me that at least some, if not most, of them do it.

Most of the NASCAR guys left foot brake on ovals.

I think that's what you meant by "sprint car". In an actual sprint car (like my avatar) you have to left foot brake. The torque tube, power steering, and fuel pump are all in the way of getting your right foot over to the brake pedal. :)

[Dr G]

Most of the NASCAR guys left foot brake on ovals.

I think that's what you meant by "sprint car". In an actual sprint car (like my avatar) you have to left foot brake. The torque tube, power steering, and fuel pump are all in the way of getting your right foot over to the brake pedal. :)
Yes, I meant "Sprint" car, not sprint car. :P

I should have said Cup Car (Winston Cup, Sprint Cup etc).

[Panteracer]

I have been left foot braking my Firebird for many years
and only during Autocrossing... I bought the Pantera and
my size 14 feet barely fit down in the foot box.. I actually
had to cut the bottom corner of the brake pedal to keep me from
hitting it accidentally.. so no left foot braking that car

I had an interesting conversation with a guy who has a full
race pantera when I was in Texas.. he fabricated a throttle pedal
that extended down, over and below the brake pedal so he could blip the
throttle and brake when downshifting.... said it worked pretty good

He finally switched to left foot braking (he does not have size 14 feet)
and has not changed back since

He also has his car locked out of 5th gear now
He hits 182 at the Texas World Speedway track
and was downshifting to 3rd at the end of the straight
and hit 5th and ended up in the weeds.. came in and blocked
that damn 5th gear out and its been that way every since:)

Bob

[GregWeld]

Like most of these things --- whether you do "this" or do "that" -- everyone learns from the discussion. If we talked to 30 different guys about how they go thru the same corner on the same track - we'd hear 29 scenarios....


The point for most -- try some different stuff -- talk to different people (the fast ones) and experiment and find what works for you. Everybody is different.


Bob Bondurant told me once - He should have named his school the Bob Bondurant school of Braking.... because he's never had to teach anyone how to stand on the throttle. LOL --- So F'n true!

[Smittys67]

I think some would be surprised at the amount of people who do left foot brake. I have always done this. Once you learn to do it there is all kinds of secrets to make the car do happy things. A little tap or drag on the pedal here and there will make you faster.

[Ron Sutton]

smoother transition without surprising the tires.



This is key.

[Rod P]

Personally, if I was building a 69 Camaro or similar I'd install a 6-speed sequential dog-box with automatic ignition retard for no-lift upshifts. I relished watching the BTCC drivers in the glory days of the Super Touring formula (1990's) banging through the gears and it just looked so fun!

we have those in our cars!!
67iOqHDBy-c

[Dr G]

we have those in our cars!!
67iOqHDBy-c

That's awesome!

Here's a video of Sebastian Loen hustling a WTCC car around the Nurburgring. Banging shifts and left foot braking all the way.:)

http://www.topspeed.com/cars/car-news/s-bastien-loeb-driving-a-citroen-c-elysee-wtcc-at-nurburgring-video-ar169396.html

I drove a lap around the old circuit, once, in a rented Volvo station wagon with two suit cases banging around in back and my wife screaming in the passenger seat. It was still an amazing experience.

[440AutoX]

I've only been racing autocross heavily for just over a year now and I left foot brake in anything or wherever I drive.

One, is to have that quick response to brakes for stupid everyday drivers....

Second, when dad and I went to the Muscle Car Challenge this last May in Terre Haute, IN area I did left foot brake on the road course but didn't rest my foot on the pedal. I had it off to the side until I needed to use it but on the autocross (not just in IN) I tend to trail brake a bit and/or feather the throttle going into the corner. Whether it is right or wrong that is the way I drive, it's what I have found to work the best and I keep getting faster and faster each time to drive.

Third, I've done it since I got my drivers license....

I don't think in the end it matters which foot you brake with cause the car won't care, it's just how comfortable you feel about which foot you use and how you apply pressure to the brakes with that foot.

[BMR Sales]

The key is pressure. And with practice your left foot can achieve as good a feel as your right

[Neil B]

I think people may be using different definitions of left foot braking here. If you are using your left foot to tap the brakes here or there to set the car, I don't consider that left foot braking if you are still using your right foot for braking during downshifts. The question I have here is how many people successfully left foot brake during clutch-assisted downshifts? If so, what is your technique?

[z28cp]

If you are using the clutch to downshift, and need to brake at the same time, you have to use your right foot on the brake. Left foot brakers will use the left foot for braking as long as they don't need to do a clutch downshift, then right foot brake when they do need to use the clutch.

Next option is clutch-less shifting, via Jericho or such.

[GregWeld]

If you are using the clutch to downshift, and need to brake at the same time, you have to use your right foot on the brake. Left foot brakers will use the left foot for braking as long as they don't need to do a clutch downshift, then right foot brake when they do need to use the clutch.

Next option is clutch-less shifting, via Jericho or such.




Don't downshift a Jerico "clutchless" going into a corner... even if you're trying to rev match -- I can tell you from personal experience this is VERY upsetting to the car. You can NOT rev match while the clutch is still engaged... therefore when you slam into a lower gear - you get some serious compression braking - it's HARSH and instant and totally unwanted!!

As Bob Bondurant once told me -- The motor is to make the car go forward - the transmission is just a gear selector -- and the brakes are used to take off speed.... Never use the transmission for brakes!

[Neil B]

Don't downshift a Jerico "clutchless" going into a corner... even if you're trying to rev match -- I can tell you from personal experience this is VERY upsetting to the car. You can NOT rev match while the clutch is still engaged... therefore when you slam into a lower gear - you get some serious compression braking - it's HARSH and instant and totally unwanted!!

As Bob Bondurant once told me -- The motor is to make the car go forward - the transmission is just a gear selector -- and the brakes are used to take off speed.... Never use the transmission for brakes!

I tested a GTA car with a Jerico and the car owner told me to use the clutch on downshifts as well, so I did. Upshifts were a blast! I'm still trying to figure out this left foot braking thing... I thought everybody used their left foot to balance the car, but I never considered that to be left foot braking. In my mind it's the guy with a sequential gearbox using his left foot coming into a hard braking zone that is a left foot braker.

[73CPCAMARO]

Left foot braking is the fastest way to go for many reasons, once you get it down. I have used my left foot to brake since the early 90's. I sacrificed an entire season to get to the point I was faster than right foot braking. I taught by daughter since she was 10 years old in Karts to always left foot brake while autocrossing. It is natural for her to left foot brake on the track.
As far as using the clutch with a Jericho or G-Force or similar type transmission, I rarely use the clutch up or down shifting. Here is a video of me driving my Camaro and not using the clutch while left foot braking and downshifting.

otY4x0XXTi0

[SSLance]

In autocross you may have many braking zones but in most cases zero downshift zones. These are the areas most of us are talking about left foot braking.

On a road course where many corners also are downshift zones, how ones feet work the pedals can be completely different.

This is why I have never become comfortable left foot braking on a road course yet left foot brake 100% of the time on an autocross course.

[GregWeld]

Brian --- I've been waiting for you to chime in!! Because I know you left foot brake.

You're driving at a "professional level" -- you've done this for YEARS and you drive OFTEN.

The average guy that drives 3 or 4 events a year tries a clutchless downshift in a dog box car.... and he'll have his hands full in a hurry.

I just barely disengage the clutch on downshifts - rev match - select a gear and get ready to be back in the throttle. Even then I mess it up! LOL






Left foot braking is the fastest way to go for many reasons, once you get it down. I have used my left foot to brake since the early 90's. I sacrificed an entire season to get to the point I was faster than right foot braking. I taught by daughter since she was 10 years old in Karts to always left foot brake while autocrossing. It is natural for her to left foot brake on the track.
As far as using the clutch with a Jericho or G-Force or similar type transmission, I rarely use the clutch up or down shifting. Here is a video of me driving my Camaro and not using the clutch while left foot braking and downshifting.

otY4x0XXTi0