Hyperex

Can some experts give advise on how to do left foot braking? I don't know if i should release the gas padel or keep the gas padel down. Help me please...

Thanks,
Hyper

Col

Keep it hard to the floor

a2jcy

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Hyperex:
[B]Can some experts give advise on how to do left foot braking?

What brake is this your on about

MarkCSC

MorayMackenzie

Learn LFB very carefully. Read Simon's notes on it at the site Mark mentions above.

Try to learn the LFB technique in something replaceable, ideally front wheel drive, rather than in a seriously expensive bit of kit like the car you posted up about!

A good exercise to help learn the required control over your left foot is to try the following when approaching a red light or equivelant stop:

1) be sure there is no other traffic about.
2) check again for other traffic
3) gently use your left foot to do the braking as you approach the stop...
4) gently knock the car out of gear on a neutral throttle as you approach the stop.
5) notice how much more smooth this attempt was than the last one...
6) repeat above sequence.

Before long you should be able to brake smoothly up to a stop using your left foot, which is nice.

Moray

Hyperex

Moray,

Thanks, i'll only try on "that" car when i have enough confident to do it right.

Can you explain in more detail on point no. 4 you stated. I don't really understand....

Also, usually when doing the left foot braking do you actually keep the gas down a bit when braking with left foot? Say at cornering.

Thanks
Hyper

[This message has been edited by Hyperex (edited 13 July 2001).]

SDB

Hiya

One thing to consider is this...

LFB is an INCREDIBLY advanced driving control manipulation technique, possibly the MOST advanced there is.

I would estimate that 85% of *competition* drivers have never used their left foot for anything other than the clutch.

The question I would ask is this..

"what is the reason for you wanting to left foot brake".

If the answer is "don't know", or "just so I can do it" then I wouldn't bother.

At the end of the day it is not rocket science to work out how to do it...

but it takes talent and SHED loads of experience to be able to use it for any useful purpose. In the same way as steering is a simple concept to learn (rotate anti-clockwise for left!! etc), but few of us can steer to the very limit of the car to perfection.

There are genuinely a billion things to work on / learn before even bothering to think about LFB. These things will also make you less likely to fling your car into the scenery when you're practiving LFB

All the best

Simon

BOB.T

I gave up trying to LFB after first of all, nearly putting myself through the windscreen and then having a few big, unpleasant slides!

I decided to perfect my heel and toe instead ( if the truth were known it's more like ball and ball!), I found this to be more usefull and a lot more satisfying!

Bob

Octane Man

My girlfriend told me that I have two left feet when I dance so I must left foot brake all the time

I love to play a little trick of Left Foot Braking on ar5eh0les who sit right up your bumper.

Having perfected this I use my left foot to cover the left brake, and apply the slightest of pressure to activate the swith to bring the rear brake lights on. They see this and brake and you accelerate the other way.

Childish some of you may think but it stops them tailgating me again.

O.M.

Richard Askew

I learned from the Left Foot Meister himself - Sir Pentii of Arikkala

rjh

I've tried it (on quiet roads!) but can't make better progress than normal (first few attempts I had to peel myself off the windscreen :eek Guess it takes loads of practice. Is LFB better suited to tarmac driving or loose stuff?

Richard

EvilBevel

>>"what is the reason for you wanting to left foot brake".

1. To keep the boost up on a turbo car while braking.

2. To be able to balance the car and try to avoid sudden load shifting from back to front(technical term )

3. Because every driver I have seen that really displayed a total control on all 4 wheels (on an AWD that is) used it.

4. Because it looks cool

5. Because you really need it to get a (naturally understeering AWD) car to go sideways, even in the wet.

So, there

Good enough for ya ?

Mind you, you know I'm a crap driver, and I would really advice against trying it on public roads (really), but it is great fun to try this in a safe environment like Bruntingthorpe.

Theo

Edit: reason nr. 6: because you are mapping your car, and want high boost pressures at low speed at a certain rpm (thus increasing load)

[This message has been edited by EvilBevel (edited 13 July 2001).]

SDB

Theo

I think you mis-understood..

I was not saying there was no reason to LFB, I was just saying "why does Hyperex want to LFB?"..

the reason I asked is that the wording of the question implied that there was no particular reason for him wanting to LFB, just wanted to in order to learn the technique.

All of the reasons you mentioned are all well and good, but if you can't take the car to the very limit without LFB, it will be no use to you at all.

Cheers

Simon

SDB

I just thought of a better way of describing what I meant...

Unless you get to a stage where you think "damn, I'm RIGHT on the limit of what is possible, if only I could find another 2% by using LFB to help me in this specific situation" then there is no point in focussing on LFB. IMHO.

Cheers

Simon

W9GTR

Good advice for the most part!
My experience.....Being fed up with the usual adjusting of the throttle to tame understeer on my Scoob (mainly fast roundabouts)I decided to try LFB on a chepaer heap than my own. So there I was in a disused car park with me wifes Saxo and hey presto 2 or 3 goes and I was the master (I thought). On displaying my new found skills to a friend later on that same day I was rather to aggresive with the brake pedal and had my most sideways experience ever which I did not enjoy as I suffered a serious tank slapper avoiding a brick wall by a few inches.
So be carefull!!! the weight transfer to the front depending on how sensutive your left foot is can be likened to lift off oversteer which many people on this board have experienced.
Steve

Hyperex

Simon,

My main objective is to push the limit when cornering. Please advise.

Hyper

EvilBevel

Simon, I understood what you were saying, just babbling on a bit(how unusual for me )

I'm sure you are right that there are other things to focus on before LFB.

But ...(I HAD to do this )

When we talk hairpins on gravel / non-tarmac surface, would that change anything ? I remember from a visit to Abbeville that I was trying to work my way round a very tight & slow hairpin ... and whatever I did (dry), the car would just understeer like a ... a... an understeery car. Also, because you had to do this in 2nd gear (does one ever drop down back to first for this BTW ?) the car took a while before it got going again.

When I tried the LFB thing (apart from the first 4 times peeling myself from the windscreen ), it was easier to keep the wheels spinning while slowing down, throwing the car a bit sideways. Also, because the load was there, boost was there too at the exit and the car rocketed (technical term) out of the corner.

Mind you, it all looked a bit clumsy, and I had to give it huge amounts of throttle, but it did seem to help.

Not trying to be smart, just wondering if there would have been a better way to attack that corner than LFB (radius of the corner was about 30 feet/180 °). I can think of a pendulum flick or handbrake turn, but that seems even more advanced (case 1) or not very good for the center diff (case 2) ?

SDB

Hyperex

My next question then would be...

"In what way are you unable to reach the limit without LFB?"

Are you saying that you are right on the very maximum of what is possible?

If you started this by thinking "I want to improve X,Y,Z about my cornering, and maybe LFB can help", then this is a far more positive thing than I thought.. but...

It would still be better to focus on a question like "how can I improve X,Y,Z?" which I would be happy to help on as well (assuming I can) and base what technique to use on the level of your driving, etc.

Theo
The pendulum flick is without doubt the way to take that corner. But on road tyres on gravel it's all a little bit more hit and miss anyway as you are more at the mercey of "pools" of gravel, etc.

Cheers

Simon

Dave T-S

SdB
So, would left foot braking work better with Bridgestone S02's, or S03's.....????

IWatkins

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Richard Askew:
<B>I learned from the Left Foot Meister himself - Sir Pentii of Arikkala

ARRON BIRD

For an unbiased guide and display call me sometime and if your near to me I`ll show you what it does for my driving.
No comments Simon.
For me in an AWD car or a front wheels drive car it is a necessity, come to think of it I`ve used it in a rear wheel drive car aswell oh and karting which is a good place to learn,works in a different way mind you but helps you get peddle feel.
I DO AGREE WITH SIMON for most of the time you wont need it.
In my opinion it cant be posted about you need to be shown

Hyperex

Urr........ nobody answer my question.....

I really want to know how you control the gas paddel when your left foot hit on the brake. Can somebody please....

Thanks,
Hyper

Dave T-S

Your question can't be answered in this forum. There is no right or wrong way or a black or white answer.

You need to be taught by someone like Pentti.

Hyperex

Simon,

Due to my language power you can hardly see me having long post in almost any thread especially trying to describe something in details. I wish i could explain everything in the post but it is too difficult, could take me hours to do it. Advise me how if you will, i really can't answer all these qustions...

Hyper

[This message has been edited by Hyperex (edited 14 July 2001).]

Hyperex

opps..

[This message has been edited by Hyperex (edited 14 July 2001).]

SDB

OK..

I *promise* I am not being awkward... but..

When left foot braking...

use your left foot on the brake and your right foot on the gas.

If you want more gas, press with your right foot, and if you want more brake, press with your left foot.

That is the mechanics of the technique.

What I'm trying to get at is that you will need to learn all the other stuff that goes into deciding how much power you want and how much brake you want (in normal - non-LFB driving)..

..and then it only becomes necessary when you suddenly realise you need the brake and gas at the same time.

In short.. if you need to ask "should I have the gas on at the same time", then you do not need left foot braking.

Cheers

Simon

pat

I find that keeping the turbo going on a trailling throttle is very easy indeed without resorting to LFB, I just hit this little button on my dash which I have affectionately labelled "ALS"; I then get large pops and bangs (good for getting people off your back!) and an unbelievably sensitive throttle pedal... and no servo brakes scary stuff indeed, but great fun... slight prod and all four light up out of tight corners

But as far as how to use the gas pedal, it's really down to how much power you need... you are still balancing the car on the throttle just adjusting the weight distribution to a more favourable state with the brake... just remember that your left foot is used to hitting the clutch and requires a great degree of control on the brake Using LFB just doesn't feel natural at first, I remember using LFB when mapping to load up the engine and propmtly released the wrong pedal when finished with the power run and promptly skidded to a stop and stalled the engine, what a plonker I was just so used to hitting the clutch and, well, my foot felt like it was on a pedal, just the wrong one

Cheers,

Pat.

EvilBevel

Pat,

&gt;&gt;I remember using LFB when mapping to load up the engine and propmtly released the wrong pedal when finished with the power run and promptly skidded to a stop and stalled the engine, what a plonker

LOL ... I know it's a bit of an AOL type of comment to make, but I had (alledgedly) exactly the same experience. I was glad that Mark (the tuner) had his seat belts on, otherwise he would have had a rather unpleasant experience ... this made us decide I was better with the laptop than with the other controls

Great way for testing your brakes (when mapping for longer periods) as well BTW

SDB

LOL!

It is also important to note at this point that (although I had forgotten about that), it is indeed very very easy to stomp on the brake thinking it is the clutch...

but the worst thing about that is, you are often only one handed at the time so it is a potentially very dangerous situation.

Just be careful and practice in a VERY wide open and uninhabited area

Cheers

Simon