Left foot braking.

[m0bzy]

Originally Posted by biggbn

Used it a lot in old freewheel Saab 96s. Huge fun. Good in fwd for tucking nose in and getting tail up on its toes. With freewheel you could match engine revs under braking and pull out of corners swiftly. Huge fun cars.

Add the sound of that two-stroke.

[MikeGMT]

I tried left foot braking on the way home tonight (roads were nice and quiet, and nothing behind as far as the eye could see), so thought I would give it a go. Result, I didn't smack my head on the screen but you could really feel the brakes come on although nowhere near a emergency stop. Not got the finnesse that my right foot has where I can smoothly taper the brake force. Guess it's a lot to do with muscle memory, think I'll just carry on with right foot braking as I can't really see any benefit for road driving.

[classicswede]

Originally Posted by Clan

all the time , you have two pedals and two feet !

Using your left foot for braking considerably helps with safety . I hover my left foot over the brake in tricky situations which saves valuable time if you need to stop quickly .

The same here. With a Auto I never brake with my right foot. In a manual then it's simple enough to go back to right foot braking. The engine and car sound is not the same between the two so you never forget what gearbox you are driving.

In karting you have to brake with your left foot. Many children struggle with Co-ordination as do more women than men. I find it strange that some drivers can manage a clutch with left foot but not the brake!

[canis]

It's simply that most people are used to pressing a clutch, which requires a lot more exertion than the brake. So when they try pressing the brake for the first time they brake more sharpley than they expected. That'd change with practice.

I'm confused by, someone said earlier, "keeping the revs up". How? On a manual, the relationship with the wheels and the engine is entirely fixed, pressing both brake and accelerator simultaneously would have each working against the other. What gives?

[MikeGMT]

Originally Posted by canis

I'm confused by, someone said earlier, "keeping the revs up". How? On a manual, the relationship with the wheels and the engine is entirely fixed, pressing both brake and accelerator simultaneously would have each working against the other. What gives?

Hmm, I read that post and the thing that immediately sprang to mind was Heel and Toeing, a different topic altogether I know. Used to do this quite often when I had my Focus ST when looping the gears to match the revs, but of course you would eventually have to dip the clutch.

[green van man]

Originally Posted by canis

It's simply that most people are used to pressing a clutch, which requires a lot more exertion than the brake. So when they try pressing the brake for the first time they brake more sharpley than they expected. That'd change with practice.

I'm confused by, someone said earlier, "keeping the revs up". How? On a manual, the relationship with the wheels and the engine is entirely fixed, pressing both brake and accelerator simultaneously would have each working against the other. What gives?

More common on narrow power band competition engines, by braking with your left foot against the engine you slow or settle the car while keeping the engine in the power band, relaxing the brakes sees the car already accelerating.
The likes of Roger Clarke and Ari Vatanen in the ford RS were masters of it, along with clutchless gear changes long before the advent of sequential gearboxes.

Paul.

[canis]

Originally Posted by green van man

More common on narrow power band competition engines, by braking with your left foot against the engine you slow or settle the car while keeping the engine in the power band, relaxing the brakes sees the car already accelerating.

With a manual gearbox???

[pookie]

Originally Posted by canis

With a manual gearbox???

Yup!

Salut!
Pookie

[pookie]

Rather like Clan, I've driven many different vehicles in my time including ( I think a Lanchester ) with the accelerator in the middle of the three pedals and the left hand pedal actuating the gear change. No left foot braking on that one!
However I have always used my left foot to brake my 855R and lots of other automatics. There have been some very interesting replies to my question for which I thank you all.

Salut!

Pookie

[Father Ted]

Originally Posted by MikeGMT

Hmm, I read that post and the thing that immediately sprang to mind was Heel and Toeing, a different topic altogether I know. Used to do this quite often when I had my Focus ST when looping the gears to match the revs, but of course you would eventually have to dip the clutch.

That's what I thought, too.
I used to have to do that in my Cavalier as it would stall easily when hot (never cold). Couldn't get to the bottom of it, so sold it instead!