Left foot braking vs heel/toe
#1
10-15-2009, 04:52 AM
Left foot braking vs heel/toe
In my recent track day one of the instructors was talking about left foot braking.
Can someone explain it and compare it to heel/toe (or the roll method)
thanks
Can someone explain it and compare it to heel/toe (or the roll method)
thanks
#2
10-15-2009, 05:43 AM
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#3
10-15-2009, 06:53 AM
I believe that every race car driver brakes w/ the left foot. Everything in racing is about fractions of a second and when breaking w/ the left foot, the right rests on the gas pedal for immediate acceleration, rather than waste the time would take to move the right foot from the brake to the gas. Once again we are talking fractions of a second, but many a racer has lost by those margains.
is it used in a any similar manner to heel/toe?
#4
10-15-2009, 08:18 AM
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You can use that on Thunderbolt at the beginning of the Jersey Devil. It helps keep the revs up. I do it all the time when I'm karting, but haven't really done it in my car on the track.
#6
10-15-2009, 09:39 AM
Left foot braking and heel / toe or roll are used for different reasons. The heel / toe or roll are used to downshift to rev match so you do not get rear wheel skid when letting out the clutch.
Left foot braking is a technique used to keep or get the car in balance or maybe transfer a little weight to the front wheels. A person who uses left foot braking more than likely will still heel / toe or roll when downshifting.
This is a basic explanation.
Left foot braking is a technique used to keep or get the car in balance or maybe transfer a little weight to the front wheels. A person who uses left foot braking more than likely will still heel / toe or roll when downshifting.
This is a basic explanation.
#7
10-15-2009, 09:42 AM
Left foot braking and heel / toe or roll are used for different reasons. The heel / toe or roll are used to downshift to rev match so you do not get rear wheel skid when letting out the clutch.
Left foot braking is a technique used to keep or get the car in balance or maybe transfer a little weight to the front wheels. A person who uses left foot braking more than likely will still heel / toe or roll when downshifting.
This is a basic explanation.
Left foot braking is a technique used to keep or get the car in balance or maybe transfer a little weight to the front wheels. A person who uses left foot braking more than likely will still heel / toe or roll when downshifting.
This is a basic explanation.
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#8
10-15-2009, 09:55 AM
I think you can do both for about a second and then if the brake is still pressed the throttle goes to idle.
#9
10-15-2009, 10:05 AM
Coming up to a turn he'll use his right toe on the brakes and swivel his heel for rev matching the downshifts. Then when he's in the correct gear, he'll maintain pressure on the brakes with his toe and then do his trailbraking. Partway through the turn when his trailbraking is about done, he'll very gently get on the gas with his heel only, keeping the car in complete balance.
As he goes through the turn he has now transitioned to gas only and zooms off through the apex. At some point in there he has moved to his full foot on the gas. He's ultra smooth going through the turn and you can't feel the transition from trailbraking to gas.
He practices on the street all the time and you can imagine how much practice that technique would need to be totally comfortable on the track.
I bow to him.
Cheers,
Allan
#10
10-15-2009, 05:04 PM
Recently I met a TV/print car journalist who uses heel/toe for rev matching and also to keep his 993 balanced. He'll do the following:
Coming up to a turn he'll use his right toe on the brakes and swivel his heel for rev matching the downshifts. Then when he's in the correct gear, he'll maintain pressure on the brakes with his toe and then do his trailbraking. Partway through the turn when his trailbraking is about done, he'll very gently get on the gas with his heel only, keeping the car in complete balance.
As he goes through the turn he has now transitioned to gas only and zooms off through the apex. At some point in there he has moved to his full foot on the gas. He's ultra smooth going through the turn and you can't feel the transition from trailbraking to gas.
He practices on the street all the time and you can imagine how much practice that technique would need to be totally comfortable on the track.
I bow to him.
Cheers,
Allan
Coming up to a turn he'll use his right toe on the brakes and swivel his heel for rev matching the downshifts. Then when he's in the correct gear, he'll maintain pressure on the brakes with his toe and then do his trailbraking. Partway through the turn when his trailbraking is about done, he'll very gently get on the gas with his heel only, keeping the car in complete balance.
As he goes through the turn he has now transitioned to gas only and zooms off through the apex. At some point in there he has moved to his full foot on the gas. He's ultra smooth going through the turn and you can't feel the transition from trailbraking to gas.
He practices on the street all the time and you can imagine how much practice that technique would need to be totally comfortable on the track.
I bow to him.
Cheers,
Allan
#11
10-15-2009, 05:24 PM
Left foot braking and heel / toe or roll are used for different reasons. The heel / toe or roll are used to downshift to rev match so you do not get rear wheel skid when letting out the clutch.
Left foot braking is a technique used to keep or get the car in balance or maybe transfer a little weight to the front wheels. A person who uses left foot braking more than likely will still heel / toe or roll when downshifting.
This is a basic explanation.
Left foot braking is a technique used to keep or get the car in balance or maybe transfer a little weight to the front wheels. A person who uses left foot braking more than likely will still heel / toe or roll when downshifting.
This is a basic explanation.
#12
10-19-2009, 12:40 AM
I don't have the link with me but do a search on youtube for Senna / NSX and you'll hopefully find some really good footage of Ayrton Senna working the pedals in an NSX around (I think) Suzuka. It shows both techniques.
#13
10-19-2009, 08:06 AM
Left foot braking and heel / toe or roll are used for different reasons. The heel / toe or roll are used to downshift to rev match so you do not get rear wheel skid when letting out the clutch.
Left foot braking is a technique used to keep or get the car in balance or maybe transfer a little weight to the front wheels. A person who uses left foot braking more than likely will still heel / toe or roll when downshifting.
This is a basic explanation.
Left foot braking is a technique used to keep or get the car in balance or maybe transfer a little weight to the front wheels. A person who uses left foot braking more than likely will still heel / toe or roll when downshifting.
This is a basic explanation.
If it is not natural for you, caution when left foot braking! In a panic you could hit the clutch instead of the brake. There has been more than one person who has gone full tilt off the track with the clutch presses and not the brake.
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