Left foot braking IRL

[ysu]

I thought I put this nice vid here, someone posted it in the iRacing forums thread about mazda braking .
The thing is, there's usually lively discussion on left foot braking what it does what it's good for, how it can be used IRL, or how effective.

A few things lately start to show that left footing is indeed effective. It's not the magic carpet which will take you anywhere, but it's certainly effective for safety and for speed as well. (a few precious tenths a lap )

But this vid here is very interesting for another reason too, around 1:50 the guy shows how he can actually correct a spin using left footing the brake, after showing how it stabilises the car. It is very educational, IMHO.

[youtube] [/youtube]

available in high quality

Edit; it's part of a series of clips, seems to be about driving techniques. pretty good.

3- braking
4- Heel and Toe
5- Slip angles
6- Tracion Circle
7- LFB
16- Elise lap with LFB

[Shonky]

Jeebus, that very last part of the clip looks like hard work, feet going in every direction.

[Fandango]

Soon as I start to spin and feel it's gone beyond my control i lock the brakes. Stops your spin instantly. It does also slow you right down but not as much as turning around would. It'll also be useless when flatspots etc. come into play but at the moment it keeps me straight %99 of the time I race. I always wondered how realistic that was though.

[KNAPPO]

Soon as I start to spin and feel it's gone beyond my control i lock the brakes. Stops your spin instantly.
I always wondered how realistic that was though.

Yeah i do the same thing Fando, works almost every time.
And ill agree, i have also wondered how realistic it is....

But on the flip side its saved many SR hits

[ysu]

And ill agree, i have also wondered how realistic it is....

But on the flip side its saved many SR hits

Have you looked at the video? It is totally realistic. There's no flipside, only good driving here

[thornz]

I remember a F1 driver (Jacques Villeneuve perhaps???) saying that it is exactly what he used to do if he felt a spin was going to happen, slam the brakes and lock the fronts which would stop the car from spinning right out.

[KNAPPO]

Yeah i havnt checked the video (the tube is blocked at work, booooo)

Ill have a gander when i get home tonight.

[VTRacing]

Very good vids, terrible presenter though...

That last bit if fancy footwork is what I have to do in the rally car, which is the reason a lot of rally cars have a larger brake pedal (i.e. more of an automatic style pedal-pad). I wouldn't say I'm always as proficient as that, though I try...

[Santaria]

Very good vids, terrible presenter though...

That last bit if fancy footwork is what I have to do in the rally car, which is the reason a lot of rally cars have a larger brake pedal (i.e. more of an automatic style pedal-pad). I wouldn't say I'm always as proficient as that, though I try...

Me and dorkus above were having a discussion about this a little while back. After watching some vids, as well as the ones posted originally, and talking to VT, I think it's a preference thing. I used to left foot brake all the time, then LFS came out with the new clutch system and I can't LFB anymore at all. It's weird. I try to keep the skippy nice and stable with LFB'ing but it's very hard for me to get used to so I still heel-toe the Skippy. The Mazda on the other hand I LFB and it feels comfortable...

[VTRacing]

Left-foot-braking and heel-toeing are not mutually exclusive, you just need to be a bit dexterous...or whatever the foot equivalent of dexterous is.

However, it's probably more difficult to transfer your feet using sim pedals than in a real car.

[Santaria]

Ambifootextrous?

Yeah, you're right. It is hard (for me anyways) to change feet all the time on sim pedals. Meh, might just need more practice, lol.

[wobblysauce]

LFB is all i do, for some resion if i don't i always have a bad feeling in the back of my mind

[KNAPPO]

Nice videos, thanks

Whilst sim racing i only use my left foot for braking, mainly to control the slide & pitch of the car in the turns.
Ive even tried that last bit in lfs, but I always alter the brake pressure when swapping feet which results in lock ups so i went back to LFB for auto clutch and a mix of left & right foot braking for fully manual.

Cant get use to in in my lancer however... not enough prac, need a skid pad

[Fandango]

The old lock up trick doesn't work well at LRP coming onto the straight at too high a speed... jus figured that out... end up in the wall heh

[ysu]

The old lock up trick doesn't work well at LRP coming onto the straight at too high a speed... jus figured that out... end up in the wall heh

It's very easy to mess it up there, due to the bumps, mainly.
What I used to do there, is to turn in very early, then let the FF control the car to a certain extent mid-corner, that way I don't have to lift much at all, and the car corrects the steering itself, and rides those bumps out. On the exit, turn in a bit more again to actually make the corner

As for the left-foot trick; it'd probably work if you can employ it in time, and for the correct time...but then you'd lose way too much speed. Maybe a bit of counter-steering is better - or try to play with your setup. A few clicks added to the front tyre pressure can make wonders.

[wobblysauce]

once again there isn't one way to do things, some like it one way other like it another and still get the same lap times

[durbster]

Neat video, very interesting.

I don't have sound at the moment but it looks like he nails the throttle as much as the brake pedal on the Spin Control part (1m45ish). God knows what sort of strain that puts on the car but it certainly works for him.

Also, the Elise is a very well balanced car. I wonder how that method would work in something without the perfect weight distribution of the Lotus...

[ysu]

Neat video, very interesting.

I don't have sound at the moment but it looks like he nails the throttle as much as the brake pedal on the Spin Control part (1m45ish). God knows what sort of strain that puts on the car but it certainly works for him.

Also, the Elise is a very well balanced car. I wonder how that method would work in something without the perfect weight distribution of the Lotus...

It's a dynamic brake balance adjustment if you like - I think it works regardless of the weight distribution. You may have to adjust the 'how much' but...

[Gusto]

Sticky!

[pogo]

I did a WRX drive day a few weeks back and he got up me for LFB'ing

He was a bit of a dick though.

[DexterPunk]

thats a bit odd, would have thought that LFB would keep the turbo wound up a bit better?

[pogo]

He was a bit of a dick though.

I think he got a lot of kids through that thought they were the beez-neez...

And I'm still not sure that "relax, I know what I'm doing - I'm a sim-racer" scores a lot of cred in the real world

[ysu]

thats a bit odd, would have thought that LFB would keep the turbo wound up a bit better?

They're probably more worried about the wear on the car than your performance on that day