Kurt Ra wrote:I've tried teaching myself to LFB a bunch of times, but my pedal feel is nowhere close cuz my left foot is flat out lame. I either end up overbraking or underbraking, but the net result is slower times. I talked to Jeff S. about it last event and apparently he taught himself how to do it over a weekend. Bastard!
The longer you go without, the harder it will be to switch. I roughly taught myself in a practice day. I had laid the ground work somewhat by practicing on the street before hand, and then got the feel for it on the limit in a practice day. That's all I focused on all day. I've used it ever since.
Fully realizing that I just said how much I suck at it after a year and a half of doing it, I still think it has been a net gain on speed for most of that time. I think it'd be really helpful on AWD and FWD cars.
Mark D.
P.S. I've accused Jeff of just being a talented little 'bastard' before too, but the truth is he puts in a whole lot of hard work behind the scenes that we never see, and it pays off.
Obviously in a kart there is no choice (and the left foot has nothing else to do). You'd think it would be easy for me to try LFB, but the times I've been in a car and tried it, it seems so unnatural. Of course it's 5 years of karting vs 39 years of autocross with only RFB.
Since light is faster than sound...many people look bright until they speak...
Richard Jung wrote:For me it's course dependent, in sweepers I can balance the car better, and get on the gas a bit earlier before releasing the brake 100%.
Very true as well.
Marshall Grice wrote:Btw left foot braking doesn't always mean pushing both Pedals at the same time you just don't have the delay between switching pedals.
DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING !! Bingo! Save this post for all the RFB'ers who are thinking about trying LFB.
I tried it during practices a few years ago when I was competing and my foot was squarely over the brake pedal and all the time it was PANIC stops. It took a couple of months. But now I only do the BMWCCA events down in SD and my adjustment was to place my left foot in between the clutch and the brake on an angle (almost as if on the edge of my foot about to twist my ankle) and have it just "rest" on the brake. Then when I need to brake, I simultaneously "lift" off the throttle with the right foot and 'gently brush the brake' with the left foot, then when I know the car is settled, do the reverse. Let go off the brake and roll on the gas. Not MASH the gas but roll on it. Else you will induce oversteer (at least depending upon the exit-speed off the corner, and the type of car you have). It is the minimized delay in gas-brake-gas that will minimize lap times as Marshall mentioned.
It DEFINITELY is an investment that pays off, but as others have said, there are plenty of FAST guys that don't do LF-Braking.
I've always LFB'd my automatic trans cars (30 years since I've had a manual daily driver) so you'd think transitioning to LFB in my autocross car would be relatively seamless. That hasn't been the case. It's particularly difficult in hard breaking situations where I instictively put my right foot over there even though I know I want the left one. I can only guess that using my right foot for the past 6-7 years has sort of hardwired my brain when I'm in the Corvette. Maybe some sort of Pavlovian thing. Brake tap or light braking are not nearly as problematic. Interesting side note: I find it very uncomfortable to right foot brake my AT daily driver. Go figure.
Steve Towers wrote:I've always LFB'd my automatic trans cars (30 years since I've had a manual daily driver) so you'd think transitioning to LFB in my autocross car would be relatively seamless. That hasn't been the case. It's particularly difficult in hard breaking situations where I instictively put my right foot over there even though I know I want the left one. I can only guess that using my right foot for the past 6-7 years has sort of hardwired my brain when I'm in the Corvette. Maybe some sort of Pavlovian thing. Brake tap or light braking are not nearly as problematic. Interesting side note: I find it very uncomfortable to right foot brake my AT daily driver. Go figure.
it took me at least six months of shouting "Right foot brake!" at myself at the start so that i'd remember to shift my left foot over after i went into 2nd.
Actually, I've never actually moved the shift lever when I've done that. I just slam on the brake instead of pushing in the clutch, yell F@#!, and then shift to second.
Sebastian Rios wrote:Actually, I've never actually moved the shift lever when I've done that. I just slam on the brake instead of pushing in the clutch, yell F@#!, and then shift to second.
Better than marshall getting his helmet stuck on the steering wheel..
Sebastian Rios wrote:Actually, I've never actually moved the shift lever when I've done that. I just slam on the brake instead of pushing in the clutch, yell F@#!, and then shift to second.
Better than marshall getting his helmet stuck on the steering wheel..
Hard to do with Sebastian's "head out the window" driving style.
kj Use the email link. I don't read nor get notified of PMs.
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