Left Foot Braking

[3 AE]

Came across this today. Anyone here use this technique on the street or track? Or would this screw up one's long time adherence to standard practice and cause some confusion in a WTH situation on the road?

https://www.yahoo.com/autos/why-most-drivers-should-brake-with-their-left-foot-115959573142.html

[nimdabew]

Hmm... Or, you can do the same thing every time so there is no muscle memory **** ups when you do need to panic brake... And situational awareness.

[Moose-Knuckle]

My mother learned to drive with a standard. Ever since she was a teen she has breaked with her left foot. Never had an accident. Not for me but, YMMV.

[Koshinn]

I've only seen left foot braking on FWD cars in my experience.

[Onyx Z]

I learned to drive on a standard, but I only use(d) my left foot for the clutch. My dad uses right for gas and left for brake in autos... it's odd.

[Alex V]

I only break with my left foot when racing go-karts. When racing my Trans Am with a stick it's impossible to left foot break because you have to hit the beak, roll your foot into the throttle to rev match on the downshifts. I would either roll my foot or place it sideways with my toes on the break and heel on the gas then blip the throttle with each downshift. Needed my left foot for the clutch.

[Eurodriver]

I hover my right foot over the brake and just use my accelerator lever by the steering wheel whenever I am in a situation that may require braking. I've gotten so dependent upon it that I only use the gas pedal for accelerating from a stop, really.

[Mauser KAR98K]

I only break with my left foot when racing go-karts. When racing my Trans Am with a stick it's impossible to left foot break because you have to hit the beak, roll your foot into the throttle to rev match on the downshifts. I would either roll my foot or place it sideways with my toes on the break and heel on the gas then blip the throttle with each downshift. Needed my left foot for the clutch.

No float?

[CatSnipah]

Only time I really do it is when in heavy stop n go to relieve fatigue or when stopped on a steep hill (which doesn't happen often anymore since I moved to the south east in 2005).

[Ryno12]

That's the SOP for doing brake stands, unless of course it's on a manual transmission, then it's left foot clutch and right foot brake/accelerater. :cool:

[Koshinn]

Basically, you can use left foot braking mid-corner to change understeer to neutral or oversteer in a FWD car.

It doesn't matter if you're in a manual or automatic because you should be braking (and yes heel-toe rev match if manual) before you enter the corner. When you're actually in the corner you should be on the accelerator, so your left foot should be doing nothing. This is how you should almost always be cornering while racing on tarmac, and that's usually all there is to it on a RWD as they can balance weight transfer with just the throttle. FWDs need a little more work.

I used to do it when racing hondas. Dont judge.

[Vandal]

Unless I am using launch control in my GTI my left foot stays on the dead pedal. I have never left foot braked in any car while on the road or the track with either a manual or auto.

[Voodoo_Man]

Learned to left brake during my racing days, use it during offensive driving running code to priority calls.

I don't do it when I normally drive.

Good to learn when you need to do some serious driving, but if you don't do serious driving, or racing, then I wouldn't even put time in on it.

[MountainRaven]

Never done it myself and I've spent so much time using my right foot for both brake and accelerator that I feel like I'd put people at risk doing it. But one of my father's friends does it: He has two pedals and two feet, so he uses one foot for each pedal.

[Whiskey_Bravo]

I learned on a standard and have driven an auto for a long time. The closest I have come to doing this was in my old CJ so I could maintain power, brake, and clutch when crawling up something steep or rocky.

[Alex V]

Oh. I forgot. When drag racing my friends' automatic F-Bodies/Vettes/GTOs without a Trans brake I would use my left foot on the break to load the torque converter at the line.


No float?

? You lost me.

Even street driving my TA, because the trans is FacePlated I have to rev match on a downshift. Slowing down for a turn or whatever I have to heel toe and blip the throttle as well.

[Swstock]

I spent some time drag racing an automatic turbo car.

We would basically stand on both pedals as we inched into the beams before hitting the transbrake.

After that, it was right foot brake.


Before that, I raced a stick...well, we know that the left foot is for there.

[ClearedHot]

Brake boosting in a turbo car is another technique that utilizes left foot braking. All the guys running big single turbo setups brake boost when racing from a roll.

[No.6]

Raced karts before I got a drivers license, so left foot braking seemed natural to me. Continued when I started racing formula cars (other than getting them rolling). Always left foot brake on the street as long as I'm in an automatic. Manual transmission no problem adapting.

[HKGuns]

I learned to drive with a clutch and always left foot braked. It doesn't seem natural for me not to be doing something with my left foot.

I've never understood why they teach right foot braking. I have two feet and I use them.

[6933]

Always used the left foot for something whether on a tractor, driving a stick, motorcycle, or simply to actuate the brake. Growing up in NC, where racing is sorta' big, anyone that has ever hopped on a track picked up using the left actively. I still do it, but only when driving aggressively(not assholish).

[TehLlama]

Just because I can, I left foot brake whenever possible/plausible - I'm sure it's inefficient to mix heel/toe and left foot braking when I'm hooning my truck around (especially since it's so laughably slow), but I do. I went through a phase during college where I tried to drive my same stick truck using the clutch once per trip (and did surprisingly well), but I realized that the LFB this enabled was mostly possible because I was going places slower, not because it was in any way better or smarter.

When I'm stuck driving any of my mom's mid-80's shitboxes with slushy automatics it's left-foot-brake all day, and I find myself trail braking in neighborhoods just so I can get something vaguely resembling throttle response rolling out of any apex by gaming those primitive trans controller boxes.

[El Cid]

I've tried it and it never felt right. I suppose if one did it enough it would feel natural and be quick. But day to day I am faster using the right foot.

Now at the track when I had Mustangs and a Supra then I would heel-toe in the turns. In fact I had a vanity tag on the car to that effect. Funny side story - had more than a few people comment that my tag was disgusting. Lol! I realized they were thinking of camel toe and chastised them appropriately for having dirty minds. They typically felt pretty dumb.

Still miss this car more than any thing I've sold.
http://i828.photobucket.com/albums/zz209/El_CidAF_ResQ/photo-10.jpg

[hatidua]

Sold my 911 (manual) in 1991 and have had (automatic) Jeeps ever since. I've not used my right foot for braking in close to 25 years....and am still alive.

[Palmguy]

I had surgery on my right foot last year and used my left foot out of necessity during my recovery. I still use my left foot quite a bit even though I don't have to anymore.