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Left foot braking is one of racing’s black arts. The technique has become a larger than life secret to cutting lap time and is used by professionals all over the world. Here is everything you need to know about left foot braking.
If you have access to a vehicle with an automatic transmission, practice left foot braking there to develop the sensitivity. I've found the best way to do this is to have your left foot on the brake pedal, and mirror the motion with your right foot (not on the pedal). This will help train your left to brake as smoothly and as controlled as your right instead of trying to launch yourself through the windshield with your early ham-footed braking.
If you have access to a vehicle with an automatic transmission, practice left foot braking there to develop the sensitivity. I've found the best way to do this is to have your left foot on the brake pedal, and mirror the motion with your right foot (not on the pedal). This will help train your left to brake as smoothly and as controlled as your right instead of trying to launch yourself through the windshield with your early ham-footed braking.
My question was somewhat rhetorical. I wasn't looking for the tutorial to learn how to left-foot-brake but to see how they suggested doing it in an h-pattern car on a track.
My question was somewhat rhetorical. I wasn't looking for the tutorial to learn how to left-foot-brake but to see how they suggested doing it in an h-pattern car on a track.
Expecting anything truly useful out of these articles seems hopeful. They've not responded usefully to any critical review of these articles that I've seen.
When you go into a braking zone and lift your right foot off the gas pedal it takes time. Even the best drivers in the world can’t escape this. Let’s assume the left foot braking saves you 1/10th in a braking zone. A small amount, right? Not when you consider there might be several large braking areas on a track. That 1/10th can multiply to a net gain of 3 or 4 tenths per lap. It definitely adds up!
this is taken from the first slide.
so lets say it takes you 1/10 of a second to move your foot from the brake to the gas pedal, that doesn't mean it affects your laptime by 1/10th of a second. its the difference between your car moving at 60 or 60.00001 mph. not to mention that you're making that move when entering a corner, so you're only going to maintenance throttle most of the time, so even less of a difference. very rarely do you go from brake to full throttle on track.
I'm not saying there's no place for left foot braking on track, but this isn't it.
No matter how I try, including using my racing shoes, in the S2000 I haven't been able to get my left foot on the brake without fouling it with my right foot that has nowhere to go.
That said, I thought these three videos from the O'Neil Rally School were good.
This video by Yiannis Tsiounis of a Spec Miata race at Lime Rock has a camera on his feet in addition to front and rear cameras, a driver cam, and data including speed, gear, and engine speed.
Left Foot Braking Tutorial - How and Why to Use It
