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?
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
? 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.
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.
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.