Wow! After a really talented driver drove my car (99 Corvette - manual
transmission) a couple of events ago she said it was really easy to left
foot brake and it helped keep the car settled transitioning from brakes
to gas in a turn. Another talented driver rode with me at an event this
past weekend and said my transitions from brake to gas were too
abrupt. He advised me to try left foot braking.
My first experience with left foot braking was back in '84 or so with my
mom's '78 Mercury Cougar XR7 - a big mushy tank with extreme power
brake assist. I just couldn't get that boat to smoothly transition to braking
with my left foot. I gave it up after a couple tries. I guess I let that bad
experience cloud my judgement. Even after driving the cars at Speed Zone
(Malibu Gran Prix-like place) where you have to left foot brake and doing
it very well I was still hesitant to try left foot braking in a street car.
OK, so I'm driving home from work earlier this week thinking about
autocross and I decide heck, why not try left foot braking. So as I
approach the exit ramp and need to brake I did it with my left foot -
leaving plenty of room around me in case I over/under brake. Wow,
I never realized just how cramped my footwells are. Now I know why
people like thin race shoes. Anyway, after adjusting my feet position
(which I also think was hurting me a little on the autocross course - I
would keep my feet kind of cocked to the side instead of straight over
the pedals) I found I was able to left foot brake easily. Cool! Now I come
up to a 90 degree left hand turn and brake moderately heavy, start feeding
in a little gas much earlier, and transition off brake and into gas
simultaneously.
The car just says "OK, that's what you want to do, it doesn't bother me
in the least!". There's no abrupt compression / decompression of the
suspension. It's smooth as silk. Not only that. I find I'm able to feed in
full gas much earlier in the turn and use brake modulation to control
staying on the edge (of course, I'm on the street so I keep it at 7/10th).
When I didn't left foot brake I had a real hard time modulating around a
turn with the gas because I have sooooo much torque - there's an awful
lot of engine braking even when you only lift a tad and there's a lot of
accelerating when you ease into the throttle a tad.
So, my questions are:
1) How many of you that have a choice left foot brake (AM, CM, FM - I
guess you HAVE to) ?
2) What kind of cars do you drive?
3) For those of you who left foot brake, is it common to use a little braking
with the left foot to control speed in the middle and end of a turn?
4) For those of you who left foot brake, is it common to use both brake and
throttle modulation in a slalom?
Thanks,
John "No, not that one" Engstrom
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