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Re: Stuff I Learned at the Evolution School

To: Giles Douglas <giles@vy.com>
Subject: Re: Stuff I Learned at the Evolution School
From: <Kevin_Stevens@pursued-with.net>
Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 14:07:56 -0700 (PDT)
On Wed, 13 Jun 2001, Giles Douglas wrote:

> Out of interest, if you're left foot braking, how do you avoid lockup
> because you don't get the weight transfer from coming off the throttle? Do
> you have to be extremely judicious of your initial brake application and
> ease off the throttle somewhat (but not all the way?)

Hmm, well, a couple of things:

Weight transfer happens regardless - it's a pure function of how the car
is accelerating/decelerating.  Whether that translates to dive or roll or
squat is a completely different issue.  (I know you didn't say that.)

If you're talking about threshold braking, it really isn't any different.
Yes, you don't start with quite as much weight up front from the initial
lift-throttle, but you have to modulate into your brakes anyway; I haven't
noticed it require a difference in technique.

If you're talking about mild speed modulation while maintaining
acceleration, you aren't slowing enough to transfer much weight anyway.

For me, LFB has two primary advantages:  quicker gas-brake and brake-gas
transitions, and smoother transitions.  Esoterica like modulating both
pedals at the same time is way down the list for me - though it could be a
benefit for turbo cars, I imagine.

> All academic for me of course, because its not possible in DBW Audis/VWs
> (the ECU senses the brake pedal and cuts throttle completely :-(. Although
> I guess it could be worthwhile in terms of braking earlier?

Here's my perspective:  an average autox speed of say 40mph is 60 feet per
second.  That means a single car-length of distance translates to a full
quarter-second time difference.

Think about that for awhile, and then ask yourself the above question.
;)

KeS

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