This technique allows you to stay on the gas while you are braking, so the weight does not shift to the front of the car. This helps the car (and its grip) to stay balanced and therefore preventing oversteer.
Learned this skill racing go-karts when I was a youngster and use it ever since my license in road cars. Mocked by some know it alls in the past, good to have this footage to proof them wrong. Thanks Chris ;)
I tried to do this when I was 18. I stopped instantly, stalled obviously and had to speed away to stop the van full of extremely angry workmen behind me from beating me to a pulp.
I think what's key to left foot braking is that a torsen differential applys torque based on a multiplier. By LFBing, you are incresing the amount of torque that the diff is applying to the low traction wheel, and therefore the diff can apply a multiple amount of torque to the wheel with high tractino wheel. Also, if the slipping wheel completely looses traction, a small amount of torque is still being applied to it because of the brakes. A torsen won't act like an open diff in that case.
iv been trying to teach myself to do this for some time now, it was pretty tough at first but im now starting to see the beneficial side of doing this !! Chris is without a doubt a great driver
I taught myself to do this when I first got my drivers licence many many years ago. it came in handy on the gravel back roads near where I lived. All my mates thought I was a nutter because they could not grasp the concept of using all three pedals at once XD
I used and still using left foot brake in automatic car. I drive very smoothly. I have no problem in left foot braking and I am very easy and this is very very accurate system of left foot braking.
works very well on slippery roads. in rally you can see this technique being used all the time. It's easy to spot: revs RISING(listen!) and brakelights ON at the same time!
i left foot brake and heel and toe sometimes double de-clutching my dowm shifts all the time..even when just popping down the shops..they are skills that i learnt and practiced while competing in auto cross events when i was younger..my aim is as the video says is not to go any faster but to have more control.. although most times i will find that i can travel faster..the manufacturer says that around town my car will do 30 to the gallon and i'm averaging 41 so am saving money in fuel to :)
You're both right, in a sense. If you're on a downhill route, neutral coasting will potentially save you more fuel because it eliminates the effect of engine braking (OK fine, 'the braking effect of the drivetrain' if you prefer) thus allowing you to travel further without throttle. The same would apply on an uphill route if you wanted coast the furthest possible distance. In gear coasting makes more sense if you need to slow to a stop at some point in the future (e.g. approaching a red light).
I like left foot braking as well. And I put in a torsen (torq-sensing) diff. The traction is MUCH better on corner exit but I don't drag the brake like he's doing to initiate traction. The diff takes care of it. What he's getting at with the torque split on the diff is if you have one wheel in the air (offroading) on an axle with a torsen. In this case you must apply the brakes to send torque to the wheel with traction (wheel on the gournd). If you don't use the brakes you'll be stuck.
I drive an automatic unfortunately, but I do left foot brake and I've found that I have much better control around corners and I'm able to react much more quickly and precisely in emergency situations.
there are many reasons to do this...but the point of this video is to highlight how LFB can be used in a front wheel drive car with a differential. I usually use this technique for longer sweeping corners, to keep the revs up but to lower my speed a bit. You can also use this to avoid turbo lag in a corner for turbocharged cars. Yes this will wear your brakes faster and it might even warp your brakes (esp if your brake kit is not a good one)
there are many reasons for left foot braking, the reason chris is saying here is to help the diff even out the torque. left foot braking is also handy if you find yourself spinning while trail braking into corners. you can apply some throtttle while trail braking to even up the pitch f the car and get some weight over the back end. the same kind of works in reverse. so on something like a double apex corner you can use your left foot on the brake to pull the front end back in for the 2nd apex
I always thought and use left foot braking (not really day to day driving) for weight shifting. It can reduce under steer if you "jab" it mid corner if you find under steering. It improves exit speed as your right foot is closer to the go pedal therefore get on faster. So it is to go faster in my eyes.
@OsakaBancho it means you will have to take one extra step to perform evasive action if there is a sudden problem. If you're accelerating, you can do so out of harms way and same for braking.
@MexicanGamerz its really only applicable in performance scenarios, but yeah, if you're out hotdoggin' around in the hills, you can certainly use left foot braking. but NOT like in this video...pick one or the other, either heel/toe or left foot, not both. one of the problems with left foot braking in street cars is the pedal placement...they're usually too close together. my M3 was close, but worked for left foot braking and my corvette is even closer and doesnt work well with my relatively
For doing that, you have to do everything right. For instance, while approaching a corner, you might think that 3rd gear is OK but then you find out that 2nd gear is the ideal, so now you have to lift of the brake and then press it again with your right foot, the same lag comes again. Bear that in mind and one other thing, won't brakes bake up while pressing gas and brake pedals at the same time?
From the Porsche website: "As soon as you release the accelerator pedal, PDK deselects the current gear automatically and you begin to coast in neutral until you have reached your desired speed." 991 Carrera, Drive, Coasting. I doubt Porsche would put a car in neutral if it wasn't the most efficient way of coasting. The ticking over thing might sound reasonable, but the VW real-time mpg calculator shoots up when I'm in neutral, and not when in I'm in gear.
im a southpaw and i always brake with my left foot in a manual car i find it faster for braking and transitioning, i do this in a focus and a fiesta standard models, i didn't it except it to be complicated
Just found this after watching last nights episode of Top Gear. I bet when he was making this film for Autocar he didn’t think he would ever be a presenter on TG.
because of the differential the torque is not even on both wheels in the corners, using the brake in this case will help to distribute the power more evenly through both whells in the corner
@kdk087 When endurance sports car drivers or Indycar drivers on road courses need to save fuel, they coast at the ends of straights before braking and that's obviously in a manual car. Some open wheel drivers even go back to right foot braking if they get into sports cars so that they can get better fuel mileage. From a high performance point of view, coasting is a problem because not only are you not going as quick as you could, it gives less options to adjust when in the corner.
Left foot braking is great for fast sweeping corners were you would normally lift off, just use a dab of left for while still keeping the engine spooled up.
Torsen diffs are very much limited-slip differentials, they're just a certain type of lsd with certain locking behaviors that are specific to it (there's actually a few different styles of Torsen, btw). Chris isn't wrong about the technique of dragging the brake to keep the wheels from slipping, though. RWD cars with Torsens can use a small amount of parking brake drag to keep wheels from spinning in ice, snow, or mud.
@siraff2 When I was driving my old Mini, I had to heel and toe brake from 3rd to 2nd most of the time because their ratio difference (it was 4 spd). I then just get the hang of it. But it's very hard to left foot brake as the left foot is too used to pumping the clutch and just end up over pressing the brake pedal and I always get thrown forward.
Sadly some cars cut the power when you try to left foot brake it's very annoying. One of the safety features to protect us all from terrible drivers. As for the person that said won't it wear the brakes out faster. It will as it's all braking but look at how many modern cars have traction control that use the brakes. What's the difference. The brakes are spec'd for it. Modern brakes are more than capable of taking on a bit of left foot. You are only trimming most of the time when using it as in this video. In all fairness you'd have to be driving in an unacceptable way on public roads to burn a set of Focus RS brakes. Most hot hatch brakes get burned at the end of dual carriageways and then drivers it with there foot on the brake cooking that area of the disc. 205 1.9 GTI is rubbish out of 2nd gear corners. 1.6 is much better.
I get that a car is all about balance. When you brake or accelerate the balance of the car is always shifting from front to back, when you left foot brake and partner that with some throttle it makes the car very stable with a bit of the weight pitched to the front tires which of course is good for cornering. I have known of snap under-steer which can of course be incredibly dangerous.
The real Stig, Blomqvist,is the master of this technique developed for front wheel drive cars on gravel/snow. Not much use in a modern road car where ecu will cut power if u try it.Modern road cars have brake force distribution also which does nothing for rear brake bias in slow tight corners.Interestingly on Yumps it is brilliant as you can keep power flat and change attitude of car at last second on crest to help with how car flys make it land the way you want typically on all fours.Most mortals should concentrate on all the other stuff rather than LFB.
Main Principle: Braking = More traction in the front tires. When your cars braking the majority of the weight gets distributed to the front wheels making the engine side heavier and resulting in far more traction in the front tires allowing u to go into the corner faster. However it's more ideal to do this in a rear wheel drive car with the rear brakes disabled so the front brakes in conjunction with more power to the rear tires = the car tips forward more while braking. Anybody disagree?
@BestTypoEver The reason for not letting your car drift is not so much to do with speed, but control. If it is under acceleration or braking then you are more in control of the forces that are acting upon it, that is g forces, inertia etc. You know how much to brake or accelerate to stop it sliding/skidding/losing grip. If it drifts it could reach its limits of traction unexpectadly any time and is harder to control or steer correctly or bring back into line.
@RavenRof i wish i had have looked up about left foot braking before i tried it on a motorway... very nearly a bad accident involving the lorry behind me lol so yes everyone get used to it on an empty road before trying it anywhere else
@Katlunazul, sorry, what I don't really understand is: do I brake at the same time I accelerate (in this case I supposed to burn my brakes) or do I brake and accelerate separately? And do I use this technique while in the corner, before it or on the way out of it? Thank you ;)
you could try it on the track instead of a the road to avoid accidents, it is hard indeed but its worth it, helps a lot while driving in corners but you mileage will be crapy and brake pads wear off faster than usually
I find this stuff so fascinating. Does this mean that to get this torque advantage across the front axle that you need a torque-sensing diff? Or can you have this performance advantage in any FWD car? And does anyone know who this guy is or what car show he hosts?
Its not meant to increase your speed it gives you more control off the car it allows you to turn into a bend more and you can control the speed better thus reducing understeer. In a fwd car if you keep your foot planted during a bend the car will understeer as the front wheels are trying to turn as well as accelerate so what left foot braking does is spreads the load across the front wheels allowing them to grip better. hope that explains it you :)
I drive a Knight Rider KITT car and its got brake wings which pop out from the sides and roof of the car. For more assurance I have a parachute in the rear boot strapped to the rear of the car for emergencies when I am doing over 400kmph and then comes a granny crossing the street!!
I suppose its a good thing to learn but Chris mentioned in the film about covering the brake or slightly braking and (should you need to) will brake quicker if a stray sheep jumps out...but surely you're DELAYING your reaction time as your feet have to re-adjust
Its called trailbraking, karting technique, works on FWD cars, loading up the front wheels minimizing underseer. Works well, but make sure you practice left foot braking at slow speeds before trying it at any speed.
I'm sure this has been answered in the past comments, but is this technique just as beneficial with a car that has both RWD and a LSD? I'm looking for what you guys think even though Chris Harris says it works still for the former. Thanks!
let's set this straight now and for ever; the comment being abused was referring to situations in which the engine would, it was implied, be running at revolutions per minute that were higher than idle so, unless you were driving down-hill, your engine would, within a few seconds either have to either stall or inject at least as much fuel as required to maintain idle in order to keep the car travelling at the same velocity. this is as a result of a phenomenon known as "friction".
God I love that car... Why couldn't we get that stateside!? Don't get me wrong-- the SVT was beautiful in it's own way but it would have been nice to at least have the choice of the faster car.
Sure, when driving normally, when coming up to a corner, one might brake hard, move the feet over to the throttle and clutch to blip the throttle to change down gear, then continue hard breaking. To save time, we can keep braking hard continuously, and use the heel or side of the brake foot to blip the throttle to change down gear. Of course we can always change down without blipping the throttle, but the down change is far smoother if we attempt to match the engine revs to the new gear.
1. Yes, but most people are going to engage the brakes before a corner anyway. 2. Yes, of course. But I think you are missing the point. LFB, or engaging the brake and the throttle at the same time, increases the load on the front axle and corrects understeer. Another benefit is that it makes it so that the inside wheel doesn't spin under power, so you can give more power and exit the curve more quickly. LFB is mostly for FWD vehicles, but useful for all drivers.
he also forgot to mention the balance of the car through the corner. Left footbraking allows to balance the weight load over rear and front of the car. During normal braking , the load of the car goes to the front. If trail braking, the load of the tire goes to the one front corner of the car. If left foot braking...some of that load reverts to the rear giving balance. Left foot braking works best in conjunction with trail braking
If you have a sequential gearbox, or an automatic fine, but with an H manual you go to slam on the break left footed and you'll kill the engine not allowing you to maneuver out of the way, and breaking in gear lengthens your stopping distance. Left foot braking is specific to situations and machinery, not every car.
Where are all those morons that said to me that I am crazy to use left foot brake in an FWD,all said to me that this kind of braking is useless and I was constantly saying to them that I feel more grip when using that kind of braking,tnx Chris for this video :)
IIRC, left foot braking while pressing down the accelerator pedal will engage the rear brakes. This sort of "drags" the ass of the car a bit and keep it from whipping out. AWD systems like to do the same thing, but he's showing it how to do it manually on a FWD system.
Chris says you should always be accelerating or braking because he's talking about *performance* driving, not tooling about trying to maximize your mileage. Plus, if a car *completely* cut the fuel while it was coasting in gear, the exhaust note would be almost silent, because there would be no combustion happening in the cylinders. Clearly, that is not what happens. Put a manual in gear with engine off, pointed down a hill, and see what happens. There's clearly a lot of resistance to rolling.
@dan101dan -- He was refering to racing/ fast driving etc.Not everyday driving.The "you should never be costing, you should always be either accelerating or braking" method is spot on when racing. You probably just picked him up wrong. :-) Regards Simon
I do this all the time in city driving. I see many people pop the car into neutral while coasting thinking they're saving petrol but you save a lot more fuel if you just leave it in gear and lift your foot off the throttle. When in neutral, the engine is using fuel to keep the engine idleing and not stall. When in gear, the wheels keep the engine turning and the engine doesn't need to use any fuel to keep it from stalling.
Chris Harris with hair!!
Scary right? :)
Chris Hair-ris
Reminds me of karun chandook from f1
Hahaha my thought exactly!
@@richboy900 Not sure of his family history/ethnicity - but there might be some Indian Sub-Continent in there? (none racist question/statement)
This technique allows you to stay on the gas while you are braking, so the weight does not shift to the front of the car. This helps the car (and its grip) to stay balanced and therefore preventing oversteer.
Learned this skill racing go-karts when I was a youngster and use it ever since my license in road cars. Mocked by some know it alls in the past, good to have this footage to proof them wrong. Thanks Chris ;)
I tried to do this when I was 18. I stopped instantly, stalled obviously and had to speed away to stop the van full of extremely angry workmen behind me from beating me to a pulp.
40% Ford Focus
40% Left food
20% Hair
I think what's key to left foot braking is that a torsen differential applys torque based on a multiplier. By LFBing, you are incresing the amount of torque that the diff is applying to the low traction wheel, and therefore the diff can apply a multiple amount of torque to the wheel with high tractino wheel.
Also, if the slipping wheel completely looses traction, a small amount of torque is still being applied to it because of the brakes. A torsen won't act like an open diff in that case.
iv been trying to teach myself to do this for some time now, it was pretty tough at first but im now starting to see the beneficial side of doing this !! Chris is without a doubt a great driver
I taught myself to do this when I first got my drivers licence many many years ago. it came in handy on the gravel back roads near where I lived. All my mates thought I was a nutter because they could not grasp the concept of using all three pedals at once XD
tried to break with left foot once... almost killed myself :(
Theres always THAT first time.. Thats how I learnt that my car have more breaking power than I thought.
"Brake" guys not "break"
@@9cjl they broke their cars .. hence break
I used and still using left foot brake in automatic car. I drive very smoothly. I have no problem in left foot braking and I am very easy and this is very very accurate system of left foot braking.
Hans Stuck also used this method racing Audi Quattros in the Trans Am and GTO racing series in the late '80s. It definitely takes a lot of practice.
Good explaination of a technique that does wonders for FWD cars.
Still got this on DVD
Left foot brake will increase vehicle weight transfer reaction and manage speed quicker. Is so effective during the apex
works very well on slippery roads.
in rally you can see this technique being used all the time. It's easy to spot: revs RISING(listen!) and brakelights ON at the same time!
i left foot brake and heel and toe sometimes double de-clutching my dowm shifts all the time..even when just popping down the shops..they are skills that i learnt and practiced while competing in auto cross events when i was younger..my aim is as the video says is not to go any faster but to have more control.. although most times i will find that i can travel faster..the manufacturer says that around town my car will do 30 to the gallon and i'm averaging 41 so am saving money in fuel to :)
You're both right, in a sense. If you're on a downhill route, neutral coasting will potentially save you more fuel because it eliminates the effect of engine braking (OK fine, 'the braking effect of the drivetrain' if you prefer) thus allowing you to travel further without throttle. The same would apply on an uphill route if you wanted coast the furthest possible distance. In gear coasting makes more sense if you need to slow to a stop at some point in the future (e.g. approaching a red light).
I like left foot braking as well. And I put in a torsen (torq-sensing) diff. The traction is MUCH better on corner exit but I don't drag the brake like he's doing to initiate traction. The diff takes care of it. What he's getting at with the torque split on the diff is if you have one wheel in the air (offroading) on an axle with a torsen. In this case you must apply the brakes to send torque to the wheel with traction (wheel on the gournd). If you don't use the brakes you'll be stuck.
this is pretty good track advice
never knew that. thanks for that piece of info
Who ended up here from watching Chris on the Late Brake Show?
Wish he is still with Autocar, a great writer & a great driver too.
There was a lovely jumper in the shops the other day
Chris didn't see it.
I drive an automatic unfortunately, but I do left foot brake and I've found that I have much better control around corners and I'm able to react much more quickly and precisely in emergency situations.
there are many reasons to do this...but the point of this video is to highlight how LFB can be used in a front wheel drive car with a differential.
I usually use this technique for longer sweeping corners, to keep the revs up but to lower my speed a bit. You can also use this to avoid turbo lag in a corner for turbocharged cars.
Yes this will wear your brakes faster and it might even warp your brakes (esp if your brake kit is not a good one)
there are many reasons for left foot braking, the reason chris is saying here is to help the diff even out the torque.
left foot braking is also handy if you find yourself spinning while trail braking into corners. you can apply some throtttle while trail braking to even up the pitch f the car and get some weight over the back end.
the same kind of works in reverse. so on something like a double apex corner you can use your left foot on the brake to pull the front end back in for the 2nd apex
I use LFB in the corners on gravel if I need to tighten my line. It works for open differentials too
Love that car..RS 02 FMC, belongs to the ford heritage centre in Essex..
I always thought and use left foot braking (not really day to day driving) for weight shifting. It can reduce under steer if you "jab" it mid corner if you find under steering. It improves exit speed as your right foot is closer to the go pedal therefore get on faster. So it is to go faster in my eyes.
You are a nonce in my eyes
well done jeremy
@OsakaBancho it means you will have to take one extra step to perform evasive action if there is a sudden problem. If you're accelerating, you can do so out of harms way and same for braking.
Like MJ, Chris Hair-is also had hair early on in his great career :D GOAT
@MexicanGamerz
its really only applicable in performance scenarios, but yeah, if you're out hotdoggin' around in the hills, you can certainly use left foot braking. but NOT like in this video...pick one or the other, either heel/toe or left foot, not both.
one of the problems with left foot braking in street cars is the pedal placement...they're usually too close together. my M3 was close, but worked for left foot braking and my corvette is even closer and doesnt work well with my relatively
For doing that, you have to do everything right. For instance, while approaching a corner, you might think that 3rd gear is OK but then you find out that 2nd gear is the ideal, so now you have to lift of the brake and then press it again with your right foot, the same lag comes again. Bear that in mind and one other thing, won't brakes bake up while pressing gas and brake pedals at the same time?
From the Porsche website: "As soon as you release the accelerator pedal, PDK deselects the current gear automatically and you begin to coast in neutral until you have reached your desired speed." 991 Carrera, Drive, Coasting.
I doubt Porsche would put a car in neutral if it wasn't the most efficient way of coasting. The ticking over thing might sound reasonable, but the VW real-time mpg calculator shoots up when I'm in neutral, and not when in I'm in gear.
im a southpaw and i always brake with my left foot in a manual car i find it faster for braking and transitioning, i do this in a focus and a fiesta standard models, i didn't it except it to be complicated
Just found this after watching last nights episode of Top Gear. I bet when he was making this film for Autocar he didn’t think he would ever be a presenter on TG.
Chris Harris has always been the man.
I've been driving manual all my life so when I try to left foot brake I can't help but slam on it, lol
Ha. This just really helped with my Dirt Rally 2.0 sim racing
It's funny, I left foot break in sins, but have no skill with it in a real car.
because of the differential the torque is not even on both wheels in the corners, using the brake in this case will help to distribute the power more evenly through both whells in the corner
@kdk087 When endurance sports car drivers or Indycar drivers on road courses need to save fuel, they coast at the ends of straights before braking and that's obviously in a manual car. Some open wheel drivers even go back to right foot braking if they get into sports cars so that they can get better fuel mileage. From a high performance point of view, coasting is a problem because not only are you not going as quick as you could, it gives less options to adjust when in the corner.
Left foot braking is great for fast sweeping corners were you would normally lift off, just use a dab of left for while still keeping the engine spooled up.
I have always lef foot brakes, i started on Go Karts at 10, and when i got my car, it jsut felt more natural.
Chris is back!!!! Hooray!! No more tubby!
Still a brilliant video
Just relised this video was posted on me birthday . Wheyyyyy!
@supercooled yup, it does
Can also help to keep on boost where turbocharged cars are concerned.
I know exactly where this was filmed :D
Llangynidr moores in south wales :D i travel that road all the time ^^ brilliant!!
Torsen diffs are very much limited-slip differentials, they're just a certain type of lsd with certain locking behaviors that are specific to it (there's actually a few different styles of Torsen, btw). Chris isn't wrong about the technique of dragging the brake to keep the wheels from slipping, though. RWD cars with Torsens can use a small amount of parking brake drag to keep wheels from spinning in ice, snow, or mud.
I can heel and toe fine and I can left foot brake a bit but it to the point where I'd feel comfortable doing it to balance the car mid corner
@siraff2 When I was driving my old Mini, I had to heel and toe brake from 3rd to 2nd most of the time because their ratio difference (it was 4 spd). I then just get the hang of it. But it's very hard to left foot brake as the left foot is too used to pumping the clutch and just end up over pressing the brake pedal and I always get thrown forward.
In turbo cars, you can build boost by holding in the brake a little and stepping on the gas. I think that's what he discovered.
no....yeah u can do that but this isn't what it is
Sadly some cars cut the power when you try to left foot brake it's very annoying. One of the safety features to protect us all from terrible drivers. As for the person that said won't it wear the brakes out faster. It will as it's all braking but look at how many modern cars have traction control that use the brakes. What's the difference. The brakes are spec'd for it. Modern brakes are more than capable of taking on a bit of left foot. You are only trimming most of the time when using it as in this video. In all fairness you'd have to be driving in an unacceptable way on public roads to burn a set of Focus RS brakes. Most hot hatch brakes get burned at the end of dual carriageways and then drivers it with there foot on the brake cooking that area of the disc. 205 1.9 GTI is rubbish out of 2nd gear corners. 1.6 is much better.
I get that a car is all about balance. When you brake or accelerate the balance of the car is always shifting from front to back, when you left foot brake and partner that with some throttle it makes the car very stable with a bit of the weight pitched to the front tires which of course is good for cornering. I have known of snap under-steer which can of course be incredibly dangerous.
This technique was invented by Group B rally drivers,
it was invented to combat the turbo lag problems the cars had in the 1980's
The real Stig, Blomqvist,is the master of this technique developed for front wheel drive cars on gravel/snow. Not much use in a modern road car where ecu will cut power if u try it.Modern road cars have brake force distribution also which does nothing for rear brake bias in slow tight corners.Interestingly on Yumps it is brilliant as you can keep power flat and change attitude of car at last second on crest to help with how car flys make it land the way you want typically on all fours.Most mortals should concentrate on all the other stuff rather than LFB.
Main Principle: Braking = More traction in the front tires. When your cars braking the majority of the weight gets distributed to the front wheels making the engine side heavier and resulting in far more traction in the front tires allowing u to go into the corner faster. However it's more ideal to do this in a rear wheel drive car with the rear brakes disabled so the front brakes in conjunction with more power to the rear tires = the car tips forward more while braking. Anybody disagree?
The sound you're hearing is the exhaust pulsating. The intake doesn't stop, just the fuel injection, which means you've still got engine noise.
@BestTypoEver The reason for not letting your car drift is not so much to do with speed, but control. If it is under acceleration or braking then you are more in control of the forces that are acting upon it, that is g forces, inertia etc. You know how much to brake or accelerate to stop it sliding/skidding/losing grip. If it drifts it could reach its limits of traction unexpectadly any time and is harder to control or steer correctly or bring back into line.
@RavenRof i wish i had have looked up about left foot braking before i tried it on a motorway... very nearly a bad accident involving the lorry behind me lol so yes everyone get used to it on an empty road before trying it anywhere else
@Katlunazul, sorry, what I don't really understand is: do I brake at the same time I accelerate (in this case I supposed to burn my brakes) or do I brake and accelerate separately? And do I use this technique while in the corner, before it or on the way out of it? Thank you ;)
you could try it on the track instead of a the road to avoid accidents, it is hard indeed but its worth it, helps a lot while driving in corners but you mileage will be crapy and brake pads wear off faster than usually
I find this stuff so fascinating. Does this mean that to get this torque advantage across the front axle that you need a torque-sensing diff? Or can you have this performance advantage in any FWD car? And does anyone know who this guy is or what car show he hosts?
Its not meant to increase your speed it gives you more control off the car it allows you to turn into a bend more and you can control the speed better thus reducing understeer. In a fwd car if you keep your foot planted during a bend the car will understeer as the front wheels are trying to turn as well as accelerate so what left foot braking does is spreads the load across the front wheels allowing them to grip better. hope that explains it you :)
Truly well said :)
I drive a Knight Rider KITT car and its got brake wings which pop out from the sides and roof of the car. For more assurance I have a parachute in the rear boot strapped to the rear of the car for emergencies when I am doing over 400kmph and then comes a granny crossing the street!!
@OsakaBancho @supercooled It also means there is no gap where the car isn't doing anything useful to go faster :)
I suppose its a good thing to learn but Chris mentioned in the film about covering the brake or slightly braking and (should you need to) will brake quicker if a stray sheep jumps out...but surely you're DELAYING your reaction time as your feet have to re-adjust
Its called trailbraking, karting technique, works on FWD cars, loading up the front wheels minimizing underseer. Works well, but make sure you practice left foot braking at slow speeds before trying it at any speed.
Surely coasting is a good thing to do if you want to drive economically?
I'm sure this has been answered in the past comments, but is this technique just as beneficial with a car that has both RWD and a LSD? I'm looking for what you guys think even though Chris Harris says it works still for the former. Thanks!
left foot braking could also be used in combination with "clutchless shifting" so u only need to use the clutch for moving off
It increases somewhat at the drive wheels, but it's not too bad.
let's set this straight now and for ever; the comment being abused was referring to situations in which the engine would, it was implied, be running at revolutions per minute that were higher than idle so, unless you were driving down-hill, your engine would, within a few seconds either have to either stall or inject at least as much fuel as required to maintain idle in order to keep the car travelling at the same velocity. this is as a result of a phenomenon known as "friction".
I've still got on DVD that came with autocar mag
not alone there my friend. I dunno about you but i still read and enjoy the mag, but he was dam good. Video's definitely aren't the same
Does that Focus have stability control?
God I love that car... Why couldn't we get that stateside!? Don't get me wrong-- the SVT was beautiful in it's own way but it would have been nice to at least have the choice of the faster car.
Sure, when driving normally, when coming up to a corner, one might brake hard, move the feet over to the throttle and clutch to blip the throttle to change down gear, then continue hard breaking. To save time, we can keep braking hard continuously, and use the heel or side of the brake foot to blip the throttle to change down gear. Of course we can always change down without blipping the throttle, but the down change is far smoother if we attempt to match the engine revs to the new gear.
1. Yes, but most people are going to engage the brakes before a corner anyway.
2. Yes, of course. But I think you are missing the point.
LFB, or engaging the brake and the throttle at the same time, increases the load on the front axle and corrects understeer. Another benefit is that it makes it so that the inside wheel doesn't spin under power, so you can give more power and exit the curve more quickly. LFB is mostly for FWD vehicles, but useful for all drivers.
Does the new Focus, or the current model have this in the performance model?
jeez this guy can drive!
I had to replay the video around 30 seconds in because I was staring at his sideburns. LOL
chris is a good driver no doubt.
Is that RS the same as the SVT focus in the US?
@zupperm He was talking about performance driving like on a track.
I do left-foot braking because I'm left footed (I kick with my left, but I am not left handed however) and therefore have more control on the brake.
To build the revs up to the gear he is shifting down into, if you don't do this it puts strain on the engine and also makes the car jurk
he also forgot to mention the balance of the car through the corner. Left footbraking allows to balance the weight load over rear and front of the car.
During normal braking , the load of the car goes to the front. If trail braking, the load of the tire goes to the one front corner of the car. If left foot braking...some of that load reverts to the rear giving balance.
Left foot braking works best in conjunction with trail braking
If you have a sequential gearbox, or an automatic fine, but with an H manual you go to slam on the break left footed and you'll kill the engine not allowing you to maneuver out of the way, and breaking in gear lengthens your stopping distance. Left foot braking is specific to situations and machinery, not every car.
Where are all those morons that said to me that I am crazy to use left foot brake in an FWD,all said to me that this kind of braking is useless and I was constantly saying to them that I feel more grip when using that kind of braking,tnx Chris for this video :)
hahaha epic ending. This guys the man.
IIRC, left foot braking while pressing down the accelerator pedal will engage the rear brakes. This sort of "drags" the ass of the car a bit and keep it from whipping out. AWD systems like to do the same thing, but he's showing it how to do it manually on a FWD system.
Chris says you should always be accelerating or braking because he's talking about *performance* driving, not tooling about trying to maximize your mileage. Plus, if a car *completely* cut the fuel while it was coasting in gear, the exhaust note would be almost silent, because there would be no combustion happening in the cylinders. Clearly, that is not what happens. Put a manual in gear with engine off, pointed down a hill, and see what happens. There's clearly a lot of resistance to rolling.
@dan101dan -- He was refering to racing/ fast driving etc.Not everyday driving.The "you should never be costing, you should always be either accelerating or braking" method is spot on when racing.
You probably just picked him up wrong. :-)
Regards
Simon
left foot braking does work and helps to enhance cornering or reducing jumps.. WRC drivers do this for a very long time.. just google it..
if im autocrossing and i left foot brake
when the rpms drop how will that effect my exit speed?
my knowledge (could be entirely incorrect) is you have to match road speed and engine speed. never tried it though
I do this all the time in city driving. I see many people pop the car into neutral while coasting thinking they're saving petrol but you save a lot more fuel if you just leave it in gear and lift your foot off the throttle. When in neutral, the engine is using fuel to keep the engine idleing and not stall. When in gear, the wheels keep the engine turning and the engine doesn't need to use any fuel to keep it from stalling.
True for gasoline but not for diesel. Engine braking does burn fuel in diesel engines.
Nothing to do with left-foot braking.