6 Ways Left Foot Braking Will Improve Your Driving

It's one of the trickiest skills to master, particularly for people used to using the clutch, but mastering the use of your left foot for braking will make you drive faster and smoother
6 Ways Left Foot Braking Will Improve Your Driving

1. Puts you in control of weight shifting

6 Ways Left Foot Braking Will Improve Your Driving

One of the most important aspects of fast driving is controlling where the weight of the car is. This is something that’s most obviously useful in rallying, where throwing the car’s weight from side to side while keeping the throttle pinned is the best way to maintain momentum. You can also use this in grip driving situations, though, as modulating the brake and throttle can help keep the car settled in order to minimise understeer and oversteer.

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This might seem counter-intuitive, but if you have a front-wheel drive car with a differential this technique will drastically improve the speed you can carry through, and out of, a turn.

As you accelerate through a corner you can push on the brakes with your left foot to distribute the torque more effectively through the front wheels. This allows you to carry more speed as power is spread more evenly across the two front tyres, and ensures your exit speed is higher. Easing off the brake on corner exit then gives you full power for the straight to take full advantage of the extra speed you’ve already carried without unsettling the balance of the car or spinning the wheels.

3. Settling the suspension

6 Ways Left Foot Braking Will Improve Your Driving

Again, this is a technique most useful in rally. When braking and shifting weight around, you’re also loading and unloading the suspension in different ways. You can take this knowledge and use it to counteract unwelcome movements.

For example, if you spot a bump ahead, you can keep your right foot on the throttle to keep momentum up, while dabbing the brakes to load and unload the suspension. With the extra travel available you can glide over bumps that might otherwise have unsettled the car.

4. Tidying your line

6 Ways Left Foot Braking Will Improve Your Driving

Here’s another useful tip for bringing the nose in in high speed corners. If you’re cornering at speed but feel yourself washing wide, the answer is to scrub some speed. You could lift your foot of the throttle, but a sudden shift forwards in weight could cause you to oversteer. Instead, applying a little brake while still on the throttle ensures all four wheels are being slowed, and your line is tightened without unsettling the machine.

5. Trail braking

6 Ways Left Foot Braking Will Improve Your Driving

This is trickier in a manual car where you’re using your left foot on the clutch, but it is possible with a quick shift of your feet. The idea is to gradually ease off the brake as you enter a corner and begin to accelerate out of it. This has the advantage of keeping the weight forward, giving the front tyres the highest possible grip for turn in and limiting understeer. It also reduces unwanted weight shifting that can come from lifting off the brake quickly in order to accelerate, as is required with right foot braking.

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When you receive driver coaching, one of the first things they’ll try to get in your brain is that you should either be fully accelerating or fully braking. Now obviously there are exceptions to this, such as some of the techniques above and in longer corners that require throttle modulation. However, for the most part, you should either be braking or accelerating - anything else loses time.

Therefore, every time you brake with your right foot you have a very brief period in limbo where you’re doing neither. Add together all those fractions of a second over the course of a lap or a race, and it can be the difference between a podium or not. This might not be too relevant to road driving, but for trackday drivers looking to shave time lap after lap, this could help immeasurably.

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Comments

Cory Brayshaw

I tried this once, never again…

02/23/2016 - 18:43 |
198 | 0

I know right, tried it once, guy behind almost rear ended me

02/23/2016 - 19:22 |
12 | 0

because you did it wrong. your left foot got used to the clutch, but the brake pedal is different. if you do it with your heels on the floor, there wont be any problem :)

02/23/2016 - 19:29 |
24 | 2

I remember my first time. And it was right after having lunch and watching some racing videos.

02/23/2016 - 19:43 |
110 | 0

I did it accidentally when I tried driving an auto after driving manual for months…

02/23/2016 - 20:07 |
2 | 0

I tried this once, and i wanted to improve every time i did it.

02/24/2016 - 13:43 |
2 | 0
Drew Hoefer

also more tire smoke if you do it in drifting

02/23/2016 - 18:44 |
8 | 0
Djosjoewa

It’s also a fun technique when your passenger doesn’t have his seatbelt on

02/23/2016 - 18:53 |
338 | 2

Or if the passanger insists on riding on the trunk… Just make sure you’re not being tailgates. Unless you dislike said passanger.

02/24/2016 - 02:34 |
16 | 0
SpotterJacob

Good old days….when Chris Harris was looking like O.J. Simpson

02/23/2016 - 18:54 |
20 | 0
Nitrous Supercharged Turbo Tesla

yeah and i will press the clutch with my right foot JK!

02/23/2016 - 18:57 |
4 | 0
Martin Notland

Well i tried this with a coke from McDonalds in my cup holder…. Cant say i will do it again

02/23/2016 - 19:02 |
14 | 0
Anonymous

Great article!
Though all those who haven’t tried left foot braking - DON’T DO IT IN TRAFFIC! Why? Because I’ve done it and don’t be that dumb. No accident though, but surely it was a near miss. Find a long stretch road where nobody will get hurt ;)

02/23/2016 - 19:03 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

I am a drummer and when I do Kart racing I don’t even have to think about which foot does what. Play drums and drive faster.

02/23/2016 - 19:03 |
10 | 0
StretchyMule23

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

I second this. However, when learning to drive several years ago, I would consistently press the accelerator too hard meaning I would speed/accelerate more aggressively than I perhaps should be as a learner driver. My driving instructor diagnosed me with ‘drummer foot’.

02/23/2016 - 19:18 |
4 | 0
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Most rental karts nearly have any brakes at all so you’re just full throttle all the time and sometimes ramming your foot on the brake pedal. Depends on which circuit you’re riding tho

02/23/2016 - 20:16 |
0 | 0
Frédéric Gilson

“… but if you have a front-wheel drive car with a differential this technique will …”

Every car has a differential, you should have said “torsen and open differential”.

02/23/2016 - 19:05 |
84 | 0

Yeah Chris Harris gets it right, CT tell the hazy version of the explanation.

02/23/2016 - 19:49 |
8 | 2

Nah mate, I’m riding a single axle horse car, k?

02/23/2016 - 22:08 |
18 | 0
Anonymous

gofund.me/5eqsjfj8

02/23/2016 - 19:06 |
0 | 10