59 replies to this topic

[Black.Ghost]

one word of advise when left foot breaking for the first time,

remeber when you learnt to drive you almost went through the windscreen when you first used the brakes? prepare for that again.

Yes I do remember haha. My girlfriend let me drive her new fiesta round a car park. Every time I touched the brakes it was like an emergency stop. I honestly thought I would never be able to get used to that.

I have a similar problem now. When I drive a works car, (they are all Vauxhalls) I tend to forget about the very soft power steering and that the brakes are somewhat more responsive than those currently on my Mini.

Is there any advantage to left foot braking over heel-toe braking?

[nurseholliday]

Heel and toe all the time, you can't double de-clutch and brake at the same time unless you heel and toe. Miles better downshifts when you do, keeps those boy racers further off your bumper

[M1N1C00P3R1275]

left foot breaking.............. dont ask any more im not sayin(bad times )

oh actully u might find it funny ,i thought ill move my mums car having never driven a car brfore i put my foot down flat in a drivway (luckily the drive way baks on to the garden) and went a lot faster than i desired slamed breaks on fully and smacked my head on the windsreen pillar bad times

[Black.Ghost]

Yeah I tried braking with my left foot in a transit van the first time I tried it... it was interesting

I don't get what heel-toe braking is though...

Using the toe of ur foot on the brake whilst blipping the accelerator with ur heel. For example, when you are going down a hill and need to slow down and maybe drop a gear, but want to keep the revs up to make the gear change smoother, you use heel-toe. Its basically like double d-clutching but when you need to slow down instead of speed up.

I guess mine must have a syncro but I still find with double D it is somewhat smoother and doesnt make the car judder when changing down.

[Black.Ghost]

left foot breaking.............. dont ask any more im not sayin(bad times )

oh actully u might find it funny ,i thought ill move my mums car having never driven a car brfore i put my foot down flat in a drivway (luckily the drive way baks on to the garden) and went a lot faster than i desired slamed breaks on fully and smacked my head on the windsreen pillar bad times

PMSL

[alexcrosse]

left foot braking is so there is 0 second between coming off the brakes and coming on the throttle. More speed out of corners, not noticable unless ur goin round a track with a stopwatch.

[Ethel]

Toe 'n heel is really meant to allow you to double clutch while braking, a la Sterling Moss.

Left footing is how the works drivers got the Mini to hang its arse out like a power slide would in a RWD car.

[Black.Ghost]

Im gonna be driving around practising both tomorrow haha.

And Ethel, that sounds pretty cool. I think when I get to the point where Im changing my tyres I might try that (in a very un-busy area I might add)

Edited by TneMini, 20 March 2008 - 12:10 AM.

[1an]

one word of advise when left foot breaking for the first time,

remeber when you learnt to drive you almost went through the windscreen when you first used the brakes? prepare for that again.

Yes I do remember haha. My girlfriend let me drive her new fiesta round a car park. Every time I touched the brakes it was like an emergency stop. I honestly thought I would never be able to get used to that.

I have a similar problem now. When I drive a works car, (they are all Vauxhalls) I tend to forget about the very soft power steering and that the brakes are somewhat more responsive than those currently on my Mini.

Is there any advantage to left foot braking over heel-toe braking?

only benefit to left foot braking is you dont have the split seccond bettween coming switching from the accelerator to the brake pedal when just dabbing the brakes, then you need to heel toe when brakeing and down changing.

i dont left foot brake as i see no need on the road personally,


regardign newer cars, my bmw has a steering rack which is 4 turns lock to lock, but the focus im driving now has silly over compensated power steering which is under 2 turns lock to lock! how many times do i try and put the steering wheelthrough the lock stop! god i cant wait to get a mini, hopefully friday

[nurseholliday]

Que?

You can double de-clutch shifting up and down. Shifting down it is beneficial because you want to hold higher revs in the lower gear so you have more power when you get back on the throttle.

[oli8925]

i started to do a bit of heel-toe when my mini kept dying at idle. whats double d clutching?

When you change down a gear, you do it in three stages instead of one move. So from fourth to third, you woul dip the clutch and into neutral. Off the clutch and bip the accelerator, different for every car. The idea is to put it at the right number of revs for that gear and speed. After blipping the accelerator, back on the clutch and into the new gear. If you get it right, it provides a really nice gear change. And it gives you slightly better acceleration than if the revs are off.

I tend to double blip the accelerator though whilst in neutral, just to keep the revs up.

As for heel toe, I have done it a couple of times but i havent been able to do itreguarly. Now I have got double d sorted though thats what Ill be practicing for a while. As for left foot braking, I dont think I have tried that. It just doesnt seem too natural. I drove my mates automatic Jag for a bit and even then I still used my right foot for braking.

ah right not quite what i was thinking. one of my friends dads used to be a mini rally driver and said you could change when the revs were right without any use of the clutch therefore saving a lot of time and inefficiencies. he did this away from a junction on his test because a car shot through a red light at him and it got him failed. is this different or basically what he was on about. might try it soon. as for left foot braking i wont be trying that for a while as ive got the most spasticated left foot ever! lol

[nurseholliday]

My bad. Too slow to reply.

[alexcrosse]

heel toe isnt just for double d clutching down, it to brake as quickly as possible and equal your revs... and left foot braking primarly had nothing to do with getting the back out on cars, it was to get rid of the time between brakes comin off and accelerator comin on, and the opposite.

[minivanman]

My mate taught me it a while ago and I began practising in my other Mini. I have sorted Double D Clutching now, but heel-toe braking needs a fair bit of work. I can do it in big army boots - but that really isnt on purpose.

I'm shocked that theres been no smutty comments relating to this! You lot are slipping

[alexcrosse]

lmao, gutted, and with my disgusting mind i shoulda picked up on that