Possible to move brake pedal left?

So I was playing around in a neighborhood today trying to smoothly brake with my left foot (safely 20mph and below). It's been my understanding that left foot braking is a useful racing skill. But like holy crap it's so cramped. I'm not used to the big transmission tunnel and pedal positions.

 

It seems like there's space, although maybe not ability, to move the pedal and clutch outboard some? Or do I just have a terrible driving position?

 

I'd like to do some rallyx/autox/hdpe in the near future and know a lot of people here do that. What am I missing?

 

 

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I'm not aware of an easy way to move the pedal set left or right. You must have some big feet or something though, cause left foot braking feels pretty normal for me. Might be worth messing around with seat position to see if you can find something more comfortable.

Nah I think it's just awkward body builds. My feet are a mid width size 11. It's actually more an issue in the legs and other regions. The weird angle of the foot on the gas has always thrown me off too.

 

I did actually look up stuff on seating position from skoda motorsport and tim o niell rally school. Brought my seat back some and used my toes a bit more than the balls of my foot which helped. But I have really short arms and the steering wheel is at full extension, I could probably bring the seat back another few inches at my feet which might help the issues in hips and groin.

 

It's low on the priority list but man if I could move that brake pedal a half inch left it would make a world of difference.

Yeah I get what you mean. I have wide 11.5 feet and I'm okay with the pedals in my wagon, but my sister's Jetta always throws me off with the pedal position. Maybe you could bring your seat more upright to get your arms closer? I always recline a little just for cruising but if I'm driving fast I bring it up for better control.

I have really really short arms. 6'2 with a wing span of 5'10 and fairly wide shoulders. My seat is already as upright as my back can handle (multiple blown discs). Guess I'll have to lose weight and go to more yoga lol.

 

The local track does a session with a coach for not too much. Once my car is track worthy I'm thinking of doing that and maybe they can help with any seating issues as well.

 

 

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I haven't heard much about left foot braking. From what I'm aware of it's usually heal toe for braking/down shifting, at least on asphalt road coarse. Might be different on circle track racing.

 

Look up heal toe shifting. It's still awkward but you'll get used to it. Keep in mind also racing shoes and pedal placement is different in track/race cars. The shoes make a bigger difference then you think. You don't need race shoes but take a look at them to give you an idea. They generally have a thin sole so you can feel the pedals more easily. They also conform to your foot a lot more and a lot less bulky.

Left foot braking is more common in rally/rallyx I believe. Where heel toe is usually about rpm matching from my understanding, left foot braking is to shift the weight of the car for corners.

 

Since you're on a loose surface, it's important to be in gear before a turn, you then apply pressure with the brake to shift your weight forward and help pull the back end around while increasing your grip on the front wheels. I think.

 

I'm not entirely sure how much any of that applies in various motorsports, but it's my understanding that proper left foot braking is essential for the scandanavian flick.

 

 

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That makes sense. And kind of what I suspected. I knew heal toe was definitely an asphalt thing but didn't know if it extended past that. And yeah it's about rev matching during downshifting and braking. Though as far as I know, no matter what surface you are on you want to be in gear before making the turn so I would suspect heal toe is likely used pretty much everywhere. The idea is to be braking at the very last moment and while doing so setting up to have the correct gear for powering out of the corner.

But if heal toe is used in rally along with left foot braking that's a hell of a lot of foot work going on. I'll have to google that one. I know I've watched heal toe on YouTube and it looks soo good and easy when you watch someone experienced do it. It looks so eloquent.

I've been watching the Monte Carlo rally. I know they have a camera for the feet but only saw them use it in a launch. I'm wondering if they have it on one of the onboard views. I'll have to check.

 

It's also pretty neat because they have a display showing speed, gear, rpm, throttle percent, and brake percent. It's been fun to watch.

 

 

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One thing to remember about footwork in the wrc cars, they are using a sequential gear box that isn't exactly smooth and I imagine they replace the clutch every event. I know they do for tires. I'd guess they just dump the clutch and don't worry so much about rev matching if the situation for it isn't ideal.

 

 

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LFB is also useful in our turbo cars so you can keep one foot on the gas and keep the turbo spooled while braking with the other foot. You just can't do that too often or you'll run out of vacuum for the brake booster. Edited January 27, 2020 by bemani

One thing to remember about footwork in the wrc cars, they are using a sequential gear box that isn't exactly smooth and I imagine they replace the clutch every event. I know they do for tires. I'd guess they just dump the clutch and don't worry so much about rev matching if the situation for it isn't ideal.

 

 

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I could be wrong but I don't think there is a clutch in a sequential gear box. Well what I mean by that is, there is a clutch for launch but it's not used between gears. At least I know that to be true on some sequential. For example a dirt bike.

Oh that would make sense. I know for the most recent wrc they allowed automanual gear boxes, whatever that means. So if it's just used for launch that would make sense for lfb and would explain my confusion

 

I know they also use this to keep the turbo spooled up to prevent lag.

 

I'd love to go to one of the rally schools. Maybe one day.

 

 

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