I have been curious, do you national guys left foot brake? The concept was impossible with a miata and a size 12 shoe. Just went out to the car... seems possible with the 8. All of my racing experience is in miatas, so I wonder if I need to learn.....

ps - Yes I did steal this idea from another post.

 

I think it is about a 60-40 split with 60% right footers. I left foot brake racing and right foot on the street.

 

I would have thought Joe and Ron kicking your @ss told you that. So we going to see that RX8 this year or are you still searching for the soft PAX class. Maybe you can get a codrive in the 968.

 

Left-foot braking is something few do well. I have raced/driven for 15+ years, and this is something I have used less than 5 x at certian tracks. Most of the time, if you are oscillating between gas and throttle, well, you just aren't running it in hard enough .

Although, I still believe, in certian, long double apexs or in my Evo in avoiding lag, by simulating load (very few), there is a need, and it can shave a good amount of time, especially if the car is 'in power' when you get back on throttle.

 

i used to do it in my mazda 6 all the time but it was FWD so i really needed it to manipulate the car. if i ever track the 8 i think i would also to keep revs up. it would be strange to do it on a RWD car for me.

denward

 

Left foot braking helps keep the revs up? Can you explain?

I have been known to left foot brake occasionally but not usually. I don't think my right foot braking is what is slowing me down.

JV

 

Your braking is not slowing you down? Perhaps you really do need some Evo schools.

 

LOL, well played.

 

I think he meant power and not revs, unless he's talking about an automatic. Usually this only helps speed the transition from on the brakes to on the throttle. If you have a turbo it will help keep it spooled up while you are on the brakes. I had a GTI 1.8t and you could not heel-toe or left foot brake while on the throttle since the ECU controlled throttle and would take it away when you pushed the brake pedal.

 

havent tried it in the 8 yet, but when i used to track the 86 corolla, if i under steered going into a turn or if the car straightened out early in a slide, i would keep the throttle pinned and give the brake a quick stab (provided that i wasnt going too much faster then i was supposed to). this usually was enough loosen up the rear so i get rotated and pointed in the right direction on my exit. it also helped keep the power up. i only had 83 or so hp to the wheels so if i could help it, i was always on the gas. im pretty sure it wasnt very good for the car but oh well . not sure what would happen in the 8. might cause understeer now that i think about it.

in my mazda 6, it was similar but instead i would use left foot braking to gain a rear brake bias so that id lock up the rear to help avoid under steer. (had to up the rear brakes for this to work)

man.... i wanna track the 8.. but i dont wanna ruin my warrenty . you wont believe how fast they declined my warrenty when my dealership saw the tires on my 6. how are you guys planning on getting around this?

denward

 

If you're understeering entering a corner, you entered the corner too fast, plain and simple. Prior to the last event of the season we made some setup changes which had the RX-8 oversteering slightly on corner-entry - it would rotate as I trailed the brakes off and as I got on the gas it would maintain a slight slip angle through the turn.

What you're describing may feel faster, but I doubt it is in reality. Anyway, the RX-8 is very neutral right out of the box, so I don't think any mid-corner brake stabs are really called for.

 

I have on a couple occasion tracked a 911 of different variants. I find I left foot brake those bad boys. It makes it easier to balance them through the corners. However, in a well balanced car, I haven't caught myself doing it.

 

My dealership knew that I auto-xed my miata. They have never had a problem doing warrenty work on it. Then again, I never took it to a track day(no roll bar) and kept the car completely stock. My hoosiers were on 15" wheels, so I was put in ASP for auto-x. Come to find out, I was supposed to be in BSP. Wouldn't have mattered though, anything over the local level I couldn't have kept up with the corvettes in either class.

 

my old dealership refused to check my cel light because they said i abused the car lol. then again, my tires were shredded to pieces.

denward

 

I've tried several times, but I find myself braking too hard. I have to practice more often. It's hard to make the left foot go from "analog to digital output." One of my NASA instructors told me that practicing in an automatic car helps so I try when I'm driving my wife's car.

 

Is left foot braking something that they recomend at the NASA "school"? I am going to try and attend the one at RA in March. From my understanding, you have an instructor with you on your first few events.

The term "events" is used loosley in this post.

 

I use it if I'm staying in the same gear and managing the car through a series curves - that's about the only time. For instance, there is a track in the UK (Cadwell) where almost the whole back section is high up 3rd gear and you just have to get speed down a little for entry to a couple of the corners, which go in alternate directions. I find it much easier to stay balanced on turn-in if I haven't had to switch pedals. (There's a section like it at Infineon, according to Gran Turismo 4...)

I do use it on the road when the above situation arises - don't use it if there's any cars or pedestrians around though, because it takes too long to swap pedals again if you need to lose a LOT of speed all of a sudden.

The other time you might use it is in drift competition - a quick dab on entry unsettles the car in quite a subtle way, and it's then much easier to balance the slide if your right foot is already on the throttle ready to respond.

If you say "left-foot braking" to most people they think of the FWD/4WD technique for turning the car, which doesn't apply to the 8 at all, being beautifully balanced as it is. But I think the car DOES benefit from using the left foot on the brake, as long as you can use it analogue-style as someone else said...