Track forum general chit chat.

[gmx]

I knew you'd respond with that, lol. Back to F1T I go.

[roastbeef]

i really don't follow racing closely at all, i could be completely wrong in my guessing. i've always admired the rule bending and innovation surrounding racing. i pretty much watch highlights and there is a lot i'm oblivious to with fia and such.

here's a cool thought. since most cars are going to an electric steering rack... picture cars having two single sided racks that can independently adjust toe and ackerman angles... it probably wouldn't be too difficult to have a car that aligns itself up front.

[Ximian]

Originally Posted by OG Shark

I just transitioned to left foot braking & prefer it much more now. The harness will make a huge difference. Another big help would be to swap out to a wider pedal - makes it so much more comfortable and natural. I still have the small pedal on my street E90 M3 and it’s much more uncomfortable to keep the left foot that far right for me. I still do it though - I’m driving everything without a third pedal like this to help ingrain some muscle memory. Makes hopping in a manual a bit more interesting though.

As far as grip on the floor - assuming you still have carpet - maybe cut out the area where you rest your heel and then build it back up with grip tape? Then just takes the floor mat to cover it up.

Which pedal did you go with? Having to sit sideways so my left foot can be on the pedal is getting pretty old.

[OG Shark]

Originally Posted by Ximian

Which pedal did you go with? Having to sit sideways so my left foot can be on the pedal is getting pretty old.

Pedal Assembly - it's life changing

[Ximian]

Originally Posted by OG Shark

Pedal Assembly - it's life changing

1 left? Sold.

Easy enough DIY or did you get someone to install it?

[OG Shark]

Originally Posted by Ximian

1 left? Sold.

Easy enough DIY or did you get someone to install it?

Honestly couldn't tell you - my buddy who built the car did it in between a couple of times we tested the seating position. This was on the race build so the car was stripped at the time. I'll ask him about it. We are going to do it on my street E90 M3 as well when all the other bits show up for the car - haven't asked him specifically what the pedal swap entails but I will.

[Ximian]

Originally Posted by OG Shark

Honestly couldn't tell you - my buddy who built the car did it in between a couple of times we tested the seating position. This was on the race build so the car was stripped at the time. I'll ask him about it. We are going to do it on my street E90 M3 as well when all the other bits show up for the car - haven't asked him specifically what the pedal swap entails but I will.

I found this DIY - https://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=457922

It looks harder than a TVA swap to me, but that could be because I don't like contorting to work in confined space under the dash.

[rhyary]

Originally Posted by Ximian

I found this DIY - https://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=457922

It looks harder than a TVA swap to me, but that could be because I don't like contorting to work in confined space under the dash.

I left foot brake and this is on my todo.
I'll wait to see how this worked for you.
I got the pedal on eBay for $35 so it is worth a try

[roastbeef]

those of you doing left foot braking- have you realized a benefit yet? i would imagine it takes quite a bit of practice to get smooth transitions and overlaps.

[rhyary]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

those of you doing left foot braking- have you realized a benefit yet? i would imagine it takes quite a bit of practice to get smooth transitions and overlaps.

Yes I can see the benefit on AIM.
Yes, lots of practice on my daily car, rentals and any automatic car I get into.

I tried on my wife's manual car and almost went through a stop sign. I left foot braked, but it was the clutch.

[roastbeef]

i've flirted with it. like anything, it takes practice. when i mess around on the street, my left foot lacks the same sensitivity. but if you can shave of a tenth of a second per corner on a ten turn course is one second, right?

[rhyary]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

i've flirted with it. like anything, it takes practice. when i mess around on the street, my left foot lacks the same sensitivity. but if you can shave of a tenth of a second per corner on a ten turn course is one second, right?

18 turns :-)

Once you get used to not flipping from one pedal to the next, it actually feels better. I can't say if it is faster, but I can say my best time at NYST this year was with left foot braking [and Hoosies R7 :-) ]

It is very very awkward the first month or two if not longer. Definitely takes commitment and practice on the road at city/low speeds.

On one of the Ross podcast the guest said that the endurance racers discourage left foot braking because it leads you to have both feet on the gas and brakes at the same time which leads to brake wear.

[roastbeef]

Right. There was also discussion with Colin Braun about having the ability to switch from left foot braking to right foot braking because it also saves fuel.

[rhyary]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

Right. There was also discussion with Colin Braun about having the ability to switch from left foot braking to right foot braking because it also saves fuel.

yes. I remember that also. It just again and again shows you how complicated going fast is. Physics always get in the way

[bigjae1976]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

i've flirted with it. like anything, it takes practice. when i mess around on the street, my left foot lacks the same sensitivity. but if you can shave of a tenth of a second per corner on a ten turn course is one second, right?

The physical part of pressing on the brake, applying the right pressure smoothly is the easy part. That hardest part is the mental wiring and trust. I can left foot brake if no one is in front or behind me. But if I'm taking or giving a pass or something else is going on then I found left foot braking gets exponentially more difficult.

I think the skill comes in when you can switch to left foot braking without a lot of mental effort.

I saved a .5 second going into a fast sweeper that's down hill on entry and uphill on exit. Its a turn where I need to get on the brakes just to move the balance to the front wheels to get the car turned, don't really need to scrub speed. I just ease off on the throttle but stay in it, brush the brakes with my left foot.

Its not just the dead time getting on and off the brakes but you can more turning done under throttle with the rear wheels. Less steering input, less scrubbing, more speed gained.

I'm talking about driving a 3 pedal car. Not one of those lame a$$ DCTs... lol

[Richbot]

LFB is a no brainer in anything that doesn’t need a clutch once it’s moving imo.

And yeah that ability to overlap means you can do things with weight transfer at a granularity that isn’t achievable otherwise - that’s also why you hear about kart and open wheel people demolishing brakes on sports cars if theyre heavily reliant on the brake to balance a car in the entry and mid corner phase - it’s a great tool for those tweener corners but if it’s your entire strategy for getting the car’s attitude right in every situation you’re gonna have a bad time when confronted with a fast car with brakes that aren’t nuclear weapons grade

[ThunderMoose]

I LFB in my sim and in karts. I need to do it in the track car.

[rhyary]

Originally Posted by ThunderMoose

I LFB in my sim and in karts. I need to do it in the track car.

Thunder, you can't do LFB, you already too fast.

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by bigjae1976

The physical part of pressing on the brake, applying the right pressure smoothly is the easy part. That hardest part is the mental wiring and trust. I can left foot brake if no one is in front or behind me. But if I'm taking or giving a pass or something else is going on then I found left foot braking gets exponentially more difficult.

I think the skill comes in when you can switch to left foot braking without a lot of mental effort.

I saved a .5 second going into a fast sweeper that's down hill on entry and uphill on exit. Its a turn where I need to get on the brakes just to move the balance to the front wheels to get the car turned, don't really need to scrub speed. I just ease off on the throttle but stay in it, brush the brakes with my left foot.

Its not just the dead time getting on and off the brakes but you can more turning done under throttle with the rear wheels. Less steering input, less scrubbing, more speed gained.

I'm talking about driving a 3 pedal car. Not one of those lame a$$ DCTs... lol

i wonder if/how left foot braking could help a mdm driver. mdm kinda helps rotate the car in certain situations using the brakes. it would be interesting to see how the car interprets that input, but i would also presume someone doing something advanced like left foot braking wouldn't be using mdm.

[StripclubDJ]

Who's going to bw this weekend?

[bigjae1976]

Originally Posted by Richbot

LFB is a no brainer in anything that doesn't need a clutch once it's moving imo.

And yeah that ability to overlap means you can do things with weight transfer at a granularity that isn't achievable otherwise - that's also why you hear about kart and open wheel people demolishing brakes on sports cars if theyre heavily reliant on the brake to balance a car in the entry and mid corner phase - it's a great tool for those tweener corners but if it's your entire strategy for getting the car's attitude right in every situation you're gonna have a bad time when confronted with a fast car with brakes that aren't nuclear weapons grade

Good point.

When I play ice hockey, sticks don't last very long when I'm taking lots of slap shots. Sticks ain't exactly cheap. I'd imagine brake pads don't last very long with a lot of simultaneous two pedal action.

Luckily I suck enough at left foot braking where I don't do it very often.

[Bimmer Barney]

Any tips on cleaning calipers of brake dust after a track day? I have yellow calipers and used sonax but there's a lot of dust baked on that didn't come off initially. Haven't tried anything else yet so figure I'd ask for any pro tips.