Hi Drivers!
I like cars... But I LOVE to Drive.
I've been through most Formula Ford racing schools here and in Canada. And then some.
I don't see any sections here on proper Racing / Precision Driving Technique.
I would love to kick around the advantages of Left-Foot Braking, why we load tires progressively to get maximum grip, and racers' eye technique--which is one of the keys to never feeling rushed at high speed.
Are there any Alums here from Bertil Roos Racing School? And if so do you folks use his methods in your everyday driving like I do?
PS: I can't wait till it snows... the older I get, the more I love driving on white roads.
did the highway driving school like 20 years ago, made me a much better driver on the street and I passed on a lot of the stuff when I was a driving instructor for a local school. The skid car was the absolute best, helped me with smooth steering inputs and front to rear balance, wish I could have spent a few hours in that car. Taking it through a slalom course was a hoot. The vision training, I think they called it ocular vision help a lot of my students. It forces you to focus far down the road and use peripheral vision to handle more.
The slide cars were even better than wet skid pad training.
I was shooting at racing for a career--so I did so many Formula Ford lapping days at Roos its not even funny. And every lapping day included Slide car training--I must have 200 miles of sideways driving in those things.
I even sent my wife there for a One Day Highway Course. She had a bad wreck in the rain as a teen and that truly helped her.
I did Roos' school in 1986... hard to believe it's been that long! Though I never had the dollars to do anything more than autocross that training has saved my ass on the road more times than I can count. RIP Bertil!
In reply to triumph7 :
Bertil was so intense. He created and patented his slide cars. His ability to articulate Exactly where to look and why, combined with his Auto-Pilot steering technique are truly Game Changing.
I'm not knocking the other racing schools I went to. I learned valuable things at all of them.
But there is a World of difference between telling students to " keep your eyes up" or "develop your sight picture" things they talk about vs Bertil teaching how to precisely judge your braking points by looking at the turn-in area from a long straight or using the apex to judge braking points on less high speed approaches... only his straight auto-pilot technique makes that possible.
And he understood how crucial it was to teach how to read the cars apex angle and then engage the curved auto-pilot so you can fix your gaze at the exit edge... And Then Do Not Look Ahead until your car crosses that exit.
A True Genius both as a racer and imho even more so as an instructor.
May He Rest In Peace
Left foot braking clearly allows for MUCH faster brake application (and gas application after braking). It can take some getting used to so will likely be less precise until you are.
It also is necessary for standing burnouts and use to be used to keep laggy turbos spooled while braking.
In reply to aircooled :
That usually doesn't work too well when you have three pedals.
Funny thing, I got in an online "discussion" with some guy presenting himself as a driving coach. He was adamant that trail braking was the fastest way around a corner in every situation and I was telling him trail braking was only for an understeering car, not needed in a properly setup formula car.
triumph7 said:
I was telling him trail braking was only for an understeering car, not needed in a properly setup formula car.
I'm just some guy on the internet, but moving some of your deceleration into the region between the turn in point and the apex is going to be faster. I'd imagine the real disagreement here is if trail braking is a discrete technique or not.
aircooled said:
Left foot braking clearly allows for MUCH faster brake application (and gas application after braking). It can take some getting used to so will likely be less precise until you are.
The biggest advantage to left-foot braking is Not in brake application--although Yes there is an advatage there too.
Its main advantage though is in the entire Universe of variables it allows for on Brake Release. Its ASTONISHING what you can make the car do once you own the method. I think it was Shelby who also extols brake release to be its prime advantage.
This is how I taught myself to left-foot brake in my street car before I brought it to my FF racing--this idea came to me out the blue one morning. It only took a week--but that's a week of basically thinking about nothing else and working on it for hours and hours everyday. Feel free to try it yourself, but here is the is one caveat....
...I consider the following to be the propietary information of CHECKERED BLOOD, Inc., which I own: Make sure you are not in traffic, and apply the brakes as you normally would. And then while your right foot is still on the brake--use your left foot and try to match that Exact same level of braking pressure/deceleration that you had achieved with your right foot (to be clear: you now have Both feet on the brake pedal at the same time).
The first time I tried this, I almost went through the windshield--lol. That's why I said Make sure you're not in traffic. Your left foot initially is like a block of wood.
One more Vital Point about Left-Foot Braking...
I am NOT talking about driving and having your Left foot perpetually hovering over the brake pedal.
I mention this only because Bing AI--which I asked after I posted--mentioned doing this as a way to save time on brake application.
In reality the time saved comes from anticipating when you are about to engage the brakes and Then moving your left foot into position to brake while you are Still on the throttle.
red_stapler said:
triumph7 said:
I was telling him trail braking was only for an understeering car, not needed in a properly setup formula car.
I'm just some guy on the internet, but moving some of your deceleration into the region between the turn in point and the apex is going to be faster. I'd imagine the real disagreement here is if trail braking is a discrete technique or not.
Regarding trail-braking...
Imho, the ability to perform trail-braking is a vital tool.
Formula car or not--its an essential part of an expert driver's repertoire.
Look at this way: even if you can drive up to that 2nd gear corner in your Formula car--and brake to load the front tires, then turn the steering wheel and then release brake: tossing the car into corner with a touch of oversteer; then catching the back with throttle in the first 1/3 of the corner. You might not be able to that there in the wet. And so trail-braking might be the answer for that corner in the wet, or traffic or maybe your playing the guy behind you--hiding your strength till the last lap.
Conversely you also need to be comfortable throwing your car into the corner (Formula car or not) and catching the back.
