Left Foot or Right Foot Braking? 

Left Foot or Right Foot Braking? 

Left foot or right foot braking?  There are two ways that you can approach your braking; with your left foot or your right foot. No matter how you choose to brake, you apply the pressure according to how much grip is present. If you left foot brake, you begin to brake before you let go of the throttle completely. You don’t have to be all the way off your throttle, but it’s important that you don’t begin to brake before you let go a little.

The pedal overlap must not be too big or you will begin to overheat your brakes and may experience brake failure later. This is why it’s essential that you don’t linger on the throttle when you enter your braking zone and begin to apply brake pressure.

If you right foot brake, the speed by which you move your foot is the main priority. You need to physically train your swiftness and your firmness so that the speed of your movements doesn’t affect your performance on the track. When you apply the brake pressure, it’s important that you find the right peak pressure instead of searching for it. The difference here is that if you are searching for the right pressure, you will become hesitant in your movements and this will affect the efficiency of your braking.

Left Foot or Right Foot Braking? 

Another thing to keep in mind is that people tend to forget to be quick on the brake as soon as you don’t have to brake very hard. You need to be equally fast no matter how much or how little you have to brake and of course keep adjusting the pressure according to how much grip is present. It’s a common misconception that you will drive significantly faster if you left foot brake. The reality is that there’s a lot of other techniques that you need to master before diving into the left foot braking. This is true even for cars with paddle shift where you can perform both braking techniques.

The advice is to keep right foot braking until you master a great deal of other techniques, so when the time comes to learn how to left foot brake, you don’t have to worry about other things on the track. Gokart racers may have an advantage when it comes to left foot braking, because they are used to the technique. 


Tommy Schröter
Author: Tommy Schröter

I am the founder and CEO Baseline Driver Training. Developed by racing drivers - for racing drivers.