TD in DC

I find it extremely easy to heel/toe, and even double clutch, in the 996. The pedals seem to be optimized for this. However, I find it very, very awkward to left foot brake due to pedal placement, despite the fact that it doesn't bother me in other cars. Does anyone here actually left foot brake with the 996?

CarlosR

I tried it for the first time in my 996 cab at my last outing at VIR this summer, and found it much less difficult than I expected. Not only that, but I was amazed at the difference it made in the handling of the car. Being able to keep the car level, and avoid drastic weight transfers, made a huge difference in the speed that I could take corners and come out of them. A big thanks to Betty Church for teaching me the technique!

=Carlos=

996FLT6

Real advantageous for cars with turbos : ). Mike

mooty

you can do it only with earlier cars. my 05, if you left foot brake, the gas pedal is no longer functioning.

mds

problem solved with mds's special fix: snip a certain wire between abs and dme units. and install a switch to restore function as to not confuse techs. works great on windy roads for real smoothness.

earlyapex

I can't left foot brake in my SC due to the rightward position of the brake pedal and my short legs.

John, are you going stealthy? Your signature got allot shorter!

Russ Murphy

Is it awkward because you want to keep your toes on the dead pedal and it's a reach(as well as the brake pedal being closer to the seat than the dead pedal) to get your heel over there?

TD in DC

No, my car is a standard. It is awkward due to the position of the brake pedal in relation to my body. In other words, the throttle and brake pedals are positioned way over to the right and very close to each other. The clutch is almost straight down in front of your left leg. This positioning makes it easy to heal/toe, which is more important in the end, but it makes it feel really awkward to me to move my left foot so far over to the right.

I have been practicing left foot braking for awhile now in other cars, all of which are automatics, and I am becoming pretty comfortable with it. I tried it for the first time in the 996 yesterday morning, and it was very awkward.

ZBlue996Kam

I tried it and not very good at it. Decided to not left foot brake anymore. I just can't do it all the time.

There was this one time at Summit I hit the clutch instead of the brake and almost got me off track.

996FLT6

About the only time left foot braking works for me is when I engage the clutch in at the same time though its a different kinda manoevre : (. Mike

Russ Murphy

It seems like left foot braking would be the bees knees to go fast in these cars. I started messing around lfb'ing a few years ago in a rental mini-van driving across Colorado. I was making the rest of the guys want to hurl in the mountains.
It seems like I can have better throttle control using the left foot to brake rather than heel/toe (or in my case right-side ball of foot/left-side ball of foot). The problem comes in when there's a shift involved. It's not too hard to execute when its a no-shift turn.

karlooz

it's not easy beasue of the pedal positionand especially the size. i am toying with the idea of installing a big, wide tiptronic aftermarket brake pedal (orjust make one myself) to make it easier

mds

Keep trying. It takes a bit of time to adapt, but eventually, like heel/toe blipping, you will get used to it and it will become automatic.

As mooty says, late model cars will kill the throttle if you left foot brake more than about a second in duration. When the ABS unit detects braking, it sends a signal to the ECU on the ESO wire. ESO is the Emergency Shut Off. The ECU appears to interpret simultaneous braking and throttle as a possible throttle runaway condition, and kills the throttle. The ESO wire is also connected to the internal trunk latch. So if someone gets caught in the trunk and releases the latch, the ECU will kill throttle also.

If you left foot brake for less than a second the throttle kill won't activate and you will be OK. But if you happen to brake longer, you'll get the annoying cutout which upsets the car. Effectively the kill is like a abrupt lift on the throttle and could lead to oversteer and possible loss of control if you are not expecting it.

My hack posted above solves the problem. Simply cut the ESO wire between the ABS and the ECU. Normal ABS operations continue to work fine. The only change is that throttle kill is defeated.

JimB

Most but not all racers left foot brake. I'm not sure it's a good idea in a car without racing seats and harnesses where you need your left foot to be planted somewhere to keep your balance. That's a little bit scary.
Jim

racerjsz06

Maybe a better set of tires are in order.

None of the older 911's in white pass me at VIR or Summit!