I am having a lot of problems with my e-brake giving me a consistent feel when using it to early entry/angle corrections. next year I was thinking about trying left foot braking instead of relying on my e-brake as much. does anybody use this technique how do you like it?

 

Left foot braking is useful when coming in too hot and you need to slow the car down. You would only really use it after a clutch kick to initiate then brake to slow entrance speed or if you are already sideways and the turn tightens.

 

I would first make sure that everything is functioning properly, that your cable is not too stretched, make adjustments...

What pads are you using in the rear? Fresh rotors? Just a little more back ground info...

 

Hmm, left foot is not often used for entries for what I know (as left foot braking = right foot on the gas. On entries using the e-brake, you are slowing down by the brake + e-brake. on entries using clutch kick, you might use left foot)

I'm using the brakes like that :

- going outside, need to come back inside : left foot braking
- going inside, need to go wider : e-brake
- need to slow down : brakes, for very hard slow down, I use both.

when you take the brake with the left foot, you can make a bigger angle, you can correct your line (going tighter) but it's not the same use as the e-brake which is more used to go wider or connect some parts hard to get in one shot.

In tandem, better to use both to get closer but you can do it only by using the e-brake.

For entries, if you need to get the e-brake a lot, you have to make your initiation with harder weight transitions ...

This is the way I use them, and this is my approach ... maybe wrong !

 

Some good info here.

Keep in mind, if a wheel is locked up, it will go in a STRAIGHT LINE in the direction of the momentum of the car. So if you use the side brake, the rear of the car will kick out, when the front are "turned in". When you use the foot brake, your entire car will travel basically straight, as long as you have your brakes proportioned correctly(and also other variables such as course camber, up hill, down hill, etc...) As well as slowing down quite a bit.

When left foot braking, you can essentially "push" your car towards the inside of the turn(understeer) as the front is locked, and the rear is pushing forward.

For example: If you are a ********(see Rhys Millen or Tanner Foust) you can enter a turn fast, and on the outside, and then left foot brake to choke the other driver inside on the turn, and still be "drifting". Also known as a BRAKE CHECK, with out anyone seeing it, and not getting deducted for it, until you have judges that know the tricks.

 

My ebrake doesn't work for ****, so to do a long entry to a corner I try to come in as fast as I can, clutch kick into it to get the car sliding, then once it's sliding I can use the ebrake. Often even then I have to use the foot brake to help the rear wheels lock.

It sucks but it works. You just have to come in way way faster than normal, and throw the car very hard.

 

Yeah, i started to use foot brakes more a year ago. But Throwing the car like a man + clutch kick is the only way to enter as far as im concerned.

Ebrake is great to extend your line, but using it to initiate always seems lazy.

 

^word

The problem with ebrake too is it scrubs shitloads of speed. Even more so when you're foot braking at the same time. It's a good thing to be able to use if you way way overshoot a corner (if you initiated too late compared to how fast you're going), so you can scrub a bunch of speed so you don't hit a wall/curb/whatever, but just dragging ebrake on an entry usually looks lame (unless you're a pro driver and doing it right).

 

I am far from a pro driver, I will the first to admit that I still have a long way to go. as for brakes I am upgrading from stock blanks to power slots and going with a more aggressive pad, hawk hps. I usually try to enter in second with a aggressive feint with a clutch kick. but one event last year (Camdon, OH j&k kartway) where there was a long strait leading into a decreasing radius corner. I needed to scrub speed without losing angle and then power out of the next increasing radius corner. my e-brake was not locking up constantly so I was all over the place on entry. very scary when there is someones girlfriend standing there filming everyone.

 

here is the track heading down the strait to the new asphalt. sorry about the pic size, its what I had

 

This is why I asked what brakes you were using... the Hawks require some warm up... So when you start out that day, get up in second or third, and ebrake to a stop a few times, and hot lap, yanking the ebrake a few times, but don't hold the handle up, or you'll glaze em...

Once the pads are heated up a little bit, they should be grabbier.

PS: If you are still drifting in 2nd, you shouldn't need the ebrake at all, because you won't be going fast enough to make it useful. And when you do use it, yank it hard, don't be all nice with it.

 

thanks i will switch up the pads and see how they do