Advanced Driving Hub

All right, we already cover cornering in a separate thread, but what about braking ?

Yes, worth considering if you want or need to slow down. In those sutuations, the appropriate application should be considered and, if necessary, put into action. There may be some situations where the approved method is not suitable in which case it should be varied.

Was there anything else you wanted to know?

well. basically, everything else.
I want to use the full braking performance of my car, but it's a struggle to do that and remain smooth whilst doing so.

There are certainly different opinions on this...
- some like to use the full performance of their brakes, arguing that they are there to be used...
- others, that braking shouldn't be obvious
- others, that you should drive in such a way that brakes aren't needed...

I think it is important to avoid binary braking (full on/full off), so gentle on, firm use, gentle off is good, but don't have strong views otherwise, other than having brakes means you should use them, as has been pointed out before, brakes work on all four corners, engine-braking works in only one place...

Then there is a whole discussion on when to use them, how to balance the car etc

Alasdair

Two words: 'start to'

Start to brake, keep adding to pressure
Start to balance the pressure (i.e. you've reached the pressure required)
Start to come off the brakes.

Every transition should have a small curve to it.

It's also worth considering the gradient of the braking pressure - the rise time.

As for Alasdair above - there is only one way to use the brakes and that is to use the brakes. Anyone trying to drive with the ideal of not using the brakes will get a running kick in the Gentlemen's area. You've got to manage the expectation of others and the others are going to expect you to use the brakes, not ease off really early because you're trying not to use them. Just because you have a bit of paper and are thus 'right' does not absolve you of this responsibility.

To show my old tutor I haven't forgotten:

Find, feel, firm, feather.

Doesn't matter how firm firm is, if you work up to it in a curve. To tie in with the cornering thread, you have to do it early enough that (if you're being systematic) you can finish braking, smoothly, not by jumping off the brake, before going back on the power to drive round the corner.

Trail braking has the same phases, except that you carry it into the corner. You continue to brake until you don't need brakes any more, but can be positively on the power again. There comes a point where the car's balance is neutral (it's been described as feeling like you're doing nothing), at which point you can switch back to power. There should be no coasting in between. So if you're going to use it, it completely replaces the systematic approach. What many people do is mix the two - come off the brakes before steering, because they've been told that's right, then lurch into the corner off the power, fingers crossed that the car will slow down some more until the speed feels right again. Do not do this! (especially with SD in the car )

I try to be smooth with my braking, and when nobody is behind me, I will try to avoid using them. On occasion I've come off the accelerator to gently slow down to a lower speed limit, and someone that was a long way behind me, suddenly is gaining, so I just apply light pressure to the foot brake to activate the brake lights. I do this because I've found people are more likely to tailgate me in the slower limit if I've slowed down without brakes, but by putting my brake lights on, they start braking too and we both enter the lower limit with a biggish gap between us.

StressedDave wrote:As for Alasdair above - there is only one way to use the brakes and that is to use the brakes. Anyone trying to drive with the ideal of not using the brakes will get a running kick in the Gentlemen's area.

Quite agree, I was thinking of some IAM views I have come across where there seems to be a pride in never touching the brakes, even if it leads to the rest of the driving deteriorating! A very unbalanced way of driving...

Alasdair

There are two sorts of braking:
a) Braking when it's just you driving and have that round thing to hang on to.
b) Braking when Mrs T (or other passenger) is in the front seat and when even quite modest braking will cause the road atlas and her handbag to slide off her lap.

akirk wrote:

StressedDave wrote:As for Alasdair above - there is only one way to use the brakes and that is to use the brakes. Anyone trying to drive with the ideal of not using the brakes will get a running kick in the Gentlemen's area.

Quite agree, I was thinking of some IAM views I have come across where there seems to be a pride in never touching the brakes, even if it leads to the rest of the driving deteriorating! A very unbalanced way of driving...

Alasdair

Maybe so; but I don't think it's a bad thing to occasionally do a drive in which you try to avoid using the brakes. In fact it could be a useful little exercise that serves to sharpen up other skills, but I wouldn't advocate regularly driving in that way, and one certainly needs to take care to avoid upsetting following drivers who may not understand (and be happy with) what's going on in front of them.