Quote:
Originally Posted by crmalcolm
Personally, I place no value in an article that claims left foot braking was new to F1 in 1994, when the 1974 Lotus had been designed for left foot braking 20 years earlier?
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I agree LFB wasn't new to F1 in 1994 and would like everyone to understand I didn't write that article merely a (IMO much better worded) book, trying to put forward many interesting, theories and findings (with corresponding evidence).
For instance what Senna might have heard as he studied Schumacher's car at Aida 1994 is not clear and remains a topic of debate to this day. Many believe it was the sound of an illegal traction control device at work. The book's alternative theory is connected with the semi-automatic gearbox which in 1994 was still new technology. Ferrari introduced it in 1989, and by 1992 both Williams & McLaren were using a semi-automatic gearbox whereas Benetton’s system was operational a year later. Because semi-automatic gearboxes didn’t require a clutch pedal/lever after the start, drivers could now modify their technique in ways that were previously not possible because F1 cars could now adopt 2 pedal layouts (not 3 pedals as before).
My research from all the period magazines like Autosport etc indicates that by Aida 1994 out of all the F1 teams, only McLaren & Benetton had a 2 pedal layout in reality. We know Schumacher was at the forefront of LFB braking at the time (the book has telmentry traces to prove this). Also worth noting that LFB wouldn't have been necessrily during the active suspension & electronic gizimo era. Of course all of that was banned for 1994 ;-)
Interestingly in 1994 Hakkinen, a left foot braker, annihilated Brundle when they were teammates in the two pedal McLaren that year. Over the course of their 15 races together Hakkinen out qualified Brundle by an average of 4.73 places per race. Whereas in 1992, Schumacher out qualified Martin by an average of 2.69 places per race. Brundle recently admitted somewhere here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0T_Kh1aEbpQ
“Then when I had to compete with Michael and Mika, it (right foot braking) was a hindrance because they could rotate the car into the slow corners and use their left foot on the brake and pick up the throttle and transfer between the two pedals. In a way that I just couldn’t do. So unfortunately that crash in Dallas (1984) was probably the key reason I underperformed (in F1).”
This is why I am keen to post a small extract of the book here, because it contains more evidence and logic like this. Which will hopefully help the originally topic along?