[i]The Generation 2 Integra Club and those posting these tips stress that performing these tips/tricks are at your own risk.
No one will be held liable for error / injury but yourself.
As an added note, these techniques should not be performed on public roads.[/i]
Left Foot Braking
Mostly used on Front-Wheel-Drive (FWD) cars to offset the tendancy to understeer during cornering. During high speed cornering, a car with heavy understeer tends to keep moving in a straight line and into the outer edge of the curving road rather than the direction of where the wheels are pointed to. This is somewhat the fault of not having a Limited-Slip-Differential (LSD), but that is another topic altogether. Left foot braking, more or less, helps keep both front wheels evenly planted on the road surface, therefore more grip to the wheels that are driving the car.
When approaching a corner, you should start slowing down like you normally do, braking using your right foot. At this point, you can use the Heel-To-Toe method and downshift to the proper gear. Now, you should move your right foot over to the accelerator and your left foot to the brake at the same time. This is how left foot braking starts.
Continue slowing the car down by applying the brakes with your left foot but continue to maintain a decent speed. As you are about to turn into the corner, accelerate with your right foot and continue to brake with your left foot at the same time. Being a FWD, the rear wheels will begin to slide while the front wheels keep moving. The car’s weight is transferred to the front, causing the front wheels to have more grip than the rear wheels. The car begins to over steer.
Now you have to keep the car in control by steering in the direction that you want to go, and applying more or less throttle and braking as needed. You have to use both your pedals at the same time, which will take practice. Lifting off the accelerator will cause more over steer and flip out the car’s rear even more. Applying more throttle while easing off the brakes will reduce over steer and straighten out the car. Keep performing this balancing act to smoothly clear the corner at high speed, all the while making little corrections to your steering. At the end of the corner, accelerate and continue racing.
Cadence Braking
If you lock the front wheels under heavy braking, you can no longer steer. ABS (anti-lock braking) automatically keeps the tires on the point of locking so that you can continue to steer as well as slow down.
If you don’t have ABS you can use cadence braking whereby you lock the wheels, then release the brakes so that you can steer, brake again, release and steer again in sequence until you have avoided the hazard. This is particularly useful on slippery roads, but it takes practice and quick thinking to be able to release the brakes when you are sliding towards the hazard.
Handbrake Turn
Locking the back wheels only will make them slide, so the tail of the car comes round more quickly, and you can turn more tightly; the sooner the car is pointing the way you want it to go, the sooner you can accelerate again. This is used particularly on front-wheel-drive cars to stop the nose of the car plowing outwards on sharp corners. With front-drive cars you can keep your foot on the accelerator. With rear-drive cars, you need to declutch to start the slide and then accelerate hard to keep it sliding until you want it to stop.
Handbrake U-Turn
The hand brake is the savior of front wheel drive in many situations. The front wheel drive car is by far the best at handbrake turns and by far the easiest to master them in.
Due to the fact that the front wheels are driven and the handbrake acts on the rear wheels you can pull the handbrake without coming off the gas.
To perform a 180 and continue in the other direction.
Slow down to about 20-30ish in second gear, pull the handbrake hard enough to lock the rear wheels and steer smoothly in either direction. The car will start to swap ends. When at about 140ish degrees, hit the gas, drop the handbrake, select 1st gear and dump the clutch, all in one smooth motion (takes practice).
This should finish off the 180 and start pulling you down the road amidst a cloud of tire smoke.
[i]As a reminder, these techniques should not be performed on public roads. All the techniques described above were contributed by various sources with permission and I claim no ownership whatsoever. Enjoy and be safe.[/i]