Mastering Two-Footed Driving for Off-Roading Control
Unless you’re driving a manual vehicle (in which case, kudos to you! Feel free to skip this postand go to the next blog post ), you’re probably using a single foot to control both the gas and brake pedals, just like most of us learned when we first started driving.
But when it comes to off-roading, there’s a driving technique that can give you more control and minimize both physical and environmental impact: two-footed driving.
What is Two-Footed Driving?
Two-footed driving is exactly what it sounds like—using both feet to control the vehicle. Your right foot stays on the gas pedal, while your left foot operates the brake. This technique offers several key benefits for off-roading, including better control, smoother handling, and reduced environmental impact.
More Control, Less Lag Time
In standard one-footed driving, there’s a brief “lag time” when switching between the gas and brake pedals. During this brief moment, your vehicle lacks speed control. This can be dangerous, especially when navigating steep or technical off-road trails.
With two-footed driving, you maintain constant contact with both pedals, eliminating lag time and giving you full control of the vehicle at all times.
Imagine you’re descending a steep rock with a sharp switchback that requires backing up. As you complete the first part of the turn and shift from forward to reverse, you can keep both feet engaged, ensuring no loss of control during the critical maneuver.
Optimizing RPMs for Better Performance
Two-footed driving also helps you keep your Jeep’s engine in the ideal RPM range for optimal performance. If you’re driving an automatic Jeep (like a turbocharged JL), you’ll notice that the engine kicks into its turbo range around 1,800 RPM. Without two-footed driving, the engine might lag between 1,400-1,500 RPM.
By using two-footed driving, you can switch your Jeep to manual mode and maintain the RPMs around that sweet spot of 1,800 RPM. This minimizes the chance of the tires losing traction or spinning when the turbo kicks in, ensuring smoother power delivery.
Minimizing Physical and Environmental Impact
One of the greatest advantages of two-footed driving is its ability to reduce both physical and environmental impact during your off-road adventure.
- Physical Impact: Two-footed driving helps eliminate the constant back-and-forth movement of your foot between the gas and brake pedals. When navigating rough terrain, such as a rock garden, this technique allows you to brake on the backside of one rock before moving onto the next, reducing jarring impacts and improving ride quality.
- Environmental Impact: By reducing unnecessary time slippage between pedal transitions, two-footed driving also minimizes the shear forces on the soil. This reduces erosion, helping to preserve trails and prevent sediment runoff into nearby streams.
How to Get Started with Two-Footed Driving
Two-footed driving is a technique that’s easy to learn and master. To get comfortable with it, practice in a safe environment—such as a parking lot—where you can focus on getting the feel for using both feet while driving. For more practice tips, check out our parking lot drills.
By adopting the two-footed driving technique, you’ll gain more control, enhance your Jeep’s performance, and help minimize both physical and environmental impact during your off-road adventures. Give it a try and see the difference on your next trail ride!
Minimizing Impact
The best advantage of two-footed driving is the reduction in both physical and environmental impact.
Two-footed driving will reduce physical impact and improve ride quality by reducing lag time and allowing for very careful time placement.
Envision tackling a rock garden – moving over each rock with normal driving your foot is racing back and forth between gas and brake, as you bounce down the back of one rock and into the front of the next one. With two-footed driving that lag time is gone and you can brake down the backside before you hit the next rock.
Two-footed driving also helps minimize the environmental impact of your ride. By reducing time slippage, you are also reducing the shear forces on the soil and keeping more soil in place, preventing extra erosion and sediment loading in the nearby streams.
