Suspended or Floor Mounted Pedals

[Mike Giblin]

Just musing. I have never driven a car with floor mounted pedals. I guess that suspended pedals' main advantage is keeping the floor clean. Floor mounted pedal motion more closely matches foot-ankle motion.
Really interested in opinions of those who drive in "anger".
Tilton unit that came with my GT-R is a nice piece and I don't plan to change unless I learn something new.
Thanks,
Mike

 

[Julian]

My first GT40 (a KVA) had hung pedals, they were almost impossible to operate given outstretched legs and angle of my feet. I switched to a floor mount Tilton unit fairly rapidly resulting in a car that was like night and day to drive.

I think the selection depends on your seating angle and pendulum effect of the pedal, but with outstretched legs the effort transfers from your knee to your ankle.

Julian

 

[Mesa]

outstretched legs the effort transfers from your knee to your ankle

Never had occasion to think about it, but it makes good sense. I imagine with an Atlantic car you don't move your knees at all.

 

[PeteB]

Adjusting the brake bias is a hell of a lot easier on the floor mounted pedals than suspended pedals.

 

[Howard Jones]

Here's something to consider.

Floor mounts are harder to keep clean and free from debris. This is a serious problem if you don't regularly vacuum out and clean the peddle box area. This becomes even more of a constant check sheet point at the track. Before every session have a look around the peddle box and make SURE that the balance mechanism is working free and there is nothing that shouldn't be there interfering with it's function.

A loose marble sized pebble can jam the balance bar and not allow it to transfer accurate foot motion to the masters.

On the other hand the balance bar is a valuable tool and the "feel" is just more comfortable IMHO with a floor mount system. BUT it IS a race car system and must be maintained as such. You just move the foot instead of the whole leg and the result is a more refined modulation of the brakes at maximum deceleration rates. This is not something you often do on the street.

I think a pure street car might be better suited to a simple tandem master cylinder and clutch master mounted overhead. A Brake proportioning valve can be added to the rear brakes to fine tune the overall balance. Once set it will normally not be changed again on a street driven car. On my GT40 I put the proportioning valve near the master in the front nose compartment so that it would remain undisturbed once set. Once I had it right I never changed it again.

 

[Randy V]

I could not agree with you more Howard...
Particularly about the debris getting caught up in the balance bar assembly.
I have seen balance bars jam and bend, yielding an almost completely inoperative brake pedal on very fast racecars. We converted to swing pedals on all cars afterward.