In Fast, Out Faster

Conventional wisdom is the person that gets to throttle first coming out of the corner is the fastest driver. While that is somewhat true it is only part of the story. 

There are other elements to being fast than throttle application and just getting to part throttle earlier might not help. If one driver gets to 50% throttle earlier does it help? Well let’s look at it by taking it to the extreme. If one driver gets to 10% throttle and the other driver gets to 100% throttle at the same early point who do you think will be faster coming out of the corner? Logically 100% throttle is better than 10% therefore the reality of the situation is that the driver that gets to 100% throttle earlier will be faster coming off the corner. So your goal should be to get to full throttle as early as possible coming off the corner.

But there is even more to corner exit than just mashing the throttle to 100% at the apex. The corner entry and mid corner are also important. If you brake, turn in, and get immediately to full throttle you can convince yourself that you are at the very limit of what the car and tires can do. But what you might be doing is over slowing for the corner that is you enter the corner 3-5 mph slower than maximum and then accelerate back up to speed by getting to full throttle early. In equal equipment the racer that enters the corner 3-5 mph slower but gets to full throttle earlier will be slower than the racer that enters the corner faster and gets to full throttle slightly slower. Why is that? Because for that short distance of the track one car was traveling slower than the other therefore taking more time. Speed = distance / time. Therefore Time = Distance / Speed. The higher the speed the smaller the time. Let’s look at what the data traces might look like. 

Here you can see that both cars enter the corner one car has a sharp dip in their speed trace before getting to full throttle and accelerating out of the corner with speed increasing. The other driver has a smoother flatter section of the lower curve as they turn into the corner. Looking at the time differential of various corners this can result in 0.1 to 0.3 seconds lost in a single corner. Add that up to several corners around the lap and you can be losing significant time to your competitors. Your goal should be to use the break release to assist with balancing the car, fine tuning the speed adjustment and helping to rotate the car. Depending on the corner this will look different especially for slow hair-pins where you want a lot of rotation versus a faster sweeping corner. In most cases the speed trace should ease off the brake pedal with a changing slope in the speed trace for the last portion of the braking.

Driving a Corner Fast

Ok knowing that we are slower and losing time what do we do about it? Just charging into the corner with a ton of speed and hoping for a better result is ill advised and probably isn’t going to end well. Breaking down the corner into the elements can help. Corners you can take flat out you already know what to do smooth hands while turning in and peg that throttle wide open. Most other corners consist of:

• Speed adjustment 

• Turn In

• Car balance

• Brake release or maintenance throttle 

• Angle and position to the Apex

• Full throttle pick up

• Track out

Turn In & Track Out

Before looking at corner entry and exits speeds make sure that you are providing smooth steering inputs for turn in and track out. For road racing you want to avoid jerking the wheel as you approach the corners or throwing the car into the corner. This can cause issues with weight transfer and overwork the tires result in overheating and a reduction in grip. A good rule of thumb is slow hands for the fast corners, fast hands for the slow corners. On track out you want to make sure you are letting the car run to the outside of the track by unwinding the steering wheel input. If you are keeping a lot of steering input in on corner exit you are scrubbing the tires and losing speed. Try changing your angle to the Apex or adjusting your Apex position slightly.

Apex Position and Angle

We previously talked about the Apex position and angle in our “5 More Tips To Faster Lap Times” article. The angle of the car to the Apex is just as important as the location of the Apex. Depending on how wide or how tight the corner is will determine how oblique your angle is to the Apex. Changing you angle to the Apex with more initial car rotation in the corner can really help you get to full throttle sooner.

Note the various angles each of these race cars has to the Apex. Less rotation with the nose of the car pointing more to the outside of the track might delay you getting to full throttle sooner.

Full Throttle Pick Up

The full throttle pick up point really depends on many factors including the corner radius (decreasing/increasing), track conditions and overall car performance. A good guide is that you want your full throttle application to be 1-2 car lengths before or after the Apex. To help you identify where to improve observe where you are getting to full throttle.

If you are at full throttle at the turn in point or more than two car lengths before the Apex you most likely over slowed for the corner and are trying to accelerate back up to speed to fix the initial speed correction.

If you are at Full Throttle more than two car lengths after the Apex you most likely coasted or waited to know you were going to make the corner and therefore were slow coming off the corner. 

In both cases try getting to full throttle closer to the Apex point and see what it does. Pick a safer corner that you are comfortable with ideally with some runoff, not Turn 1 at Indy, something where if you make mistake you know you can catch the car. For late throttle application try increasing the amount of maintenance throttle by 5-10% increments until you can get to full throttle earlier. Or try moving the full throttle pick up point closer to the Apex by an 1/8 to a 1/4 car length and see what that does. For early full throttle application try carrying 2-3 mph more into the corner.

Achieving More Corner Entry Speed

So how do you carry 2-3 mph into the corner? Corner entry speed is all about the initial speed adjustment you perform as you enter the corner. There are a few different ways:

• A breathe or lift of the throttle

• Braking later for the corner

• Reducing the brake pedal pressure

• Releasing the brakes earlier

Typically most people immediately try braking later for the corner. Often this results in a tense driver as they think they won’t make the corner and so they brake harder and lock up the brakes or overshoot the corner. Before you start moving the braking point up try the other methods first.

Reducing the brake pedal pressure can be the easiest adjustment to achieve as you just need to use less force on the brake pedal. Think of the brake pedal force as a scale from 1 to 10 where 1 is a light brush of the brakes and 10 is threshold braking. Think about what brake pedal pressure you already use for the corner and then adjust it down by one or two levels. So if you are at an 8 pedal try a 6 or 7 pedal.

Another way to increase your entry speed is to come off the brakes a little earlier. The last portion of braking is used for corner speed adjustment so by coming off a little earlier (a couple of feet or half a meter) you will have scrubbed off less speed and carry few more mph or kph.

Once you are comfortable and consistently entering the corner faster with either lighter brake pressure or earlier brake release then start moving the braking point up the track in very gradual increments. We are only talking 2-3 mph so very small changes in braking position can make that possible.

Putting It All Together

The great thing about racing is the challenge as lots of corners might be similar but they are all different in some small way. It could be corner radius, track surface, road camber, elevation change, or even the current track conditions due to the weather. There is no exact and perfect way to do every corner the same. But these tools and rough guides should help you determine where you can gain speed and lower those lap times.

• Turn in with smooth hands: faster for slow corners, slower for fast corners

• The brake release should be used to:

  • Fine tune your corner entry speed

  • Balance the car

  • Rotate the car

• Get to Full Throttle as soon as possible

• Full throttle pick should be 1-2 car lengths before or after the Apex depending on the corner

• If you can get to Full Throttle earlier you over slowed

• If you are over slowing for the corner try:

  • Reducing the brake pedal pressure

  • Releasing the brakes earlier

  • Adjust your braking position in small increments

• If you get to full throttle later try:

  • Increasing the amount of maintenance throttle by 5-10% increments

  • Moving the full throttle pick up closer to the Apex by 1/8th car length increments

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