by Ross Bentley | Apr 22, 2019 | Ask Ross
Q: “This season I’m working on corner entry speed. Briefly, my general approach has been on tight, slow corners, go in deep, brake hard and rotate the car to get to gas before the apex. On high-speed corners, brake early but lightly to get the car balanced and myself comfortable so I can carry more speed through the corner and get on the throttle before the apex.
“I’m thinking of trying a subtle adjustment on the high-speed corners; i.e., maybe trail braking a little longer and carrying more speed to the apex so that I don’t get to the throttle until or very slightly after the apex. In other words, if I get to the throttle early, then I took off too much speed on entry. I realize a book could be written on this, but I would love your general thoughts for my guidance.”
by Ross Bentley | Apr 15, 2019 | Ask Ross
Q: “Could you comment about pedal mounting and differing techniques? After training myself in a Ford Mustang street car to handle “top mounted down swing” pedals, I found that I could not use old Porsche “bottom mounted bottom swing” pedals.”
by Ross Bentley | Apr 8, 2019 | Ask Ross
Q: “This is a question I have been wondering about for some time now. I do informal track weekends in my 2011 BMW M3. I’m starting to add lightness and adding track parts through replacing things like the battery, lighter brakes, removing the rear seat, and adding aero. For this particular car, it is much easier to take weight out of the rear of the car than the front of the car. Is having less overall weight in the car more beneficial than a more weight-balanced car? Can aerodynamics be used to compensate for a car starting to lean towards a front-weight bias?”
by Ross Bentley | Apr 1, 2019 | Ask Ross
Q: “I did a track day at NCM in the rain – not damp, but RAIN. Rain, as in standing water many inches deep against curbs, little rivers flowing, no visibility when following… you get the picture. Years ago, I thought you would lower your hot (coming off track) tire pressure to soften/make more compliant tires as you do for sway bars, shock settings, etc. However, a pro who’s name I won’t mention (but he’s won a “few” races in BMWs), suggested that lower pressure was flat wrong. He said you should increase your hot pressure significantly to help pump the water from under the contact patch. Since then, I’ve tried raising a couple of psi a few times and it didn’t hurt, but it wasn’t obviously better either. What’s your take? Raise pressures, lower pressures or the same in the rain?”
by Ross Bentley | Mar 25, 2019 | Ask Ross
Q: “After your recent Improve Your Braking & Corner Entry webinar, I have two questions:
“1. Where is the EoB (End-of-Braking) point? Could it be defined as “when the car is under control and pointed where you want it to be”?
“2. Listening to tire squeal… first, in relation to the Slip Angle curve, where does tire squeal begin, near the peak, at the peak, or on the downslope? And when tires squeal, are we close to (or already in) pushing/front and/or getting loose/rear?”
by Ross Bentley | Mar 18, 2019 | Ask Ross
Q: “My question is, why does the track get slippery when it gets really hot and how to adapt to it with my tire pressures, as that is really all I can change at the track?”
