I was talking to Josef Newgarden at the Phoenix test this year, and I asked him how he worked up to speed in Turn 1. He told me that his approach on ovals is to go flat, and if the car starts to move, then he slows down… but how do I know what’s the right corner entry speed?
Q: “I wanted to tell you this. I went out after being off the track for 9 months, but while I was held up in the house I took your webinar on braking (Improve Your Braking & Corner Entry), and the one thing I remember you telling us is pay more attention to where you finish your braking then where you apply the brakes. OMG, this was much more important than I thought! I like comparing my lap and a pro driver’s time in my car. I am a visual person and I like to see at a glance where we are on the throttle and brakes. I did figure out that the reason I was losing time at Thunderhill was not braking too early. In fact, the pro and I were consistent on where we started braking, but I held the brakes on just a little longer. Obviously, this would consistently slow me down. So, without Data Acquisition is there another way to learn when it’s the perfect moment to get off the brakes?”
Q: “With a mid-engine GT car, how do you decide when to give more brake bias to the front versus the rear?”
Q: “I race a Spec E30 so every ounce of momentum is extra vital. How do I determine the best trade-off between maintaining momentum, but at the same time braking enough so I can keep the throttle to the floor through the next set of corners? An example is turn 3 and 3A at Sonoma. In my car it is possible to lift (no brakes) just before turning into 3 and the car will make it through the corner, but will require going on and off the throttle through 3A. The alternative is a slight brake before turn in to 3 and floor the throttle all the way through 3A and down the short straight. I know option two is faster, but how do I determine how much I should brake? How do I determine the exact entry speed that will bleed off enough speed that I can barely keep the car on the track at the exit of 3A and still not lift off of the throttle going over the crest of 3A?”
Q: “I’ve heard the general wisdom that for high speed corners, you want to be on the gas – at least a little – to settle the car and have equal weight across all four tires. My question is how can a driver determine when a corner is fast enough to require that technique, versus trail-braking to the apex? Is it more about speed per se, or track surface, bumps and camber, or do you just try a conservative technique and see how the car behaves?”
Q: “I’m doing sim racing and until now I was not too much paying attention to the EoB (End-of-Braking). What can we look at to use as a reference point for the EoB? For the BoB (Begin-of-Braking) it’s easy to look at a wall, curb or sign, but for the EoB I don’t really see what to look at.”