Q: “I have a question about driving the racing line and being smooth and minimizing overall grip. I don’t know what you call this technique, but it is explained in the saying, “You gotta turn left before you can turn right.” So, for a right-hander, if you make a straight approach, you have a “turn-in-point-a” (tpa), where you would start turning the wheel to the right. If, before the above tpa, you steer slightly to the left, and then back right just at tpa, this starts the weight shift a little earlier first left, then right as you get to tpa, so things are already leaning to the outside compared to just starting to turn the wheel right at tpa. What do you think of this approach? When would you use it? What do you call it? As far as your smoothness example, and giving up some overall traction when you turn the wheel, does this get you closer to 40 rather than just turning the wheel to the right?”

A: I don’t recommend this. And by the way, this is referred to in a few different ways, but the most common ways is to call it a “Scandinavian flick,” or “pendulum turn.”

Using your example, if I turn the steering to the left, the weight is being transferred to the right; then when I turn to the right for the corner, the weight transfers to the left. That swing from one direction to the other is now more dramatic — it’s almost like the beginning of the swaying of a pendulum. So, you’re actually going to cause more weight transfer than if you didn’t “turn left before you turn right.”

This can be an effective technique in a rally car, or on a dirt track to help the car turn — using the pendulum effect. But on a road course, you don’t need to “trick” the car to go to the right by initially turning left. On gravel or dirt, the g-loads are lower, so the effect of weight transfer it less; and, because the grip levels are lower, you sometimes need to make the car turn by using this technique.

Watch the best road racers in the world, and they actually do a tiny bit of the opposite: they turn the steering wheel very slightly to the right for a fraction of a second before fully turning the wheel to the right to head into the corner. Why? Because of what you mentioned — it makes the weight transfer less sudden, and therefore causing less overall weight transfer, which results in more overall traction. And it means you’re not “shocking” the front tires when going from straight ahead to a turn into the corner.

Make sense?

As for the smoothness example you mention, what you’re referring to is something I explain in the Why Smooth is Fast video. Check it out.