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?”
A: Okay, you really have three questions here, so let me answer them one at a time.
#1 The EoB point is when your foot is completely off the brake pedal. It’s where your brake lights have gone out (if your car has brake lights). It’s possible your car is under control and pointed where you want it to be before or after the EoB. We use the timing of the EoB to help us have the car pointed where we want with the appropriate control. So try turning your thinking around on this.
#2a – Great question! And impossible to answer because every tire is different, and even the amount of tread depth on the tire will change this. But you’re onto something… learn what the difference in sound is between YOUR tires approaching the peak, at the peak, and beyond the peak and you’ll be very fast. Again, even through the life of your tires, with the reduction in tread depth, the sound coming from them will change. Since every tire is different, you need to learn what your tires sound like, so set some practice time aside to deliberately focus just on listening to your tires. If you do that enough, you’ll tune into what sound they make when at the peak of the Traction versus Slip Angle curve.
#2b – My previous response should shed some light on this. Where is the squeal coming from – the front tires or the rears? Is it possible the sound from the front tires is from being beyond the peak, while the sound coming from the rears is because they’re still approaching the peak (this would be understeer)? Yes. Again, take time and specifically focus on listening to your tires and learn to recognize the sound they make when before, at, and over their peak.
If this was simple and could easily be put into simple categories of information, everyone would do it!! 🙂