Race Driving Fundamentals: Practical Discussion
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Practical Discussion
06.51
| 00:00 | - Alright we've just learned about our turn in phase of the corner and we're just going to dive into some of the concepts that we talked about in that module here with Andrew and try and get a little bit of a better understanding behind some of the nuances of this. |
| 00:14 | So while turn in Andrew is obviously as its name implies, the point where we're beginning to turn the wheel, as we've talked about in the modules so far, everything kind of gets driven by the step before and you've highlighted one of the most common problems is drivers that are braking too early and they're not braking hard enough. |
| 00:34 | So really to get that turn in point nailed, we need to be thinking about our braking point first and foremost. |
| 00:41 | - Yeah braking point is an important one, it's almost all like a snowball effect. |
| 00:44 | You've got to get that braking point right, and then the next point is making sure with the turn in you're not over slowing the car or you're not carrying too much speed in, it's such a fine line to find what is exactly correct and making sure that you're not carrying too much brake into the corner with that turn in point because you might over unload the car so there's just so many different ways and things to think about during that turn in phase to get it correct. |
| 01:09 | - Alright let's come back and we'll deal with these two aspects, the trail braking aspect and the balance of the car vs actually choosing our turn in point. |
| 01:15 | So as I mentioned, this really starts with our braking marker and a braking reference but then we also want to pick a point on the track which is going to be our turn in point so are you looking for a visual reference there to turn the car in or are you doing this by sense or feel? - It's a visual point, good way to look at it is you're not looking on the outside of the track going oh where's my turn in point, you're looking right down for the apex point of the corner in where you need to go so you're more focused on that, using any peripheral, maybe you're looking for a turn in point there but you're just really turning, looking into the corner and that'll help gauge the speed as well if you've come in too fast or too slow because you're looking how fast that point's coming up but you'll really know and learn to control the car that little bit better as you getting to the turn in point. |
| 02:00 | - Now you've just picked up on vision and I just want to mention that that is a topic in and of itself which we do deal with a little bit further into the course but it is really important for this aspect. |
| 02:09 | OK so we've got our visual reference, where we're going to start turning the car into the corner but of course as you've mentioned, the snowball effect so we need to be manipulating our braking point and how hard we're braking so that we're still at the correct speed for turn in. |
| 02:24 | How do we know when we get to that turn in point if we've got that braking right or we can maybe push or braking maybe a car length later or we've over cooked it and we're carrying just two or three km to much speed? - That's a really good question. |
| 02:37 | Probably the best way to know if you've got it right is you should be coming down to the apex point basically feeling like, am I going to make it. |
| 02:44 | It shouldn't be ooh I've pushed the car in so hard we're going to go wide, that's an obvious way that you've pushed too wide and you haven't turned in correctly. |
| 02:53 | The other one is if you're looking at the apex going, is it going to come, it's taking forever, that's when you've overslowed the car and naturally that's when you pick the gas up so a good way to think of it is you basically should be looking for that apex going am I going to make it, am I going to make it, yep we've made the apex. |
| 03:09 | - So right on the limit, right down to the apex. |
| 03:11 | Alright so trail braking, this is what we're doing during this turn in and it's important to sort of reiterate again from the module, we're using that combination of as we turn in, as we get off the brake, then we're able to apply more steering but there's an element here of the trail braking we've already learned about, we're going to be using the trail braking to help slow the car but the other really important aspect of this was with the car balance during that turn in phase so can you just talk to us from your perspective how you use that, how you feel out what the car's doing? - Yeah so good way to feel that out is you should be feeling it, a real smooth release of that brake, there should be no, oh I've got to get off the brake to turn in or oh I've got to be hard on the brake to still make the apex, it should be a real smooth transition. |
| 03:57 | That initial brake as we've talked about has got to be nice and hard but it's then just making sure it's really smooth transition to getting off the brake. |
| 04:06 | It should be to a point where you can hardly feel that brake release, it should be just nice and smooth and that's just helping that balance of the car, we're talking that weight transfer again, we're talking that traction circle, riding that rim, making sure we're piecing all that together and there should be just no jolting or anything going on. |
| 04:23 | - And then we can manipulate potentially the amount of braking pressure that we're using if we've got the car understeering or alternatively the car is loose coming into the corner, we know that we want to maybe brake a little bit earlier and get off the brakes so we've got the weight transfer onto the rear. |
| 04:37 | So those are the subtle aspects we always need to keep in mind during that turn in phase? - Yeah and just to add to that as well, when we're saying we're manipulating that brake to get it turned, it's only tiny percentages we're talking about, we're not saying oh it's not turning in properly, I'm going to need another 50% brake pressure, it's going from 10% pressure to 15%, it's just those tiny little weight transfers that just make all the difference to getting the apex or not getting the apex. |
| 05:04 | 'Cause you know you may be looking at 12% of brake pressure that you're riding in for example and if you go to 20% that might be enough to throw too much weight forward to get an oversteer so you go right, why did it oversteer, was it me, was it the setup, was it my manipulation of the brake? So there's just so many things to constantly be thinking about to get this point right. |
| 05:23 | - And that's really something I want to reiterate here as well, it is so important if you want to be improving and going faster, during this phase and really during every aspect of the track but we'll talk about our turn in here, you want to always have in the back of your mind what is it about the way the car's performing right now that's stopping me from going faster through the corner? And if you can keep that in mind, you can really analyse every aspect of your driving . |
| 05:49 | Whether you made a mistake with the braking marker and that needs to be adjusted. |
| 05:54 | Whether you're trailing braking in relation to the steering is not right or you've just simply chosen the wrong turn in point or the wrong apex so these are the things we always want to be thinking about as we go around the track? - Yeah of course and just thinking about the next phase ahead of yourself as well which we're going to dive more into shortly. |
| 06:13 | And making sure that you're getting that right, if you feel like you're in the turn in point and you're going, what do you mean, I need to be on the gas at this point, think about why you needed to be on the gas, what have you done wrong to at this point in the corner need to be on the gas and just keep thinking, keep thinking. |
| 06:27 | I've said it a couple of times now already but even as a professional, the best drivers in the world constantly thinking every lap, every corner, why did I do this, why did I do that? Because a 10th of a second on every corner, that adds up hugely on a 10, 15 corner track. |
| 06:43 | - Alright so at this point we should have our corner entry nailed so I think it's time to move onto the next phase of our corner. |
