Ultimate Speed Secrets

by Ross Bentley

  The entry phase can also be thought of as beginning just after turn-in and continuing until your right foot begins to apply some throttle.

  Midcorner

  The midcorner is usually when you have wound in all of the steering input required to get the car aimed toward the apex, and you are not yet unwinding the steering. The car is on a consistent radius, not decreasing or increasing. Some corners do not have a midcorner phase, as the second you have dialed in enough steering to aim the car toward the apex, you immediately begin to unwind it toward the exit.

  You can also use the throttle application to define the midcorner: from the second your foot touches the throttle, to the point it begins to really “hammer down” (smoothly) on it. Therefore, the midcorner may be non-existent if the second you touch the throttle you squeeze it all the way down. It may be very short if you have a brief period of time where you are using a maintenance throttle, not increasing or decreasing the throttle. Or it could be relatively lengthy in a long, fast sweeper.

  Corner Exit

  The exit of the corner is the section where you are unwinding the steering, increasing the radius of the line the car is following. Typically, it is from the apex to the exit or track-out point of the corner. Again, the exit phase is also defined as when you begin squeezing the throttle down to wide open.

  Trail Braking

  Braking can actually be broken down into “approach braking” and “trail braking.” Approach braking is just as it sounds, the braking you do on the approach to the corner. The second you begin to turn the steering wheel into the corner, approach braking ends. Trail braking begins as soon as approach braking ends, at the turn-in point. It is the physical act of easing, or trailing your foot off the brake pedal. Where you finish trail braking, and how much you trail brake is entirely dependent on the specific corner, the type of car you are driving and your driving style.

  I know there are some people who say they never trail brake. Some racing schools actually teach this. They say a driver should never trail brake. They are dead wrong. Every successful driver trail brakes to some extent, in some corners.

  Off-Throttle

  In theory, you should never be coasting in a race car. You should either be braking or applying the throttle. In reality, it is sometimes necessary. There are some cars that reward a short period of coasting prior to beginning to accelerate out of the corner (but this is an exception to the rule). Any moment where you are neither braking nor applying the throttle, you are coasting or off-throttle.

  Maintenance Throttle

  This is where you are not accelerating or decelerating. You are simply maintaining your speed. Think of it in terms of driving down a highway at a constant 55 miles per hour. Not all corners and cars require maintenance throttle. You may directly and immediately go from off the throttle while braking to squeezing down the throttle, accelerating out of the corner. Other cars and corners require a short period of maintenance throttle.

  Acceleration

  Accelerating is when you are progressively increasing the speed of the car by either squeezing down on the throttle or holding it to the floor.

  DRIVING ON THE EDGE

  To many, the model of the perfect race driver is one where the driver never makes a mistake and is perfectly smooth at all times. While this is not a bad model to have, it’s not completely accurate. Yes, I know, I have stressed it myself, over and over. The reason for this is that many drivers need to be smoothed out. They need to realize how much of a “finesse” sport racing is. However, once they learn this, they sometimes get the image of this perfect driver being so smooth and tidy that they are not quick. They take the idea too far.

  Winners (read “fast drivers”) make mistakes. They are not always perfectly smooth. They often drive over the limits of the tires and car. They even crash on occasion. There is nothing wrong with you doing that, especially if you win. In fact, it is doubtful you will win without driving like that a majority of the time.

  I’m not saying the goal is to crash (obviously), but sometimes it is a side effect of driving the car at the limit. The only way you can consistently drive the car at the limit is to overdrive at times. Actually, you will end up overdriving it as much as you underdrive it—over, under, over, under, over, under, over—and the average is the limit.

  If you are consistently smooth, tidy, and never making mistakes, your average is most likely slightly below the limit—under, under, over, under, under, under, over, under, over, under, under, over . . .

  In doing so—in overdriving the car at times—you will get even better at overdriving the car and getting away with it. You know that sometimes when you overdrive, you don’t get away with it. Again, that’s okay. It’s part of being fast and part of being a winner. With experience, though, the results of overdriving will be fewer and fewer offs, spins, and crashes. The results may be running a little wide, a bit of a lock-up, or a half-spin-and-go, but that’s okay too. In other words, you will get even better at controlling an “overdriving off-line experience” (a “moment”), to the point where it will seem to others that you don’t make mistakes. Sure, you’re still making mistakes, but they are so small that they are hard to notice.

  This concept of overdrive, underdrive, over, under . . . averaging out to being at the limit is critical. In the beginning the difference between over and under is quite large. With experience, the difference becomes quite small. Some drivers see the overdriving part as being “wrong” or unnecessary. If that’s you, you need to recalibrate your impression of the model. In other words, you need to spend just a little more time overdriving the car than you currently do. You need to raise the average.

  The truly fast race driver is one who is over the limit at times. He’s a bit wild at times. He hangs it out there. He’s aggressive. He makes mistakes every now and then, but is confident enough in himself to know that, on average, he’s driving at the limit and that’s why he’s fast, and that’s why he wins. That’s okay. In fact, it’s better than okay. It’s what makes him a winner. It’s especially okay when the driver is young and wins. If a young driver is smooth, tidy, and never makes a mistake, do you know what people think of him? They think he’s slow.

  Why? Because we all know that with a little more experience and maturity, he will smooth out, get more consistent, and make fewer mistakes. He will rarely get faster, just more consistent. We know that. If the driver is one who can win and who is blindingly fast, we know that will make him the perfect driver. Start out a little wild, fast, and mistake-prone, add some experience and maturity, and you’ve got the perfect driver. Start out with a driver who is smooth, tidy, and mistake-free, add in some experience and maturity, and you’ve got a driver who is conservative, a driver who is a little bit slow, and one who will not win unless the race is given to him. An also-ran.

  Imagine that you’re about to enter the toughest race season of your life. With your talent and skills, you have what it takes to win. You have the ability to wring every last ounce out of the car this season. But even though you have the ability to do it, you don’t always do it. Sure, you can average driving the car at the limit—being over, under, over, under, over—you just need to do this more often. The only reason it doesn’t happen all the time is because your mental image is not of that. It’s close, very close in fact, but not dead on there.

  Develop a mental image of the perfect race driver—you—as being able to drive over the limit at times, bring it back, hang it out there, dance with the car at the ragged edge.

  Having said all that, it’s time to talk about drivers who aren’t interested in driving at that ragged edge, who race for fun, who want to drive just under the limit, having the time of their lives. That’s okay. It really is. In fact, that’s what I’m talking about throughout this book: driving at your limit. But if your goal is to drive at eight-tenths or nine-tenths or seven-tenths, that’s great. Just make sure you drive at that limit consistently. If your goal is to drive at eight-tenths, don’t d
rive sometimes at six-tenths, sometimes at nine-tenths, sometimes at seven-tenths. Drive at the limit, the limit you’ve set for yourself.

  We’ve looked at the basics of how to use the brakes, throttle, and steering wheel; now’s the time to talk about the advanced stuff, the stuff that makes the car dance on the edge, the stuff that makes the difference between fast and very fast.

  BRAKING

  Proper braking actually starts with how you take your foot off the throttle. Many drivers, due to the habits they’ve developed from driving on the street, make a huge mistake on the track: They get to the end of a straightway, gradually lift their foot off the throttle, wait a second or two, and then begin to brake. At the end of the straightaway, the transition from throttle to braking should be immediate. Smooth, but immediate, with no gap in between, no coasting in between.

  Squeeze the brakes on, quickly, until you are at maximum braking. This is threshold braking. If you exceed the limit for threshold braking and begin to lock up, ease up slightly on the pedal; think of curling your toes back and feel for the tires to begin rotating at the limit of traction again. In other words, you may have to modulate the pedal pressure slightly, using the feedback from the tire noise, the forces on your body and the balance of the car, to achieve maximum braking.

  When approaching a corner, squeeze the brakes on smoothly and firmly. And then, as you reach the corner, release it gently as your foot goes to the throttle, so that you don’t actually feel the point at which they are fully released. Remember when I mentioned what made Jackie Stewart so successful: It was how he eased off the brakes.

  Most drivers, due to street-driving habits—but also because they’ve been advised to be smooth with their braking—brake too gently at first, gradually building up pedal pressure. Now, I’m not saying you shouldn’t be smooth with your braking, but at the same time I am saying apply hard initial pressure to the brake pedal. Many drivers “ramp up” their braking pressure over the duration of most of the braking zone, starting reasonably soft, gradually building up pressure, and having the most pressure on the brakes near the end of the brake zone. This is backward. It should be a hard but smooth initial application of the brakes, maintain the pressure throughout the brake zone, and then gradually release the pressure toward the end.

  Not all cars will be the same. Cars with little or no aerodynamic downforce will not be able to handle as much initial pressure; cars with lots of downforce can take lots of initial brake pressure. With aero cars, the faster they’re moving, the more traction the tires have, therefore allowing you to brake hard at the beginning. As the car slows, it loses downforce and traction, and you have to bleed off brake pressure. But to some extent, all cars are like this: The faster the car is moving, the harder you can brake; the slower the car is moving, the lighter you have to brake.

  ANTI-LOCK BRAKING SYSTEMS

  Anti-lock braking systems (ABS) are perhaps the most important safety device to ever be developed for street vehicles. However, as of this writing, ABS has not found much use on purpose-built race cars (Indy, Formula One, prototype sports car, and so on). Why? Well, mainly because of the rules. All of these series prohibit the use of ABS, mainly as a cost-controlling measure. About the only use it saw in purpose-built race cars was in Formula One, where a couple of teams used it in 1992 and 1993. It was banned from the 1994 season on.

  However, when ABS is standard equipment on a production car, it is sometimes allowed to be used on production-based race cars such as the showroom stock class. Here, ABS can be both an advantage and disadvantage. It is a wonderful safety device, stopping a driver from ever being able to lock up the brakes. This is particularly useful in endurance racing where it’s more important to be consistent and never flat-spot a tire.

  At the same time, ABS can be difficult to get used to and maybe even a disadvantage. Often, a driver wants to “pitch” a car into a turn by going slightly beyond the threshold of traction on the rear wheels while turning into the corner. With ABS, however, this is not possible.

  A big part of the magic of driving at the limit is managing the brakes to keep the tires at the threshold just before they lock up, as the inside front tire in this photo has done. A little lock-up like this—especially since it involves the unloaded inside tire—is okay every now and then. But more than one tire locking up means you have to ease up on the pedal just slightly. Shutterstock

  It’s important, if you’re going to race a car with ABS to get comfortable with the feel of it. Get used to the feeling of the brake pedal pulsing and the inability to pitch the car into a turn with the brakes. But also get used to how hard and late you can brake if you are in a car with sophisticated ABS, such as a Porsche or BMW. With these cars, the technique is reasonably simple: Wait to the last possible moment, then hit the brake pedal as hard and fast as you can, and hold it down, letting the system do the work for you. Of course, if you’re not used to that style of braking, it will take a little practice.

  That’s how you apply the brakes with ABS. But how you release them is no different than from non-ABS brakes. Rarely do you snap your foot off the brake pedal. Instead, you trail the brake pressure off.

  TRAIL BRAKING

  I’m constantly amazed by the number of drivers I talk to who have been told never to trail brake. Then there are others who have been told to always trail brake. Never trail brake, always trail brake? It’s a bit confusing, isn’t it?

  Let’s review what trail braking really is because I’m often surprised by the inconsistencies out there among drivers concerning this technique. First, trail braking is not braking against the throttle. In other words, trail braking is not having the brakes applied (even a little amount) while you’re on the throttle. Trail braking is not “braking all the way to the apex.” Yes, it could be that you are trailing off the brakes all the way to the apex, but it’s not necessarily that way. Trail braking is when you gradually release, or trail, your foot off the brake pedal while turning into a corner. If you’ve completed your braking entirely and your foot is off the pedal at the point you begin to turn into the corner, then you have not trail braked at all. If you have even the slightest amount of brake pedal pressure on while turning into the corner, then you are trail braking. Some times your foot will finally be completely off the brake pedal within a foot or two past the turn-in point, and other times it will not be until you’re practically at the apex. Either way, you’re trail braking.

  ILLUSTRATION 7-1 Trail braking is simply trailing or easing your foot off the brake pedal as you enter the corner. How much you trail brake depends on the car’s handling characteristics and the type of turn.

  So, trail braking is when you trail your foot off the brakes as you release pressure while turning into a corner. And the reason for doing so is twofold. First, if helps keep load on the front tires so the car will turn into the corner better. It will “rotate” better. And second, it helps you use all of the tires’ traction throughout the corner. If you get to the turn-in point and suddenly take your foot off the brake pedal as you turn in, there will be a fraction of a moment when you are not using up all of the tires’ traction. You could be using more and carrying more speed.

  Some drivers claim that they never trail brake. But when I observe them, or analyze the data on their data-acquisition system, it’s obvious that they do. Many drivers trail brake more than they realize, more than they are aware of. And other drivers trail brake less than they are aware of. If you’re not sure how much you trail brake in each and every corner, you’re not aware, and there may just be some speed available by becoming aware.

  My suggestion is that you do become aware, that you become aware of where you finally are finished with the brakes. It’s important that you focus your eyes on the end-of-braking point, that point in the corner where you are completely finished with the braking and your foot is off the pedal. Be aware of where that is in every corner.

  ILLUSTRATION 7-2 Trail braking helps “rotate” the car while entering a co
rner. In general, the more you trail brake, the earlier you can begin turning into a corner (as in the illustration on the right); the less you trail brake, the later and more abruptly you will have to turn in. The later and more abruptly you turn in, the less speed you will be able to carry into the corner.

  SPEED SECRET

  How and when you release the brakes will have more effect on your lap times than where you start braking.

  Should trail braking be used in every corner? No. There are turns, especially very fast ones, where you want to be squeezing back on the throttle about the time you’re turning into the corner, since this helps the car’s balance and the overall grip level. As a general rule, the slower and tighter the turn, the more you will use trail braking to help you rotate the car; the faster and more sweeping the turn, the less you will use trail braking.

  SPEED SECRET

  Speed comes from the timing and rate of release of the brake pedal.

  LEFT-FOOT BRAKING

  Over the past few years it has become obvious that if you want to win in any form of racing that uses purpose-built race cars (F1, Indy Cars, Indy Lights, Prototype Sports Cars, Formula Ford), you must left-foot brake. Why is that, and what has changed to make that statement so true?

  At one time some of these race cars had gearboxes that rewarded the use of the clutch. That is not the case anymore. Many now feature a sequential-shift operation. The point is you do not need to use the clutch to shift. Not only do you not need it, it may actually slow your shifts down if you do.