Ultimate Speed Secrets

by Ross Bentley

  SPEED SECRET

  To be fast, you need to be a weight manager.

  Let me replay a real life experience with you. In the early 1990s, I was racing an Indy car at Laguna Seca. We were a low-buck operation—so low-buck that I had to sit out a practice session to avoid putting miles on the engine. I wanted to take advantage of what I could learn during that session, so I went out to watch other drivers from as many places around the track as possible.

  To this day, the mental image of what I saw is so clear. I stood watching through the fence on the outside of the right-hander, Turn 3. I got to that place about 10 minutes into the session, so the drivers were well up to speed. The first 8 or 10 cars came through the corner pretty much all with the same line and speed. Then, a car approached and turned (relatively) much earlier than any of the others, and yet was carrying as much speed as anyone else. The same thought went through my mind as is probably going through your mind—turn in early, run out of track at the exit, and maybe crash. I was about to step back from the fence to avoid having dirt thrown up in my face from the crash, when the car rotated just before the apex and the driver absolutely stood on the throttle and rocketed out the turn as fast as any other driver. I was shocked! How did that happen, and how did he get away with that kind of “error”? What made it even more shocking was that it was a driver named Mario Andretti. I stood in the exact same place to see how he would recover the next lap. And guess what? He did the exact same thing. Then a young driver named Michael Andretti did something very similar—and he was the quickest driver in the session.

  As I continued to study what was going on, I realized that Mario or Michael never put any more steering angle into their cars than any other driver did, but they consistently turned in a little earlier than everyone else. I took segment times and found that they were as quick or quicker than any other driver through that corner, as well. What they were doing, of course, was controlling the car’s balance in such a way that it allowed them to turn in a little earlier and yet rotate the car just before the apex to enable them to still get back to power as early as anyone else. And the advantage to this was the initial turn-in was not so abrupt, so they could carry a little more speed into the turn.

  ILLUSTRATION 7-6 When you’re driving at the very limit, you steer the car more with your feet. Ironically, when driving at the limit, the steering wheel becomes more of a brake. Being quick requires a seamless tradeoff and balance between feet and hands, using the feet to balance the car, while turning the steering wheel as little as possible.

  Over the course of the next couple of seasons, I studied the Andrettis and others from the side of the track and from behind the wheel. While I wasn’t driving the most competitive car in the series, every second I spent on the track I focused on learning what I could. Having the opportunity to observe drivers like the Andrettis, Bobby Rahal, Rick Mears, Al Unser Jr., Nigel Mansell, Jimmy Vasser, and Paul Tracy from the cockpit of another Indy car, I was able to see things that few have the luxury of experiencing. I’ll never forget the lessons.

  What I learned that day watching Mario and Michael was something that I already knew to some extent. I had certainly experienced it myself, otherwise I wouldn’t have made it as far as I had in racing. Any driver who wins races knows that he or she can change the direction of the car with the balance of the car. But, from that day on, it became so much more of a focus for me. It’s helped me and the drivers I’ve coached since that time become faster.

  By the way, a few years later I was standing in the exact same spot and noticed another driver use the same style as Michael and Mario did, perhaps even carrying it to another level—at least in the speed he was able to carry into the turn and still make it out the other end. His name? Juan Pablo Montoya.

  It’s an interesting challenge, isn’t it? You need to turn the car to get through the corners, but to do that with as little turning of the steering wheel as possible to avoid scrubbing off speed. To do that, you need to alter and manage the weight transfer of the car to change the direction of the car—to make it rotate more or less throughout every single corner on the track to suit your needs.

  The key to being fast is the timing and rate of release of the brakes. Get that right—and it is different for every car, every corner, and possibly different lap to lap as conditions change—and the car will rotate or turn with a minimum of steering.

  Before we leave this subject, though, I need to make one thing clear. The easiest way to reduce the steering angle you put into the car over the course of a lap, or even through just one corner, is to simply drive slower. If you drive slow enough, you will be able to reduce the amount of steering angle significantly. Obviously, that’s not your objective. While you’re driving, you need to be aware of whether you’re reducing steering angle simply by slowing down. You can—and should—slow down your steering inputs, but without slowing down your corner entry, midcorner, and exit speeds.

  SPEED SECRET

  The less you turn the steering wheel, the faster you’ll be.

  Every racetrack has its own personality. Of course, there are as many shapes and layouts as there are tracks. There are oval tracks (short, long, superspeedways), permanent road racing courses, and temporary circuits (constructed on streets or airport runways) of every length and size. But even two tracks of seemingly identical layout will have a different feel to them.

  How well you get to know each track you race on, and how you adapt to them, will play a large role in how successful you are.

  As a race driver, your goal in each corner is really quite simple. Well, simple to state here, maybe not so simple to do. You want to:

  • Spend as little time in the corner as possible

  • Get maximum speed out of the corner by accelerating early to maximize straightaway speed

  Often, maximizing one of the above means sacrificing the other. In other words, to achieve the best possible lap times, you may have to compromise corner speed for straightaway speed, or vice versa. It will depend on the specific layout of the track and your car’s performance characteristics. The trick is finding the perfect compromise.

  While the corners are the biggest challenge, how quickly you get down the straightaways usually matters the most. And the quicker you get down the straight, the sooner you face the challenge of the next corner! Shutterstock

  THE CORNERING COMPROMISE

  As we discussed earlier, becoming a winning race driver requires the ability to drive the race car consistently at the traction limit of the tire and chassis combination (at the limit of the traction circle), and the engine. Having said that, virtually anyone can take a car to its limits on the straightaway, using the engine to its limit. It’s driving the car at the limit under braking, cornering, and accelerating out of the corner that separates the winners from the also-rans.

  Most races, then, are decided where the cars are moving slowest—in the corners. Yet, it is much easier to pass on the straightaways than it is in the corners. So the faster you are on the straight, the more cars you will pass or gain a time advantage on and the more races you will win. Therefore, the most important goal for the corners is to drive them in such a way as to maximize your straightaway speed.

  The skill comes in determining a speed and path through the corners that loses the least amount of time negotiating them, while ensuring maximum acceleration down the following straightaway. This is where true champions shine.

  Winning drivers keep their cars at the traction circle limit almost all of the time, though the limit does vary depending on track conditions and the state of the car. For example, as I mentioned in the previous section, aerodynamics are constantly changing the limit. The higher the speed the car is traveling, the more aerodynamic downforce there is, thereby developing more cornering force. At the same time, the acceleration capabilities of the engine are reduced as speeds are increased (at low speed in a low gear the engine has lots of relative power to accelerate at or near the traction limits of the ti
res; at very high speed, the engine does not have the power to accelerate near the traction limit). Therefore, in reality, the traction circle changes with speed. The higher the speed, the more the top of the circle flattens out and the sides (the cornering forces) expand. Much of the skill you must develop is in being able to read these changing variables, determine from moment to moment where the performance limit lies, and drive the car as close to it as possible. Much of this comes from experience.

  Driving the limit of adhesion—the traction circle—through the corners at all times seems like the only thing you have to do to go fast. But, how you drive through the corners can vary. How much time you spend at various points on the traction circle can vary. And how you determine that and the path or “line” through the corner is critical and one of the keys to going fast.

  In fact, one of the most important skills to learn is determining the optimum time to spend at the different parts of the traction circle limit. Whereas one driver may spend almost all of the time in the pure cornering region, at almost constant speed, another driver may spend more time braking and accelerating, simply by taking a slightly different line through the corner. Both operate the car at its limit all the time; one may be faster through the individual corner, while the other may be faster down the straightaways.

  The trick is to determine which line through the corner results in the best overall lap time, not just what is fastest through each individual corner. Considering the corner and the straightaways on either side as a single problem, rather than just worrying about how to get through the corner itself, is the winner’s solution.

  To consistently determine that optimum line, you have to take into account the track variables, such as the lengths of the straightaways before and after the corner, the angle of the corner, its inside and outside radii, the track’s banking (negative or positive), and the surface’s coefficient of friction. And you have to consider the car’s variables: its handling characteristics, aerodynamic downforce, acceleration and braking capabilities, and so on. In other words, the optimum solution differs from corner to corner and from car to car on the same corner.

  Before I go any further, let’s take a look at a few basics.

  REFERENCE POINTS

  To be consistent in your driving, you should use reference points. They are important for your concentration. The less time and concentration you spend on determining the exact point where you begin your braking for a corner, for instance, the more you can spend on feeling how the car is reacting to your inputs.

  These reference points can be anything, such as a crack in the pavement, a point on a curbing, a change in pavement, a marking on a wall on the side of the track, a turn worker station, and so on. Notice though, I do not mention anything that could move during a race, such as a shadow, a turn worker, and so on. Also notice that reference points are not just visual or things that you can see. They’re also things that you feel and hear. For example, you may use a bump in a track, and when the engine note reverberating off a wall sounds different as a reference to begin braking.

  The three most important reference points are used to help guide you through the corners. They are, in order, the turn-in point, apex, and exit point (see Illustration 8-1). Each point can be dealt with in detail separately, but the ultimate goal is to combine all three into a smooth, fluid line through a corner by first visually, and then physically, connecting the dots.

  ILLUSTRATION 8-1 A typical 180-degree hairpin turn showing the three most important reference points: the turn-in, apex, and exit.

  The turn-in is probably the most important part of a corner, as this determines how you drive the rest of the corner, where and how fast you apex and exit. As the name suggests, this is the part of a track where you do your initial turn of the steering wheel into the corner. And this turn-in point is determined somewhat by where you want to apex the corner.

  The apex of a corner is the point, or area, where the inside wheels run closest to the inside of the road. The apex can also be thought of as the area of a turn where you are no longer driving into the corner but are now driving out. It is sometimes called the “clipping point,” as this is where your inside wheels clip past the inside of the roadway.

  Where you apex is determined by where and how you entered the turn, and it will affect how you exit it. The ideal apex for a corner can be either early in the turn, in the middle of it, or late in the turn.

  Determining whether or not you had the correct apex is simple. If you come out of the corner having to turn more to keep from running off the road, then you had too early an apex. If you chose too late an apex, the car will not be using the entire road on the exit. It will still be too close to the inside of the corner.

  If you are doing anything with the steering wheel other than unwinding it after the apex of the corner, you are probably on the wrong line. Most likely, you have turned in and apexed too early. Rarely should you ever be turning the steering wheel tighter once past the apex.

  When you hit the apex perfectly, the car will naturally want to follow a path out to the exit point, the point where your car runs closest to the outside edge of the track. In fact, to properly exit the corner you must use up the entire track. Allow the car to come out wide to the edge of the road. This allows the car to smoothly and gently balance its weight and achieve maximum acceleration. It allows you to “unwind” the car.

  I know when I’ve hit the perfect apex. It’s when I’m able to just barely stay on the track at the exit, while accelerating as early and hard as possible. If I have to ease up slightly on the throttle to stay on the track, then I apexed too early. If I wasn’t able to unwind the steering after the apex, I apexed too early. But if I still have room left on the exit, then I apexed too late.

  THE IDEAL LINE

  You can adjust the amount of time spent on each part of the traction circle by taking different lines through a corner. Illustration 8-2 shows two possibilities. The dotted line shows the “geometric line,” a constant radius through the corner. This is the fastest way through that particular corner. The solid line shows an altered line in which the driver has started to turn later. The line is tighter than the geometric line at the beginning, but exits in a wider, expanding radius farther down the following straightaway.

  This second line, the solid line, is called the “ideal line,” and will result in an overall faster lap time. Why?

  As I said earlier, you are not just dealing with one particular corner but rather a series of corners connected by straightaways. Considering this, plus the fact that you will spend more time accelerating on a racetrack than you will just cornering, superior exit speed is far more important than cornering speed.

  Never forget that the driver who accelerates first out of a corner will arrive first at the other end of the straight and most often the finish line. It doesn’t matter how fast you go through the corner. If everyone passes you on the straight, you won’t win a race. Drive the corner in such a way as to maximize your straightaway speed.

  SPEED SECRET

  Races are won on the straightaway, not in the corners.

  The driver following the geometric line in Illustration 8-2 spends almost all the time at the limit in the “cornering only” region of the traction circle, keeping the speed almost constant throughout the corner. Remember what the traction circle told us: You cannot begin to accelerate if you are using all the traction for cornering. Therefore, the geometric line does not allow you to accelerate until you’ve reached the very end of the corner and begun to straighten out the steering.

  The ideal line, on the other hand, with its tighter radius at the beginning of the corner forces you to enter slightly slower, but the gentler, expanding radius through the remainder of the corner allows increasingly more acceleration, and therefore higher exit speed. This higher exit speed stays with you all the way down the following straightaway (and even multiplies its effect), more than making up for the slower entrance speed.

  SPEED SECRETr />
  Corner exit speed is usually more important than entry speed.

  Driving the ideal line, you will spend less time at maximum cornering on the traction circle. You will spend more time at the braking and acceleration limit, however.

  Determining how much to alter the path from the geometric line is one of the more complex problems facing a race driver. Altering it too much—turning in too late and probably apexing too late—means the initial part of the corner must be taken so slowly that the time lost there cannot be recouped fully in the following straightaway. It will result in a slower overall lap time. Not altering the line enough (turning in and apexing too early) results in a slow exit and straightaway speed.

  As I said, there is no single ideal line for all cars or corners. The same car driven through different corners require different lines. Even for the same corner, different cars will require different lines.

  The difference may be subtle, perhaps a couple of inches either way, but it makes all the difference in the world between being a winner or being just a midpack driver.

  SPEED SECRET

  The more time you spend with the front tires pointed straight ahead, or near straight, and the throttle to the floor, the faster you will be.