Ultimate Speed Secrets

by Ross Bentley

  With other cars, almost from the instant you turn in to the corner, you need to begin squeezing back on the throttle, and quickly. You need to experiment with your car to find out what works in each corner.

  One more thing to keep in mind: For every inch of track surface you leave by not letting the car run out to the edge, you are giving speed away. If your outside tires are not at least nibbling at the curbing, riding on top of the curbing, or hanging the outside half an inch of them over the edge of the track, you will not be as fast as you could be. Do you get my hint?

  SPEED SECRET

  Every inch of track you are not using is costing you speed. You paid for it, so use it all.

  Compared to the exit phase of a corner, the entry phase is usually much more difficult or challenging. Paul van Valkenburgh once said the skill required to squeeze down on the throttle, keeping the tires at the limit of adhesion while accelerating out of a corner is like walking a tightrope, while the skill required to determine and set the car’s speed when entering a turn is like jumping onto a tightrope blindfolded.

  While technically the entry phase begins only at the turn-in point, I will also discuss the corner approach, braking and downshifting, in this chapter.

  One of the first pieces of advice that new race drivers are given is “Going into the corners slowly and coming out fast is better than the opposite.” Although this advice is entirely true, some drivers take this too far. This advice may actually have been the cause of some drivers being slow. Why? Because many drivers do not carry enough speed into the corners.

  Ultimately, you want to carry more and more speed into the corner until it begins to negatively affect when you can begin to accelerate. If your corner-entry speed is so high that you have to delay the point where you begin to accelerate, then you need to slow down on the entry.

  Let’s look at a couple of examples to see what happens when your corner-entry speed is not ideal. First, imagine entering a turn 1 or 2 miles per hour too fast. Although that is not much too fast, it will definitely delay the time when you can get back to throttle and begin accelerating. As I said, if your corner-entry speed negatively affects when you can begin to accelerate, you need to enter slightly slower. Corner-exit speed is usually more important than entry speed.

  ILLUSTRATION 14-1 Your corner entry is absolutely critical. If you over-slow the car by even 1 mile per hour, you may never be able to make up for that error, no matter how much horsepower your car has.

  Having said that, imagine entering a corner 1 or 2 miles per hour slower than ideal. What happens then? One of two things. First, and probably the lesser of the two evils, is you have lost momentum, and momentum is always important. Whether you are driving a 60-horsepower Formula Vee, or a 900-horsepower Champ car, every time you slow down the car, it takes some amount of time to accelerate back up to speed again. If you slow the car more than necessary, it will take time to get that speed back, while in the meantime your competitors are probably pulling away from you.

  ILLUSTRATION 14-2

  The second and more damaging, and more difficult to recognize, effect of over-slowing your car for a corner is what I call the change of speed problem (there’s the phrase again). I will discuss this in detail a bit later, but the basic idea is that if you over-slow the car on the entry, you will naturally want to accelerate hard to get back up to speed. This acceleration will often result in a form of power oversteer in rear-wheel-drive cars, and power understeer in front-wheel-drivers.

  You can see from these examples just how critical getting the exact right speed is when entering a corner. To do this, you need accurate and sensitive traction-sensing skills. It also requires finely tuned speed-sensing skills. In addition to these skills, there are a few techniques that may improve your corner-entry speed.

  LATE BRAKING

  When asked what strategy might best be used to improve lap times by three or more tenths of a second on a typical road course, what do you think most race drivers’ answer would be? If you guessed “brake later,” you are absolutely right. I know, I’ve asked many, many drivers this question.

  But is it the best strategy? Start to answer that question by asking yourself the simple question, “Why do I brake for a corner?” The answer is that you have a mental picture or feel for what speed you need to be slowed to by the time you begin to turn in to the corner; you are traveling at “x” speed approaching the corner, and to be slowed to “y” by the turn-in you need to begin braking “now” and “this” hard. In short, you brake to slow the car to a speed you feel is the maximum the car can carry into the turn.

  With this in mind, what do you suppose most drivers, and probably you, do when braking later for a corner? Right, you brake later, but harder, for you “know” you need to get the car slowed to “y” speed by the time you turn in. In fact, until you update your mental picture of your corner-entry speed, braking later will only result in you braking harder. Your corner-entry speed will be exactly the same. Of course, what often occurs when braking harder is that you lock up the brakes; at best you begin braking a car-length later and enter the corner at the exact same speed as before. The biggest improvement in lap time you will see from this is no more than a few hundredths of a second.

  However, if you update your mental picture of the corner-entry speed, to “y + 2 mph,” for example, you will naturally brake a little later and not any harder. This will result in carrying more speed into the corner, and you will see tenths of a second improvement in lap time in one single corner.

  SPEED SECRET

  Corner-entry speed is more important than late braking.

  This is where the big gains in speed come from. So instead of simply using the strategy of braking later, change your mental picture of the corner-entry speed and you will naturally brake later and carry more speed into the corner.

  ILLUSTRATION 14-3 A comparison of two approaches to going faster. Driver A brakes later, but enters the corner at the same speed as always (“x” miles per hour) by braking harder. Driver B brakes later, but also carries 2 miles per hour more into the turn by braking as hard as usual. Braking later results in a small gain; carrying a little more speed into the turn results in a big gain.

  ROTATION TURNS VERSUS SET TURNS

  Another factor that determines how much you should trail brake into a corner is whether it is what I call a “rotation turn” or “set turn.” Typically, but not always, “rotation turns” are shorter, tighter, slower corners. “Set turns” are longer and faster.

  In many fast-sweeping corners, it is best to be on power, on the throttle from the second you turn in. In other words, no trail braking. Why? Because the car is better balanced this way. The car has taken a set. If you enter the turn while trail braking and then transition to acceleration, the car’s weight distribution is changing. The weight is transferring off the front and to the rear, while the car is cornering. In most cases, a car will have more traction or grip—a higher cornering limit—when it is set, when its weight has stopped transferring from one axle to the other.

  This is especially important in corners with a long midcorner phase. The reason is since you are spending more time in the corner, then ultimate cornering grip is critical. In shorter, tighter turns whose midcorner phase is almost non-existent, then the ability to rotate or change the direction of the car is more important than overall cornering grip. In this case, you should trail brake more. Trail braking enables you to rotate or turn and change the direction of the car quicker.

  Given the choice, if you could accelerate all the way through every corner, rather than having to slow down and rotate the car, you would do that since the car would have more overall traction. You would be able to maintain a higher speed through the corners. But that is not practical or useable in every corner. The main objective for some corners is to change direction. These are “rotation turns,” since the main challenge is rotating the car. The main objective in other corners is to maintain as high a speed as possible through
the turn. These are “set turns.”

  SPEED SECRET

  The faster and longer the corner, the less trail braking you should use and the earlier you need to be on the power; the slower and tighter the corner, the more trail braking you should use to help rotate the car.

  STEERING TECHNIQUE

  Obviously, the entry phase of a corner requires you to turn the steering wheel to make the car turn. Through the years I’ve heard numerous discussions and comments on just how a driver should turn the steering. While some people claim you should pull down on the wheel with the hand on the inside of the corner, others say you should push up with the outside hand. The odd thing is, the people handing out these two conflicting pieces of advice are racing and high-performance driving school instructors, supposed experts on the matter. Both approaches have their pros and cons. Pulling down with one hand usually provides more strength but may be less sensitive and accurate (less smooth). Pushing up with one hand is more accurate, but takes more effort.

  Having heard this argument for years, and trying both methods myself and with drivers I’ve coached, I think the whole discussion of which hand you should primarily use to turn the steering wheel is a complete waste of time. Driving is a two-handed sport! If you are using just one hand to do most of the work, then you are losing out on both strength and accuracy. While one hand is pushing up, the other hand should be pulling down. While one is pulling down, the other is pushing up. That is where smooth-steering inputs come from.

  As you approach a corner, there are a number of ways you can turn the steering wheel. You can slowly turn the wheel, or you can quickly crank the wheel. You can start off slowly turning the wheel, and then progressively turn it faster. Or you can do the opposite, quickly initiating the turn and then progressively turn it slower. You can also turn the wheel a little farther than is required to get the car to go where you want, and then quickly unwind it back out. You can arc or bend the car into a turn, or you can make your turn-in crisp. You can have “slow hands” or “quick hands.”

  So which is the right way of turning the steering wheel? I don’t think there is a “right” way. It is all a matter of the type of turn you are approaching, the handling characteristics of your car, and your driving style. It is probably some combination of all the ways I mentioned, and maybe even more.

  ILLUSTRATION 14-4 A comparison of two corner turn-in techniques. One driver eases, or “bends” the car into the corner, while the other driver uses a crisp, abrupt style. Which one is best? Depends on the car and the corner.

  The point is, some corners require a quick, abrupt turn, and others don’t. Some are best when you progressively increase the rate at which you turn the wheel, and others are best suited to the opposite approach. The key, then, is to be able to use whatever approach best suits the particular corner and car. To do that, your driving style must be adaptable. Many drivers have one particular way of turning the steering wheel and cannot adapt their style. That is one of the reasons why some drivers are better in fast corners than they are in slow ones, and vice versa.

  Time for another general rule.

  SPEED SECRET

  The slower the corner, the later the apex, the quicker and crisper you need to turn the steering wheel; the faster the corner, the more you need to arc or bend the car into the turn with slow hands.

  Former Formula One driver, Johnny Herbert, quoted in Race Tech magazine (August/September 1999), talked about this very thing and his steering style when entering a corner:

  I have a style which, although it is quite smooth in the corner, has quite a hard turn and with these tires I normally break the grip straight away. So I introduce more understeer than I need in slow corners. Fast corners are no problem, because you have the downforce. The slower you go, the worse it gets. So you have got to be very, very smooth. Last year you could still use the front tire as a brake almost, to scrub off a bit of speed. But with these tires, the extra groove doesn’t allow that. It just scrubs and doesn’t stop; it just understeers. It breaks the traction of the tire.

  It is finding the right thing to do. It is not a natural thing. Naturally I turn in hard. But if you do that you just introduce much more understeer. But it is very easy to say, “There it is, go and do it...” It is doing it so that it is an advantage. You can’t go in slower to stop the understeer, because then you are just too slow anyway. You have to carry the speed or even more speed but be smooth.

  The real key to this situation is being aware of how you turn the steering wheel, and then adapting to what works best, not just saying, “This is my style and I’m sticking to it.” Of course, this doesn’t mean spending all your conscious thought and awareness on what you are doing with the steering wheel as you enter a turn. If you did that, you would most likely end up stuffed into a wall somewhere on the outside of the corner! No, it is simply an overall, relaxed awareness of what you are doing. Usually, by asking yourself some awareness-building questions before, during, and after driving, you will subconsciously become aware of what you are doing. And most important, you will almost certainly turn the steering wheel in the way most suitable for the corner.

  The key to steering correctly is to have a solid mental image of what you feel is ideal, and then be aware of what you are doing now. You can, and should, practice becoming aware of how you turn the steering wheel when driving on the street. If you do it enough on the street, it will become a habit, a program, when you are on the racetrack. As you turn into a corner, ask yourself, “Did I turn the wheel gently and slowly, or did I crank the wheel abruptly?” “Can I turn the wheel more gently?” “Did I turn the wheel slowly at turn-in and progressively turn it faster, or the other way?” “Did I turn it farther than required to get the car to go where I wanted, and then have to unwind it prior to the apex?” “Did I unwind the steering from the apex on out and release the car toward the exit?”

  The more positive questions you ask, and the deeper you dig, the more aware you will become. And that awareness will lead to positive, accurate steering techniques.

  Since more and more race drivers today are coming from a karting background, it is important for me to point out one difference between driving some types of karts and race cars. In many karts, one of the techniques used to make the front tires grip and turn in well is to crank the steering wheel in and then quickly unwind it to the point required to get the kart to follow the desired line. While this works with the type of geometry and lack of suspension on a kart, I can’t recommend it for any race car. It is one of the habits (mental programs) that kart drivers have to change when beginning to race cars. If not, they may never reach their full potential racing cars. So if are you coming into car racing with lots of karting experience, be aware of your steering technique.

  CHANGE OF SPEED

  Okay, time to tackle the change of speed problem, one of the most common errors I see drivers make.

  The key point is the change in speed through a corner may be causing the car to make you believe you are driving at the limit when, in reality, you have created an artificially low limit. Let me use an example to demonstrate what I mean.

  Let’s assume you can enter Turn 1 of our imaginary track at 80 miles per hour. That is, at the point you initially turn the steering wheel at the turn-in point, you are traveling at 80 miles per hour and you can carry or maintain that speed to around the apex, where you begin to accelerate. Throughout this corner the car is at its limit of traction, one-half of a mile per hour more, and the car would begin to slide too much, causing it to either scrub off speed or start to spin.

  Now, what would happen if you entered the corner at less than 80 miles per hour? What often happens is this: You slow the car down to say, 78 miles per hour at the turn-in point. As you enter the corner, your traction sensing tells you that the car is not at the very limit; there is still some traction to be used. So, your right foot pushes down on the throttle pedal, and the car accelerates. Understand that this happens entirely at the subconscious
level; you are certainly not consciously thinking about doing this, it is just happening.

  Although entering the corner at 78 miles per hour is not driving at the limit, it is not far off. The tires are close to being at their limit of traction, just before they break away and begin to slide too much. So as you begin accelerating, you are now asking the rear tires (in a rear-drive car) to take on a bigger task. Remember, you can only ever get 100 percent out of the tires, nothing more. If you are using 99 percent of the rear tires’ traction for cornering at 78 miles per hour, and then begin accelerating, there is a good chance you will ask for more than 1 percent traction for accelerating. In fact, there is a good chance that with your right foot squeezing down on the throttle, you will be asking for more like 5 or 10 percent of the traction for accelerating. The result is the rear tires go beyond their limit, and the car begins to oversteer, if even so slightly.

  ILLUSTRATION 14-5 Let’s look at Driver A and B again. Both approach the corner at the same speed, 150 miles per hour. Driver A slows the car to 78 miles per hour at the turn-in point, turns in, and immediately senses the car is not at the very limit, so he gets on the throttle. This causes a little power-on oversteer, so the driver eases off slightly to correct before getting back on the throttle and then increases the speed through the rest of the corner, hitting 115 miles per hour at the exit. Meanwhile, Driver B enters the turn at 80 miles per hour with the car at the limit, then smoothly increases speed throughout the corner, hitting 120 miles per hour at the exit.