Speed Secrets: My Big Aha! Moment

In the beginning of time, way back when the dinosaurs ruled the world, there was a theory: it said that to get to a late apex in a corner, you had to turn in late. The geometry made sense, and most importantly, it could be drawn on a whiteboard (or should I say, a stone tablet back in the day) in 2D.

It looked a bit like this:

If you’ve read my original Speed Secrets book you might remember this illustration from it. Notice, also, that that book was published way back in 1997, which is prehistoric in terms of my driving knowledge.

There’s a “problem” with turning in late — it means you have to drive a tight radius curve early in the corner (as the illustration above shows), which means your speed is relatively low.

With that in mind, which speed would you rather begin accelerating out of a corner from, say, 55 or 58 MPH? It’s obvious that starting to accelerate from a higher speed would be an advantage. But if that tighter radius, late turn-in line requires you to slow to 55 MPH, well… that’s not ideal.

If only you could turn in a little bit earlier; you could drive a slightly larger radius so you wouldn’t have to slow to 55 MPH… and be on a line towards and passing a late apex so you could apply the throttle early… If only.

But we all know that an early turn-in does not result in a late apex, right?

Not necessarily. And that’s where my Big Aha! Moment came in.

If you get the timing and rate of release of the brakes just right so that your car rotates, you can turn in slightly earlier, and still head to and clip past a late apex. Yes, you can have your cake (earlier turn-in, allowing more entry speed) and eat it too (late apex that allows early acceleration out of the corner).

But how?

Maybe you were predicting that I was going to use my old standby phrase, “the timing and rate of release of the brakes.” Yup. That’s it. Mostly.

Continue reading via Ross Bentley Speed Secrets here.