Track Driving (Part 2, Braking)
Discussion
Following on from Part 1 here:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
I said I’d write two posts on track days – one on the basics and one on the driving, but I found that once I’d started writing about braking, I couldn’t stop (yes, I know – the irony!), so this will end up being a series of posts, starting with braking
On to the driving!
Before I go any further, as before, I’d just like to say that I really am not a track driving expert. I take part in track days and I have built up a little experience which I’d like to share, but there are far more experienced track and race drivers out there, so I’m quite happy to be challenged on anything I’ve written and corrected if necessary.
Track driving differs from road driving - even fast road driving - in three significant areas:
1. Braking - anyone can accelerate hard and drive fast along the straights, but driving quickly on track requires a significantly different braking technique to road driving. Braking should be left as late as possible, and then the brakes should be applied as hard as possible. It’s actually quite shocking when you experience sustained threshold braking for the first time, so in this post we’ll look at braking on track in detail.
2. Cornering lines - On the road, your planning for a corner is very much dependent on how far you can see, and apart from the most well sighted corners, you have to limit your positioning (especially your positioning on the exit of a corner) to the left-hand side of the white centre line. On track, you’ll drive the same corner time and time again, so you get to know it intimately, and, of course, you can use the full width of the road, so in the next instalment we’ll look at how to work out your best line through a corner.
3. Corner exit speed – This was another big surprise to me when I started track driving. The aim is to carry as much speed out of a corner and on to the next straight as possible, as a small increase in exit speed can equal a significant increase in speed by the end of the following straight. Exiting a corner fast, particularly a left hander – where on the road you would normally be restricted to the left hand side of the white centre line – is very exciting, but quite alien to the novice, so we’ll also look at how to make the best of your corner exits.
It’s not all completely alien though – there are many road driving skills and techniques which translate nicely across to track driving. Having a smooth driving style is very important, together with a good sense of car balance. An ability to look well ahead and plan your moves well in advance is a big advantage, as is a calm and composed mental attitude and an ability to concentrate. So we’ll also examine the skills which can be transferred from road driving (and vice-versa – track days are an excellent way to practice some road skills at higher speeds).
A quick note on speed before we go any further. I’ll be talking about how to squeeze the maximum performance out of your car on track, but you do not necessarily have to attend a track day with this mentality. Stay within your own ability level, and just go out with the intention of enjoying yourself. Start at a slow-to-medium pace and build your speed up gradually during the day until you reach a level you’re comfortable with.
There is nothing to prove on a track day! You’re not there to race anyone or shave thousandths off your lap time. It’s an opportunity to enjoy driving your car in an unrestricted environment – forget what everyone else is doing, concentrate on your own driving and get what you want from the day.
And as I mentioned in part 1, if there is instruction available on the day, try to take advantage of it – a few laps of instruction can be of more benefit than a full day trying to teach yourself.
So let’s start with the first of those differences:
Braking
I wrote an extensive piece on braking in Braking Bad and many of the principles in that post are relevant to track driving – in particular, the smooth application of the brakes, the three phases of braking and coming off the brakes smoothly (coming ooooooooff the brakes!), so it might be worth a quick read.
When you’re driving on track, you’re going to be braking very hard. And not just occasionally either – time and again, you’ll be pressing the brakes extremely hard, using all the available braking performance of your car and tyres, to reduce the speed of your car as quickly and efficiently as possible.
I’ve heard it described as “like emergency braking for every corner”, but I wouldn’t use that description – emergency braking is the sudden application of the brakes in an unexpected emergency. On the track, however, you should know when you’re going to brake, and although you’ll be braking very hard, you have the time to think about, and plan your braking, so there can be some tapering on and off the brakes, which will help you keep the car balanced under braking. Emergency braking is usually a quick, hard “stamp” on the brakes, whereas on the track, you can be a little more progressive.
When you first go out on track as a complete novice, you’ll tend to use the brakes in very much the same way as you do on the road – accelerate hard, then, on the approach to the corner, you’ll lift off the accelerator, the car will start to decelerate, you’ll move your foot over to the brake, you’ll brake smoothly, come off the brakes, change down a gear and then turn in to the corner, probably with your foot already on the accelerator ready to apply some power to balance the car and start accelerating through the corner.
That’s great for the road, but you would not believe how much time you are losing on track with this approach.
On track, you’re looking to keep the accelerator pressed hard to the floor as long as possible, before very quickly applying the brakes as hard as possible to remove just enough speed to take the corner at the fastest speed your car will go round it before starting to accelerate as early and as hard as possible out on to the next straight.
To keep it simple, the longer you keep the accelerator pressed and the later you can brake for the corner, the faster your lap speed will be.
Picking a Braking Point
Most track and competition drivers (including me) like to pick what’s called a “braking point” for each corner on a track. This is the point at which the driver knows they should come off the accelerator and start braking for the corner. It will be a physical object or mark on, or next to the circuit at a fixed point. Perhaps the start of the striped kerbing, or a tree to the side of the track, or a particular advertising hoarding in your line of sight. Some circuits provide count-down boards on the approach to some corners at 150, 100 and 50 metres, which can be used to work out your braking point.
You should not use shadows across the track, as these move during the day. For the same reason, don’t use distinctive cars parked to the side of the circuit either. Or spectators.
Don’t set out on your first lap trying to find the latest of late braking points. Start by picking a braking point which is a good safe distance away from the corner, and then as you build your experience lap-upon-lap, you can start to “move” your braking point gradually closer and closer to the corner. By the end of the day, you should have identified all the braking points for all the corners on the circuit, and you should be using them consistently, lap after lap.
Try not to get too caught up with your braking points though – there is much more to think about on the approach to a corner (which we’ll come to later), so if you spend all your time staring incessantly at your braking point, you’ll miss all the other important stuff.
So, keep looking and scanning all round you on the approach to a corner, look through the corner to identify your chosen line, think about what the other cars and drivers are doing, have a quick glance for marshals flags, and keep an eye out – probably the corner of your eye – for your braking point.
One other tip – don’t ask other drivers where their braking points are! Every car and driver is different and has different braking abilities. If you’re tracking your Bentley, your braking point may well be in a different county from the driver of a Caterham, so don’t try to match his braking points!
The Application of the Brakes
I mentioned before that your brakes will be applied much more quickly and firmly than you would normally on the road, but not quite as fierce and suddenly as you would in an emergency, but why?
I know I’ve already referred you to a previous post once, which is something I usually try to avoid, but this will be a long enough post, so it will be worth an extra five minutes of your time reading A Question of Balance before you go any further.
So the reasons for keeping your car balanced are clear, and balance is even more important on the track, where you’ll be much closer to the car’s limits for much longer than you ever would be on the road.
So how to keep the car balanced under braking?
It’s fairly simple really – use the same technique as you would on the road, but more quickly and more firmly.
So you should use three phase braking – phase 1 is where you smoothly roll on to the brakes, phase 2 is where you increase the pressure and use maximum braking effort and phase 3 is when you smoothly roll off the brakes (rather than just jumping straight off the pedal.
The difference is that phases 1 and 3 should be performed much more quickly than on the road – and phase 2 should involve much harder braking than on the road.
In a car with ABS, your second phase of braking should be almost at the point where ABS kicks in. You can actually lean on the anti-lock a little, but I find the vibrations can be a little unsettling and if you do go as far as activating the anti-lock system, then you’ve nothing left – there is literally no more additional braking effort left for you to call on if you need it.
Remember all that stuff that some “experts” churn out about how you should never brake when you’re cornering and how you should only brake in a straight line? I’ll let you into a secret…
It’s rubbish.
Maybe I’m being a bit harsh here – in general road driving, it’s best to get your braking out of the way before taking a gear and accelerating around a corner. But on the track, this approach will lose you second per lap and the “straight line braking only” mentality could also force you to make some bad decisions.
Think about how the weight is transferred around the car when you’re braking – especially if you’re braking hard. Most of the vehicle’s weight is transferred over the front wheels – it’s why brakes are biased to transfer the majority of braking effort to the front wheels.
But there is a further advantage on track to this forward weight transfer. When you’re turning in to a corner – by which I mean the point at which you make the first, initial turn of the steering wheel – you will want an immediate reaction from the car. This immediate reaction is dependent on the grip of your front wheels on the track circuit.
So, the more grip you’ve got at the front, the better response you’ll get at turn in. What better way to improve front-end grip than to have more weight over the front wheels? It’s the reason racing cars sport huge front wings after all – to use airflow to artificially increase the weight pressing down on the front wheels.
So with a little practice, you’ll find that if you’re still braking when you start to turn in to a corner, you’ll get a much better response from the front wheels and the car will turn in to the corner in a sharper and more responsive manner.
There is a risk with this technique though – if you turn in during the 2nd phase of braking – when you’re still braking very hard, there is a real danger that your (unweighted) rear wheels will lose grip and the car will oversteer as you turn in. So please – please – don’t turn in to a corner under maximum braking.
The correct technique is to carry out phase 1 and phase 2 in a straight line, maximising the cars balance in a straight line. But when it comes to phase 3 – the point where you smoothly start to release the brakes – the cars weight starts to transfer back towards the rear wheels a bit and your rear grip starts to improve. This is the point at which you can start to turn in to the corner whilst still braking, with much less risk of the rear overtaking the front.
With practice, the brakes can be kept on right up to the apex of some corners and this technique has the added advantage of moving your braking point even closer to the corner than if you’re only planning to brake in a straight line.
I should add at this point, that this technique requires practice, practice and more practice. Don’t go out on your first lap of the day and try to threshold brake right up to every apex. In a very short space of time, you’ll be black flagged if you’re lucky, or upside down if you’re not.
I mentioned earlier that the “straight line braking only” mentality could force you to make some bad decisions. Let me elaborate.
At some point during the track day, someone will probably get something wrong – usually when they’re halfway round a corner. If this happens in front of you, what’re you going to do? If you’re cornering at speed and the driver in front starts to lose it, what do you do if you can’t brake when you’re cornering?
The answer is obvious isn’t it – you should brake. Hard.
In most cases, your car will dutifully slow down in a much more efficient manner than you might think – especially if it’s modern and has stability systems fitted. In some cases, you may start to slide or spin – keep the brakes fully on, as this will cause the car to slow as much as possible, even on the grass or in the gravel. At the very worst, it will ensure you are travelling as slowly as possible at the point of impact.
I’m not trying to scaremonger here – most track days are relatively incident free and I’ve never had as much as a scraped bumper so far, but it’s worth a quick mention.
Heel ‘n Toe
It is obvious that if you’re approaching a corner at speed, and you have to brake very hard for the corner, you’re going to need a lower gear to get maximum acceleration through and out of the corner on to the next straight.
On the road, the approved stringback and pipe method is to brake, come off the brakes, take the gear and then turn in to the corner, but as we’ve seen, this is incompatible with quick track driving, so it’s clear that the braking and gear-changing have to take place at the same time – or to put it another way, much to the IAM’s horror, they should overlap.
The difficulty with overlapping braking and gear-changing for a corner is that if you fail to match your engine speed to the road speed for the lower gear, the driven wheels may lock and this is extremely bad for vehicle balance.
In a front-wheel-drive car, locking the front wheels could cause understeer & the car will fail to turn in to the corner. In a rear-wheel-drive car, locking the rear wheels can cause “turn-in oversteer”, which can be very snappy and difficult to catch, especially as you may not be expecting it.
So to avoid the driven wheels locking, you need to raise the engine revs whilst you’re changing down a gear. Easy if you’ve finished braking – not so easy if you’re still braking hard. After all, you haven’t got three feet, have you?
The accepted technique is to “heel and toe” whilst braking. In other words, you brake with one part of your right foot, and with another part of your right foot, you operate the accelerator pedal to raise, or “blip” the engine revs.
I’ve seen a couple of different heel/toe techniques, but here’s mine. I brake with the ball of my foot, and with my heel lifted off the car floor. When I need to rev the engine, I keep the ball of my foot on the brake pedal and rotate my ankle to the right so that I can blip the accelerator with the right side of my foot.
It sounds simple, but it takes a lot of practice. I find it easier to do under heavy braking and harder to do under gentle braking, but this is fine on track and the benefits are clear – especially if you’ve had a couple of previous spins through poor speed matching (ahem!).
I’ll add that my preference is to change down sequentially through the gears (5-4-3) whilst braking, rather than to block change directly to my chosen gear (5-3), as there is less chance of fluffing the change, and a block change requires a much bigger press of the accelerator.
What else?
A couple of other things about braking on track.
Try to make sure you keep all four wheels on the tarmac when braking – if you put a wheel on the white line or kerb when threshold braking, you could spin, especially if the track is wet.
As with everything else associated with track driving, you should build up gradually during the day and after every break you take.
Keep an eye out for fade. Your brakes will get much hotter for much longer than they ever do on the road, and that heat can lead to pad glazing, overheated fluid and potentially, brake fade. If you notice a drop in the performance of your brakes, reduce your speed, take a lap to allow the brakes to cool without using them too hard and if they still don’t feel right, come in and have a break.
Give your car and yourself regular breaks – I never usually do more than about 8 laps at a time, before coming in to the paddock and having a 10 or 15 minute break. This will allow your car (and you!)to cool off and think about what you’re doing.
When you come in, your brakes will be very hot. Park up with the car in gear and the handbrake off – a hot handbrake left on may stick the pads to the diskc.
And when you go back out, give yourself a lap or so to build up speed again. Your tyres will have cooled, and grip will be reduced from your last lap, so always build back up for a lap or two before going flat-out.
Next time - cornering
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
I said I’d write two posts on track days – one on the basics and one on the driving, but I found that once I’d started writing about braking, I couldn’t stop (yes, I know – the irony!), so this will end up being a series of posts, starting with braking
On to the driving!
Before I go any further, as before, I’d just like to say that I really am not a track driving expert. I take part in track days and I have built up a little experience which I’d like to share, but there are far more experienced track and race drivers out there, so I’m quite happy to be challenged on anything I’ve written and corrected if necessary.
Track driving differs from road driving - even fast road driving - in three significant areas:
1. Braking - anyone can accelerate hard and drive fast along the straights, but driving quickly on track requires a significantly different braking technique to road driving. Braking should be left as late as possible, and then the brakes should be applied as hard as possible. It’s actually quite shocking when you experience sustained threshold braking for the first time, so in this post we’ll look at braking on track in detail.
2. Cornering lines - On the road, your planning for a corner is very much dependent on how far you can see, and apart from the most well sighted corners, you have to limit your positioning (especially your positioning on the exit of a corner) to the left-hand side of the white centre line. On track, you’ll drive the same corner time and time again, so you get to know it intimately, and, of course, you can use the full width of the road, so in the next instalment we’ll look at how to work out your best line through a corner.
3. Corner exit speed – This was another big surprise to me when I started track driving. The aim is to carry as much speed out of a corner and on to the next straight as possible, as a small increase in exit speed can equal a significant increase in speed by the end of the following straight. Exiting a corner fast, particularly a left hander – where on the road you would normally be restricted to the left hand side of the white centre line – is very exciting, but quite alien to the novice, so we’ll also look at how to make the best of your corner exits.
It’s not all completely alien though – there are many road driving skills and techniques which translate nicely across to track driving. Having a smooth driving style is very important, together with a good sense of car balance. An ability to look well ahead and plan your moves well in advance is a big advantage, as is a calm and composed mental attitude and an ability to concentrate. So we’ll also examine the skills which can be transferred from road driving (and vice-versa – track days are an excellent way to practice some road skills at higher speeds).
A quick note on speed before we go any further. I’ll be talking about how to squeeze the maximum performance out of your car on track, but you do not necessarily have to attend a track day with this mentality. Stay within your own ability level, and just go out with the intention of enjoying yourself. Start at a slow-to-medium pace and build your speed up gradually during the day until you reach a level you’re comfortable with.
There is nothing to prove on a track day! You’re not there to race anyone or shave thousandths off your lap time. It’s an opportunity to enjoy driving your car in an unrestricted environment – forget what everyone else is doing, concentrate on your own driving and get what you want from the day.
And as I mentioned in part 1, if there is instruction available on the day, try to take advantage of it – a few laps of instruction can be of more benefit than a full day trying to teach yourself.
So let’s start with the first of those differences:
Braking
I wrote an extensive piece on braking in Braking Bad and many of the principles in that post are relevant to track driving – in particular, the smooth application of the brakes, the three phases of braking and coming off the brakes smoothly (coming ooooooooff the brakes!), so it might be worth a quick read.
When you’re driving on track, you’re going to be braking very hard. And not just occasionally either – time and again, you’ll be pressing the brakes extremely hard, using all the available braking performance of your car and tyres, to reduce the speed of your car as quickly and efficiently as possible.
I’ve heard it described as “like emergency braking for every corner”, but I wouldn’t use that description – emergency braking is the sudden application of the brakes in an unexpected emergency. On the track, however, you should know when you’re going to brake, and although you’ll be braking very hard, you have the time to think about, and plan your braking, so there can be some tapering on and off the brakes, which will help you keep the car balanced under braking. Emergency braking is usually a quick, hard “stamp” on the brakes, whereas on the track, you can be a little more progressive.
When you first go out on track as a complete novice, you’ll tend to use the brakes in very much the same way as you do on the road – accelerate hard, then, on the approach to the corner, you’ll lift off the accelerator, the car will start to decelerate, you’ll move your foot over to the brake, you’ll brake smoothly, come off the brakes, change down a gear and then turn in to the corner, probably with your foot already on the accelerator ready to apply some power to balance the car and start accelerating through the corner.
That’s great for the road, but you would not believe how much time you are losing on track with this approach.
On track, you’re looking to keep the accelerator pressed hard to the floor as long as possible, before very quickly applying the brakes as hard as possible to remove just enough speed to take the corner at the fastest speed your car will go round it before starting to accelerate as early and as hard as possible out on to the next straight.
To keep it simple, the longer you keep the accelerator pressed and the later you can brake for the corner, the faster your lap speed will be.
Picking a Braking Point
Most track and competition drivers (including me) like to pick what’s called a “braking point” for each corner on a track. This is the point at which the driver knows they should come off the accelerator and start braking for the corner. It will be a physical object or mark on, or next to the circuit at a fixed point. Perhaps the start of the striped kerbing, or a tree to the side of the track, or a particular advertising hoarding in your line of sight. Some circuits provide count-down boards on the approach to some corners at 150, 100 and 50 metres, which can be used to work out your braking point.
You should not use shadows across the track, as these move during the day. For the same reason, don’t use distinctive cars parked to the side of the circuit either. Or spectators.
Don’t set out on your first lap trying to find the latest of late braking points. Start by picking a braking point which is a good safe distance away from the corner, and then as you build your experience lap-upon-lap, you can start to “move” your braking point gradually closer and closer to the corner. By the end of the day, you should have identified all the braking points for all the corners on the circuit, and you should be using them consistently, lap after lap.
Try not to get too caught up with your braking points though – there is much more to think about on the approach to a corner (which we’ll come to later), so if you spend all your time staring incessantly at your braking point, you’ll miss all the other important stuff.
So, keep looking and scanning all round you on the approach to a corner, look through the corner to identify your chosen line, think about what the other cars and drivers are doing, have a quick glance for marshals flags, and keep an eye out – probably the corner of your eye – for your braking point.
One other tip – don’t ask other drivers where their braking points are! Every car and driver is different and has different braking abilities. If you’re tracking your Bentley, your braking point may well be in a different county from the driver of a Caterham, so don’t try to match his braking points!
The Application of the Brakes
I mentioned before that your brakes will be applied much more quickly and firmly than you would normally on the road, but not quite as fierce and suddenly as you would in an emergency, but why?
I know I’ve already referred you to a previous post once, which is something I usually try to avoid, but this will be a long enough post, so it will be worth an extra five minutes of your time reading A Question of Balance before you go any further.
So the reasons for keeping your car balanced are clear, and balance is even more important on the track, where you’ll be much closer to the car’s limits for much longer than you ever would be on the road.
So how to keep the car balanced under braking?
It’s fairly simple really – use the same technique as you would on the road, but more quickly and more firmly.
So you should use three phase braking – phase 1 is where you smoothly roll on to the brakes, phase 2 is where you increase the pressure and use maximum braking effort and phase 3 is when you smoothly roll off the brakes (rather than just jumping straight off the pedal.
The difference is that phases 1 and 3 should be performed much more quickly than on the road – and phase 2 should involve much harder braking than on the road.
In a car with ABS, your second phase of braking should be almost at the point where ABS kicks in. You can actually lean on the anti-lock a little, but I find the vibrations can be a little unsettling and if you do go as far as activating the anti-lock system, then you’ve nothing left – there is literally no more additional braking effort left for you to call on if you need it.
Remember all that stuff that some “experts” churn out about how you should never brake when you’re cornering and how you should only brake in a straight line? I’ll let you into a secret…
It’s rubbish.
Maybe I’m being a bit harsh here – in general road driving, it’s best to get your braking out of the way before taking a gear and accelerating around a corner. But on the track, this approach will lose you second per lap and the “straight line braking only” mentality could also force you to make some bad decisions.
Think about how the weight is transferred around the car when you’re braking – especially if you’re braking hard. Most of the vehicle’s weight is transferred over the front wheels – it’s why brakes are biased to transfer the majority of braking effort to the front wheels.
But there is a further advantage on track to this forward weight transfer. When you’re turning in to a corner – by which I mean the point at which you make the first, initial turn of the steering wheel – you will want an immediate reaction from the car. This immediate reaction is dependent on the grip of your front wheels on the track circuit.
So, the more grip you’ve got at the front, the better response you’ll get at turn in. What better way to improve front-end grip than to have more weight over the front wheels? It’s the reason racing cars sport huge front wings after all – to use airflow to artificially increase the weight pressing down on the front wheels.
So with a little practice, you’ll find that if you’re still braking when you start to turn in to a corner, you’ll get a much better response from the front wheels and the car will turn in to the corner in a sharper and more responsive manner.
There is a risk with this technique though – if you turn in during the 2nd phase of braking – when you’re still braking very hard, there is a real danger that your (unweighted) rear wheels will lose grip and the car will oversteer as you turn in. So please – please – don’t turn in to a corner under maximum braking.
The correct technique is to carry out phase 1 and phase 2 in a straight line, maximising the cars balance in a straight line. But when it comes to phase 3 – the point where you smoothly start to release the brakes – the cars weight starts to transfer back towards the rear wheels a bit and your rear grip starts to improve. This is the point at which you can start to turn in to the corner whilst still braking, with much less risk of the rear overtaking the front.
With practice, the brakes can be kept on right up to the apex of some corners and this technique has the added advantage of moving your braking point even closer to the corner than if you’re only planning to brake in a straight line.
I should add at this point, that this technique requires practice, practice and more practice. Don’t go out on your first lap of the day and try to threshold brake right up to every apex. In a very short space of time, you’ll be black flagged if you’re lucky, or upside down if you’re not.
I mentioned earlier that the “straight line braking only” mentality could force you to make some bad decisions. Let me elaborate.
At some point during the track day, someone will probably get something wrong – usually when they’re halfway round a corner. If this happens in front of you, what’re you going to do? If you’re cornering at speed and the driver in front starts to lose it, what do you do if you can’t brake when you’re cornering?
The answer is obvious isn’t it – you should brake. Hard.
In most cases, your car will dutifully slow down in a much more efficient manner than you might think – especially if it’s modern and has stability systems fitted. In some cases, you may start to slide or spin – keep the brakes fully on, as this will cause the car to slow as much as possible, even on the grass or in the gravel. At the very worst, it will ensure you are travelling as slowly as possible at the point of impact.
I’m not trying to scaremonger here – most track days are relatively incident free and I’ve never had as much as a scraped bumper so far, but it’s worth a quick mention.
Heel ‘n Toe
It is obvious that if you’re approaching a corner at speed, and you have to brake very hard for the corner, you’re going to need a lower gear to get maximum acceleration through and out of the corner on to the next straight.
On the road, the approved stringback and pipe method is to brake, come off the brakes, take the gear and then turn in to the corner, but as we’ve seen, this is incompatible with quick track driving, so it’s clear that the braking and gear-changing have to take place at the same time – or to put it another way, much to the IAM’s horror, they should overlap.
The difficulty with overlapping braking and gear-changing for a corner is that if you fail to match your engine speed to the road speed for the lower gear, the driven wheels may lock and this is extremely bad for vehicle balance.
In a front-wheel-drive car, locking the front wheels could cause understeer & the car will fail to turn in to the corner. In a rear-wheel-drive car, locking the rear wheels can cause “turn-in oversteer”, which can be very snappy and difficult to catch, especially as you may not be expecting it.
So to avoid the driven wheels locking, you need to raise the engine revs whilst you’re changing down a gear. Easy if you’ve finished braking – not so easy if you’re still braking hard. After all, you haven’t got three feet, have you?
The accepted technique is to “heel and toe” whilst braking. In other words, you brake with one part of your right foot, and with another part of your right foot, you operate the accelerator pedal to raise, or “blip” the engine revs.
I’ve seen a couple of different heel/toe techniques, but here’s mine. I brake with the ball of my foot, and with my heel lifted off the car floor. When I need to rev the engine, I keep the ball of my foot on the brake pedal and rotate my ankle to the right so that I can blip the accelerator with the right side of my foot.
It sounds simple, but it takes a lot of practice. I find it easier to do under heavy braking and harder to do under gentle braking, but this is fine on track and the benefits are clear – especially if you’ve had a couple of previous spins through poor speed matching (ahem!).
I’ll add that my preference is to change down sequentially through the gears (5-4-3) whilst braking, rather than to block change directly to my chosen gear (5-3), as there is less chance of fluffing the change, and a block change requires a much bigger press of the accelerator.
What else?
A couple of other things about braking on track.
Try to make sure you keep all four wheels on the tarmac when braking – if you put a wheel on the white line or kerb when threshold braking, you could spin, especially if the track is wet.
As with everything else associated with track driving, you should build up gradually during the day and after every break you take.
Keep an eye out for fade. Your brakes will get much hotter for much longer than they ever do on the road, and that heat can lead to pad glazing, overheated fluid and potentially, brake fade. If you notice a drop in the performance of your brakes, reduce your speed, take a lap to allow the brakes to cool without using them too hard and if they still don’t feel right, come in and have a break.
Give your car and yourself regular breaks – I never usually do more than about 8 laps at a time, before coming in to the paddock and having a 10 or 15 minute break. This will allow your car (and you!)to cool off and think about what you’re doing.
When you come in, your brakes will be very hot. Park up with the car in gear and the handbrake off – a hot handbrake left on may stick the pads to the diskc.
And when you go back out, give yourself a lap or so to build up speed again. Your tyres will have cooled, and grip will be reduced from your last lap, so always build back up for a lap or two before going flat-out.
Next time - cornering
Might I add a technique I was taught on how to improve braking points. The way I thought about it was when you picked your point to brake you could move it forward lap after lap until you found the latest point to brake. The problem with my brain is that it is habitual and scared. It subconsciously takes over and fills the braking distance with braking thus making it very hard to shorten the distance.
The technique is to not think about moving the braking point forward but to focus on braking as hard as you can without locking up. You then find yourself going too slowly for the corner and your subconscious realises not to be so scared any more and lets you brake much later.
A Le Mans winner taught me that and it turned me from a Granny-braker (as it were) to one of the last of the late-brakers.
The effect is much more pronounced as well with aero cars.
Bert
The technique is to not think about moving the braking point forward but to focus on braking as hard as you can without locking up. You then find yourself going too slowly for the corner and your subconscious realises not to be so scared any more and lets you brake much later.
A Le Mans winner taught me that and it turned me from a Granny-braker (as it were) to one of the last of the late-brakers.
The effect is much more pronounced as well with aero cars.
Bert
Good stuff again and a big topic!
Regarding down changes, may want to consider the options on this depending on the car configuration and/or track conditions, setup etc.
e.g. RWD - increased engine braking moves the brake bias backwards.
In the wet you can't get the same weight transfer to the front so may be an advantage to move the brake bias backwards by 4-3-2 early (high revs).
In the dry you may not want that and better to minimise time on the clutch hence a late 4-2. Also you have less time.
I guess my point is it's worth the reader understanding the impacts and exploring options accordingly.
Regarding down changes, may want to consider the options on this depending on the car configuration and/or track conditions, setup etc.
e.g. RWD - increased engine braking moves the brake bias backwards.
In the wet you can't get the same weight transfer to the front so may be an advantage to move the brake bias backwards by 4-3-2 early (high revs).
In the dry you may not want that and better to minimise time on the clutch hence a late 4-2. Also you have less time.
I guess my point is it's worth the reader understanding the impacts and exploring options accordingly.
Thank you both. As I've already stated, I'm no track driving expert, so your contributions are very welcome.
It still shocks me how hard you can brake in a lightish car with decent brakes and track day tyres on a dry track - very difficult to put into words.
The "brake as hard as you can to find your braking point" tip is a good one and I'll be using it myself the next time I visit an unfamiliar circuit.
As for changing down, I've always felt more comfortable going down through the 'box sequentially on track, rather than block changing, but I could never quite put my finger on why. I took one of my lads to a track day at Blyton a couple of years ago and he asked me why I didn't just block change down for the chicane and I honestly couldn't give him an answer, other than feeling that I'd be less likely to fluff the gearchange. The brake bias stuff makes perfect sense now I think of it.
Thanks for sharing.
It still shocks me how hard you can brake in a lightish car with decent brakes and track day tyres on a dry track - very difficult to put into words.
The "brake as hard as you can to find your braking point" tip is a good one and I'll be using it myself the next time I visit an unfamiliar circuit.
As for changing down, I've always felt more comfortable going down through the 'box sequentially on track, rather than block changing, but I could never quite put my finger on why. I took one of my lads to a track day at Blyton a couple of years ago and he asked me why I didn't just block change down for the chicane and I honestly couldn't give him an answer, other than feeling that I'd be less likely to fluff the gearchange. The brake bias stuff makes perfect sense now I think of it.
Thanks for sharing.
So in a race car you have to decide whether engine braking is going to be useful or not. In the 911 vid on the block change thread, the driver goes through the gears (wow) so that's not just for the fun of it, it's to make better approaches. Now in that case it might be that it's because of the locking diff on the GT3RS which gives 40% lock on the overrun (anorak mode).
In the Radical, being a mechanically minded chap, I wanted to leave the gear changes quite late in the process (clutchless paddleshift bang, bang, bang at the end). Now obviously you are forced to sequentially shift there, but the braking and approach to corners was much improved with earlier shifts.
In the FF2000 with hardly any downforce, no LSD and only 120bhp you can happily brake to a 2nd gear corner and block shift from 4th to 2nd.
HTH
Bert
In the Radical, being a mechanically minded chap, I wanted to leave the gear changes quite late in the process (clutchless paddleshift bang, bang, bang at the end). Now obviously you are forced to sequentially shift there, but the braking and approach to corners was much improved with earlier shifts.
In the FF2000 with hardly any downforce, no LSD and only 120bhp you can happily brake to a 2nd gear corner and block shift from 4th to 2nd.
HTH
Bert
R_U_LOCAL said:
joedesi said:
Great info. Is what you've described also known as trail braking? If not what is it?
Thanks J
Yes, AKA trail braking.Thanks J
http://www.formula1-dictionary.net/advanced_brakin...
http://scottmansell.co.uk/blog/trail-braking/
Mastery of trail braking was one of the things that made Schumacher and Clark so quick; essentially it allows a later braking point, but it can also be used to take an alternative line to another driver in order to overtake them on the way in to a corner. It works in some corners and cars better than others and is one of a plethora of advanced subtle techniques that can be used to achieve better lap times.
Naturally, I am happy to be corrected by someone with greater knowledge of this than me!
No apologies necessary - as I mentioned in the first part, I consider myself very much a novice on track, so I'm grateful for the correction and the links, which are very interesting.
Braking is far and away the most difficult skill to master on track and also probably the single skill which is most different from it's equivalent on the road.
In one of the links there was a very interesting paragraph which made a comparison between trail braking into a corner and accelerating out of a corner - almost as though the two actions were mirror images of each other. Where you gradually apply pressure on the accelerator from the apex of a corner whilst winding lock off, conversely, when trail braking, you gradually reduce pressure on the brake pedal whilst winding steering lock on towards the apex.
Using the brake pedal to balance the car on corner entry can be very alien to many people - myself included - and is probably the biggest single difference between great drivers and everyone else. Which is why I fear that, if I ever took up competitive motorsport, I'd fall squarely in the "everyone else" camp!
Braking is far and away the most difficult skill to master on track and also probably the single skill which is most different from it's equivalent on the road.
In one of the links there was a very interesting paragraph which made a comparison between trail braking into a corner and accelerating out of a corner - almost as though the two actions were mirror images of each other. Where you gradually apply pressure on the accelerator from the apex of a corner whilst winding lock off, conversely, when trail braking, you gradually reduce pressure on the brake pedal whilst winding steering lock on towards the apex.
Using the brake pedal to balance the car on corner entry can be very alien to many people - myself included - and is probably the biggest single difference between great drivers and everyone else. Which is why I fear that, if I ever took up competitive motorsport, I'd fall squarely in the "everyone else" camp!
I agree with you there - braking is certainly the skill that's most different between road and track, which makes it even harder to get right on track! And it is hard to get right! I barely brake at all on the road other than merely to illuminate my rear lights to warn the people behind that I'm slowing, so I get pretty much zero practise between tests, races and track days. Virtually every other track skill that I can think of you can both practise and practice (!) on the road at a lower speed and it either doesn't alter your safety on the road or it actually improves it (keeping the car balanced, good steering technique, smooth gearchanges, rev matching etc).I'm not sure that the use of brakes to competently control the car through the first phase of the bend is that advanced a technique or the preserve of great drivers - it's something I learnt very early on when racing front wheel drive cars in my early 20s, where it's crucially important as you unavoidably get understeer when you come on the power at the apex so you need to manage the balance on turn-in very carefully indeed to account for that, and it's something I've always used when racing. However, as you rightly say, mastery of braking is something that differentiates really top drivers from merely very good drivers, as with my example with Schumacher and Clark.
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