faster through corners

[The Radium King]

well ...

it's not coasting, and understeer is not an indicator of entering the corner too slow.

i've always been taught that throttle steer (lifting throttle to get the car to rotate) is not the fastest way through a corner as it requires ... lifting the throttle. it's a good technique to know if you find yourself in an understeer situation, however.

further, i agree that pushing your tires like that is not the best way to ensure they last for a 20 minute sprint.

however, i think there is merit in the concept of using understeer to slow the car. i think, perhaps, there is a need to drill down into it a bit more - is it a fast corner technique (vs trail braking, which is more of a slow corner technique) is it a late apex technique (where you can enter the corner faster, turn later, and use the understeer technique to quickly rotate and exit) is it a light car technique (less wear on tires) is it an underpowered car technique (makes me think of the rx7 challenge car guys that run at our track - they don't brake - ever).

i know that, in examining my lat-g through corners, that i can hit well over 1 g at apex and past, but i'm not there at turn-in. the concept of going in with the intent of understeering (and, i presume, aiming inside the apex) might get my lat-g's up earlier into the turn.

where trail braking is a technique to get the rear tires to the limit of slip earlier, this technique seems to be a way to get the front tires to the limit of slip earlier, and combining the two in some way might be the ultimate goal.

edit to add - perhaps there is also a semantic issue here - i'm not sure we are talking a complete loss of traction and exceeding the slip angle, but rather pushing the slip angle to it's limit such that there is maximum slip but no actual breaking free of the tires.

[steved0x]

Originally Posted by The Radium King

i know that, in examining my lat-g through corners, that i can hit well over 1 g at apex and past, but i'm not there at turn-in. the concept of going in with the intent of understeering (and, i presume, aiming inside the apex) might get my lat-g's up earlier into the turn.

I am similar, in that I am often at 1+ lateral G at the Apex, but I'm not anywhere near -1 lat G at turn in. However, if I look at my GSUM (combined lateral and longitudinal Gs) it shows how I am combining my braking and turning forces at corner entry.

GSUM = sqrt((LatAcc^2)+(LonAcc^2))

This helps me to see if I am effectively combining my braking and turning at the start of a corner - if it is really low then I might be braking too soon and then gently rolling into the corner at less than the speed at which I could.

In corners where I do a soft(er) brake, like T1 at Road Atlanta, T1 at Sebring, or T1 at Roebling, this is an area where I probably lose a lot of time, as I am way under the limit there. I am driving down to Sebring later today with a goal in mind: "Roll more speed into T1" - I bet I can probably gain a second there just from that change...