HalV

There is a high speed sweeper (100-120+ mph) at the track that I drive. This is by far the most intimidating turn for me. My instructors have told me to brush the brakes just before entering the turn to settle the car (put a little weight on the front). What do you guys think of this approach? Is this common before these types of turns?

Thanks,

Hal

KaiB

All about weight transfer Hal - as you know.

If your approach speed is a bit greater than speed should be for good turn-in, then gently settling weight to the front of the car is a good thing.

If your instructor feels you may be a bit quick at entry (given your current skill level), he may be indicating he wants you on the brakes a bit to help you out - without actually saying he wants you a bit slower. Later on, perhaps a slight lift from the throtle will accomplish the same thing at greater entry speed.

Once again, we're back to vision - these higher speed corners tend to make us a bit niddly and we should all know by now what happend when we get that funny feeling - our eyes go down.

One more thing which can help is your throttle. Once turn-in is accomplished, the throttle is our best friend as it gets the weight back over the rear...find confidence there and go flat as soon as you can, knowing that the car likes that.

More throttle, more stick (grip), more stick = more confidence = more throttle.

Its fun!!!

J richard

A standard technique that does two things; helps balance the weight transfer, and preloads the suspension. The point is to eliminate any sudden shifts that can upset the car mid corner. Softer sprung cars have more roll and suspension compliance and require more settling and a bigger tap, a pure race car cans do with just a tiny brush or just steering input...
Lastly it eliminates any brake pad knock back so the brakes will be sensitive to fine modulation.

race911

Here's where I come back to data. The difference between 100 and 120 is light years. I start with knowing what's truly available, before I worry too much about technique. Problem you're probably going to have is that there's likely no car similar to yours out there, and further probably doesn't have data you can pull. (I'm loathe to recommend guest drivers doing "hot laps" when you're in pretty much anything below pro racing.)

What's the next best thing? Extrapolate from something, anything similar. In a super high speed corner like you're talking about, it may come down to firing up a sim like iracing. If you're not up on sims, ask around. May be a good question over on the DE/Racing Forum to find a more broad-based answer.

Now that you have that data (and I'll go totally hypothetical), the exit of the previous corner at 60 turns into 110 through that sweeper WITHOUT some nose settling by braking. But maybe where you really want to go is get off the previous corner at 62-65, and you are now needing to get some weight transfer to negotiate that sweeper at 115-117.

And I'll leave out the completely likely possibility there's a bump or some pavement imperfection that makes 110 totally do-able, but 115 insane. Even though you're nowhere near the edge of traction.

RSAErick

Can you explain what this is? Sorry, I'm not familiar with what 'knock back' is.

Thanks.

KaiB

Hereya Erick: http://stoptech.com/technical-suppor.../pad-knockback

HalV

In this case he definitely was talking about just brushing the brakes to settle the car, not to make me go any slower. My instructor last year had me do the same thing so it seems to be common practice on this particular corner.
Yes, this is a very important thing I didn't mention. I'm always on the throttle on this corner so the back end doesn't get light.

HalV

Thanks, Jim, I think you nailed it with this response.

Hal

HalV

You're exactly right about the data. I've taken this corner at quite a bit different speeds just depending on confidence level. If I get some good data, that'll give me more confidence.
I've been reading a little bit of the iRacing thread in that forum. I need to invest in a new steering wheel. My current wheel is so old that it connects to a "gaming" port.
Sorry, I should have set the situation up a bit more. The turn before this one is even faster. It is a high speed banked turn that is at the end of a mile long straight. I take it at 120mph but the fast guys will go flat out. My instructor gave me a ride in his GT3 and we were at about 150 going through that turn! I didn't see how fast he was going through the sweeper, though.
[/QUOTE]
What'll be interesting is that this part of the track has been resurfaced since last year.

RSAErick

Thank you. I haven't 'noticed' this much, but might be curious to feel the difference with some brake touch at the end of straights.

KaiB

Absolutely!

This is the fun part about these discussions.

I'd LOVE to see a few more questions from those members who just might be a bit hesitant to ask - every answer(s) helps everyone, including the author(s).

Who is noticing a common theme? It's built around one of my constant comments and expanded upon nicely by one of JR's...his comment hits the nail on the head when one thinks about driving our cars.

HalV

Me too! I feel like I'm the only one that has issues on the track?

Regardless, thanks to Kai, Jim and Race911 for all your help thus far.

Hal

boxsey911

No questions at the moment but I'd thought I'd give an update on the 'eyes up' approach to remove my tendency for over-braking for corners.

It might be a while before I get out on track again so I've been trying it out on the road. By thinking about 'eyes up' as I approach a corner I can feel my foot reacting to what my eyes see. The result is that I'm easing off the brakes earlier and smoother and the attitude of the car is much more balanced through the whole of the corner.

Doing this on the road/street means that (for obvious reasons) the speeds are not particularly high and I rarely get to use the full width of the road (because of traffic). However it's still possible to feel the difference that 'eyes up' make to balancing the car. And to notice the few extra mph at the turn in point of the corner. In short, 'eyes up' makes quite a difference!

KaiB

Oh, you may rest assured that I do also - and Jim will tell you he does (How do I know this to be a fact? He drives and works on getting better)

Cheers and eyes up - good for you Steve, it's the road work which pays off on the track, big time!!!

tahoelife

? on data. Since we have obd1 cars and for those of us not using motec (as much as i want to! so if some one feels like donating ....) and as race911 has stated cell ph apps don't count and i agree to a point. however trying to find a similar car to our warmed over street cars to compare with is not easy. So is a system like traqmate worth the expense or am i better of using something like what race911 suggested with the rumblestrip lap timer. I would love to know rpm,brake,throttle input etc but on obd1 seems no solution. Again this is for a guy that is on a scrimp budget and is only TT-ing the car