I’m looking for feedback to improve my driving skills and lap times.
This was my second time at this track and my fourth track day overall.
Thanks.
This was my second time at this track and my fourth track day overall.
Thanks.
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S550 Feedback request
- Thread starterRedStallion27
- Start date
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Keep in mind here, baby steps with all of this. It's very rarely a case of, "Just send it", and this isn't one of them.
There's more to be had on the brakes and entry. The car is perfectly stable and the tires are quiet until you turn the wheel. That lets us know there's more there. The next time out, run your laps just as you always have, but take 100% notice of all of your brake application points. There are 4 parts to a brake zone, The application/ramp-up, peak, hold and trail. As the day goes, try moving those brake points closer to the corner by 1 car length at a time. If we find we're having to apply the brakes too hard at the end of the brake zone, then we probably didn't use enough pressure on the peak or hold portion of the brake curve. Also, we might have been slow on the lead-in. We can't just stomp the brakes of a GT car, but we apply them as quickly as possible without upsetting the car.
We don't have brake displayed here, but it looks/sounds like you're kind of dumping the brake pressure and cranking the steering at the same time. It causes the front to wash, but you're doing a good job of adding wheel to get it to turn. Too many times drives will just simply not turn the wheel, enough. Regardless, your turn-in's are a bit late (try 1 car length earlier), so we have to crank in a lot all at once, which washes the front and gives a bad angle at the apex. We want to move your entire brake zone towards the apex of the corner. Start later, use more pressure in the straight line portion & then release slower and trail at least 1/3rd of the way into the corner. If you've carried enough speed into the corner, you'll need the trail to get the car to turn. If you have to make that big steering addition, then you want it a little before the apex to get the final rotation or to do the final slowing the car needs. As quickly as we put it in, we need to take it out, because there's the apex and it's time to go to gas. The goal is to carry enough speed into the corner we have to slow the car all the way to the apex. Especially with a heavy, front-engine car, we want to avoid steady-state max-lateral as much as we can. That's a game for Miatas. We want to either be on the gas or on the brake.
On the exit side of the corner, your goal is to be full-throttle at or around the apex, depending on corner geometry. Your goal on the front side of the corner is to arrive at the apex with the correct speed and trajectory to be full-throttle at that point. To do this, you'll have to use more exit road than you're presently using. You may actually take a MPH or two off your mid-corner rolling speeds, that's the compromise to make as long as we get to full throttle. There are corners where this is not the case, of course, but this is a good, general-purpose rule when thinking about how to go faster. If we have to slowly apply the throttle all the way to the exit, then we hit the apex at either the wrong speed or wrong trajectory.
TeeLew-ism (This one is pretty high on the list) - Where we initiate throttle is inconsequential. Where we reach full-throttle is vital. Very often, the one who initiates first gets to full last.
There's more to be had on the brakes and entry. The car is perfectly stable and the tires are quiet until you turn the wheel. That lets us know there's more there. The next time out, run your laps just as you always have, but take 100% notice of all of your brake application points. There are 4 parts to a brake zone, The application/ramp-up, peak, hold and trail. As the day goes, try moving those brake points closer to the corner by 1 car length at a time. If we find we're having to apply the brakes too hard at the end of the brake zone, then we probably didn't use enough pressure on the peak or hold portion of the brake curve. Also, we might have been slow on the lead-in. We can't just stomp the brakes of a GT car, but we apply them as quickly as possible without upsetting the car.
We don't have brake displayed here, but it looks/sounds like you're kind of dumping the brake pressure and cranking the steering at the same time. It causes the front to wash, but you're doing a good job of adding wheel to get it to turn. Too many times drives will just simply not turn the wheel, enough. Regardless, your turn-in's are a bit late (try 1 car length earlier), so we have to crank in a lot all at once, which washes the front and gives a bad angle at the apex. We want to move your entire brake zone towards the apex of the corner. Start later, use more pressure in the straight line portion & then release slower and trail at least 1/3rd of the way into the corner. If you've carried enough speed into the corner, you'll need the trail to get the car to turn. If you have to make that big steering addition, then you want it a little before the apex to get the final rotation or to do the final slowing the car needs. As quickly as we put it in, we need to take it out, because there's the apex and it's time to go to gas. The goal is to carry enough speed into the corner we have to slow the car all the way to the apex. Especially with a heavy, front-engine car, we want to avoid steady-state max-lateral as much as we can. That's a game for Miatas. We want to either be on the gas or on the brake.
On the exit side of the corner, your goal is to be full-throttle at or around the apex, depending on corner geometry. Your goal on the front side of the corner is to arrive at the apex with the correct speed and trajectory to be full-throttle at that point. To do this, you'll have to use more exit road than you're presently using. You may actually take a MPH or two off your mid-corner rolling speeds, that's the compromise to make as long as we get to full throttle. There are corners where this is not the case, of course, but this is a good, general-purpose rule when thinking about how to go faster. If we have to slowly apply the throttle all the way to the exit, then we hit the apex at either the wrong speed or wrong trajectory.
TeeLew-ism (This one is pretty high on the list) - Where we initiate throttle is inconsequential. Where we reach full-throttle is vital. Very often, the one who initiates first gets to full last.
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