Imagine we start breaking at 200 kph right here. Then imagine that we start turning pretty early, say right here on the point one. The line that we're going to be capable of doing will look more or less like this. But instead of a circle, because we will continue to break into the corner, let's consider here that we are breaking on the limit as much as possible. So we're not doing any mistake or locking up or turning too much. We are turning as much as the car is capable of rotating at that speed at that turning point.

The line, instead of looking like a circle, it's actually going to look like an ellipse like that, because as the speed goes down, the car is able to rotate more. So we always have this ellipse instead. Now let's say that instead of turning at the point one, we are going to turn at the point two. What's going to happen is because we had more time to decelerate, the car is going to be able to do a smaller radius. And again, it's not going to look like a circle, it's going to look like an ellipse like that. And then we have a third situation breaking at the point three. The car is going to be even slower by the time we start turning in. So that means we build an even smaller circle like that.

Choosing the Right Approach for Different Corners

Now let's move this approach here to the side and ask ourselves what would be the best approach for different corners. So let's say on the first example, we have a very short hairpin. So we have this corner that is already super tight corner. Of course, here, the best approach is the third one. So we're going to break on a straight line and build this small ellipse right here and get back on power.

But now imagine that the track actually has a different layout. Instead of doing this line, there's an alternate possibility this line instead. So now we are going to use the approach too, because we can carry more speed into the corner. And this is very important. We have more time and more space to do the deceleration inside the corner. So we're going to build the line two. And in the line two, we start turning a little bit earlier. So this is essentially a double apex.

Key Differences Between Approaches

Now so far, what is the difference between the approach one and approach two? In the approach one, we spend more time on a straight line. And we turn in later, because the corner is shorter, tighter, and we need to do a lot of the cornering in a short amount of time. So we don't have time to do the breaking while cornering too much. So the distance of breaking here in this tighter hairpin is much smaller, let's say is x, and the distance between the initial turn in and the maximum rotation point of this longer corner is say 2x.

Why is this important? Because essentially, the longer the corner, the earlier we start turning in. And that's where I'm getting it. Note that these two corners are 180 degrees. If you have a third example, then you already know we're going to use the approach one. So we're going to turn in even earlier in approach one right here, and apex super early go super wide, and then finally get back on power in between. And that's the double apex approach right here in a much longer corner.

Again, if you see the distance between the turn in point and the actual maximum rotation point while cornering, we are breaking for a big distance. Let's call this 3x. I know this is getting a little bit complicated, but the point here is that the shorter the corner, the later you're going to turn in, and the more you're going to do your deceleration on a straight line. And also the shorter the corner, the less breaking while cornering we're going to do.

Real Life Example: Finding the Ideal Turn-In Point

Now let's get a proper real life example. Let's say we are approaching this corner for the very first time. We're building our breaking references, and we're trying to figure out where is the ideal point to start turning in.

Attempt One

Now let's imagine that we do a few attempts on the first attempt. We get to hit the apex, but then we cars a little bit too fast, and we end up going wide. So we have to continue to trail break and get back on power way too late and having a terrible exit.

Attempt Two

Now let's try attempt two then on attempt two, we are breaking for a little bit longer on a straight line and we're starting to turn in a few car lengths after maybe one or one and a half car lengths after. And then we start turning a little bit later that we are carrying less speed at this point because we already spent this extra bit breaking a straight line. So we're carrying like five to 10 kilometers per hour less. And then we get here and we still realize that we are we're still going a little bit wide. So by the time we get back on power, we're a little bit past the apex and we don't get best exit possible either.

Attempt Three

Now let's try the approach three then we continue to break on a straight line for a little bit longer. And then by the time we start turning in, we have a little bit less speed. The car is able to point more and then by the time we get here, we can see that the car has already a better angle here. It's pointing more towards this direction instead of pointing up like the other approaches were. And then by the time we get back on power, we are able to carry as much speed as possible.

So as you can see here, what happens is the approach one carried too much speed and the car was not capable of doing that much rotation inside the corner. And then we hit the inside a little bit too early. So that's approach one. But then on the approach two, we hit the inside a little bit later. And in the approach three, we hit the inside even later. But this time on approach three, we were capable of getting back on power and carrying as much speed as possible.

Some cars we could even do a more aggressive approach like going even wider, especially because this is Montreal hairpin. And there's a long straight after this bit here, right? So maybe getting an even more aggressive approach and hitting the apex on this fourth bit here a little bit later allows you to carry even more speed. And although you lose time on entry, you might be able to gain a lot of time on exit and benefit from it and make it worth it. Most cars will be between the approach three and four, of course, because approach one and two were a little bit too early. But this is a very short and tight hairpin. So we do have to do a lot of braking and turning quite late to go for a late apex.

Longer Corner Example

But what if the corner is like this? Now we still have a 180 degree corner, but the corner is much longer. And again, because the corner is longer, we have more time to do the braking while doing the cornering. The car is going to run through a much longer distance while braking, which means we can turn in earlier and do a lot more of the braking during the cornering phase.

Just so you have a reference, this is how the Montreal hairpin would look like in this map on scale, it would look something like this. So now you can see at scale, you have a better idea that this corner here, we're going to carry a lot more speed and we're going to do a lot more braking during the cornering. So instead of braking on a straight line and waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, turning in super late here to get the best exit possible, what we're going to do is we're going to turn in super early.

Now, that is a huge difference here, we're going to turn in super early hit the inside and go a little bit wide and double apex approach. And then right in between the two apexes, we're going to get back on power and carry as much speed as possible on the exit. Now, if you look at the difference in approach here, we are turning in earlier, but we are continuing to carry a lot of brake pressure and turning a lot less, because we're stretching that cornering and braking phase much longer. So here from turn into the maximum rotation point where we accelerate, we're traveling X distance, and on this one, we're traveling, I don't know, 10 X distance right here. So because we have so much distance to go through, we can do a lot of the braking.

Telemetry Analysis

And here is how the telemetry would look like in these two different approaches. On this first one, we have a heartbreaking zone that lasts for a long time, and then we start turning in and we do not so much trail braking for a long distance, because we are already turning in and we're traveling only X.

On this longer corner, we start braking, but we are pretty much already doing the trail braking very slowly while turning into the corner, and it actually would continue to go here, because the distance of braking plus cornering already starts right there. So that's the 10 X what we talked about. Because we're spending so much time while cornering, the brake trace looks like this, and the steering trace is also very slowly going up. As in this one here, we spend a lot of time on the straight line, but by the time we start turning, we turn a lot more quickly and re-reach our maximum rotation point a lot more quickly.

Key Principles Summary

So what do we take from here?

• When the corner is longer, we turn in earlier, because we have more time to do the cornering and braking inside the corner.

• When the corner is shorter and we need to decelerate a lot more, then we turn in a little bit late, because we are going to have a lot less time to do the cornering inside the corner.

Now what you don't want to do is prepare this corner and brake on a straight line as if you're doing a shorter corner, and then you turn in, you hit inside a little bit too early, because you turn in a lot more than necessary for that corner, and then you get stuck right here, which makes you want to accelerate, but then you go wide, and then you have to break a little bit to turn again, and you get all lost, because you're not aware of the length of that corner specifically, and how much time we have inside the corner to do the braking while doing the cornering.

Longer corners like that are the most difficult to do for beginners, because you have to think way, way, way ahead, and you have to turn in while doing a very, very slow release and a very, very patient steering input, and doing all that while planning your throttle application point to be two or three seconds in the future, which feels very weird at first.

Laguna Seca Turn One Example

Let's take this double apex at Laguna Seca turn one. Let's consider for these examples that we are always braking in exactly the same place. The only thing we're going to adjust is the turn end point. The first line here is the ideal line, where you're able to turn in and do a lot of the deceleration during the corner and get back on power in between the two apexes.

But now let's say that instead of taking a double apex approach where you turn a little bit early and do the deceleration while braking, you end up taking this as if it's a shorter hairpin, and you do a lot of braking on a straight line and over slow the car right before you start turning in. By the time you start turning in, the car is actually capable of doing this line, which is unnecessary, and if you were to totally use the grip available for rotation, you would hit the inside of the track.

And if you did the opposite problem, it actually turned in way too early while not having the car decelerated at all, then this line would happen. Remember that I'm considering here that you are using the grip as perfectly as possible while doing these lines, so that means you're not under searing too much or over searing too much. And still, because of your braking and line choices, these lines would happen.

Throttle Application Timing

You might have noticed that on my ideal line example, I hit the first apex very well, but I ended up missing the second apex by a tiny bit right here. And the reason this happened is that I got back on power a little bit too early, I was not patient enough to wait for the car to point and I got back on power right here. We're gonna call this acceleration point number one.

Let's create some alternatives here, so we could have gotten back on power on this point, let's call it two, or on the point three, because I did get back on power on point one, I ended up missing the apex just a tiny bit here. Now on point two, I would have probably gotten a little bit more towards the inside and then hit the apex correctly here, and then be able to be a little bit more decisive on throttle and exit and carry it a little bit more speed.

But if I waited too much and went all the way to the acceleration point three, then that would be way too early and my car would be pointing excessively to the inside, more or less like the first example, just because I did not get back on power. The timing of the throttle is going to determine at a more subtle level the exit line of the corner. But for this to work, you have to have nailed the entry first. The next lesson is going to be about maximum rotation point, but that depends on you having a very good and precise turn in.