{"id":6040,"date":"2017-07-17T04:47:44","date_gmt":"2017-07-17T11:47:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/?p=6040"},"modified":"2017-07-16T12:09:57","modified_gmt":"2017-07-16T19:09:57","slug":"how-do-i-know-whats-the-right-corner-entry-speed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/how-do-i-know-whats-the-right-corner-entry-speed\/","title":{"rendered":"Q: How do I know what’s the right corner entry speed?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ask-ross-bentley-q&a\"Q:<\/strong> Just wanted to tell you I thought your column in Winding Road on how to know when you’re driving on the limit was especially powerful. The insight that the way you drive affects the theoretical limit ought to be drilled into every race driver. But for me, the really critical element was the section about corner entry. Corner exit is relatively easy, and I’m there or thereabouts at the apex. But the really good guys still carry more speed than me down to the apex. (The other issue in Spec Miata is that you have to commit to the throttle before the car takes a set, which requires a certain amount of confidence.) I really make a point during practice of forcing myself to go fast enough so that the car loses grip on turn-in, then dial it back a notch. Unfortunately, I don’t have the stones to do this in the really fast, high-commitment corners. Speaking of which, I was talking to Josef Newgarden at the Phoenix test this year, and I asked him how he worked up to speed in Turn 1. He told me that his approach on ovals is to go flat, and if the car starts to move, then<\/u> he slows down. It’s a good thing I can make a living as a journalist… but how do I know what’s the right corner entry speed?<\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> I think what Josef talked about is one of the most difficult things for a driver to do. Human instinct agrees with the old advice, \u201cGo in slow, and come out fast,\u201d and yet it\u2019s not always the fastest way to drive. Trusting that if you go in fast (even too fast), that you can respond appropriately, and even use that to your advantage, is the key, right? This really applies to driving in the rain, too. Many drivers go into a corner at something just below the limit, and then gradually increase their speed through the corner until the car \u201csteps out.\u201d At that point, they\u2019re reacting to it. If, instead, they go into the corner slightly above the limit, they know that the car is going to \u201cstep out,\u201d and then the response is expected – even planned. It\u2019s the difference between being reactive and being proactive.<\/p>\n

How many times have you entered a corner too fast? I suspect it\u2019s more than once! How many times did entering too fast result in a crash? I suspect very few, if any. When you think about that logically, it makes you trust yourself more, knowing that if you carry too much entry speed, it\u2019ll be okay. The worse case is that you\u2019ll be slow; the best case is that you find out that speed works – not only works, but is the right speed. So do the analysis – statistically, how many times have going into a corner \u201ctoo fast\u201d resulted in a crash? Then let that sink in. It\u2019s okay to enter a corner too fast – just as Josef does.<\/p>\n

Of course, having lots of time to practice this helps\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was talking to Josef Newgarden at the Phoenix test this year, and I asked him how he worked up to speed in Turn 1. He told me that his approach on ovals is to go flat, and if the car starts to move, then he slows down… but how do I know what’s the right corner entry speed?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ask-ross"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6040"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6040\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6131,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6040\/revisions\/6131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}