First and foremost, having a car settled so it can generate consistent controllable force is the key to being quick. Getting off the brakes and into the corner is only possible to be done smoothly if you either:
- Get off the brakes and hesitate to let the car settle before winding the steering into the corner.
- Start winding in the steering as you come off the brakes to swing the force around smoothly like a pendulum.
Most everyone, even the "
I finish braking before cornering" guys do some level of option #2. Most people that call it "
trail braking" are carrying the brakes WAY farther into the corner (
Similar to the way they drive a front engine car.)
Being on the brakes obviously loosens the car. A loose car wants to rotate. A well balanced corner entry uses the on-brake oversteer to start the car rotating with the minimum of steering input. Braking any deeper then that will unbalance the car, probably be unsettled enough to make it so you can't achieve maximum grip, and increase your rear tire wear. And most importantly it will reduce corner exit speed.
Corner exit speed before the straights on a track is the key to low laptimes. If you exit faster you will be faster on every point down the straight so it makes a HUGE difference.
The worry people have about 911s being loose comes from two things: Lack of practice, and not reacting to the excessive rotation until it is too late. The people who live in snowy climates have a big advantage as they can get lots of practice just in the little things that happen daily in the winter. This "being aware" part is largely conceptual. People are used to thinking on the fly about accelerating the car forwards, backwards (
braking), and sideways (
cornering)...
But they don't think about the fact that they are accelerating the
rotation of the car's mass when they turn into a corner. Once that mass starts to rotate you have to apply force to slow the rotation or stop it. Being able to feel the rotation during normal cornering will increase your cornering sensitivity and should improve your corner speed. Paying attention and reacting to the little changes in yaw early will let you "use the oversteer" instead of it "using you".
If you are paying attention to the car's rotation (
instead of waiting to notice until it has started to hang its rear out) a 911 is actually one of the easiest cars to control the balance between oversteer and understeer. That ability of the car to respond immediately to your inputs allows you to adjust the car's handling on the fly very easily just by changing your technique. That is why the 911 has been so successful in ralleying.
---------
There are a number tactical differences between the "
braking as late as possible" and the "
get most of the braking done in a straight line" camps and almost all of the advantages go to the "
get most of the braking done in a straight line" technique. Lets call it "earlier braking" for brevity.
The "Pros":
- Earlier braking sets you up on the outside of the corner so you have a better sight-line through the corner so you can see hazards and obstructions farther ahead and it gives you more time to adjust to them.
- Earlier braking sets you up to push the apex back which allows you to put the power down earlier and be at full throttle much earlier in the corner. (
Exit speed, exit speed, exit speed...)
- Earlier braking means you have reduced speed at turn in that allows much more safety if you hit oil or have something break in the suspension.
- Earlier braking means you can use a well balanced car's tendency to be loose under braking to initiate the turn with minimal input which helps keep the entry phase smooth.
- Earlier braking means that if you start to oversteer, when you are in the middle of the turn, you have lots of room to adjust and add some power to settle the rear.
- Later breaking means you are turning in earlier so you are covering the inside line or when overtaking you can take the line away from the driver ahead of you.
- Later braking keeps you inside of the marbles during the first half of the corner.
- Later braking means you have more speed through the first half of the corner.
Cons:
- Earlier braking leaves the door open on the inside at the end of the "passing zone".
- Earlier braking may put you out in the marbles during the early part of the corner which may put you straight off or reduce your cornering ability through the rest of the corner. (
The lower the skill of the other drivers the greater the risk of there being marbles out in the correct line's turn-in spot.)
- Later braking reduces you sight-line so you have less of a chance to react to what is happening in front of you.
- Later braking means you are carrying more speed in the middle of the corner so any mistake will be greatly amplified and you will have a much greater chance of going off.
- Later braking forces an earlier apex which means you can't get on the power anywhere near as early so exit speeds will suffer.
- Later braking gives you a longer period of time at the limit of adhesion so if your car starts to get loose you don't have any reserve of grip to adjust the rate of yaw without widening the arc. (
Bye-bye!
)
When you see a driver that is inconsistent during the second half of the corner they will invariably be a "Late braker" and you will need to keep you eyes on them. You will often see them adjusting the throttle in the later portion of the corner which is a deadly sin. You NEVER get off the throttle after you rolled onto it. It kills your laptime and it means you made a mistake that you essentially had to "pause" and adjust from.
Adjustments to this?
The lower the horsepower the later you will brake because you don't have the power to require the need to straighten out the mid and late phases of the corner.
The higher the speed of the corner the more it effectively makes the car into a "low horsepower car" regarding the way you select your line.
The higher the horsepower or slower the corner the more you need to exaggerate the late turn in and late apex.