Rene
well, trail braking is a technique which makes use of the "friction
circle": there are several forces working on the patch:
braking/accelerating and cornering force. if you make a graph of the
force needed to get the tire sliding depending on the angle, you get the
"friction circle". in short: if you brake less, you can use the rest of
the force to turn. maybe you've alread discovered this when exiting a
corner: if you turn less, you can accelerate more. the maximum force
depends also on the downforce of the tire - how much it is loaded. and
while braking, the front tires are loaded, so if you turn in, the front
tires have more grip and you can use this extra grip for turning.
so trail-braking works like this: brake, release brake a bit, turn in
and while you turn in more, release the brake more until you are at the
throttle application point (short before the apex). now apply the
throttle and while you do this, release the wheel slowly (i.e. turn
less) and aim for a good exit.
Lio
The ZGN is looking for F1 and F2 stuff btw. The F3 articles are quite a
read and can't wait till they find some good F1 writers.
Mike Barlow >Rene
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>Could someone try to explain the physics of trail braking? I would
>say: forces go to the ground via the tyre, this force is the result of
>motor force, This force can be less by braking, but why is this force
>different when braking if you could lessen the force also by lessen
>the throttle? Or is the weight shift the difference between just less
>throttle vs throttle on while braking?
You'll find the best explination of this, complete with graphs explaining
the theory and graphs of real world telemetry data, in Skip Barber Racing
School's "Going Faster!" Buy it. Buy it now. Skip getting that hot new sim
you wanted if you have to, but buy this book.
Then buy "Drive to Win" by Carroll Smith. Going Faster gives you hard core
theory and practice, it is the book of a racing school after all. Drive to
Win gives you decades of experience and practical advice in a very readable
form. Very readable. My wife even listens to me when I read her selections
from this one. You'll read it over and over. Sleep with it under your
pillow. Hope it absorbs through osmosis.
Then, if your budget ain't broke yet, get the motorcycle racing books by
Kieth Code, "A twist of the Wrist" and " The Soft Science of Motorcycle
Racing."
Yes, these are "biker" books, but Kieth looks at racing in a different way
than anyone else I've ever seen in print. It'll make you a better GPL
driver, and a better driver on the road in "real life" as well. Kieth
focuses on the hardest component of the racing machine to master, the one
between your ears.
Absorb everything there is to learn in these books and you'll be well on
your way to being a GPL Jedi master. Shouldn't take more than 2 or 3 years
to get the basics down. :)
On that note, and my closing one, I'd like to point out that Jackie Stewart
has said that the hardest and last thing he learned about driving a racing
car was how to take his foot off the brake properly, and he didn't really
begin to learn it until the last year of his career. Think about that one
for a while.
