Driving Promotion
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CORNERING
techniques
Cornering is the most fun you can have with your clothes on.
Good cornering technique is the one thing that distinguishes truly
skilful drivers from average or, at worst, reckless ones. Armed
with proper cornering technique and a twisty road, it's very easy
to keep up with a car that has far more power than your own, driven
by someone with average or poor technique.
Our goal in this section is to provide a solid understanding
of cornering principles you can use on the road and at the track.
They can make you smoother, safer, and ultimately faster around
bends. Most importantly, you'll enjoy cornering
on a whole new level.
To see all of Cornering Techniques, continue reading.
Move on to cornering lines.
Move on to the
four phases of a corner.
Move on to handling and balance in a corner.
preparing to take a corner
For most drivers, cornering is quite simple: see the bend, slow
down a bit, turn the wheel as needed through the bend. If it gets
tighter, turn the wheel and slow down a little more. It's a perfectly
rational reaction to a corner.
But.
During hard driving, when your car is very close to or at its
limit of grip, merely reacting to the corner
is seriously dangerous. Proper cornering at the limit requires
good judgement and careful panning. Because
you're using up almost all of your available grip, there will
be virtually nothing left over to make any adjustments to your
path once you've committed to the turn. More braking or tighter
turning is almost always out of the question.
The best way to avoid a terrifying moment is to do the following,
in this order, every time you approach a corner:
- Assess the nature of the corner
- is it a tight, sharp corner, or a long, sweeping arc? Is it
a constant, smooth curve, or does it get tighter toward the
exit? Does the surface look bumpy? Damp? Does the outside of
the corner slope up (banked corner), or down (off-camber corner)?
Can I see the entire corner? It's a lot to consider, but knowing
all this before you enter the corner allows you plot the fastest,
safest path through it. If you plan to attack near the limit,
assessing the nature of a corner's entire length before you
get to it allows you to crack on without the need to correct
your path halfway through.
- Determine the ideal cornering speed
- this is not necessarily the maximum speed for the corner,
but the one you know you can manage. Unless you've taken a corner
many times, don't even consider getting near the limit of what
you think you and your car can do. Instead, based on what you
have assessed, estimate the speed you know you can manage and
prepare to brake for that speed. If you can't see the entire
corner, go in a bit slower than you normally would, so you have
some grip left to make an emergency correction.
- Work out the braking distance and turn-in
point - your stability through a corner depends entirely
on how smoothly can enter it, and much of this depends on an
appropriate entry speed and road position. Since you'll probably
be braking near the limit of your car's ability, it's crucial
to be able to work out how much road you'll need to slow to
the correct speed for the corner you've just assessed; if you're
giving it a boot full between corners, underestimating the amount
of pace you're gathering is no small thing. In situations where
you can't see enough of a corner to judge a good cornering speed,
then naturally you should brake earlier and more gradually,
in order to quickly scrub off any excess speed.
Through all three of the above steps, always strive to look ahead.
Don't focus on the road directly in front of your car, or at the
outside edge of the corner you're trying to negotiate. Keep such
things in your peripheral vision, but focus as far around the
corner and up the road as you can. What you'll find is that your
brain will automatically know how much your hands and feet need
to be doing in order to get you cleanly and quickly around the
corner.
I have met a few people who truly fancy
themselves proper, fast drivers because they always have their
foot in it and like to corner hard. What they don't realise is
that, due to their poor cornering technique, they're needlessly
dangerous, ham-fisted with the controls, and are actually much
slower around corners - Ed.
^ Back to top
Move on to cornering lines.
Move on to the
four phases of a corner.
Move on to handling and balance in a corner.
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