Quote:
Originally Posted by AtomicLabMonkey
For a student who is still learning, this is good advice. I don't think it applies very well to actual racing though. I am frequently a passenger in our racecar, and I can feel perfectly well when our driver applies the brakes. He gets on it very aggressively and rides it all the way down into the corner right on the threshold. He is also very quick and outbrakes almost everyone else on the track. Smooth is fast - up to a point. After that point, when the driver is skilled enough, controlled aggression is the only thing that will wring the last few tenths out of the car.
I also disagree with the last paragraph - because the brakes on our racecar work just fine! We have no issues because it has huge rotors & calipers, high temp race pads & good cooling. These are sprint races I'm talking about too, driven at 110% - not an enduro setting where the driver is taking it easy at 90% to save the equipment.
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From a racing perspective, I think you are right on Austin.
My comments were more foccused on the HPDE type events. I guess my point is that go fast and then stand on the brakes is not the best method to get around the track if you can't reliably put the car where you want.
Start at a reasonable speed, get your eyes in the right places, and put the car in the right places, and then add the speed which will mess everything up. Repeat. I'm talkinng about building skills for enjoyable high performance driving, not racing. Being safe, smooth and quick out of the corners are the skills most often needing work at the HPDE level and those aren't going to improve if they can't put the car in the right place at the right time at entry, and through the corner.
Again, for an HPDE type event, unless you are willing to go through a set of pads a day, race pad swaps, bleeds, etc. they are going to need to manage the brakes they brung. Ducting and such will help, but given 4 or more 30 minute sessions a day, most any streetable configuration can be overworked.
Sprints, enduros, and real racing in all its forms are a little different than what most on this board are talking about, though many of the same things apply.
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