How To Brake?

[bman]

Originally Posted by csmarx

it was how "calm" it all was - despite going incredibly fast.

Originally Posted by NickW

carrying far more speed into and thus out of the corner on a very stable chassis, and using far less brake than you thought you needed. I noticed my car is very neutral if the chassis is balanced, so if I don't give it any input via throttle, brake or steering the car is very settled and predictable.

I'm sure I'm oversimplifying a lot of my concepts but the gist is there.

I agree strongly with this! Carrying more speed through and OUT of a corner has much to do with the stability and balance of the chassis, in my experience. Easing of the brake a little earlier than I am comfortable doing, staying CALM, can actually result in a more stable entry resulting in earlier throttle application.

But......how you use the brake to achieve balance seems to vary depending on the corner. I'd love to hear opinions on when you want a flat chassis vs a loaded nose vs early throttle?

For some reason, I developed a bad habit of maintaining some brake pressure on ALL turn in's; a habit of trying to keep the nose down for good grip. But I'm fighting that habit and realiziing I've got to try different things.

T10 at VIR and T12 at Mid Ohio come to mind as examples of where I want straight line braking and off the brake early enough to insure a flat chassis at turn in. Both seem to have some postive camber at first and then flatten near apex.......so does flat apex = flat chassis??? If so, why does T1 at VIR seem to require a lot of trail brake? It has some positive camber on the entry but goes flat near the apex.... I assume it's because you're approaching at high speed, trying to maintain speed at long as possible with a relatively low speed exit? Yes? Or does it have more to do with the radius?

I understand a lot has to do with the car but are there any rules of thumb or opinions on proper chassis attitude relative to track surface (elevation/camber/radius)?

I like this thread, thanks!