How To Brake?

[FTS]

VIR was awesome. Mercedes/Audi/BMW clubs had the Marque Madness event, They were very kind to accept me for Friday, and weather was perfect. They really put out a great event, there were may be 45-50 cars, so we got a lot of track time, nearly 3 hours.

More importantly, I got to test a lot of what has been talked about in this thread. One distintictive conclusion I reached is my biggest problem is not how apply the brakes, but how I release them. I worked on that specifically, to release the brakes without upsetting the balance of the car, and I think during my 4th and 5th sessions, I could consistently do so at every corner. I am not sure if I was any faster, but the car and I were cooperating much better

[bman]

Originally Posted by FTS

VIR was awesome.

how I release them. I worked on that specifically, to release the brakes without upsetting the balance of the car

I thought you were kidding about heading to VIR yesterday. You just went down for the day? You've got a problem!

What change did you make in the release? Earlier? Which corners in particular?

Also, did you try different lines and braking thru T3?

[FTS]

Originally Posted by bman

I thought you were kidding about heading to VIR yesterday. You just went down for the day? You've got a problem!

I never kid about VIR, and no doubt I have a (or more) problem(s)

What change did you make in the release? Earlier? Which corners in particular?

Also, did you try different lines and braking thru T3?

Actually I was releasing a tiny bit later, but gentler, especially in T3, T4 and T10. I tried your line in T3, which worked better in entry, the car was more stable and controlling the brake pressure was easier as I broke slightly earlier with less pressure and I could more consistently take the turn. The preliminary result of doing so is... I am not sure what the word is frankly; I was significantly slower in entry, but slightly faster past the apex. The significance of this is that the conditions were much less favorable than in March or May; it was between 100-105 deg heat with very high humidity, the track was very greasy in many corners, all corners generally lacked grip, top speeds were also lower by 3-7 mph. Even so, my best was 2:11.7 in the morning, when it was about 92-95 with moderate to high humidity.

There is much more to look at in the data before any real results can be drawn, but I love that stuff and I have quite a bit of data to play with

I might put my notes in another thread as I look at data.