Drivers Ignore the Most Important Part of a Corner
How much focus goes into your corner exits?
Well, I certainly used to ignore everything beyond the apex of the corner. When I think back to my days driving a kart, the exits of corners used to look after themselves entirely.
I don’t think I even noticed any ‘exit point’ so long as I didn’t run too far wide on the exit, I felt like that was good enough.
Largely that actually was ‘good enough’, I could be quite quick that way:
Brake in the right place
Hit the apex
Foot down early
The exit phase of a corner might be fun with a bit of a slide going on - whatever it was just happened - that’s how I felt.
I’m not sure many drivers would confess that they don’t do much about an exit other than to experience it - but I suspect that is the case - just because That’s how I was…
Now, certainly, I would complain about exits:
It’s hopping
It’s bogging
It’s sliding
I was able to experience what was happening, but as a passenger mostly because the exit was just the result of hitting the apex and getting on the power.
The process which works fairly well:
Focus on getting the entry right - get on the power early and correct - exit will be good.
If there are problems with the exit you can look at the entry and apex to see what caused those problems. I’m going to criticise this approach, but it’s robust and works quite well…
But quite good, i.e. mediocre, isn’t what we are looking for right?
The exit is the big pay off from a corner when you get it right - so focus there!
If you watch where the fastest drivers drop you very carefully, it is usually on the corner exit, as if they have an extra bit of tyre traction or low end grunt.
Now, if they aren’t dropping you on the corner exit I bet they have a bit more top end than you.
That’s because they are running a tooth lower, but still matching you for exit speed and getting the benefit at the top end. That means they can match you on exit with a kart tuned for straights!
The point is, at the very top of the driving game, the gains are in exit speed. That exit speed can show as either better acceleration for the corner, higher top speed or sometimes both.
