How to get super refined on the brakes
How to get super refined on the brakes
Hitting the brake is the easy bit, but it's how you sensitively release the brake that makes the big difference
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Describing how to hit the brake is dead easy.
Hit the pedal hard, and fast.
Your right foot should come off the gas, while your left foot hits the brake pedal, all in a flash.
How hard you hit the brake depends on how much grip is available.
It takes a bit of courage to do that the first few times, but not a great deal of skill and finesse. We are talking something dead simple. Hit the brake pedal 🤷♀️.
The difficult part comes the very next next instant. After this initial hard hit, the magic lies in how you ease off the brake.
The ingredients to getting your brake release perfect, and why it must be perfect!
For simplicity, lets imagine a simple fast straight into a tight hairpin…
You have to hit the brake hard enough that the next step is releasing pressure NOT increasing pressure.
I’m a big advocate of hitting the brake hard enough at first to get into a slide. A sudden massive dose of brake pressure (for a heavy braking zone) that gets the rear tyres into a ‘semi-lock or under-rotation’ condition. This doesn’t mean an absolute locking of the brake, but a significant difference between the wheel speed and the ground speed.
This guarantees that you either found the absolute maximum of braking performance the tyre can give, or you went too far. Either way you get immediate and irrefutable signals that yes, we hit the brake hard enough, or too hard. These signals can be:
Scrubbing sound from the tyres,
Screeching sound from the tyres,
Sudden feeling of sliding at the rear,
Feeling of lightness at the rear,
Eerie silence because the engine not dived into almost nothingness.
Maybe all of the above
The next step is now simple. You have to release brake pressure to find the maximum deceleration the tyre can give you.
If you braked just about perfect, you can hear a nice scrubbing sound from the tyres without any other drama. You can release a little pressure, and hear the scrub reduce slightly so it is almost imperceptible, and then hold the brake pressure and feel the kart decelerate beautifully and maximally. This is appropriate if you like an on rails style.
If you went significantly passed the limit and the rear tyres locked too much, then you have to release more brake pressure to get the rears to grip again. Then you can hold that pressure for maximum deceleration
If the kart went sideways from braking too hard, you will be able to straighten it up again by releasing brake pressure. When the rears find that maximum braking grip the kart will come back to you. Then you have a chance to hold maximum braking performance, and if you like to rotate the kart early, you already have the angle.
The faster you can release the brake pressure down to 100% braking power, the better you will be on the brakes.
The closer your initial hit on the brake gets to 100% the faster you will be able to get to the maximum - aim for 101%, then the adjustment down is a piece of cake.
Make that a target and you can practice it.
What happens if you don’t brake hard enough
Now, the beauty of always starting at 101% of possible braking performance or above, is that the next step is a simple and definite adjustment. You release braking pressure down toward 100% braking performance.
BUT if you only went to 80%, or anywhere below that, you can only guess how much harder to brake to reach maximum. And now you are in trouble!
You are running out of your braking zone with no information on how much harder to brake, and if you go past the maximum now, you have way less time to gather it all up again. The closer you get to your turn in point, the higher the jeopardy rises - this is the most common way drivers find themselves spinning.
If you get into this scenario, the best thing to do is just accept you aren’t braking hard enough, and brake early - give away performance and live with it. You can’t increase your braking pressure as you approach the corners, without every few laps having a massive moment, when you ask too much of the brake whilst braking and turning.
After the initial heavy braking, careful brake pressure release to give your rears the grip they need, but not rob your front tyres.
After your initial big dose of straight line braking, you have wiped off a lot of the speed in one big hit. You are now in the luxury position of being able to gently release braking pressure, as you ask the rear tyres to take on the job of getting you into the corner.
At the start of the turn-in, you can release a little pressure because you aren’t asking the rears to do that much. As you turn more you need to release a bit more brake pressure, so the rears can provide grip for turning.
You can play in the margins here if you have the sensitivity. You can use more brake pressure to rotate the kart into the corner, or release a bit extra to reduce the rotation. How much skill you have here can determine your success.
BUT, you still need pressure on the brake, because a decelerating kart leans down onto the front tyres, giving them grip. You are now balancing the needs of the rear tyres, and front tyres. Braking just enough to keep the fronts happy, and not so much that the rears let go.
Keep some braking pressure until the moment you go into exit mode
The very moment you decide the entry into the corner is done, and you want to get onto the power (at the apex, or before), your feet will swap over. As you get on the power, you left foot can come off the brake.
So, on the way into the apex there is always some braking, even if just a little to keep the front tyres planted. Then you switch your feet, as you accelerate from the apex.
Disclamer! I know that plenty of drivers like a bit of apex roll time, with no braking and no power. That’s common enough when there is a lot of grip available, and when the sheer drag from the cornering is providing enough deceleration to keep the front tyres happy.
What can go wrong with releasing the brake pressure
The biggest mistake with releasing brake pressure is:
Releasing the brake too suddenly and running in too hot
When you have developed the habit of releasing the brake to straighten up a sliding kart, rather than locking up and panic-braking, you still might be over-reacting. It can be like a panic-release of the brake to regain control.
If you don’t trust yourself fully in being able to hold the brake pressure and gently return the kart to straight line braking, or be comfortable with some rotation, then suddenly releasing brake pressure simply sends you into the corner too fast.
Either that, or you will be braking too early. So there will be a significant lap time loss.
Tip: You need to practice braking too hard, and trusting yourself to gently bring the kart back into line. You can develop the ability to maintain whatever angle you want in the kart using your left foot. More pressure means more angle.
Develop your braking sensitivity this way and you can become magic with rotational sensitivity. A weakness becomes a strength!
Releasing braking too early, unloading the fronts, and getting under-steer
The front tyres depend on braking to provide the sharp turn into a corner you want. The more braking you can carry, the less steering input you need to get into the apex.
If you come off the brake too early, you can very suddenly rob your front tyres of the grip they had, and the kart ploughs straight ahead, until you give it a load of steering.
You can be quick on a lap this way, but also kill your front tyres in the process leaving you at a huge disadvantage to drivers who can carry their braking deep.
Tip: Think about just rubbing the brake disc with the pads with just slight pressure, this will keep you braking to the apex without worrying you are going to lose the rear.
Coming off the brake too suddenly if you get a bit of a slide going, and find yourself going sideways
If you can can gently release your brake pressure and control how you kart comes back into like just how you like, then you are business.
However, if you react by coming off the brake too much, you not only head into the corner too fast, you can also unload the outside tyres and find yourself having to really hustle the kart into the corner. It can take lots of extra steering, followed by a sideways moment and an engine bog. Disaster
Listen to you engine to find out if you release the brake too suddenly and early
After you hit the brake hard, you should hear your engine note dive. And if you release the brake too much and too suddenly, you will hear the engine pick up way too much. Your should’t hear you engine note spring back up when you have your braking down to a tee.
Quick summary:
1. Initial Braking: Hit the brake pedal hard and fast, adjusting force based on grip availability.
2. Brake Release: The skill lies in sensitively releasing the brake after the initial hard hit.
3. Maximum Braking Performance: Brake hard enough to cause rear tires to semi-lock, indicating maximum braking capacity.
4. Feedback Signals: Pay attention to tire sounds and rear sensations to judge braking effectiveness.
5. Adjusting Pressure: After initial braking, adjust pressure to find maximum deceleration.
6. Over-Braking Response: If over-braked, release pressure more to regain rear tire grip.
7. Optimal Braking Goal: Aim for quick pressure release to reach 100% braking power.
8. Under-Braking Issues: Starting with insufficient brake pressure complicates achieving maximum braking efficiency.
9. Balancing Tire Needs: Carefully release brake pressure to maintain rear grip while ensuring front tire load.
10. Cornering Technique: Maintain some braking pressure into the corner for front tire grip, then accelerate from the apex.
11. Common Mistakes: Avoid sudden brake release to prevent over-speeding into corners or causing under-steer.
12. Sensitivity Training: Practice controlling kart angle with brake pressure for improved rotational control.
Thanks for reading!
Terence