Remembering my Speed Secrets...

The most important corner is the one that your competition is most afraid of.

If everyone else is terrified and you are not, then that's got to be the easiest place to make time. What corner are you most afraid of? And what advice can we give each other to help you solve it?

Tremblant T1 & 2. Probably I need more seat time as a passenger to see how thing is being done. I cannot stop myself from braking at T1.

Oh, and all corners with those stoopid armco only 5 feet away.

The off camber at wgi. It seems so easy and then the rear end starts to come out under modest acceleration.
The end of the downhill at LRP. Going so fast. Depending on that compression to catch you.
Turn 9 at NHMS. Floating through the air. Tiny braking zone. Really exciting runoff.
Turn 4 at LCMT (how to slow down enough? I think the secret is to take a faster line, but I'm not sure).
The kink at Calabogie (why am I not flat?)
Madness and whatever the entrance to thunder alley is called at Mid Ohio. Airborne.
4 at mosport. This becomes a really scary corner with enough speed.

Off the top of my head, those are the two big ones for me. Strangely, T2 at Mosport and T1-4 at LCMT don't really bother me at all. But Mosport T4 has gotten scary.

I remember reading somewhere that T4 has claimed the most lives at Mosport, even thought T2 gets all the glory. I don't know if that's true, but it certainly seems plausible to me. Same story at LCMT. Everyone freaks over T1-2, but it's T7 that's the killer. I'll see if I can dig up the source.

Now that I think of it, I would add the entry to the Boot (T7) at WGI to that list. I had a BIG slide there that really caught me off-guard. I've been a bit hesitant ever since.

This is good stuff. I think once we get the list going I will start a separate thread for each and we can give each other advice.

Phoenix International Raceway (PIR) turn #1. 100+ mph down the relatively short main straight, over the transition from the NASCAR oval to the road course. Back end gets very light, so absolutely no braking, shifting or turning over the transition or you end up in the blue concrete wall. Ask me how I know!

agree with downhill at LRP.

Calabogie's Four Left, right after Spoon. I am not scared, I just have a lot of respect for that fast corner. No brake before, just steady throttle, hold on to the steering wheel, and concentrate. To take that corner flat-out, the driver must really use all the track to the right, and be ready to scuff a few inches of grass if needed, and certainly not to "persuade" the car back to the left, or that will translate into a spin in the left guardrails.

http://www.rennsport1.ca/en/images/calabogie_track.jpg

Corner 10 (South Bend), the left after the Climbing Esses at VIR. I always figure I can take that corner a little bit faster. But every time I change my mind at the last minute. This weekend Jean Luc got 2 wheels off there and went airborne complete with a trip to the hospital for x-rays. So I guess it qualifies as scary. He was okay in the end. But it was very scary to watch for a while.

Ouch. I didn't hear about the trip to the hospital. I'm sorry to hear about that. JL has lots of race cars, but that one must have been written off? Ouch again.

My coach kept trying to get me to go faster on south bend, with wheels on the exit curb. I finally got to where I felt like I was going "respectably fast" but never to where I felt I was going "very fast". As I kept telling him, there is a cliff there (very steep fall off, 8 feet of elevation change in about 4 feet?). I was having problems with corner 9 for a while as my not so good line though the climbing esses was setting up a pendulum and associated oversteer on entry to 9. You are going pretty fast there and a spin in 9 could easily take you off the cliff at 10. Later, a better line plus a healthy sense of self preservation removed drama from 9. I really hadn't expected drama at 14 (roller coaster), but now I have enhanced respect there, with no really good idea of what to do differently.

In this case the problem was the drainage ditch around a sewer grate at the bottom of the hill. He was sliding safely enough but when he hit the ditch the car went airborne then landed flat - ouch. It was a bit like Joey Hand at Mid-Ohio. Miraculously, neither car or driver was damaged that badly. He did have a fractured vertebrae but chose to race the next day. I think I will continue to respect that corner.

T12 at RA. This was in an I Stock E36 M3. I would lift, turn and then throttle (huge improvement from tapping on the brakes). Not sure why but that corner scared me quite a bit espeically the wall in front. I knew I was giving up speed there because my heart rate was off the roof.

Here is what I did. I looked straight down after the uphill (T11) and then glimpse at the apex, turn in and to the begining of T1 where I wanted the car to go. During the race (back in 06) I had it figured out and was flat out (in a 3275lb stock diff IS car) since. No problem in that corner since.

The other corner which scares me is T1 at Sebring. The fact I cannot see ahead and almost kissing the sideview mirror to the wall and then track takes some nerve. I had James Clay and then later Seth Thomas drive my car around (Jan 06) which gave me some confidence.

I am a quick learner but it takes me time to figure out on my own when it comes to pushing 10/10. A lap or two with a fast guy works for me.