Race Engineering: Race Track Corner Phases

Race Track Corner Phases Explained

There are 4 race track corner phases:

• Braking Stability (in a straight-line)
• Corner Entry (driver starts steering and bleeding off brakes)
• Mid-corner (largest steering, no brake or throttle)
• Corner Exit (unwinding the steering and applying throttle until at maximum)

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Race track corner phases are a fundamental concept in motorsports, as they define the different stages you go through in a turn.

To add a bit more meat on the bones above, here’s a brief overview of each phase:

1. Braking Stability: This phase occurs on the straight-line approach to the corner. You apply firm and controlled braking to reduce speed before turning in. Maintaining stability under heavy braking is fundamental to your confidence and to set up the corner entry properly.
2. Corner Entry: This part varies depending on the corner. In general, as you reach the turn-in point, you begin to trail off the brakes and initiate your steering input. This phase the most important part of driving quickly on track. It requires coordination between the braking, steering, and weight transfer to position the car correctly for the mid-corner phase.
3. Mid-corner: This is the phase where the car is at its maximum rotation, and the driver is focused on maintaining the highest possible minimum speed through the apex of the corner. Often, despite all the “coasting is bad” advice, no braking or throttle is applied during this phase, as you aim to carry as much speed as possible while maintaining your line.
4. Corner Exit: As the car starts to straighten out, you gradually unwind the steering and apply throttle to accelerate out of the corner. This phase is critical for maximising exit speed and setting up for the next straight or corner.

These phases are interconnected. The corner entry is sometimes referred to as the point just before you throw dart - anything else that happens after this point is a consiquence of what you did during corner entry.

Drivers and their engineers analyse and fine-tune their approach to each phase, adjusting techniques like trail braking, weight transfer, and throttle application to extract the maximum potential from the car and the track layout.

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