THE RACING DRIVER'S "SEAT OF THE PANTS" FEELING FOR THE RACE CAR BALANCE

How Come the Best Drivers Have This Uncanny Feel for Where the Limit of Grip Is?

It goes without saying. The best drivers have advanced car control skills. It seems like they have advance warning of when the rear will let go.

In fact, they do.

When steering into the corner, there's a tiny rotation of the chassis as the slip angles build at the tyres. The race car adopts a slightly sideways attitude to the direction of travel, yet the car is not oversteering.

At first sight, the rotation motion appears insignificant. Yet with seat time, the racing driver develops a high emotional connection to the rotation feeling, as the tyres approach the limit of grip.

As the car settles in the corner....

If the rotation feeling goes away, the driver interprets this as stability. The driver can pick up the throttle early and get good drive off the turn.

If it feels like the car wants to go on with oversteer rotation, we say the car feels nervous. The car will initially turn well. The driver interprets this as agility. But the car may require constant correction and not get as much drive off the turn.   

These insights into the vehicle dynamics of the race car are applicable for all racing and performance driving.

• Learn about the "balance trade-off". Do I want more turn? OR More drive? To get more of one, you have to give away some of the other.
• Learn about the "baseline" suspension set-up for your race car, and when you go to the track, the set up changes needed  to make the car faster.