Many HPDE drivers believe the key to driving quickly is to drive into the corner as deep as possible, slam on the brakes at the last possible instant, jerk the wheel into the turn, and then slam the throttle as hard as possible to the floor. It’s really much simpler than that!
The most important objective is to carry as much speed out of the corner as possible.
Think about this, if you delay your braking at corner entry by 10-15 ft, you might gain .01 to .02 seconds per lap. However, if you can exit a corner 2 mph faster, you can carry that extra speed all the way to the next corner, which often will result in lowering your lap times by several tenths of a second.
Why not do both? Ultimately that is the goal, but for most HPDE drivers, it just requires us to be too perfect. So, since we have shown our greatest gains to be at corner exit, that should be our focus early in our driving career. If you come in a little too fast, you will wind up fighting the car for control through the turn, instead of concentrating on corner exit speed.
After you have maximized your corner exit speed, and can do it consistently, it becomes appropriate to hone your corner entry. Just remember, corner entry offers the smallest opportunity for speed improvements, but has the greatest potential for disaster.
