http://www.mitchellsoftware.com/DriveSim3.htm


http://www.mitchellsoftware.com/DriveSim1.htm
http://www.mitchellsoftware.com/DriveSim2.htm

Comments?

 

I like how he describes the birth of a trail braker as a natural result of over cooking a classic line. I'm suprised he didn't similarly describe the Diamond line as a natural result of overcooking a trail braking line.

 

Hmm... so according to his analysis, it's OK to lose time in the straights, because, "Hey, it's only 1/4 of a second." You're still losing time.

 

That wasn't his point. The point was that you can make up more more time than that with a different line through the corner than the one that gives you the highest exit speed. In the end, it's elapsed time you care about, not maximum speed, right?

 

I didn't read his whole article, or download his software or whatever, but it just seems to me like if you are taking the fastest line through the corner, then you should have the highest exit speed also. Otherwise, there will be some portion of the corner where you are going slower than the guy that is going to have a higher exit speed. For example, you may come in hot so you can carry more speed through the first half of the corner, but then you have to bleed off speed for the second half, or you won't make the corner. Whereas, the other guy will come "in slow, out fast", such that he has a slower first half of the corner, but then he starts accelerating so the second half is faster than the first guy. In the end, the corner takes roughly the same amount of time, but now driver #2 has a higher exit speed. I'm sure there are corners (or, more likely, combinations of corners) where this is not true, though.
Unfortunately, I don't have enough experience or knowledge to back any of this up. <-- That's my disclaimer.

I guess the most important point is: How much exit speed can you sacrifice before you start getting negative returns on your faster "cornering line".

 

yeah. makes me want to buy the software to find out exactly. Or at least at some point get a good data acquisition system and check segment times of each experimental line.

 

[QUOTE=mxt_77,Aug 11 2004, 11:16 AM]I didn't read his whole article, or download his software or whatever, but it just seems to me like if you are taking the fastest line through the corner, then you should have the highest exit speed also.

 

It all depends on the corner, and its relationship to the rest of the track. But since brakes are more powerful than the engine, you can make up more time by accelerating earlier than you can by braking later.

But the fastest line through the corner is definitely not always the line that gives the highest exit speed or the fastest way around the whole track. The big advantage of the slow-in, fast-out line is that it effectively shortens the corner and lengthens the following straight. A faster corner speed through a longer corner can still take more time than a slower corner speed through a shortened corner.