We all know that corner exits are very important

especially if they’re leading up to a long straight. If you’re in long tracks like Sarno Zuera Franciacorta, you know prioritizing the exit is going to be an important task, even though you will not have to sacrifice too much on the entries, because you still want to get good entries and good exits. Sometimes what you have sacrifices the mid corner, but still, entries are important. Mid corners are important. Exits are important. They’re all important, but when you are leading up to a very long straight you need to prioritize the exit a little bit more than everything else. Now that doesn’t mean, as I said, that you have to break 10 meters earlier for that, but it means that if you have to choose between breaking one meter later and getting on the gas one meter later, or getting on the gas one meter earlier and break a bit earlier. Then normally that is the better approach, of course, unless you’re doing it too much and you start to break too early and getting on the gas 30. So you need to understand very well what I’m saying. And there’s not just it’s not just on the on your pedals, not just on your braking and throttle application. It’s a lot to do with your lines. So remember, if you want to get a good exit leading up to a long straight or, you know, a good exit in general, it’s all down to the entry. If you mess up the entry, you mess up the exit period, you know, you can’t get a bad eggnot tree and then still get a get a good exit. It’s impossible. So we are at Lonato here. It’s the mechanics corner, if you if you know it right for the guys, who knows Lonato very well, we have the same driver on two different sessions over the weekend. It was a four tenths difference at the end of the of the session, of the lap, 3.6 tenths difference. This driver was, was really fast in general, but in this session in particular, it was the red. So the red he is at the end of the lap, four tenths off, almost from the green. Again, same driver. But look in this specific corner, there’s one thing I don’t like from the red, and that is basically what I’m about to talk about in this lesson when we talk about corner axis. So remember every time, so let’s design an hypothetical corner.

Let’s make it black, actually, all right.

So every time we have an hypothetical corner, okay, we got the entry. So this is a, this is basically a entry. Well, it’s, let’s do it like that. That’s the breaking side, right? Just like this, all right. So this is the corner arc. Let’s say we got this, we got that, and now I have to basically go and I’m trying to do it as precisely as possible. So let’s say this is our corner, all right, this is our corner. And I mean, the direction is this. So let’s say you’re this is the mechanics corner looking from the top.

So we have the kerb to the left, rumble strips el piano, as you say in Spanish, and we have the curve on the exit as well. Oops, it depends. You know, sometimes curves a little bit larger, sometimes a bit smaller.

But anyways, so this is the mechanics calling in Lonato, for example, right?

Let’s first of all, define entries.

Meet next. We already talked about this, but let’s go back to it. So there’s, first of all, what I like to call it, there’s three phases, but there’s a fourth that I like to call it, the braking straight line breaking phase. So the straight let’s say you hit the brakes from here, let’s say in the mechanics corner, that’s where you start to hit the brakes. So you start to hit the brakes over here. So from this moment before you start to turn in, you got the straight line breaking. So from here to here, let’s say, because your straight line breaking, then you start to turn in. This is your straight line breaking, all right, as let’s call it SB, straight line breaking. We already talked about this. I’m reminding you. Anyways, this is your straight line breaking from here to here. This is like your straight line breaking. Oh, what’s happened? Okay, then we have the entry phase. All right? Entry phase, basically, when you’re combining breaking and turning until you get to the mid corner where you’re releasing the brakes. So normally, I like to look it like this. You know, there’s people who like to look at the corners in a squared way, like in a very symmetric thing. You know, they would look at in a very but I don’t like it that way. I like to call this the entry phase, the mid phase, and then the exit. So from here to here is the entry phase, then from here to here is the mid phase. So before, like, just as you get on the gas by the apex, and then from here to here is the exit. This is like, I like to define it. So, entry so. So this is the entry, late entry. Call it as you want. Entry. This is the mid This is the exit. Now, if our goal in this specific lesson is to maximize our exit, and then, let’s say there’s going to be a long straight after that. So if we want to maximize all these big area at the exit, it all starts from the entry, and while the straight line breaking is also important, because imagine you want to break at the up, like on limit, because if you break at the limit, you gonna take, let’s say you have to use the curve.

You’re gonna take the perfect line, all right.

But if you break over the limit, let’s say, and you just hit the try to do the same line, but you break too late, you’re gonna just eventually miss the apex, all right. So again, the x will be so we need to break at the so the straight line breaking is also very important. The decision from when you start to hit the brakes between here, here, here. It’s very important that will affect a lot your exit. Normally, people think, Oh, the earlier I brake, the better the exit. Not true, because you could break here. Sorry, let’s make it you could break here or break here or break here. What happens? Normally, most drivers, after they break initially, they start to turn in too early, too early, and then they find themselves like too early at the apex, and they get pushed out on the exit. So the myth or the earlier break, the better my exit. It’s bullshit. It’s really not, not true. If you break too late, what happens normally, you try to you break very late. Let’s say your optimal breaking point is here. Let’s say, but you break too late in this case. And of course, you’re going to try to make the corner, but you’re going to miss the apex, let’s say, and of course that is going to delay your throttle pickup, and because you have to wait for the rotation to stop the kart, and that’s going to affect the exit. So remember that any any anywhere from the optimal breaking point is going to make you lose time, either if you break too early or if you break too late, it’s going to make you lose time on the exit. Is that clear? I repeat, if you break too early, you’re going to turn early, and most of the time is going to gas too early and it’s going to push you out, and the exit will be you’ll actually have to it’s going to push you out, and you actually, most of the times, have to lift the gas a bit on the exit, or you’ll have too much steering, which is going to scrub speed. A lot of drivers have this mistake, by the way, if you break too late. On the other end, if you break too late, as I said, you’re going to miss the apex and you’re going to have to slow down, and again, you lose it.

So the only way to get a good exit is to break at the optimal place.

So as we already marketed here, this is our optimal place at optimal point, which, as I said, it depends on the grip. It depends on the tires you have, the track conditions, the kart, the setup, brakes, whatever, depends on many factors. It changes from session to session with the grip level. So it’s not going to be all Alessio told me to break there, let’s say at the beginning of the curb. So I will always break there. No, it’s not like that, because sometimes you’ll have to break a bit later than the beginning, sometimes a bit earlier, depending on the grip conditions, depending also on the speed. If you arrive at 110 kilometers an hour, because you have a very powerful engine and a lot of Slipstream, you will break a bit earlier than if you brake at if you arrive at 100 kilometers an hour, because if you arrive slower, you’re going to break later, right? So there’s many reasons why you have to adjust your your breaking point. So anyways, you got to break on the limit. That’s what the straight line breaking phase is. So the more efficient, and the later you break, the better. Of course, remember, if you break at the right point but you don’t hold the brakes enough, it’s still gonna factor exit. Because if you break at the right point but you still don’t hold the brakes enough, you’re gonna get the bad exit, all right. So okay, if you break very aggressively and you have very efficiently, that’s good. I mean, it’s almost gonna make you turn like, gonna stop you and turn early. But in that case, if you feel like you were too efficient, just break a little bit later the next time, the next lap. There’s no such a thing as being too efficient or too good in the brakes, you can always break a bit later than if it was too easy. If it was too easy to stop, you always have to feel like, holy shit, I’m gonna miss the corner. Oh, I’m gonna miss the corner. It’s pretty much like that.

So okay, given that we have a good breaking point,

good breaking efficiency in our straight line breaking. Then there’s our entry phase. And here’s the thing, okay, of course, the track usage is very important. So the racing line is key. So throughout the lap, throughout the whole throughout the whole corner, you have to keep the perfect racing line. Of course, that’s that’s gonna give you the biggest influence on your on your exit, on. Can’t do it. So let’s say we use off of the curve we start doing here. Gonna get something like this that’s so difficult to draw with my mouse? Yeah. So basically, that’s gonna be pretty ah, it’s about to be good. No. Anyways, yeah. So let’s say we have the optimal racing line. And from that, it’s going to give us our optimal exit, if we set for example, okay, let’s try to draw again the racing line. Let’s try again. Break straight line. Breaking. Remember, we start to turn in here.

Ah, it’s about to be perfect. We hit the apex.

Forget about that little thing, like we hit the apex, and then it’s just gonna let us run wide on the X and we’re just gonna use the curve perfectly. All right, so let’s say that’s our optimal line. The entry phase is still gonna make you slow down so you are not off the brakes yet, I would suspect you’re off the brakes like here towards the end of the entry, just beginning of the mid that’s when you’re off the brakes. So it’s still very, very important entry, in the in the entry phase, in the late entry, to hold the brakes and stop the car, because the speed is not the minimum speed, right? So you still have to hold the brakes, but at the same time, the turning point is key, because a lot of drivers are going to turn into early, and that’s what we’re going to do. You tell me when you turn in too early, you’re going to automatically going to be pushed out wide on the exit. It’s like that. I draw it very badly. I’ll try to draw it again. But you got my point. Every time you turn in too early, even if you had the good braking efficiency, either gonna get pushed out like that. Oh, my God, my drawing is terrible, so let’s say I did like that. If I turn too early, I’m gonna get Ah, you got my point, though, if you turn in too early, you’re gonna get a bad exit, all right. Same is if you turn too late. So again, there is no such a thing as the earlier the better or the later the better go, because if you turn in too early, you go, sorry, too late, you’re gonna sacrifice a lot of mid speed. And yes, most of the time the exit will be good. To be honest, when you turn in late, you gotta get good exits. I’ll be honest with you, you’re gonna get good exits when you turn in late, but most of the time you will sacrifice so much the entry phase and the mid phase in, you know, for you to get a good exit, that is not going to be a good decision.

And now in the mid corner, when you are going to be when given that, let’s say we we have an optimal racing line as the green, the optimal braking, optimal entry rate line on the entry, and optimal line on the entry. Then when we go in the mid corner, we still have the rotation to do right and that is a lot to do with the speed that you carry. It’s not just the steering wheel. You know, in karting you’re driving the kart almost like like making the kart rotate with the speed that you carry. So the optimal speed and angle and rotation and footwork you do in the mid corner is going to affect the axis. If you have a good rotation, you’re going to get the perfect axis, just like the green. If you have too much, if you have too little rotation in this area, let’s say everything is good, but then you’re not stopping the kart is you’re not rotating with the pedals. You know, everything in speed, and you try to go in the gas, even if you don’t have the good rotation, you’re gonna get pushed on wide. And again, your line will be affected, and your speed will be affected on the exit. In case you have too much rotation, and you’re like, you’re like, like, you’re gonna be pointing towards the apex. Sometimes you’re gonna clip, oh, I’m gonna need sorry. I sometimes you’re going to clip the curb, and that’s going to make you lose a lot of time, and that’s going to also affect a massively the exit. So yeah, that’s one of the things you want to avoid. But most of the times, I see drivers losing most of the time in not rotating enough rather than rotating too much, so under rotation versus over rotation. That is what I noticed from the demo.

The goal in the mid corner is to get the optimal rotation

and to go on the gas a little bit before the apex. So normally, you get on the gas right before the apex. Let’s say the apex is here you go on the gas a little bit before than that. And that’s going to affect, of course, if you go too early on the gas, given everything else being perfect. So let’s say you go too early on the gas again, you’re going to get pushed out too wide, and your Axio will be suffering, even though you got oil on the gas. If you go on the gas too late, though, you’re just going to lose valuable time, and you will not be using enough track on the exit. I guess that’s pretty clear for all of you, right? So that’s one of the things. If you use to, if you go too early, you’re gonna get pushed out wide. If you go too late, you got to sacrifice a lot of speed in the end, in the in the mid corner phase, right? And I mean in the mid axis.

So to get a good exit, you need to really work on the braking point

As we said, number one. One is the breaking point. Number two is the breaking efficiency. So how good your efficiency is on the straight line. Number three is your turning point. Is it early? Is it late, or is it perfect? You know, that’s the turning point that you have to get, obviously the perfect turning point. And then the mid corner phase, you got to, obviously, try to rotate the kart in an optimal way, under rotation, over rotation, or optimal rotation, and towards the mid corner phase. At the end of the mid corner phase, you got the throttle pickup point. Are you going to get on the gas at the right point? Or you’re going to get on the gas too early and it’s going to get pushed out wide, or you’re going to get on gas too late, and you’re going to keep it too tight. So there’s many things, obviously, then it’s going to come subconsciously to you. But of course, when you’ll be starting out or in some corners, you may still struggle, but let’s say you’re losing on an exit of a corner. Okay, we already discussed the 3123, so the number four, as we said, is the rotation phase. Oops. Number four is the rotation in mid corner. Number five is throw to pick up point. So we got to all of our and, you know, once we get the throttle pickup point, then the other thing we can affect, basically, is our steering inputs on the exit. So if you’re clean or not clean enough, but normally from here onwards, you’re just a passenger. Let me actually explain from here onwards, from after you got on the gas, it’s just a passive like the exit is just a consequence. Remember this, the exit is just a consequence of everything you’ve done before. So leading up to your throttle point, through your throttle application. So remember the breaking point, the braking efficiency, the turning point, the rotation and the throttle point. So the exit is going to be determined by all these things, right? It’s not like you can’t fix the if you want to fix the exit. I mean in terms of line, you can always do it, but you will have to slow down the kart massively, you know, if you want to like, yeah, okay, I’m too tight. Okay, let me open up, but that’s just maybe the line will be up better. Like, oh, I’m going too wide. Or let me close the line. But then maybe the line will become better, or almost optimized. But the problem is the speed, right? The speed, you will not be able to affect the speed anymore. It’s very, very important. I hope it’s very, very clear, and given that, take a screenshot, because I think in the back use for other valuable things in the future. If we now go back and we see, all right, this is a corner in the racing lines. There was a racing line looking at the GPS, we said Lonato mechanics corner. And as you can see, the red is doing a wrong line, and that’s going to give him better exit or a worse accent. Remember what we just said? Okay, if we want to have a good exit, the turning point has to be right? You know, if you turn in too early, what’s going to happen? You’re just going to be doing something like that.

And now have a look at the corner

and let me know if that is the same or not. Oops. You see what is happening here. The ride is starting too early, not rotating the kart enough. But of course, it’s because of the line, and then it’s getting pushed out wide on the exit, and overall, it’s going to lose so much time. Remember, every time you do this, you feel like you’re gaining on the entry, because you actually are. You’re slightly gaining on the entry. To be honest, you’re slightly gaining on the entry because you are doing less meters. You know, from instead of opening up like the green, you’re just going a bit tighter. And you so you feel like you’re gaining. But the problem is, you lose so much on the exit, not only for the speed, but but this the distance. Look in the exit, the red makes less speed. So 58 because he has a worse angle, less speed, and he also make more distance because you can see it’s just going wider, right? It’s going wider all the way through. So as you can see, overall in terms of laptop in this corner, we got about two tenths. So we are 1/10 the red is 1/10 ahead before the corner and after the corner is 1.7 tenths. Well, he’s six tenths, 600 behind. So he lost 1.7 tenths, all right. So remember very, very well what I just said, It is super, super important to always get the entry right, the breaking straight line, breaking right the entry, right mid corner, right in order to get the exit. If any of these things is wrong, you’re gonna get a bad exit, and there’s nothing the engine the chassis can can help you for that. It’s just your responsibility. So if you want to get epic and crazy good exits, especially if you are you know, setting up really long straights, like in the case of Sarno French Accord as well, that there it makes even much more of a difference that in tracks like Lonato Cremona, where are more twisty and it may be like less effective to have a bad technique, all right.