The Racing Line - Hitting The Apex - Explained

What is the racing line? Why is it important to hit the apex? The racing line attempts to make the largest diameter turning radius in order to minimize lateral g's on the vehicle, thus allowing for greater driving speeds. The idea is to try to make the track into as straight of a line as possible. The math backs this up.

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[mrdragancelan]

I use this math when I'm at the grocery store to hit the apexes into all the aisles.

[brentstorck]

I just want to mention something here. I didn't know jack about vehicles before visiting your channel. Researching the internet, I had hoped to learn a little bit. Finding your channel, I hit the jackpot. You have done an outstanding job with these videos, and I have learned an incredible amount of information. You are by far the best internet-teacher on this subject matter, in my opinion. These videos have allowed me to troubleshoot and fix problems on my own vehicle as well. So, thank you for doing what you do man.

[sayisakindof]

Finally, scientific proof, easy understandable by my non-car friends, now i can shove this to their face and keep hitting the apex!

Good work, an excellent channel you have built!

[HotboiEngineering]

Can you explain when it would be advantageous to take a late apex or early apex in a hairpin or corner? I've seen drivers do this and I don't know why.

[MJtheFellowActuary]

The fun starts when there are two corners, one after the other. Taking the fastest line through the first corner might compromise your line through the second. It may be wise to take a slower line through the first so that you set yourself up perfectly for the second especially if there is a long straight afterwards.

[crate]

I live my life one apex at a time. Nothing else matters; not the unpaid tickets, not the nagging wife, not the fear my life is basically pointless. For those .5 seconds or less, I'm free.

[MadJDMTurboBoost]

If you do a little bit of calculus, you will find that at a certain point, if you can maximize your braking and acceleration (through frictional coefficient, torque, and breaking force) that it is beneficial to brake as late as possible, turn, then accelerate as early as possible. The radius of the turn will be smaller, however, more distance will be covered because braking time, turning, and acceleration time will be at a minimum.

[JaihindhReddy]

The cleanest video explaining the racing line I found on the inter webs. The green equations were a little hard to read on the white background though. I'm proud.

[SpacemanXC]

This should be taught in primary schools.

[darios]

props to you sr for using the metric system.

[bleepinjeep]

I think you hit the apex with your vocal speed in this video!

[seb]

I drive everywhere in racing lines. Not everybody gets it but that's ok.

[nicholasersons]

Fantastic video, the way you explain it with your diagrams makes it so simple to understand. You could not have executed the presentation better than you did!

[TalenGryphon]

Can you make a video explaining the Scandinavain Flick cornering technique? I (and I imagine many others) am still having trouble understanding how this relates to racing lines, or how the forces involved allow for faster cornering.

[crazydog]

hands down my favorite you tuber always great content. very informative but simple enough for general viewers keep it up mate i believe this channel will be come bigger than most :)

[ChrisKsan]

Good god I have so much to catch up on! I didn't think there was so much science in regards to racing lines and cornering, at least not as detailed! Thank you for this inspirational and informative video!

[Mrmojorisin]

Now if this example was used in my college math classes, my gpa would’ve been much higher.

Nicely explained and practical use of equations! Loved it

[RaamiKala]

i've never seen the racing line splained like this before..good video jas'

[ActiveYoutubeAccountPreGoogle]

I like your videos man, concise and informative. Taking this apex would only be best if the vehicle has equal acceleration and deceleration, however just about all vehicles will have greater deceleration ability than acceleration. I'm not feeling like crunching the numbers myself atm but wouldn't it be better to opt for a "late apex" as this would offer less deceleration time and more acceleration time. I've got a feeling you'l need to throw down some partial derivatives too, your viewer base seems pretty clever i reckon they could handle it.

[fabiantb]

I'm a big fan of your channel, but this time I have to argue... that it's just the basic theory, but in practice racing drivers follow more of an elliptic path rather than a circle, so that they can brake "into" a corner and accelerate "out" of it. I.e. brake later and accelerate earlier than the circle starts/ends.
The downside of it is a tighter and slower apex speed, but the overall speed and more importantly (especially if a long straight comes after) the top speed before and after the corner is higher.
The path is elliptic as they balance on lateral and longitudinal tyre load, so gradually step off the brake and tighten the turning circle at the same time and the opposite on the corner exit.
Also the early or late apex is also considered, so that drivers dont always touch the inner side of the corner, depending on whether they are defending position or attacking another car. Same strategy applies when there is a long straight after the corner when you sacrifice entry speed to be able to straighten the steering angle and be able to accelerate earlier, i.e. higher top speed on the straight.