Trail Braking: 5 Mistakes DESTROYING Your Laptime

Good trail braking is critical to being fast on track - if you're not doing it well, you'll be losing lap time when racing. In this video Driver61 founder, Scott Mansell explains the top 5 mistakes he sees when working with over 100 drivers per year trying to trail brake.

[ActNasty]

I think is absolutely amazing that some people are watching this for sim racing and some for real life.

[noscopesallowed]

I'm finally reaching the point that I know enough about racing to know that I know nothing about racing. Man this is hard.

[hansdietrich]

When i got asetto corsa competizione, i always instantly lift of the brake and always got some horrible times and after a few hours I "accidentally" trail braked and my eyes where opened to a whole nother world of smoothness

[jacobwright]

Ill remember this when driving my corolla to the mall

[anchorbait]

I keep telling my mom she's leaving time on the track. But she still doesn't listen and I'm late and in a bad mood by the time she drops me off at school.

[BleedForTheWorld]

It's difficult to do this on a PlayStation 4 controller.

[GameverFool]

I feel like learning to trail brake will be like when learning to carve while skiing. At first you don't really know how to do it but when you do a good turn you realise how much better it is.

[MrSaemichlaus]

I kind of got in touch with trail braking when I would brake very late and pump the brake to find some grip to turn the car into the corner. That pumping got more and more fluent and is now smoothening out to a continuous curve. It allows me to brake later and gain more control while turning into corners. One video that inspired me to trail-brake is Kevin Estre lapping the Nordschleife in a Porsche with Misha Charoudin. He trail-brakes into foxhole very nicely in that video.

[aabe]

For a long time I was under the impression that trailbraking was something you only did on gravel to get the rear out. Your videos have helped shave so many seconds off my laptimes and get much more feel for the weight transfer.

[saltbjorn]

As a driving coach myself I don’t think I could’ve put it better, when I was watching your videos as a junior racer I didn’t fully appreciate how well and carefully it’s explained. Top stuff

[Spock]

Started watching from sim driver perspective and thought which sim was the image from, Lol...

[sevenbelow]

Nearly 100k subs. There's a reason for that. Easily the best sim racing 'help' channel on youtube!

[steverabbits]

Every time I watch one of Scott's videos I am always amazed that someone is prepared to freely share such gems and secrets to getting better on track! Priceless!
I now realise that I am not braking efficiently going in to corners but I have a question Scott, from your description of the correct technique, am I right in thinking that to trail brake effectively you really need to be able to left foot brake? Something else I need to learn to do well! Thanks for all the great coaching!

[ThomasNing]

So, the most common trail braking mistake is that people don't do it...?

[BenFreedmanRacing]

Stop telling them all the secrets! I like being faster than these people! Great video regardless

[manosfarfarelos]

This is a very thorough explanation Scott, nice one. I find that this is easier in a vehicle in the real world than in a sim. In sim I'm struggling to get the right point where I release the brake enough to keep the car level. It's easier to sense this in a car in the real world as the concept of weight distribution and balance comes to life more.

[AntonyWarmbold]

Finally someone who explains trail braking properly and is actually correct too. Been hearing so much rubbish on this subject over the years.. Thanks Scott.

[seanc]

Hey man, just want to send ya some appreciation, what you do for us on YT for free in very valueble, Im new to sim racing as growing up in my area racing was never a thought let alone an option. So these strategies and concepts ive heard of and maybe understand WHAT they are, but no clue HOW to perform and execute. You have a skill to explain things in a simple way that i can wrap my head around, considering i have little expirience, thats impressive. Im sure almost everyone can learn something from your videos, vet or beginners. My trail breaking is garbage, but with this, i have a starting point, and ill keep coming back to this video as my technique builds... anyway and i have the feel for it now, but i have a long way to go.... much respect

[TankRust]

Great tips Nigel! The biggest jump I made in corner entry speed was once I learned how to keep the car on the limit by using trail braking to balance the car. Getting comfortable putting the car into a tiny bit of oversteer on entry allowed me to learn the proper amount of brake pressure to hold after turn in starts. It really requires a delicate touch on the brakes as you said!

[trevormtb]

This channel is making me want to get into racing. I've never seen any explanations of the techniques as in depth as this channel