In this article we asked Blayze pro coaches and grassroots racers on their thoughts about coasting. Is it bad to do? When could it actually be helpful?
Dion von Moltke - Blayze Coach
I find this is one of the most common misconceptions in our sport. The answer? Nope!
It's actually bad to always be on the throttle or brakes. When I'm driving at the absolute limit I need to have a "pause" period in every corner where I release off the brakes and pause for a beat before starting to apply throttle.
The length of that pause period depends on a few factors:
- Car balance
- The type of corner I'm entering
- The type of car I'm driving
At a high level in higher speed or sweeper style corners, I will have a longer coast period (often it can be a few car lengths). In hairpin corners, the coast period is typically shorter (half a length or so).
When it comes to teaching beginner or intermediate drivers the coast period is extremely important.
Early on I want a driver to focus on where their initial throttle application point should come and not touch the throttle before then. My goal for the beginner driver is to pick a conservative brake zone so you can come off the brakes around the turn-in point and then coast to the initial throttle application point (coming around the apex).
As they get more advanced we reduce that coast period by extending the end of brake zone deeper into the corner.
Steve Amanti - Grassroots Racer
One wrinkle worthy of addressing in the "be on the throttle or brakes" dialogue is the difference between the brake to throttle transition, where a coast period is more often than not warranted, and the throttle to brake transition, where a coast period is only warranted in exceptional circumstances.
Mike Bonner - Grassroots Racer
This is the the coaching advice that made the biggest difference to me…I, like many amateur track day drivers, was getting back on throttle before the apex because I was over slowing for corners. After I fixed this timing of my throttle application, however, at first I didn’t pick up any time until Dion noticed that I was initially overturning for corners as well. It turns out that I would tend to hold a constant steering angle in a corner, but the car speed of course declines through the first half of the turn, even without trail braking. So I was near the car’s limit for the first few car lengths of a corner but then it felt slow so I’d get back on throttle. I didn’t pick up time in the corners until I also reduced my initial steering angle and increased it as my car slowed, which is what I needed to give me confidence to carry more speed going into corners. This obviously makes more difference in sweepers than in hairpins, but it applied to me to some degree in most turns. From talking to other drivers at track days, I strongly suspect I’m not alone. In other words, too much initial steering angle is often the root cause of many drivers over slowing for corners and then getting back on throttle before the apex.
