Trail Braking

SR20 Who Knew? · Mar 22nd, 2004, 07:07 PM

Trail braking, is it a good technique for autocross? From what I understand trail braking is sort of like late braking, and you gradually release the brake as you enter the turn. If that is wrong, can someone tell me what it is?

I used to read the articles turnfast.com but the site is down, does anyone know any other sites that were like turnfast.com?

smokey79 · Mar 22nd, 2004, 07:44 PM

Have you ever driven autocross in a FR car? I'll assume you have. I've never really heard the term "trail braking" before. Of course I've only raced for one season back in Salt Lake, and I didn't worry about braking so much as drifting. Except when I came to a box, and you have to tap the brakes to enter those. Where in San Diego do you race?

t1g.com · Mar 22nd, 2004, 09:38 PM

Trail braking takes some getting used to, especially with all the other things you have to think about like hitting the apex, keeping the car balanced, and keeping an eye out for other cars around you. but it helps alot once you get it down. Here's a site that talks a little bit about trail braking: http://www.opentrackracing.com/112002_techtalk.html
(cut and paste) also head down to Barnes and Noble and pick up Speed Secrets I & II, I remember buying the books for around 15bucks a piece but they really go in depth about being a better driver and getting around the track smoother and faster. Are you planning to autocross in April at the Q? I've never autocrosses yet, but I have done track events in Willow Springs, Streets of Willow and Parumph and trail braking helps out at those tracks for me, tell me how it goes at the Q.

SR20 Who Knew? · Mar 22nd, 2004, 10:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smokey79

Where in San Diego do you race?

At Qualcomm Staduim. I haven't raced autocross yet, but I did a lot of drag racing there, with my stock SE-R

. Either way it was fun.

Quote:

Originally Posted by t1g.com

Are you planning to autocross in April at the Q?

Yeah, I'm aiming to make it to the April 4th event. Got 40 bucks in a jar so I can use it to enter and to make sure I don't spend it on something stupid. I also wanted to go to rally school but the closest one to me is about 4 hours away and they only have one per year I think and I missed it

The link you gave was very helpful. So basically it's braking late and making a smooth transition from slowing down to speeding up. Can I use left foot braking to make the transition even smoother?