chriskay wrote:I remember, several years ago, being advised on a drive with a very senior member of HPC to ask myself the question "on the exit of a left-hand bend, where's the nose of my car pointing?" If the answer was "towards the centre line", it meant I'd taken too early an apex. He clearly agreed with John Miles.
StressedDave wrote:waremark wrote:In a lower powered vehicle there is more advantage to the constant radius line which allows more speed to be maintained on entry.
The other issue I have with constant apex is that you have to be millisecond precise all the time for it too work. If you don't start the turn in exactly the right position then you'll miss the constant radius apex and thus your line will take you into oncoming traffic. I'm not good enough for that sort of precision 100% of the time, so I advocate some form of late apex line.
waremark wrote:StressedDave wrote:waremark wrote:In a lower powered vehicle there is more advantage to the constant radius line which allows more speed to be maintained on entry.
The other issue I have with constant apex is that you have to be millisecond precise all the time for it too work. If you don't start the turn in exactly the right position then you'll miss the constant radius apex and thus your line will take you into oncoming traffic. I'm not good enough for that sort of precision 100% of the time, so I advocate some form of late apex line.
I did say 'on a circuit or with perfect vision'. Certainly not appropriate with the possibility of approaching traffic.
stefan einz wrote:Another vote for taking a late apex here.
On the approach to a closed bend on the public road, it provides for the safer line, minimising the chance of running wide and sustaining vision for longer. As a Lyon graduate, he drummed into me many time on left handers to exit so as to have a wide margin away from oncoming traffic.
On circuit, a late apex, all else being equal, is faster than taking the geometric apex. This was reinforced at a Ferrari Sport driving school earlier this year, both with data logging and by the F1 trained instructors. I am with Dave on this one.
Cheers
Astraist wrote:But on the road in an open bend, a geometric apex would be desired as to reduce demands on the car throughout.
Even on the track, fast curves (taken with maintainence throttle throughout) are taken at the geometrical apex.
As I mentioned, on the road even an early apex might sometimes be desirable!
N.B. The late apex on the road is usually far later than the late apex on the track! I often refer to the desired line on the road as the "last apex".
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