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Guide from F3 Pro driver for sim racers - "Braking Phase"
#1
Hi guys,
As follow-up to AMA session (in here: https://www.reddit.com/r/iRacing/comments/cohhpq/formula_3_driver_doing_ama_about_everything_of/) our @TheF3Dude (professional Formula 3 pilot) decided to write few important tutorials for sim-racers. The first chapter is about proper braking and how to validate your braking on telemetry data. To get full article join to Discord server: https://discord.gg/6xNW64J (channel: #f3-ama).

Below is part of the article:

The most important part in driving technique is arguably braking. Braking event is the first thing that happens in cornering phase and thus it sets-up the whole corner. The advantage or penalty of braking done (in)correctly carries over up until next braking event, including straights. The pattern I am seeing on the sim data is incorrect and completely unrealistic brake application, which could be due to simulation quality or/and drivers actually trying to workaround the lack of feedback that IRL drivers get through body when braking. What sim racers are doing is actually emulating ABS by the way they set-up brake pressure in bars per 1% of pedal movement.
Before we continue further, here are the assumptions:
  • Everything is relative to high downforce car unless explicitly specified

  • All examples are for “generic” hair-pin style corners, think Barcelona T10, Hockenheim T6, Magny-Cours T5 etc

  • Turn numbers are from maps available on wikipedia of respectable circuits
The correct way of braking. Purpose of braking.
The proper brake shape is always a triangle and there are physical reasons why it can not NOT be a triangle. The triangle shape is due to the driver having to compensate for aero load drop as the car slows down, it’s not a preference or driving style but a necessity. If the shape for some reason is not a triangle, driver is totally losing time under braking because he’s not using all available grip to slow down the car.
The targets of braking are to:
  1. Slow the car down to Vtarget in as short a distance as possible

  2. Prepare the “platform” for cornering. (“platform” is basically a fancy word for “car” Smile)
While 1) is obvious to everybody, 2) is less obvious. The 2) goal of the driver is to have a specific balance of weight (not mass) per each wheel during cornering up until throttle application. The car has to be slowed down, stabilized AND loaded properly.
For example, if you brake too early even with perfect triangle shape, at the time when you need the grip on the front (max lat G) the front has already “lifted up” as in “unloaded” itself, because of sprigs stiffness and low rebound value on the dampers. What it means is that car setup/chassis has a requirement on how driver sets it up for a corner with his braking. If a driver brakes too early he will actually be faster in a “slow” car setup compared to himself in a “fast” car setup.
The “stable platform” requirement is why you see drivers doing weird shit like both braking and staying on throttle in fast corners: it’s not the most efficient way to achieve 1), but it may be the ONLY way to achieve 2) depending on setup.
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