| The contact patch, is the area of your tires which | | | | you want. Accelerating down the straight you can |
| touch the road surface. This small area gives you | | | | spend it all with no problems. In the same way |
| friction or grip on the road. The next step in | | | | you can brake with 1G. You can also corner left |
| understanding how to go fast is the Friction Circle. | | | | or right with 1 G maximum. Now assume you are |
| I'm going to try and describe this concept without | | | | coming off of a straight with hard braking, if you |
| any drawings, so please bear with me. The | | | | start to turn into a corner, will you make it or |
| Friction Circle or Traction Circle is the idea that | | | | slide off the track? |
| the total grip of your tires can be spent in | | | | The answer is if you are braking at the maximum |
| acceleration, braking or cornering, or a combination | | | | 1 G you have no grip left to turn in. You must |
| of these. | | | | relax the braking and the amount under the 1 G is |
| The idea is used by race car driving schools to | | | | available for cornering. In the same fashion if you |
| help you visualize what is happening to your tires | | | | are going around a corner and approaching the |
| as you try and go as fast as possible around a | | | | exit and you need to accelerate the same |
| track. | | | | problem comes up. If you are using all of the tire's |
| Let's imagine that you have a car that will grip the | | | | friction holding you on the track in the corner then |
| road with a 1 G tire. Visualize that your car in | | | | you have nothing left to accelerate with. |
| sitting in the center of a circle. An arrow pointing | | | | Racing drivers overlap the different phases of |
| North represents the maximum braking possible | | | | braking, turning and applying power to try and |
| or 1 G. The arrow pointing South represents the | | | | make the tire work as hard as possible for as |
| maximum acceleration your tire can provide | | | | long as possible. It's the skillful use of this overlap, |
| without breaking loose or again 1 G. East and | | | | releasing the brakes and feeding in the throttle to |
| West are arrows representing the maximum | | | | just the right degree not to overwhelm the |
| cornering force of 1 G before you again break | | | | available grip, which makes the best use of the |
| away. You can point your car in any direction on | | | | "traction circle". |
| the circle. | | | | The winning driver approaches the limits closer, |
| The idea here is that you have 1 G of Friction | | | | than the other drivers, without exceeding them |
| under your control, and you can spend it any way | | | | and losing control of their car. |