Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Autocross and Open Track Speaking of hairpins...

Nobody else wants to play? OK, more of the blind leading the blind.

So you survived the late apex left hander leading into a narrow short chute. Now you are bearing down on a 80 degree right hand turn. Because of your late apex on the prior left turn you have time to set up for the coming right turn by swinging to your left along the edge of the short chute. You clip the apex with a little left foot trail-braking, staying on the gas.

Now you are approaching a 130 degree right turn into another narrow chute. Again, it calls for a late apex and there is plenty of room to the outside so you swing wide to set up for turn-in. You watched plenty of folks stay too tight and clip the inside cone or end up plowing through the ouside cones on turn exit.

After completing this turn there will be another left hand turn leading into the final curved "straight." At 60 mph you travel 88 ft/sec versus just 44 ft/sec at 30mph. So straight speed is extremely important to a fast time. Faster turn exit onto the straight pays off big.

Normally you would opt again for a late apex to allow you to straighten the car and accelerate early. But the course designer has been generous and allowed wide gates for the final gently curved straight. This means man can follow his natural inclination and apex a little earlier allowing a wider turn permitting harder acceleration to carry him out to the edge of the gate. It's a good thing, too, because the previous 130 degree turn just would not let you set up for this turn leaving you nearly hugging the inside row of cones as you approach the left hand turn apex.

So recap. Leading from a wide area into a narrow area means late apex...i.e. turn-in later completing most of your turn before the apex. On the other hand, a narrow chute leading into wide chute allows the luxury of a early apex. This allows turning acceleration to carry you out to the edge of the track. Generally, for most turns, late apex good, early apex bad.