Why curve driving line when straight line is shortest

[Eager Learner]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRJ7-S7hhlY

See 58 sec to 1:04

and from 1:17 to 1:28 the whole long straight. this one is super straight, unlike abu dahbi!

[Richard]

I noticed it at Abu Dhabi at the end of the straight where Vettel and several others went off at the end of the straight into turn 1.

Keeping away from the kerb along a straight gives them a chance to relax and twiddle some knobs.

[aleks_ader]

All reasons given here are true, but for ALL those reasons at the SAME time. Sometimes are the dips, others the wall induced drag, others the influence of borders in ground effects.

You just nailed down! That is just combination of all those elements. This is no rocket science! That is all...

[piast9]

I think that sometimes drivers don't drive along the very edge of the track on the straight just to relax a bit for few seconds. Keeping F1 car just by the kerb is not that easy because of very sharp steering.

[hollus]

Calculate the cost of steering 50 cm out of the shorter line in the course of, say, a 100m segment of track... good old Pitagoras.
Answer: 1mm (and another 1mm back in...)

[kilcoo316]

1. It makes virtually no time difference.

2. If the back end steps out on initial braking and your right on the track edge...

[gold333]

To be honest it is a driving trait. We used to do this in F2's aswell. Think of it like a psychological Scandinavian flick.

After a straight it is easier to turn into a corner under braking if the steering wheel is already being manipulated. You have more confidence than just holding it straight before cornering. Any long straight just invites you to "play" just before the corner to psychologically set the car up.

Even in city traffic if you've looked away from the road (like at your phone or whatever) when you look back at the road sometimes you instinctively wiggle the steering wheel, in anticipation of having to do something evasive, Something in motion is easier to change the motion of than something still.

[scuderiafan]

At Indy, the only reason they do it is because when they drive alongisde the wall, the air bouncing off the wall (being split from the front of the car) bounces off and creates drag. They travel down the middle of the track to reduce drag.

Or at least that's what I've been told.

[alelanza]

I think it:

1- helps helps the car take a set earlier and smoother. ie weight transfer happens more smoothly, thus you can be on the limit sooner
2- by the time you get to the corner you already have some yaw motion going on, making turn in easier. NOt very different from your regular scandinavian flick.

[Shrieker]

I agree with gold333 and alelanza in the scandinavian flick part. Even in iracing I remember experiencing this.

When you start braking, the rear goes light, if you steer in the opposite direction of the corner momentarily while braking, the car makes a much sharper turn when you flick the wheel into the corner. Or that's what I felt while driving in iracing. And as you can imagine, steering in the opposite direction of the turn won't do any good if you're already on the track edge, I experienced the results again both in iracing and rfactor.

So yeah, I'm thinking the scandinavian flick is one of the reasons for driving a curve, if not the most important.

[raymondu999]

That's interesting. A scandinavian flick to actually induce oversteer... I actually seem to remember that this year; when Heidfeld was still driving, you could often see him locking his front OUTSIDE wheel... indicating he was already braking somewhere near the limit as he was turning out towards the track edge

[Richard]

Sorry for being so ignorant, but surely turning through a shorter angle of rotation (ie shorter corner) would be more effective use of the available grip and track.

Lets say there is a 90 degree bend, then the idea prosed in the posts above is that the driver takes an extra 5 degrees to flip the rear around, ie total of 95 degrees? Why not do that at the start of the 90, leaving 85 degrees for the rest of the corner?

I can't see why any racing driver would want to deliberately extend a corner by starting on the wrong side (or middle) of the track. The pragmatic reason is that they cruise down the straight clear of the kerbs, then move back the kerb line, then they turn into the corner.

[raymondu999]

Richard - The implication I think is that they do actually a bit of a scandinavian flick; and so the rear is actually helping the car rotate to achieve a very rapid change of direction

[alelanza]

I see what you mean Richard. I think that if you do the turn in the 'wrong' direction with enough anticipation you'll still have the same 90 degrees of turn to go through, provided your 'flick' happened before the turn in point (which remains at the same spot). So the difference is that with this approach your car has already started to rotate around its vertical axis and i think, more importantly, your suspension/tyres have already started to manage the weight transfer so the whole thing becomes smoother. That last portion i feel gives you a lot more confidence as a driver because you've already started to feel the car's attitude change before you have to turn in really hard. The downside of all this of course is your straight line heavy braking may be compromised, but as everything it's a balancing act dependant on corner types, previous/following straights, corner camber, surface grip, car tyres/suspension/chassis stiffness, etc.

[jdlive]

They do this on the long straight in Spa as well. I honestly think there is no real rhyme or reason to it because one lap they'll do it, the next lap they won't. (same drivers while in qualifying) Probably done for a moment of relaxation as said before.