Confirmed, plausible, or busted?
At the beginning of this year I stated that one of my goals for 2024 is to “poke” at things (2024, Here We Come!), and ask whether they should be followed, changed, or discarded. So, doing my best imitation of Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman from one of my all-time favorite TV shows, MythBusters, I’m going to tackle some of the most common myths in the driving community. Unfortunately, unlike Adam and Jamie, I’m not able to use any explosives! Although, I might just blow up some long-held beliefs as I prove them plausible, confirmed, or busted.
But first, according to the Oxford Dictionary, a myth is “A widely held but false belief or idea.” I would add that many are somewhat controversial, as well, so let me poke at them.
Myth: Always do all your braking in a straight line before the corner.
I started teaching high-performance and race drivers in 1980, while in my second full season of racing a Formula Ford. Since that time, I’ve taught tens of thousands of performance and race drivers, from first-timers to elite-level pros, in North America and around the world. I’ve instructed for a variety of schools, both professional and volunteer organizations, from Skip Barber to BMW CCA and PCA clubs, and from my own ProFormance High Performance Driving School to DirtFish Rally School. Additionally, I’ve consulted to dozens of schools and events through my Speed Secrets resources and programs.
Over the past 40-plus years of training drivers, my approach to teaching trail braking has changed, as I learned through experience what worked and didn’t work. The drivers I’ve trained have been the perfect “test subjects” for me to learn when and how to teach trail braking.
Let’s start by getting clear and consistent on exactly what trail braking is and isn’t. The term “trail braking” is used to describe the technique of continuing to brake while turning into a corner – by gradually reducing the brake pressure while increasing cornering. Trail braking is when you gradually release, ease, or “trail” your foot off the brake pedal while turning into a corner. If you’ve completed your braking entirely and your foot is off the pedal at the point you begin to turn into the corner, then you have not trail braked at all. If you have even the slightest amount of brake pedal pressure on while turning into the corner, then you are trail braking. Sometimes, your foot will finally be completely off the brake pedal within a foot or two past the turn-in point, and other times it won’t be until you’re practically at the apex. Either way, you’re trail braking.
There are two reasons for trail braking:
- It helps you use all of the tires’ traction throughout the corner. If you get to the turn-in point and suddenly take your foot off the brake pedal as you turn in, there will be a fraction of a moment when you are not using up all of the tires’ traction – you could be using more and carrying more speed.
- It keeps load on the front tires so the car will turn into the corner better – it will change direction better.
A side benefit of trail braking (although this shouldn’t be considered the main reason for using it) is that it often allows you to begin braking later, since you’re ending the braking later.
Should trail braking be used in every corner? No. There are turns, especially very fast ones, where a driver should be applying throttle about the time they’re turning into the corner, since this helps the car’s balance and the overall grip level. As a general rule, the slower and tighter the turn (and therefore, the more change in direction that is needed), the more a driver will use trail braking to help rotate the car; the faster and more sweeping the turn, the less trail braking will be used.
“To me, braking is the single most important skill in road racing. I personally don’t practice the old adage about braking only in a straight line. I like to cut the corner early and get the car set up early – even with the brake still on… When you get off the brakes is just as important as when you get on them.” – 2-Time Formula One World Champion, Jim Clark, from an article he wrote in 1964 for the Double 500 at Bridgehampton race program titled Braking… Key to Better Lap Times
When Should Trail Braking Be Taught or Learned?
Imagine this: fifteen 4- and 5-year-olds are in a kindergarten class, and the teacher holds up an image of a dog while asking what it is. Excitedly, there is a scream, “Dog.” The teacher then holds up a photo of a cat and asks what it is. When the kids yell out, “Cat,” they’re told “No, it’s a dog.” Then a photo of a bird is held up; when the teacher asks what it is, only about half the group cautiously replies, “Bird.” Once again, the teacher says, “No, it’s a dog.” This goes on with images of elephants, fish, spiders, and snakes; in each case the kids are told that the animal they’re seeing is a “dog.”
What’s going on? The teacher has decided that these young minds are not smart enough and ready to hear the truth, to know the real name of each animal. Instead, the teacher has decided that the kids will be told that all animals are called “dogs,” and at some time in the future, “when I’ve decided they’re ready,” they will be told what each of the animals really are.
Silly, right?
Now, imagine this: fifteen adults, ranging in age from 25 to 65, are sitting in a classroom at a race track, listening to the instructor at a High-Performance Driver Education (HPDE) event or competition driving school talk about “How to work a corner.” The gray-haired instructor (I can say that because I’m one of them) says, “Coming down the straightaway, approaching a corner, start braking early enough that you can finish and take your foot off the brake pedal before you turn into the corner. It’s important to finish braking before turning the steering wheel.”
Essentially, what this instructor is saying is, “You’re not ready to learn the right way to drive, so we’re going to teach you the wrong way, and then someday you’ll have to learn the right way.”
How is this any different from telling kids that all animals are called “dogs,” only to have to correct them when they get older?
Many drivers who are relatively new to track driving have a habit of releasing the brake pedal quickly, almost popping their foot off the brakes. Why? Because they’ve developed that habit from driving on the street, where the consequences of doing so are almost non-existent. So, telling them to get their foot off the brake pedal before turning into the corner is reinforcing this bad habit.
What they should be taught in this classroom session – and everywhere – is to “smoothly ease your foot off the brake pedal as you turn into the corner.” No mention of a thing called “trail braking” is needed at this time. Nor do they need all the details of how this easing off the brake relates to something called the Friction Circle, load/weight transfer, or anything else. But, teaching them the right technique is what’s needed.
All experienced, even remotely fast high-performance and/or race drivers – and I mean every single last one of them – trail brake to some extent, in many (most?) corners. Not all corners, but many more than the number of corners that they don’t instinctually trail brake in. Some drivers trail brake more than others, but they all do it. That is, if they’re even somewhat quick.
Yes, I’ve had drivers tell me that they don’t trail brake, only to watch them turn into a corner with the brake lights still on, or see from their data that they do, in fact, trail brake – they were unaware of it.
“This whole issue of trail braking or not trail braking is bullshit because every quick driver trail brakes, whether they talk about it or not. On fast racetracks, like you find in Europe, you might do it less, but in the States you have more tight turns where you have to carry the brakes in there to help point the car and to gain an advantage by going deeper. There should be no question about it. That’s that.” – Robbie Buhl, 1992 Indy Lights Champion, Indy Racing League race winner (Going Faster)
I’m all in favor of teaching concepts and techniques in steps. That’s why I’ll sometimes coach a driver to begin improving their braking and corner entry speed by simply braking a little bit lighter. That’s easier and less intimidating than braking later. After getting comfortable with carrying a couple of MPH more speed into the corner by braking with less pressure, the driver will almost naturally begin to compress the brake zone by braking harder and later. That’s a progression of doing the right things. Telling a driver to deliberately get their foot off the brake pedal before turning into a corner is teaching them the wrong thing. It’s teaching them to quickly release the brake pedal.
Remember this: the super-trick advanced stuff that the best drivers do is nothing more than doing the basics better. There are no super-trick techniques. Just things like releasing the brake pedal smoothly, done even better.
This applies to other aspects of driving, just as it does to trail braking.
If an instructor believes that new and newer drivers to the track are incapable of learning to release the brake pedal smoothly — even easing off of it while turning into corner — maybe this is a case of the instructor having too low of expectations for their students.
How do I know that novice drivers are capable of learning to ease off the brakes – to essentially trail brake (even though they may not know they are doing so) – without any major risk of spinning and crashing? Because I’ve taught those thousands of drivers to do so. And get this: there was a time where I would encourage drivers to finish their braking before turning in. Yes, I taught them the wrong thing! But then I decided to give novice drivers the benefit of the doubt, and expect them to have success. Guess what happened? They learned more in less time, without having to go back and correct what I’d taught them wrongly in the first place, and without any – absolutely no – additional risk or danger.
Let me address the belief that some people have that learning to trail brake is more dangerous. It’s not! Super-late braking may be; continuing to turn into a corner with a lot of brake force being applied may be. But smoothly easing off the brakes while turning into a corner is not. In fact, since the car will be better balanced, it is a safer approach. I’ve seen just as many drivers get into trouble in a corner from taking their foot off the brakes before turning in (with the driver almost in a panic mode to “finish all your braking before turning in”) than I have from turning in with too much brake on.
If drivers are taught what trail braking is, and what it isn’t (even if they’re not necessarily taught the term “trail braking” yet), and the importance of smoothly easing their foot off the brake when initiating a turn, it’s as safe a technique to learn as beginning to squeeze on the throttle exiting a corner. And it’s critical to build the right habits from the very beginning.
In fact, if you follow the approach that all braking should be done and completed before turning into a corner, then by the same logic you should wait until you’ve completely straightened the steering wheel when exiting a corner before applying the throttle.
“Our philosophy is that it is easier in the long run to learn the skill and sensitivity required to brake and turn right from the beginning rather than learn a technique that will then have to be modified at a future date. If you choose to continue braking past the turn-in point, be it 150 feet or two feet, we call this ‘trail braking.’” – Carl Lopez, Skip Barber Racing School (Going Faster)
Back in 1978, before I started racing, I attended a 5-day competition driving course at the Jim Russell Racing School at Willow Springs Raceway. There, I was taught to complete all of my braking before turning into every corner. When I did my first few road races, I did what I was told… and lost. After some self-reflection (I didn’t have data and in-car video at that time), along with watching some other drivers, I noticed something: they seemed to be able to carry slightly more speed into corners without it negatively impacting their exit speed.
I had also just finished reading Jackie Stewart’s books, where he claimed the reason he won more Grand Prix races in his day than anyone else was because of the way he took his foot off the brake pedal. Since everything he preached about driving was around smoothness, I figured I needed to release the brake pedal smoother. When I then read Mark Donohue’s Unfair Advantage book, where he introduced me to the Friction Circle concept, I knew I needed to learn to ease my foot off the brake pedal while turning in. More importantly, I understood why. To be honest, I don’t even remember whether I knew that what I’d figured out was that I needed to “trail brake”; I don’t know if that phrase was in my vocabulary yet.
I spent weeks driving on the street, practicing releasing the brake pedal smoothly, while turning into corners. I would go out and drive my street car every evening, exaggerating how far into intersection and freeway off-ramp corners I was before finally releasing the brakes. I would trail brake deep into every corner on purpose, focusing on smoothly releasing the pedal. When I next raced, I got my first Formula Ford win, and I knew it wasn’t a coincidence. Trading off braking for cornering grip was the way to drive fast.
Shortly after that, I recalled a conversation I had had at the Russell school with my instructor. He said something along the lines of, “This technique of doing all your braking on the straight before the corners will do for now. The school hopes that you’ll come back for more advanced training, and then I can show you how to drive even faster. The school loves it when drivers come back to learn more!” It hadn’t occurred to me at the time that they’d taught me the wrong way to use the brakes, in the hope that I’d spend more money with them to learn the right way in the future.
When should trail braking be taught to performance/race drivers? From the very beginning, even if the details of why, or the phrase “trail braking” arenʻt used. In fact, for novices, do not even mention trail braking. It doesn’t matter whether the driver is a novice in an HPDE program, or someone being trained at a professional racing school to become the next World Champion, it’s the same thing. Drivers of all experience levels should be taught to smoothly ease their foot off the brakes.
If you want, do all of your braking in a straight line before turning into a corner. Will it make you any safer? No. Will you be fast this way? No. Is it the best way to drive on a track? No.
Busted: Trail brake in slow corners, and less in fast corners.
Ross Bentley
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Ross Bentley has spent a lifetime helping drivers go faster. He’s the author of the Speed Secrets books (the best-selling racing series ever), is one of the most sought-after driver coaches in the world, and runs SpeedSecrets.com, the largest collection of driver development resources anywhere. Want more articles like this? Subscribe at RossBentley.Substack.com.
