Car Dynamics

Published: March 13, 2014; updated: February 20, 2018

B

Big Vision - seeing everything on the track, as opposed to only looking immediately in front of the car.
Both Feet In - pressing clutch and brake pedal as hard as possible in an effort to stop a spinning car as quickly as possible. Locking up some or all of the tires in the process is often a desired side effect as it generally makes the car travel parallel to the track direction instead of perpenticularly into a wall.
Brushing The Brakes - applying light braking for a short amount of time, done either to make a small adjustment to the car's speed or move the weight on the front tires for better turn in.

Conservative - a driving style which maintains the car well under its grip limit. Primarily useful in exit speed corners as well as high risk sections of the track.

Flick - a decisive and quick direction change, usually performed in an esses-type sequence of corners.

Late Enough Apex - an apex which permits the driver to start applying throttle and unwinding steering at the apex and continuing to do both through the rest of the corner. See getting on power and sequence for improving lap time.
Loose - see Oversteer.

Minimum Corner Speed - the slowest that a car is traveling in a given corner. For novice drivers, the turn in point is typically one with the lowest speed. For advanced drivers who trailbrake, the slowest point is between the turn in point and the apex. Minimum corner speed is a good indicator of how fast a driver takes a corner.

Off Power - state of a car when the driver applies neither throttle nor brakes. As the cars usually are in gear at all times other than gear changes, a car which is off power is normally under engine braking, and is thus gently decelerating.
Opposite Correction - a correction strategy in which the driver applies opposite input to whatever they were doing previously.
Oversteer - the state of a turning car when its front tires are inside their friction circle and its rear side are outside of their friction circle. Front and rear friction circles may be of different shapes and sizes and are affected not only by static parameters like what tires are on each end of the car, but also by weight transfer. A car that oversteers dramatically can be said to be drifting.

Plowing - a car which is experiencing significant understeer. When a driver is plowing their car, emphasis is on the fact that the driver maintains the car in the understeering state for a substantial length of time, for example while accelerating out of a corner.
Push, Pushing - see Understeer.

Rotation - change in direction that a car is facing. The term "rotation" can be used instead of "turing" to emphasize the instantaneous nature of rotation - how much a car is rotating at a specific moment in time - whereas a turn is something that happens over a certain distance.

Sliding Tire - usually, a tire which is rotating slower than a tire without braking inputs applied to it would, or a tire which is moving laterally.
Slipping Tire - usually, a tire on a driven axle which is rotating faster than an unpowered tire would at the same vehicle speed.
Smoothness - how fast a driver applies inputs to the car. See the smoothness essay.
Sufficiently Late Apex - an apex that yields the lowest combination of time in the corner plus time on the following straight. A sufficiently late apex normally permits the car to go full throttle as it approaches the apex, and not much earlier.

Trailbraking - maintaining some braking input while turning into a corner; overlapping braking and steering during corner entry. The length of time when braking and steering are overlapping, as well as how much of each input is being applied, can vary from minimal to substantial. See the trailbraking essay.

Understeer - the state of a turning car when its front tires are outside their friction circle and the rear tires are within their friction circle. Front and rear friction circles may be of different shapes and sizes and are affected not only by static parameters like what tires are on each end of the car, but also by weight transfer. Typically, a car that understeers is still turning, but not as much as the driver would like. A car which has its front wheels turned but is almost moving in a straight line is said to be plowing.