What is Trail Braking and How Does it Make You Faster?
Once you’re driving at a certain level, the way in which you come off the brake pedal can make a surprisingly big difference to the balance of the car and consequently, your drive out of the corner.
If you’ve been around sim racing, or just general motorsport for a while, you will probably have heard the term trail braking being thrown around. Many people will know the phrase, but not necessarily what it is; nor the reasons for doing it. So in this article, we shall go through what it is, and how it can help you go faster.
What is Trail Braking?
Put simply, trail braking is the act of gradually coming off the brake into a corner rather than quickly. Whilst in your road car, or on racing games with a controller as a kid, you most likely will just brake, and come straight off when you have scrubbed enough speed off. Trail braking is a far more gentle action in which the driver follows up hard braking with a gentle decline in brake pressure. See the example below:
How Does Trail Braking Help?
Trail braking helps in a few different ways, but none more so than balance. For lack of a better analogy, imagine someone is running at you and they push you. That momentum they carry with their push is far greater than your balance can cope with and thus, you fall over. Now imagine they run at you, slow down, and gently push you out the way. In this instance, your body has time to react and will probably lean into the push too. Using trail braking is the same.
Coming off the brakes sharply creates an unexpected shift of balance that the car is not always able to cope with. Whilst decelerating, the load under braking will push balance to the front end, causing the rear to go lighter. If you quickly come off the brakes, all of a sudden, the front doesn’t have all the load anymore and can momentarily lose grip. The rear will momentarily gain extra grip and if you’re not careful, you will spin the car.
Trail Braking ensures that the balance shifts smoothly from front load back to normal. By doing so, your car is more settled going into the corner and creates a more suitable balance for corner exit.
How Does Trail Braking Make You Faster?
Now that we know what it is, let's discuss several reasons how it makes you faster.
Maintains Corner Entry Speed:
By utilising trail braking, you can carry higher speeds into the corner because you are using the brakes to slow down the vehicle later in the braking zone. This means you can maintain more speed for a longer distance and your apex speed could be higher.
Optimizes Weight Distribution:
Trail braking shifts weight to the front tires as you enter the corner. This additional weight on the front tires increases traction and grip, allowing you to better control the vehicle and make the most of available grip. This can be especially beneficial in tight or low-grip corners. Therefore, more grip on the apex means a higher minimum speed.
Enhances Cornering Stability:
The gradual release of the brakes through the corner's entry and apex phases helps maintain the vehicle's stability. This stability allows you to make fine adjustments to the steering and throttle inputs, ensuring you maintain the desired line and control. It minimises the risk of losing control or oversteer or understeer.
Improves Exit Speed:
Proper trail braking technique allows you to smoothly transition from braking to accelerating as you exit the corner. This means you can get on the throttle earlier and more aggressively, which can lead to faster acceleration out of the corner and onto the subsequent straightaway.
It's worth noting that trail braking is a technique that requires skill and practice, and it may not be suitable for all types of corners or driving situations. In some situations, other techniques like early apex or late apex cornering may be more appropriate. The choice of technique depends on factors such as the corner's shape, the type of vehicle, and track conditions. As such, it's important to try different approaches to understand where trail braking helps, and where it hinders your lap times.
So, trail braking. It’s as simple as coming off the brakes gradually but with the multiple different areas it improves your cornering, this technique is a must for when you’re reaching the uber-competitive level of sim racing.
We hope this guide helped you understand trail braking and don’t forget, you can compare your normal or trail braking technique to others using the Track Titan platform on your computer, or your phone.
