[The Last 1%] Brake pressure at turn-in: the key to corner entry

Optimum corner entry requires speed and steering, along with safety. Brake pressure at turn-in controls all of these aspects, and more.

Brake pressure at turn-in is one of the most poorly understood principles in motorsports, yet it’s crucial to mastering effective corner entry: it controls your straightaway speed, steering, and overall entry speed. Too little brake pressure at turn-in, and your speed and direction aren’t controlled. Too much, and you’ve overslowed the corner. Add in incorrect timing, either too early or too late, leaving your tires underloaded or overloaded, and you’ve killed your confidence in corner grip. Plus, it gets even more complicated when you introduce the hand grenade called “trail braking.”

In this post and accompanying video, I want to simplify all the above and explain the what, why, and how of developing proper brake pressure at turn-in to control your entry speed and direction, in order to slow and turn in less time and distance.

Why is this so important? Brake pressure at turn-in is a complex skill and one I often spend the most time working on with students. It typically requires a very high number of reps to master, and is also a frequent source of confusion, fear, or controversy among riders. When done correctly, it increases the safety of your riding dramatically; when done incorrectly or not at all, it can add significant risk.

Problems related to braking at turn-in fall under six categories:

1. Not accelerating enough to use the brakes properly. Diagnosis: not understanding how well the brakes work and how they enable slowing and turning.

2. Overslowing the corner entry. Diagnosis: too much or too early of a brake application for your speed.

3. Relying on lean angle alone to turn and scrub speed, rather than the brakes. Diagnosis: avoidance of using your brakes, resulting in early and excessive lean angle or steering wheel angle.

4. Fear of applying or using the brakes at lean angle. Diagnosis: thinking that you’ll overload the front tire and crash.

5. Not having any front tire feel. Diagnosis: underloaded front tire.

6. Incorrect braking technique at turn-in, e.g., thinking that trail braking is sufficient. Diagnosis: attempting to use your brakes in a corner, but missing the correct timing and end of braking point.

All of these issues stem from a broader lack of understanding of the why and how of proper brake usage. Let’s take a step back and revisit some basics.

Brakes are used for three reasons:

Reason 1: Slowing down

In principle, achieving our goal laptime on track requires accelerating off the corners as fast as possible and continuing that acceleration for as long as possible on the straightaways. So what do we do when we have to navigate a corner? We utilize the most powerful mechanical component available to us — the brakes — to slow down to the speed we need to enter the corner safely. In the most basic terms, straight up and down braking is simply about speed control.

Reason 2: Steering

Once you begin turning into a corner, deceleration tightens your radius, and using your brakes is the most efficient way to accomplish that steering direction. Proper brake usage also facilitates other factors that help with corner entry, such as maximizing the front tire contact patch and, with motorcycles, compressing the forks for optimum geometry and stability.  

Reason 3: Setting entry speed

Once you’ve slowed down to your desired speed and established your steering trajectory through the corner, your goal is to modulate the brakes to get to the slowest point of the corner in the least amount of time. This is the section of brake timing that sets your corner entry speed.

In the big picture, correct brake pressure at turn-in captures the proper weight transfer and suspension geometry of your vehicle to allow you to 1) maintain higher straightaway speed for longer; 2) steer/tighten your trajectory in a corner; and 3) set the appropriate entry speed for the given corner and your comfort level.

If you struggle with any of the six braking problems above, here’s a simple report card to help you focus on what matters: “Do I have the appropriate brake pressure at turn-in to tighten my trajectory and achieve the entry speed necessary to hit the slowest point of the corner?”

But what about trail braking? The term “trail braking” gets thrown around a lot and the definitions are all over the place. For many, it means using your brakes in a corner regardless of how or when. For others, it means simply having your brakes “on” when you enter a corner. Neither of these versions is accurate. Trail braking, fundamentally, is the technique of applying brakes past turn-in, and then gradually releasing or “trailing off” in order to control your steering and corner entry speed. In other words, it is about how and when you release brake pressure, between corner turn-in and the apex.

But there’s a catch: unless you are within 10-12 seconds of the lap record for your vehicle’s class, you do not need to be trail braking. Wait…what? The reality is that without first mastering correct brake pressure at turn-in, you will not only lack the benefits of trail braking, but it will likely hold you back. If you attempt to trail brake without enough speed or correct brake timing, which can only be captured with correct brake pressure at turn-in, you will end up sacrificing straightaway speed (by slowing too early), steering, and/or entry speed.

The video below presents a more detailed discussion of this topic. It also includes my favorite brake pressure drill that I use when training students.