You feel like your rival seems to pull away effortlessly from you on the go-kart track or at a BMW M Track Day? This is rarely down to the vehicles themselves. It is far more likely that your rival is taking the racing line more effectively than you do. Especially in professional racing, it is the racing line that determines victory or defeat. Drivers and teams therefore analyse the optimal line choice for each circuit in great detail to reach the finish line as quickly as possible. Racing legend Michael Schumacher, for example, used to cycle circuits while Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen learn the circuits through "track walks". Here, Claudia Hürtgen – one of Germany’s top female racing drivers and a long-standing chief instructor at AREA M – shares 12 practical tips on how to find the racing line.
The racing line is not the shortest distance between two points, but the quickest.
THE RACING LINE: AN ETERNAL CHALLENGE.
THE RACING LINE: AN ETERNAL CHALLENGE.
According to Claudia Hürtgen, the quest for the racing line is a never-ending one – and she should know. Throughout her career, Claudia Hürtgen has secured numerous victories for BMW, including in the German Touring Car Challenge and the German Endurance Championship on the Nürburgring’s Nordschleife, as well as at the 24 Hours of Dubai and Daytona. She has been chief instructor at AREA M since 2012.
Explaining how to perfect the racing line, she says: “You have to constantly make adjustments and adapt the racing line to the prevailing conditions.” Accordingly, a number of factors influence the racing line: driving style (aggressive or defensive), track conditions (for example, high-grip versus slippery tarmac) and the state of the track surface (such as whether it is dry or wet).
Make use of the full width of the track. That’s what it’s there for.
Your gaze steers the vehicle. Look at the line you want to follow. The vehicle will then follow your gaze almost automatically.
Patiently work your way towards your racing line and the right speed, minding your comfort level. However, only increase your pace if you feel confident doing so.
1 Braking point: From here, reduce your speed until you reach the turn-in point.
2 Turn-in point: Here, release the brakes, turn the steering wheel and aim for the apex.
3 Apex: Here, straighten the steering wheel again.
4 Turn-out point: Here, straighten the steering wheel and accelerate again.
Take your time to familiarise yourself with the track. The key points to note are the orientation points and braking points. For each corner, identify the braking point, the entry point, the apex and the exit point.
As a general rule: go into a corner from the outside. The apex is the reference point on the inside of the corner. Once you have passed this point, your eyes should look outwards towards the exit of the corner. Let the car drift outwards, open the steering and accelerate again as you exit the corner.
Even the slightest adjustment to the steering destabilises the vehicle and costs time.
Don’t play around with the gas pedal – that just puts unnecessary load changes on the car. Wait for the right moment to accelerate out of the corner. In most cases, you can press the accelerator again as soon as you straighten the steering wheel.
Every corner has its own racing line. Figure out where it is. The next step is to piece together every corner’s individual driving lines in relation to the overall track layout. After all, the racing line for a corner also depends on the sections of the track that come before and after it.
The shortest route is not always the quickest. Taking a wider line may, in some circumstances, get you to your destination more quickly if it allows you to position your vehicle better for the next section of the track. This is particularly important when one corner is followed by another, i.e. a series of corners.
The aim is to exit the second corner at maximum speed. Think the combination of corners backwards: how do you need to drive so that you can get back on the throttle as early as possible in the second corner?
1 Approach corner A along the racing line; the apex remains the same.
2 As you exit corner A, do not let the car carry you right out to the outer edge of the track; instead, stay in the centre.
3 This allows you to position your car better for the run through corner B.
Conclusion: The racing line through corner A is sacrificed in order to drive perfectly through corner B and exit it at the highest possible speed.
Watch out for bumps, kerbs and the condition of the tarmac when choosing your racing line and cornering speed.
When it’s raining, take wider lines around corners. This is because most corners are banked inwards. As a result, water collects on the inside of the corner. There is also more rubber grime there. Both of these factors make the road surface slippery.
It can be useful to deviate from the racing line (the white dotted line). For example, if you want to make up time by taking a more attacking line. Race car drivers often choose this attacking line because they know the exact braking points and the limits of the car.
1 For this line, brake later.
2 Turn the steering wheel later and, above all, more sharply.
3 On this line, you can steer your car on a turn radius that opens up earlier and get back on the throttle more quickly.
Armed with this knowledge, all it takes now is practice, practice, practice – lap after lap. Always on the lookout for the perfect racing line.
[1] Performance data of petrol engines apply to vehicles using RON 98 fuel. Fuel consumption data apply to vehicles using reference fuels in accordance with EU Regulation 715/2007. Unleaded RON 91 and higher with a maximum ethanol content of 10% (E10) may also be used. BMW recommends RON 95 fuel. For high-performance automobiles, BMW recommends RON 98 fuel.
Range depends on various factors, in particular: individual driving style, route characteristics, outside temperature, heating/air conditioning, pre-conditioning.
For plug-in hybrid: Electric drive depending on battery charging level.
For plug-in hybrid: At temperatures below minus 10 degrees Celsius, the fully electric drive system is only available after a few kilometres of driving, once the battery has heated to operational temperature.
For plug-in hybrid: Composed of combustion engine drive and electric drive. Electric drive depending on battery charging level.
For models with Boost function: Temporary uprating <10 seconds in excess of specified nominal value.
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