When the ‘wrong’ side is right

SO MUCH OF WHAT WE’VE BEEN talking about in recent months has been to do with weight transfer, often in place of more traditional driving technique topics, such as cornering lines. But even on a straight section of track we’re still thinking about weight transfer. Let me explain why.

You may have watched the Italian Grand Prix at Monza and wondered why it is that when the cars exit the Ascari corner and head down to the Parabolica they stay on the ‘wrong’ side of the track (the right-hand side) for a while, instead of immediately moving across to the left. The reason is to do with weight transfer.

When you cross a normal-width track at anything over 100mph you’re putting 300kg into the outer front tyre – however subtly you turn the steering wheel. This tyre scrub slows the rate of acceleration – the graph just drops off a fraction, and you’re going to pay for that all the way down the straight.

It’s like touching the brakes, and that’s something we’d never do on a straight, or missing a gearshift from second to third. However, if we missed the shift from sixth to seventh gear the negative aspect would only impact us for the last part of the straight. This is why we now do it this way.

When you do move across, remember to give the car a soft introduction, and then make a small input to keep the weight transfer down as low as possible. And make sure you give yourself enough time once you’ve moved over; both car and driver need a moment to settle, so as to avoid a pendulum effect with the car, and so the driver can see where he’s intending to go.

‘Tyre scrub slows acceleration. You pay for that down the straight’