Where most racers go wrong when thinking about the art of overtaking, they think of it in terms of "out braking" the car in-front. Pro drivers think about overtaking by how they can get a better exit out of a corner than the car in-front.
To get a better exit and drive out of a corner there are two major factors:
1) Mid corner speed
2) Where you can get back and hold full throttle Ideally, we want to be able to roll just a little bit more mid-corner speed while also getting back to full throttle earlier than the car in-front.
When we're faster than the car in front of us it can be difficult to take advantage of our speed to make a move. So, how do we change our approach to use our speed to actually make the overtake?
Pro drivers focus on a small lift into a braking zone so they get a small gap to the car in-front. Then as they get ready to turn into the corner the pro will come off the brakes to roll in additional speed and commit back to full throttle as early as possible.
It's all about judging the gap. You want to lift enough going into the brake zone that you can roll in entry speed without running on top of the car in-front, but not too much to where the gap opens too much. This can take a few laps to get right.
Want more help on becoming a better overtaking driver? Check out our in-depth article on timing the perfect overtake by clicking here!
We also don't want to do this in every corner. Focus on the corners that lead into a great overtaking zone - for example in this video Turn 11 at Watkins Glen International Raceway is the perfect corner for this. Turn 10 at Watkins Glen wouldn't work because turn 11 is not a great overtaking place at Watkins Glen.
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