[westphone]

I am just wondering why is the Sachs corner of Hockenheimring taken on the far outside?

Is it because it looks to be banked, it seems to be an unusual racing line.

Oh yeah I was referring to watching replays of DTM~

Cheers and thanks~

[ovekvam]

Most cars I have seen racing, touch the inside apex in that corner. Maybe cars with lots of wings can benefit from keeping a higher speed along the outside, even though it is a longer line. If they slow down to take the tighter inside line, they get less downforce from the wings. And yes, the corner is heavily banked.

[ovekvam]

Originally Posted by SteveC

There are 3 reasons; camber, overtaking, and lap times

Looking at the corner in isolation, you may conclude that the shorter way round is quickest however,

The increased camber on the outside of the bend allows a commensurately higher cornering speed that more than compensates for the larger radius

Taking the bend on the inside requires more braking and acceleration....so you lose time both on the straight before and on the straight after the bend.

Slowing down and speeding up provides your competitors the perfect overtaking opportunity.

But overtaking on the outside is usually not so easy, as it is a long way around. The defensive line is usually to cover the inside, so the overtaking car can not reach the apex.

The cars I have seen in that corner without wings, always go for the inside apex.

[ttimbo]

Do many cars overtake on the outside at that corner? Somewhat unusual, I would have thought, but I can't get (live) DTM races, so I'm unaware.

[westphone]

I understand they are very very different cars. Here I have the links for Mark Webber's 2006 quali lap,

also, for people who don't have top saloon car races broadcasted, here is the DTM race for this circuit (and thankfully they have all the races quali and actual race),

I am learning go kart, so this line around Sachs is very strange to me, but another lesson learned/learning. I would use the full tracks for the following corners too, but I guess it is not necessary.

Thanks you gents for help.
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I confess with Audi doing so well in the prototypes, Mercedes spending some quality time in F1, I wish for BMW to come up with driver's championship too, even if they have come up with everything else in DTM already.

[ovekvam]

The DTM video did not work for me (not available for my country, it says), but Webber touches the inside apex in the Sachs corner on his lap.

[ovekvam]

Looking at how different cars take very different lines through corners is very fascinating to me. I have attended quite a few track driving schools, both as participant and as instructor, and I have noticed that particularly the power to weight ratio can make a huge impact on where to apex a corner.

If I tried to follow the classic Porsche lines around the Nürburgring with my E30 318iS, I had tons of room to spare at the exit. With a low power car, you need to enter the corners with a higher speed and earlier apex. Since you can't accelerate much, you will have to bring speed along around the bend. Most corners are taken flatout after braking, and you have to judge the entry speed right to hit the exit. The low power racing line is shaped more like a circle segment, while the high power cars aim for a late apex opening spiral line.

In corners going from a high speed section to a low speed section on the track, the fastest line is an early apex closing spiral. That means bleeding off speed through the corner, usually by trail braking. The BMW F20/F21 is awesome at this, enabling us to make up lost ground to rear engine sport cars.

I haven't driven Hockenheim myself, but I would imagine that the Sachs corner falls slight into this category, with a faster entry than exit.

[westphone]

Thanks a bunch