Couple of quick clarifications: 1) Yes I accidentally put a picture of Turns 1/2 instead of Spoon. Oops, my error! 2) When I say "downforce" in referring to going through dips/crests, I mean a general downforce not an aerodynamic downforce. So I'm talking about a force acting downwards on the car. In this case, it's a mechanical downforce.
The "downforce" you are referring to with elevation change is often talked about as weight on the tire contact patch. The more "weight" the more grip; the less weight the less grip. That is why cars spin at the top of Eau Rouge where there is less weight on the tire contact patch instead of at the bottom of those turns. (Aero downforce also increases the weight on the tires.)
Well it's not strictly weight as weight is a force due to the acceleration under gravity and this inertial force is due to position-based vertical acceleration, so I wouldn't want to inaccurately call it weight. I say this as someone who inaccurately called it 'downforce' instead of a 'downward force'. :)
At the beginning I was like dude they're corners what's interesting about that? I seriously wasn't expect to learn this much from this. Great video as always
Jeremias Pereyra same here was very curious what could be said about them other than describing an apex as the fastest line through like we’ve all seen 100 times.
Visually speaking, this was entertaining to watch while at the same time easily understanding the varieties of corners. You could say that you really shouldn't take them for granted!
maaan, every time I watch one of your videos I go into the video thinking "well I'm not sure theirs going to be anything in this video I haven't heard somewhere before" and every time either you do manage to get some info across that is new to me or at least you manage to put all the info together so well that it sort of adds a new dimension of understanding even if one knew about all the various pieces already. Really really good job! Thanks a lot.
Castle Section at Baku, Mugello Final Corner (forgot the name), Tabac-to-pool sequence at Monaco, Suzuka's Spoon and 130R, and Eau Rouge at Spa. I appreciate your effort, sir. *Really* appreciate it. Who knew that corners take different shapes and quirks.
Muhammad Akmal Basyha Aziz I like the Mugello callout and would like to add the original Barcelona Catalunya last corner before they dumb chicane! And I never saw it but the last corner of the original F1 track we race at in Mexico sounded wild!
Bahrain, the corner before the 2. DRS zone (counter straight), it's seriously one of the hardest corners in my opinion, because it is: - downhill - decreasing radius - and also preluded by an opposite corner
The drivers don't really think about if the corner is off-camber or on-camber, but they do take it into consideration when they adjust the setup of the car, so yes and no. They are complex and through out a whole track you have a lot of different corners that you have to take in consideration and have to do sacrificing in one corner to get the winnings in another in the setup, but driving them is just like second nature.
When I saw that corner on Top Gear I was like "yeah, that's pretty steep", then when I actually drove on Laguna Seca in a video game, I was like "Holy Fuck, it's like a sheer drop". Can't imagine what it's like in person, I'm guessing the release of fecal matter is involved in taking that turn irl.
Well, my cop-out answer would be the entire Nordschleife. It has everything you talked about here - changing radiuses, elevation, camber, and even difficult/changing sight lines to worry about, etc. If one would want to talk about character and interpretation/challenge, that conversation begins with the classic Nurburgring, imho Outside of F1, the Porsche Curves at the Circuit de la Sarthe are up there. Difficult, difficult series that I only truly appreciated after attempting to drive them in simulators. You always feel like you can make up more time in them; you never quite get through them absolutely perfectly (again, interpretation/room for error). And they can be so incredibly fast, too.
I love the Corkscrew at Laguna Seca, and the following late apex corner. I’m unsure about real life, but especially in Gran Turismo it feels orgasmic when you absolutely nail the corner.
Mt Panroma, Bathurst has some of the most lurid examples of elevation change affecting a race car. A whole sector of the circuit includes turns that go light and try to put the car into the concrete wall backwards and some others that load the car so heavily that power steering systems can very well fail, feeding you into the concrete fences forwards. It's a great example of what you talked about in this video.
My favourite corner is defintly Scheivlak at Zandvoort, fast downhill right hander with a crest before it, never disapoints. Also the mastersbocht-renaultbocht sequenze at Zandvoort is very tricky. The Ramshoek at Assen is also a great corner. Not to forget the great corners Brands Hatch and the nordschleife have
Ivan Ivanov yeah they are, you can really see who are the commited drivers in those corners, espescially the exit of the mastersbocht and the exit of thr ramshoek are good for that
I am a new fan to F1 (3rd year watching), your videos have GREATLY help my understanding of the basics and nuances of the sport! I am extremely impressed with you ability to explain the forces, strategies and techniques of the sport in such a simple way and still impart the in-depth details that matter! Thank you so much for this series!
On sim racing, one of the corners I love the most is the corkscrew corner at leguna, it so unique and I would be terrified to drive it in a real car due to the blind entry.
I was just meandering my way around the Spa circuit in codemasters F1 game, and found myself daunted with all those types of corners and elevations changes.. I knew there would be a youtube video about corners and lo! Great info @chainbearf1 you're making it easier to understand and experience F1 ! Thanks
For me the best complex of corners is at Bathurst across the top, from the end of mountain straight to exiting forests elbow. It has everything you talked about in the video in regards to making an interesting corner, plus the added difficulty of many of the corners being blind. And it doesn’t end there, the way the exit of one corner impacts the following producing great flow and it has great risk return.
top notch stuff mate. i've always really liked trying to figure out the characteristics of corners myself, but could never quite figure out why i hate corners like 1-4 in shanghai, and love corners 11-12 in australia and eau rouge in a way that makes sense on paper, but now i do! cheers mate, keep up the great work.
I agree with you, that whole track is a blast... However, my favourite turn on it is definitely The Cutting. We only could debate about Murray´s, it is really the only corner at Bathurst that has noting special about it i´d say.
The Old Hairpin at Donington Park which requires some excellent driving especially when under pressure following Craner Curves! Off-camber, downhill and mistakes cost a lot of time going back up the hill! Excellent corner and very entertaining to watch!
Something more to add about the elevation: If the whole corner is on a downhill section , more of the cars weight will be on the front , making it oversteer. If the corner is uphill , the car will tend to understeer through the corner. But because of the downforce to weight ratio of F1 cars , this will not be such a problem.
Mosport, outside of Toronto, Canada has two very challenging corners. The high speed Corner 2 arrives after a steep downhill and sweeps left seemingly off-camber. Many cars slide off there onto the necessarily huge run-off area. Corner 5A arrives after a heavy compression and requires turning right just as the suspension is rebounding. Denny Hulme, holding a huge lead, crashed there in his Can-Am McLaren on the penultimate lap. He muscled a destroyed car, body work shattered, front suspension broken, flat tires shuddering and smoking, through the final one and 1/2 laps and won the race. When asked what it was like to drive the demolished car at speed, he said, "Made the steering a bit heavy".
People do not seem to be around racing other than TV nowadays. Thanks for explaining. I learned as a young man by helping on cars and later racing and I still Find your material very interesting.
Road America turn 5, COTA turn 1, the cork screw at Laguna Seca, turn 3 and 4 of Indianapolis infield circuit and The fountain at long beach are some more crazy corners
I love turn 3 at Austria. Not a lot of corners on that track I guess, and I mainly know it from driving games, but the downhill run in at the end of a straight and relatively tight turn-in mean there's a lot of work can be done in the braking zone, but then the increasing radius letting you just feed the power in and let the car drag itself back to the outside, just in time for that horrible turn 4. It's such a nice feeling when I hook it up just right.
Being primarily for motorbikes, Cadwell Park has a grand variety of corners which includes many, if not all the elements you have described. In order. Coppice, fast LH rising as you go through the turn Charlie’s, double apex over a brow (blind) with a small but noticeable dip on the exit. Park. Simple, flat constant radius RH Chris Curve. Increasing radius RH leading to The Gooseneck. Fast right left combination with changing cambers changing from flat to downhill. Mansfield. Steep downhill approach to LH slight off camber. Chicane... yuck The mountain. Left/Right combo with changing radius and steep... Best you watch videos.. Hall bends. Right, Left, Right, Left with varying cambers and small changes in elevation. Love it. Hairpin. Barn. Medium fast RH blind entry to off camber exit.
As for your question about cool corners, check out McPhillamy Park at Bathurst. A fast, blind, left hander over a crest with a wall on the inside and some well traveled dirt on the outside. You're pretty much a passenger through there.
Excellent video again. It is great that you are back, doing regular videos. I thought all that potential was lost when i didn't see a video for ages. Keep up the good work man! :D
The bus-stop chicane followed by the increasing radius right hand corner at Watkins Glen followed by the immediate 90 left into an uphill decreasing radius right hand corner.
My favourite corner, probably a bit biased as it's my nearest race track and host Grands Prix until 1986, is Paddock Hill bend at Brands Hatch. A very fast, off camber, steeply down hill right hander, which causes the car to bottom as it reaches the bottom of the dip before the slight climb to Druids hairpin. Having driven it myself, much more so than normal, you have to anticipate the apex way in advance as the off camber nature causes understeer. And once you get too wide, you're off. I used the Marshall's post before Paddock Hill as my reference braking point
I only play Real racing 3 on my phone and you really made me understand why my "ariel" keeps slipping in au rouge it's really good to know the physics and how everything goes 😍😍😍 keep up the good work I really love your channel
Dear Chain Bear F1, I honestly have no words. Your videos are insanely engaging and interesting. Your animations are 100% awesome, how do you do it?! Keep it up! Kind Regards, Speed P.s; you wouldn’t happen to make a GT Sport Video?
The Sachsenring "The longest left corner of the world" :D its mostly used for the Moto GP by now (no more DTM) there is also a awesome Onboard Video on YT which was Filmed as a Introduction to the Track before the GP race starts by Alex Hofmann with life comentary.
Turns 4 and 5, as well as 15 at Portimao are really fun, the first set being challenging decreasing radius, uphill and even a little off camber, while the latter is a huge sweeping right-hander that lets you carry a lot of speed onto the front straight. The Esses at VIR are also really fun.
Aski Check the roller coaster at Virginia International, and the Dipper at Bathurst both have a very similar vibe to the corkscrew. I love the corkscrew too. I always think of the pass by Zenardi when I see it.
My Favourite corner/series of corners on the planet is Skyline and then the S section of Mt Panorama, an amazing set of downhill left rights with on and off camber corners which can make or break your lap
Corkscrew at Laguna seca, flugplatz at nordachleife, paddock hill at brands hatch, and of course indianapolis, arnage and the Porsche curves, and tetre rouge at le mans
Brands hatch has tons of elevation, so it's a great track. Cadwell park has a corner called the mountain, it's shorter, slower but steeper than eau rouge
Deniz Çetin yes!!! What a great corner I forgot about. The last chicane section before the straight is also a fun weird overtaking section that I always liked more than most slow corners.
Lovely and wonderful video. I play The codemasters 2017 and 2018 games. As you mentioned Sepang's last but 2 corner is the most frustrating one. So is, turn 2 of Canadian GP. Would like to have more examples of elevation like A1 ring and US GP.
FAV TRACK: Watkins Glen, NY. Wild ass street track. Fun to watch NASCAR try and handle it. Real wavy track, lots of fun corners, lots of elevation changes.
May you live long ChainBearF1, so that you could shed lights on F1. When a 14-15 year old comes to watch races with me, I suggest your videos to him to know more about F1.
One of the bestcorners to demonstrate the mechanical to enforce coming from road elevations is the Laguna seca corkscrew.. you need to break on the bend before the to the crest at the top with minimal grip then as you make the left turn and turn to the right you get maximum grip due to being in a dip after the downhill... shout out to anyone who did the special licence in the dodge viper on grab turismo 1 ps1
Thanks for saying "a turn" quite often during your vid. I'm always finding this odd that blokes keep saying "corner" (or 'cona' if they have a british accent) for something that is usually round.
Things that make corners hard for me playing with a controller is: A small corner into a hard breaking zone. Out leaning corners. BC you gotta driver slower then normal. And a fast turn into a sharp turn. I'm getting good at Suzuka.
