The vast majority of my racing experience comes from semi-realistic video-games. That being said, there are ideas in racecraft that transcend the gap between real-world physics driving, and the digital realm of controller driving.
One of these ideas that I find very interesting is the grouping of racetrack corners into 3 main types. These types of corners can be classified (in order of importance for cutting lap times) as type A, B, and C.
Type “A” corners lead onto straights, type “B” corners lead off of straights, and type “C” corners lead into one or more additional corners. All racetracks are going to have type A and B corners for sure, but it isn’t necessary to have type C corners at all.
Type A corners are the most important because maximizing speed onto the straights is how you cut your lap times the most. Type B corners are more important than type C corners because braking as late as possible into the entry of a type B corner is still helping you maximize the straight you are coming off of. You can still find plenty of time when working on type C corners as well, but not as much as maximizing type A or B corners first.
As stated previously, any racetrack you can think of will have a type A corner, and for example think of the final hairpin at Laguna Seca. This is a type A corner because it leads onto the main straight, and is also the most important type A corner at Laguna Seca because it leads onto the longest straight.
Again, any racetrack you can think of will also have a type B corner. For an example, think of the first corner at Road America. This corner is type B because it leads off of the main straight, and is the most important type B corner at Road America because it leads off of the longest straight.
Type C corners are a little trickier to identify. For example, consider corner 10a at Road Atlanta. 10a is a type C corner, because in order to maximize corner 10b (which is a more important type A corner), you have to sacrifice speed throughout 10a in order to track wide for turn 10b.
Learning to place corners into these 3 basic types will help you figure out which corners are most important to master, and will lead to you dropping lap times more quickly.
Here I will list the corners of Road Atlanta along with what type each is. Using the linked map (hyperlink above), See if you can figure out why each corner is a certain type. Also, here is a video of Peter Dempsey racing around Road Atlanta. Watch the video and pay close attention to the way he exits corners 2, 4, and 10A (all of which are type C). And finally, I’ll put a link to the video that exposed me to corner types at the bottom of this article. If you have any questions, leave a comment below.
1 – Type B
2 – Type C
3 – Type C
4 – Type C
“The Esses” – Type C
5 – Type A
6 – Type B
7 – Type A
8 – Full Throttle (not really a corner)
9 – Full Throttle (not really a corner)
10A – Type C
10B – Type A
12 – Type A