Steering

When driving on the track, hold the steering wheel at the ten to three position (Diagram 1) to allow fairly tight radius corners to be tackled without having to take your hands off the wheel. If your car requires a large number of turns from lock to lock you should reposition your hands on the wheel accordingly before taking a tight bend.
Shuffling your hands is not a smooth technique.

 Diagram 1: Correct steering position for maximum smoothness

Graph 1 below plots the grip demands on the two front tyres which result from turning a simple corner (ignoring other forces). In this case, the driver does not approach the limits of grip at any point as a result of steering. When turning a corner, there is usually a spike in force as the weight transfers to the outside of the car, and it's at this point loss of traction is most likely to occur. Grip demands then remain relatively constant for the duration of the corner, then reduce as the steering lock is unwound. Once the car is straight, there is usually an additional small spike in force as the weight transfers to the opposite side (this is known as the pendulum effect).

Graph 1: Demands on grip created by smooth steering

The lessons to take from the graph are as follows:

• Avoid 'chucking' the car into a corner - ease it, in allowing the weight to shift to the outside of the car in a progressive manner. Spikes in force need to be avoided when driving near the limit.
• Do not place additional demands on the tyre's grip early in the corner (i.e. by braking or accelerating hard), as this is when loss of control is most likely.
• Unwinding the steering in an aggressive manner is just as likely to upset the balance of the car – steering motions should be smooth.

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