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Turn 10
Make sure to be on the left side of the road with the car settled. If you don’t bring the car back over to the left quick enough and apply the brakes when the left side is still loaded, the car will be less stable and you wont be able to brake as efficiently. With the platform stable and on the left side of the road, you can brake later (find a good reference point) and set up for the entry of Turn 10.
Turn 10 has a nice ‘bowl’ camber to it. I often see new drivers turning in too late for T10. I prefer to turn in earlier (like Turn 5) with very slow hands, then just before the apex, crank the wheel to get down to the apex. Roll onto the throttle after turn-in and squeeze to full throttle at the apex. Release the car and track out. Turning in early (WITH SLOW HANDS) will allow you to effectively use the banking better and give you more of a ‘slingshot’ effect when done right. The exit is more important than the entry since the entry to Turn 11 is a great passing zone.
Turn 11
Turn 11 is the most important corner on the track because it leads onto the longest straight and the best passing zone (Turn 2). Bring the car back to the right and like Turn 10, it is important to have the platform stable and not have weight on the right side as you go to brakes. Pick a reference point to gauge the latest point possible to go to brakes. As you approach the corner, trail off the brakes to a slightly late apex. I don’t like following the road on the right all the way to turn in, but rather turn in slightly earlier then crank the wheel down to a late apex.
After the track-out curbing is a strip of fake grass that has some sort of rubberized foundation. Cars don’t really put power down very well on this grass so it’s better to not use much more than the track-out curbing itself.
Tip of the day: Do not hit the red “Bread boxes”. It is very easy to bend a wheel if you hit them. It is also very common to snap your coilover strut in half with a strut-type front suspension, bend control arms, bend subframes, rip off oil pans, and do many more terrible things that you do not want to happen. The apex curbing itself is extremely wide. Do not be afraid to use it; in fact, you have to in order to get the last available tenths out of the car. But don’t be greedy, just use part of or half of the curbing when starting out. In most cases, it is low risk for experienced drivers to use all of the curbing. The main thing is to not get too greedy and expect more curbing than is actually there. I will caution that the Turn 6 ‘bread box’ is hard to see and often hit, so be cautious there.
That completes a lap around Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Follow the themes of slow and early turn-ins, rolling onto full throttle near the apex to track-out, avoiding the ‘bread boxes’, and as always, look far through the corner. Seat time is key, keep hitting up any track days you can go to and I’ll see you at the track!
Be sure to check out the rest of Billy's track tutorials
