Originally Posted by
wphamilton
Just a quick question. If you're braking for the same amount of time, down to the same speed at the apex, how does it make a difference in speed whether you do it early or during the corner? In my simplistic imagination the only difference is where the gap forms, if it does, and what lines you could choose. If we're disregarding the effect on traction. Is it simply because without trail braking you're coasting more? Explain please?
If late braking is faster, what's the latest you can brake? Well, that answer is going to involve trail braking. If you slow yourself enough initially so that you can take the hardest part of the corner at that speed, then the early part of the corner has you going too slowly.
This is where racers can get into trouble by assuming "if he can corner this fast, then I can corner this fast." If the rider in front is good attrail braking, and the rider behind assumes that they've entered the corner at a safe coasting speed, then there's going to be trouble when the 2nd rider grabs brakes during a freak-out. I imagine this happens a lot behind RX.