FAQs

Consider driver A (a Formula 1 racing driver) and driver B (an experienced road driver with no performance background). Each driver is given a few laps of a circuit in a low-powered car with normal road tyres.

Driver A will easily find and utilise all available grip on a perfect cornering line within a short space of time. He will be driving the car up to its ‘ten tenths’ but he will be relaxed and have ability to spare – perhaps he is operating at his own ‘five tenths’?

Driver B tries to match the performance of Driver A. He may exceed the grip limits of the car’s tyres in some corners but on an inferior cornering line and his cornering speeds will be significantly lower than those of Driver A. He will not be driving the car up to its ‘ten tenths’ even if he exceeds the limit of grip and will not be relaxed, having fully stretched his ability. He has pushed to his ‘ten tenths’ and is at risk of injuring himself and damaging the car.

Based on his performance, Driver B is unlikely to be given a few laps in Driver A’s Formula 1 racing car. Driver A will have to push himself to near his ‘ten tenths’ to lap quickly in the racing car and even then may never reach the car’s absolute ‘ten tenths’ during a normal race event since he wishes to finish the race.

No. DRIVE 7TENTHS promotes safety and control. The largest contributors to safety whilst driving on the road are: vision, observation and planning. Incorporating ‘Advanced’ driving techniques into your driving skills will enable you to assess whether a corner is suitable to drive at seven tenths. Control includes car control skills, self control and maturity. DRIVE 7TENTHS offers driver training to help you develop greater safety, control and enjoyment.

Driving at ‘ten tenths’ will require driving at the limit but driving at the limit may not be ‘ten tenths’. Consider driving through a hairpin bend on a circuit. Taking the ‘perfect’ line, utilising all available grip and achieving the ‘perfect’ required exit speed could be ‘ten tenths’. Driving around the outside, following the track edge, utilising all available grip for the line would not be ‘ten tenths’ for the car but would be at the limit of grip. This would be wasting potential and the most likely condition to cause the driver to run off the circuit (there is no margin for error). Driving around the inside, following the inside kerb, over-driving the rear tyres and holding a large yaw angle drift would not be ‘ten tenths’ but would be beyond the limit of adhesion. In this case, the whole track width is available run-off giving a safety margin assuming the rest of the track is clear of traffic, and perhaps obviously, that the driver has the required skill to carry this out safely.

No, the limit of the front tyres has been reached in this dynamic state but there is more potential for this case. Improved driver skill is required to induce a more neutral state during corner entry to utilise more of the rear tyre grip and achieve a greater total lateral load from the tyres.