Brake Pressure
A data channel that records the force applied to the brake pedal. The shape of the brake pressure trace is highly informative: a strong initial spike followed by a smooth trail-off indicates proper trail braking technique.
Deep dive
Segers quotes Jackie Stewart in Analysis Techniques for Racecar Data Acquisition: "It's not when you brake but when you take your foot off that counts. Most people don't understand that." Segers explains: "After the initial braking has been performed, the driver will need to decrease the pedal pressure in a smooth way in order not to upset the chassis by inducing unwanted sudden longitudinal weight transfers. A good driver will be able to influence this weight transfer to his benefit by smoothly modulating the brake pedal." He quantifies brake aggressiveness with a specific math channel: "brake aggressiveness as a brake speed above 40 bar/s — this excludes all braking speed values not related to the initial driver aggressiveness."
Sources
- Data-for-Drivers-PRINT
- PCA_SEM_HPDE_Beginners_Guide_Rev-C_2025(p. 9)
- How to Drive Real-World Instruction and Advice from Hollywoods Top Driver (Ben Collins)(p. 19)
- High-Performance Driver Education (HPDE) Techniques by Skill Level(p. 9, 17, 36)
- Ultimate Speed Secrets - Ross Bentley(p. 84)
- Analysis Techniques for Racecar Data Acquisition (Jorge Sergers)(p. 8)
- HPDE Curriculum Guide (2021)(p. 42)