Early Apex
A corner approach where the driver clips the inside of the turn too soon. This typically results in running out of road at corner exit, requiring a lift or correction that costs time. It is one of the most common novice mistakes.
Deep dive
Bentley frames error recognition in Speed Secrets: "Every race driver makes errors. Being able to recognize and then analyze your errors is important. Until you can do that, you cannot even begin to correct them and improve. One of the things that separates a good driver from a not-so-good driver is that the good driver has made more errors and learned from them." The early apex is the most common such error. He writes: "In most corners, if you are doing anything with the steering wheel other than unwinding it after the apex of the corner, you are probably on the wrong line. Most likely, you have turned in and apexed too early." Anatomy of a Corner provides the self-test: "If you wind up running out of track before you get completely straight — onto the rumble-strips, or dropping a couple of tires in the dirt — then you turned in too soon."
Sources
- Going Faster Mastering the Art of Race Driving - Carl Lopez
- Ultimate Speed Secrets - Ross Bentley
- High Performance Drivers Manual - Scott Blazey(p. 15, 27)
- BMW_CCA_RMC_Driving_School_Manual_2023-06(p. 15)
- Performance-Driving-Illustrated-Ross-Bentley(p. 23)
- How to Drive Real-World Instruction and Advice from Hollywoods Top Driver (Ben Collins)(p. 16)