Turn by turn guide to the Mosport International track

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Contents

Track Map

Image:Mosportmap.gif

Turn 1

Very close to starting grid, so if racing a standing start this 90' turn will often collect a few cars if drivers are driving aggressively. Fairly long so will be on the gas through the turn and lighter cars inside tires will lift as you power through.

Exit from pits also at the end of this turn.

Brake on entrance, as the track drops into the corner - carrying the braking over the crest to stabilize the car. The apex is just beyond the curbing on the right. Your wheels should just run over the bottom of the turtles. Track out to the left towards the end of the curbing. There used to be a drain along the curbing, so the track is a bit bumpy - try to stay off the exit turtles.

The track slopes to the outside at the exit of the corner; the transition isn't that gentle and there are lots of marbles there.

Let the car drift to the right to set up for turn 2.

Turn 2

Turn 2 is a blind downhill turn after cresting a hill, so your tires will NOT have the weight of the car on them when you crest and need to begin turning - smooth release of the brakes over the ridge is critical.

Turn 2 is typically taken as a double apex. Bring the car to the left as you crest the hill. Put two wheels over the white line at the first apex (may or may not be visible), then relax the wheel to let the car drift right. As you crest the ridge, the car will get light, then settle, lined up for the second apex. Many crashes are the result of the driver lifting as the car gets light over the ridge.

Once the car has settled, apply power as the car heads for the 2nd apex. Try and use every inch of pavement on the very late 2nd apex as it will help for a much faster exit and importantly, it will help your track out line and thus avoid the exit curbing and potentially dropping a wheel - a dangerous situation as there is a sizable drop that will make it very difficult to recover from 2 wheels off.

from 2-->3 is a good place to pass if you can setup inside another car, especially if you have a more hp for getting up the long hill that gets you to 3.

Note bottom outside of 2 is a large grass field for collecting all those cars that take 2 wrong!!!

Most incidents happen at 2, 5, & the esses before the finish

Turn 3

Turn 3 is slightly off camber with a deceptive entrance, and a nasty bit of curbing at the apex.

If your car has 'street' ABS unit, be cautious of extreme late braking from the far left side of the track as the track goes quickly right and the very, very end of the brake zone fully left, has a decrease in the 'Uphill Slope' that can trigger ABS intervention. Best to enter the corner 1 foot off the left edge and trail brakes aggressively into turn.

The natural camber slopes away from the apex, so cars tend to push out. To counter this, make a very deep entrance, and slowly bring the car in to the apex curbing. A bit of curbing sticks out into the track, and the actual apex runs along the curbing just beyond this point. If you can apex the turn 1 foot after all the curbing, there is a small section of track with neutral camber that will help hold the car and resist the negative camber - you will know if you hit it as your car won't shoot left.

An early apex will have the car bouncing off the protruding curb, and can easily leave the track to the left.

Exit the corner at the end of the curbing on the left, and move over to position yourself for turn 4.

Turn 4

This blind left hander is the fastest turn on the track. Only the best drivers can do this turn without lifting.

Start the turn from 2/3 of the way across the track - not the far right hand side. Make sure the car is settled into the turn as you pass under the bridge. Don't let the car drift out to the right, as the pavement is off camber, and cars have a tendancy to get sucked off to the right.

If you time the corner right, you exit the corner on the left side of the track, heading parallel to the left edge of the track. Keep your foot in it until you reach the bottom of the Hill at Moss' corner.

Get to full throttle as quickly as possible while trying to get the car back to the left for the entrance to 5A.

Turn 5

Turn 5A and 5B Hairpin!

You can't see the track on entry beyond the 5A apex so this corner takes practice!

Heading downhill into this turn you will have to begin your braking well before the bottom of the hill but substantial slowing is aided by the extreme uphill entry into 5A. To be fast, carry as much speed as possible up into the hill under braking - and if possible, given your ABS, even past the 5A apex towards 5B's turn-in. Most 'street' ABS will not comply as the car will become very light momentarily at 5A's hill cresting apex - thus, given the car, you will have to use the throttle to settle the car for a quick acceleration between 5A and 5B.

The entrance to 5A is the hardest braking point on the track. Turn in under braking and continue to decelerate up the hill as far as possible. Then, a very short accelerate towards 5B and pick your turn-in point. There is a substantial drop off just after 5B's apex that will make the back end of the car momentarily light and 'help' the car rotate - be ready for a quick counter steer on this critical 2nd gear corner exit onto the long Andretti straightaway. In a race, many a pass is made on the inside of 5B. If your car is rear engined (very light front), the 5B apex curbing will not unsettle the front right wheel - it will for front engined cars.

In the dry, turn 5C is a non turn. In the wet, many a spin / wreck happens to unsuspecting cars as the 5C's negative camber will very quickly cause the car to lose all grip and exit the track to the right straight into the wall - you will have absolutely no time to save it.

Turns 5c, 6, 7

These turns are taken at full throttle, up the back straight.

Turn 8

There are 2 methods of taking this corner - the single and the double apex - experiment to see what is faster for your car.

For both the single and double apex approach, crest the hill at the top of the straight, and let the car settle before braking. If you are new to the track with an extremely high HP car, you will likely start by first dragging the brakes over the hill until you become familiar with the visual markers as your speeds can be approaching (150mph+, 250kph+). It is not uncommon for many cars to experience a wiggling rear end in this brake zone. Track incidents to not happen in the braking zone of 8 as you have plenty of time to slow the car - they can and do happen if you try and take 8 too fast as you can run out of room between 8 and 9 to take corrective action. Turn 8 is the second fastest corner at Mosport after Turn 4.


The Single Apex

The most difficult aspect of the single apex approach is picking your initial turn-in marker as there isn't much to focus on (i.e. a point mid track with lots of space behind it) - it is thus better to pick you braking marker and adjust it until you reach your turn-in point at your desired speed. The single apex approach effectively treats the corner as a decreasing radius turn, you start wide and dial it in slowly, and you want to end the turn fully right, slightly touching the curbing for your turn-in to Turn 9. The key to the making the single apex approach fast is to NOT over slow the car initially as you are making the turn into a decreasing radius and you want to carry speed into the initial part of the turn. This is a hard turn to master as it is fast and you are trying to control your deceleration from a very high speed. Be careful if the car is drifting left mid turn as you are likely carrying too much speed and there isn't many good outcomes if you over cook this corner. Upon turn-in, aim for the centre of the track. Note that there is a slight up-hill grade to the entire turn, so keep on the power as you drive through 8. The apex is at the exit of turn 8.


The Double Apex

The double apex approach 'can' be easier to perform correctly as you can use as your visual marker the first set of right side apex curbing as the end of your braking. As you are coming down from a very high speed, a good visual marker (the right side curbing) is a definite plus with the double apex approach. To make the double apex approach fast however, you are effectively required to brake later than the single apex approach, shorten the corner by narrowing the radius, and really concentrate on making the corner a true entry speed corner under braking. After you crest the hill under full throttle, you wait until the car has fully settled and then some, and then you diagonally brake across the brake zone towards the right side of the track. To truly get the most out of this approach, the actual 1st apex is slightly 'around the corner' and thus you can start your initial braking later than you think as you are also lengthening the brake zone 'around the corner' and up to the 1st apex if not slightly past it.

Most cars and drivers take this corner as a single apex. Some racers would argue that the double apex approach, combined with the slightly helping camber on the very inside of the turn is the fastest approach.

As the double apex approach takes a substantially tighter inside and later braking line than the single apex approach, a trailing car that uses this line can use it to make a pass. Be cautious however that the car in front 'sees' your car. Because turn 9 goes left, the lead car will still be better positioned for Turn 9 but if you have made up the distance and you hold your line through 9, you can complete the pass as you will be inside for Turn 10 onto the front straight.

Turn 9

Things happen very fast at the entrance to 9. Brake, downshift, turn, back on the gas. The apex is near the end of the curbing on the left, then the car tracks out slightly before lining up again on the left for the entrance to 10.

A very slightly different approach is to treat Turn 9 as somewhat of a 'throw away corner' as you cannot fully track out, as you need to get back quickly left, to set up the important front straight. Thus, try to maximize your entry speed into 9. To do this, just as you finish turn 8, release some steering and treat this section as a mini straight and mat the throttle for 1/2 a second, then onto brakes - thus you do not set up the corner from fully right but from 3/4 qtrs right and then trail the brakes around the corner.

Turn 10

The last turn on the track, and a critical one, as you may have people trying to pass between 10 and the entrance to 1.

Coming out of 9, line the car up on the left, brake lightly, and turn in to the right. Get back on the gas quickly, take some curb at the apex, and let the car track out to the left. Keep the power down, and use the exit curbing if needed - it is quite smooth and can provide a smooth arc coming out of the turn. For that last 1/4 second, some new pavement has been added on the outside of the curbing - you will need to use it to be really fast.

Cross the start finish line, and do it again!


To be fast at Mosport, you have to work on your entry speeds into Turns 2, 4 and 8 - this is where you will see the fastest cars outperform the competition.