Motorsports

Biffle: Good turn leads to another; same with mistakes

By TIMES WIRES
Published August 12, 2006

Greg Biffle, driver of the No. 16 Ford, tells Times staff writer Brant James about road courses such as Watkins Glen, and how a driver can't have even one bad corner.

"Going into Turn 1, we shift down to second gear. You make the corner, then you go from second, you shift to third, then you lift on the throttle and turn up the S's. You're trying to go flat on the throttle up through the S's. It's a pretty sharp right-hand corner, left, then back right again. You have to go back to high gear at the top.

"For instance, if you get a little fast into Turn 1, then you're kind of up on the racetrack, sometimes you get up on the rumble strips. You don't quite have your speed. You're not quite to the point to shift to third by the time you get to the bottom of the S's, so now your speed is too slow, but you shift anyway. Now your corner entry has changed. It multiplies so quickly when you make a small mistake on getting to the brakes in time or too early.

"If you get to the brakes too early, you're going too slow around the corner, it can be detrimental to your rhythm as well because the car didn't do what you intended it to do. Your speed is slower so your gearing is off.

"Man, there's just so many things, getting into a rhythm, doing the same thing lap after lap after lap. When you pass cars, of course, it does the same thing."

[Last modified August 12, 2006, 02:38:07]