Art of Trail Braking: How-To Video

When you’re coming up on a corner fast, you’ll want to follow these principles.

A few years ago we were driving over the Angeles Crest highway, otherwise known as a good place to have some fun on a car or motorcycle. Lots of corners, and you don’t have to get far above the speed limit to have fun. We encountered some traffic and came across a bunch of emergency vehicles and what looked like a single-vehicle accident.

Some poor kid, without a scratch on him, was sitting with his head hung low across from a Ford Focus ST that had taken a big bite of the mountain. As traffic crept forward we spotted a trio of Mustang GTs parked next to the driver of the crashed Focus. This was a driver who failed to trail brake properly. He came in too fast, tried to brake and turn at the same time, and stuffed his Focus into a wall.

Wyatt Knox, from Team O’Neil Rally School, put together a video explaining what trail braking really is, and how to do it. Wyatt sums it up pretty well, saying, “Trail braking is when you’re approaching a corner with a lot of speed, you brake aggressively in a straight line to slow the vehicle down. Once you’ve reached a reasonable speed for the corner you’re approaching, you look around the turn, ease off the brakes as you add steering.”

He runs through two of the possible scenarios if you do this incorrectly. First, if you maintain full brake pressure while you turn, the car will understeer. If you fully release the brakes and then turn, you’ll understeer as well.

The effect is much easier to see, especially on gravel, but works just as well on the pavement, Wyatt adds. The tires can only do so much braking/turning/accelerating, so drivers want to keep that in mind when asking their tires to slow down and change direction, often at the same time. Start off slowly by practicing the general principle Wyatt is talking about, and as you get more comfortable with trail braking you’ll find you can get through a corner a lot faster than you did before. You never know, you might save yourself from stuffing your car into the mountainside too.

Austin Lott

Austin Lott is a longtime professional automotive journalist who learned the ropes after landing a stint writing for the iconic magazine MotorTrend after earning a bachelor's degree in English from Vanguard University in Southern California.

Lott is a regular contributor to popular Internet Brands Auto Group websites, including Rennlist and Ford Truck Enthusiasts. Austin is published regularly in Super Street and is a frequent contributor to Honda-Tech and 6SpeedOnline. Although he's partial to Japanese imports, he'll give anything cool a shot.

Austin can be reached at austinjlott.writer@gmail.com.