Eli5: Why do race cars go high on straightaways and low on turns
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When a car travels fast it has momentum which makes it resistant to changes in velocity. When a car wants to turn it has to slow down to decrease its momentum or else it won’t be able to make the turn. If cars could turn as tightly as they wanted to without sacrificing any speed the fastest way around the track would be to stay on the inside the whole time because it’s a shorter distance. So what’s the best balance between keeping your speed high and also going a shorter distance around the track? It’s high in, low out. You want to exit the turn from as low of a point as possible to cut the travel distance, but when you approach the turn from a high position you’ve essentially widened the whole turn radius making it so you can maintain as high of a speed as possible throughout the turn.
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