How do you get the best lap times? Among other elements of good, fast driving, it's about not over-driving your tires. What does that mean? It means managing available grip by knowing all the elements of tire physics before you even start the car.
On this episode of Shakedown University, Leo Parente addresses starting-point skills, techniques, and sensations a driver must master to get the best performance from a set of tires — racing or street. Also on the syllabus are slip angles, tire temperatures (and what happens when a tire is "cooked"), camber thrust (oh my), and other factors that contribute to tire-drive strategy.
It's all about identifying the elements that go into learning how to "feel" a tire as it rotates beneath you, so you can better read how it needs to be driven.
Whatever you do, don't call Leo the Tire Whisperer. He hates that.