Have not been a racing fan so after I got an RC F last year, I signed up for the Laguna Seca Lexus Performance Driving School in Feb of this year. It was fun but for me, it was too cold to enjoy since you spend most of your time being talked to in unheated garages. What surprised me, though, was every person used "apex" to describe the corner of a bend in the road/track. Since I used to teach math, I found this weird since apex is not the same as vertex. It's not wrong, it is just weird usage. Anybody have any history on the origin of racers calling the corners apex?

 

let me google that for you



more good info here.

https://drivingfast.net/racing-line/

 

FWIW, "apex" is not always a geometric concept with respect to the corner and its shape - it is more likely used to describe the optimal position closest to the inner edge of the track on a corner for the "racing line". Sometimes you have "late apexes" for example, where you get to the inside a little later because it is more optimal for corner exit speed or overall lap times.

 

I don't know the history of it, but to put it into mathematical terms, think of it in reverse. Think of the racing line as the reference, and the curb as the curve being studied. The apex is the highest point of the curve, or in this case, where the curb comes closest (and often intersects) the reference line.