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The optimal path through a corner or series of corners that allows the highest possible speed. It typically involves a late turn-in, clipping the apex, and using all the track on exit to maximize corner radius.
The racing line is the optimal path through a corner or series of corners that allows the highest possible average speed. The classic formulation — wide entry, late turn-in, apex mid-to-late, full track-out on exit — is a starting point, but every corner has its own optimal geometry.
The underlying principle is maximizing the effective radius of the arc you drive. A larger radius means less lateral acceleration required to maintain your speed, which means more of your available tire grip is left over for braking and acceleration. The racing line, by using all available track width, creates the largest possible radius through each turn.
Single corners favor the classic late-apex approach. But in linked corners — a chicane, an ess, a complex — the line through one corner directly determines your entry into the next. Experienced drivers sacrifice individual corner speed to optimize the exit of the corner that leads onto the longest straight.
The line is also affected by conditions. In the wet, the optimal line moves away from the traditional rubber-laid racing line (which becomes slippery when wet) and often toward the cleaner, grittier portions of the track.
Senna's Principles of Race Driving defines it from first principles: "The racing line is the imaginary line which marks the path of the car. The straighter it is, in other words the wider the radius, the more the difference between the speed of the car before the bend and after the bend will be reduced. Thus it is essential to find the ideal racing line for each bend. There is only one and it allows us to round off the angle of a corner." Bentley's Ultimate Speed Secrets adds the critical distinction between geometric and ideal: "Although the geometric line is the fastest way through each particular turn, it is not the fastest way of getting around the entire track — there is usually something following the turns that is more important: the straightaways." The ideal line uses a later turn-in, exits in a wider radius, sacrificing mid-corner speed for exit speed.