track day spin out: two issues / questions
12-04-2017, 11:08 PM
#31
Pro
Thread Starter
Thanks. Equally appreciated. Guess I'm not surprised to hear there's not a lot of instructional help in Korea. I would question the value of watching other guys lapping. My impression, having studied a ton of these things, is they are great if you already know what's going on and enjoy the challenge of spotting all the mistakes, but near useless if you're trying to learn. Even watching really skilled drivers, I still question. I had one student, for example, worst ride of my life. Why are you doing that? Well that's what all the race drivers do! He was trying to emulate what he'd seen them do without understanding WHY they were doing it.
There are some YouTube videos that are pretty good. I was watching Driver61 just last night. But I still think the best is Going Faster by Skip Barber. Once you get past the cheesy humor intro and 1970's look and clunky underpowered open-wheel cars you may realize its just a beautifully organized and easily understandable driving video. The second half gets into racing technique, passing, etc. but the first half is pure road skills everyone can benefit from.
There are some YouTube videos that are pretty good. I was watching Driver61 just last night. But I still think the best is Going Faster by Skip Barber. Once you get past the cheesy humor intro and 1970's look and clunky underpowered open-wheel cars you may realize its just a beautifully organized and easily understandable driving video. The second half gets into racing technique, passing, etc. but the first half is pure road skills everyone can benefit from.
I’m waiting for the day I see a good driver at the track to pick his brain. Most days it’s really the Wild West. All sorts of exotic cars mashing their pedals around with not even a general passing law on call. I’m shooting for the next Porsche racing school instruction when things warm up again.
driver 61 is awesome. So much good free info. Will look up Going Faster. Thank!
12-05-2017, 03:19 PM
#32
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1) Invest in a tire pyrometer and learn how to use it. Take temps across the tread immediately after each session, that's the only way to pinpoint the wear in the tires and know what is going on with your tires. Keep a chart.
2) Learn how to do your own alignment at the track, its easy. Invest in some camber plates as well, this isn't rocket science. You can do your own alignment and camber adjustment at the track, scribe them or use paint marks when you get them right, then move them back to street settings at the end of the day (another set of marks)
3) Buy cheaper R-Compound tires for track days, run them to the cords. Repeat.
4) Oh, and bring money. Lots of money <g>
2) Learn how to do your own alignment at the track, its easy. Invest in some camber plates as well, this isn't rocket science. You can do your own alignment and camber adjustment at the track, scribe them or use paint marks when you get them right, then move them back to street settings at the end of the day (another set of marks)
3) Buy cheaper R-Compound tires for track days, run them to the cords. Repeat.
4) Oh, and bring money. Lots of money <g>
12-05-2017, 07:55 PM
#33
So true. One autocrosser I know decided he wanted to win his class. Drove his car to the shop, trailered it home because, undriveable now. But fast. Won handily. Trophy only cost him $30k. Plus trailer. Oh and truck to haul the trailer. Plus probably more stuff he wouldn't tell me about. But he won 3 years running, so technically I guess only $10k per.
And that's the cheap end. Less cheap, but still nowhere near the expensive end, one PCA dinner Darryl Havens admitted to spending $1M on racing the year he went to Daytona. Someone said something like how long is that gonna last? He looked off for a minute and said well I could spend at that rate for about... 100 years. Then one year later, Darryl what the hell are you doing racing motorcycles? Don't you know how @%@@% dangerous that is? You could get killed! "Yeah. But its a lot cheaper than Porsches."
And that's the cheap end. Less cheap, but still nowhere near the expensive end, one PCA dinner Darryl Havens admitted to spending $1M on racing the year he went to Daytona. Someone said something like how long is that gonna last? He looked off for a minute and said well I could spend at that rate for about... 100 years. Then one year later, Darryl what the hell are you doing racing motorcycles? Don't you know how @%@@% dangerous that is? You could get killed! "Yeah. But its a lot cheaper than Porsches."