David993S

I don't know the answer, but one could look to the late Dan Carmichael who raced Formula Atlantic in SCCA and won the FA National Championship at age 75.

multi21

The older I get, the faster I was!!! LOL

Great article and so much I can relate to personally as described as Driver #2 and my kid who started gokarts at 5 years old as Driver #1. Now Driver #1 is 20 years old and the second nature car control is just something that is God given and learned at a very early age. Going into corners and riding in the passenger seat I get scared because I don't think we're going to make it. There is definitely a "No Fear" factor in there as well with the younens.

David993S

Forgive me as this strays a little from the focus of the article, but there is another factor that can play an important role in a young driver climbing the learning curve - and that's money. If one doesn't have to worry about repairing his/her car for the next event, it can help one progress and learn much more quickly. A little story as a case in point:

Back in the early 80's I was instructing in an SCCA Drivers School at Nelson Ledges. A (future) famous race driver with a currently famous racing father showed up for his first drivers school in Formula Ford. He arrived in a beautiful transporter (remember, this is a Nelson Ledges drivers school with students on a budget, in basic cars, used open trailers, etc.), with a crew of two professional mechanics, and three (3) ! brand new Formula Fords in the transporter. To make a long story short, during the course of the weekend he crashed two of the FF's and needed to go the third FF to finish the weekend. It made me wonder if when I started racing if I hadn't had to preserve my race car for the next event could I have climbed the steep learning curve faster? Well, at least I'm famous in my own mind.

MB965

Couldn't agree more on having to "un-learn" the DE instruction from my beginning years, in order to begin getting faster, (still have a long way to go to fast).
Using a coach was the only way I was able to break the habits. I don't blame the instructors though as 10 years ago many of them had not learned fast either.
Without the personal motivation to want to be faster, I find it difficult to make improvements if I am not feeling it at the time.

ProCoach

Hahaha, first name Michael?

ProCoach

Again, agree completely. Worthy of a whole 'nother thread, but the idea, concept and commitment of what "fast" truly is is beyond the comprehension of most, until they've seen it, touched it, studied it and begun to DO it...

We all marvel at videos of Patrick, Leh, Cory, Andrew, Spencer, Andy and many others who function at a high level and KNOW what "fast" is. But I've seen quite a few older drivers learn how, and get there...

I think the idea of being open to new approaches, new techniques, including constructing highly specific and targeted exercises to build confidence and competence, is key to going beyond rote, and the subsequent plateaus that accompany "doing the same old thing." And it CAN be done safely in a track day or DE environment to learn how to go faster, NOW.

Where drivers run into a jam is when there is not adequate understanding, study and a very detailed and incremental implementation of where and how to "go faster."

Many just "jam it in there and hope it sticks." With predictable results...

David993S

Father and son were frequently referred to as "Snit" and "Snot".

ProCoach

It was the EARLY Eighties, then! Good story. It was the same at his Skip Barber school.

gbuff

Sounds like many of the open track/lapping days I do at various tracks It's amazing what people bring to these things......

At any rate, more and more I'm seeing many of the marque clubs drafting pros, be they in-house or not, to supplement the instruction offered by the club....I'm thinking specifically of Mid-Ohio where some clubs are now using the Mid-Ohio School instructors like Tommy Byrne, Todd Snyder and others that will show you the fast way around the track as opposed to the school line. At a track like Mid-O there's a notable difference between the two....

Gary

ProCoach

FIFY!

True.

I see that at TrackDaze with Mike Skeen and Tom Long, Apex Driving Events with David Donahue, Spencer Pumpelly and others, Chin with Jade Bufordand some of the NE Regions of PCA with Lee Carpentier and others.

It's a good thing, but it's tough to introduce people to new ideas, especially the line that's been drilled in since DAY ONE, and all the various permutations individual instructors put on top of it, to make it "their" line...

gbuff

Thanks Peter--can't forget Peter Argetsinger and our own VR at WGI

I keep coming back to the entry to Mid-Ohio's Madness as an example--the "very conservative school" line has you entering from mid-track whereas the "correct" line has you all the way track left, so when you enter the turn you end up in the immediate proximity of the driver's door in front of you You will save tenths at just that one turn.....

Gary

tkerrmd

David993S

Each track is different, of course, but often there a 3rd line in addition to the "fast" line and the "school" line - and that's a "racing" line. Usually some combination of a racing line + a "fast" line....but not always. (dependent on if one is in traffic, ahead or behind another car, etc.). It's one of the reasons racing is so completely different from DE's or track days.

ProCoach

RickBetterley

Looking forward to figuring out what this means to my students (and me as their instructor),
And to me as a student of the sport.