ANGST

Looking for some tips on how I can build confidence in both my car and my abilities as a DE driver.

I know the top three things I need are: seat time, seat time, and more seat time.

One instructor told me there's a reason a Porsche costs as much as it does, and I should trust the car. That advice really stuck with me for trusting the car. My primary goals aren't about turning the best lap times; I want to keep pace with my group and not hold others back. I'm focused on giving and taking point-bys effectively.

I tend to have a tad bit of anxiety, both naturally and from past experiences. I've seen most of my friends I drive with put their cars into a wall. I've heard things like, "It's not if, but when you will wreck your car on the track," but I don't think I believe that.

At my next event with Chin at Summit Point, they want me to do a check ride to get into their intermediate group. Any advice there? I know I shouldn't be trying to "go fast" as they are looking more at how I handle myself on the track.

Any advice or personal experiences to share ?

Veloce Raptor

Get as much right seat instructing/coaching as you can, and also ride right seat with talented & safe drivers who are better than you. Ideally, you'll ride along with an instructor and/or coach who can narrate what they're doling & thinking & feeling constantly throughout each lap. Don't focus on their speed, but rather on what they're saying & your perception of how the car feels.

ProCoach

That's BS.

Wrecking their car, ESPECIALLY in a DE, is proof positive that they're taking the wrong approach, their grasp does not equal their reach and that they drive with that end in mind.

Wrecking the car means that 99 44/100% of the time, they missed ALL the signs given to them as a minor mistake cascades into a major misjudgment.

It also means they didn't have a complete understanding or a proper response to changes in the vehicle dynamics. Most of the time, if the car steps out, MORE power (or power applied for too long after the initial unstick) only means they're going to hit whatever they were going to hit HARDER!

I would break down into very small pieces the areas and skill executions you want to get better. Whether it's focusing on T5-T6 ONLY and riding around until you get there, or progressively lessening the lift and lessening the time of the lift into the Chute, or trying to make T3 as quick as T10, just work on ONE thing each session or day.

I would recommend Greg Haas at Summit Point for skid pad lessons, best money you can spend.

Checkout rides are standard at Chin. They want to see competence, awareness and running cooperatively and safely within the run group. Don't try for a "time."

As a matter of fact, it's not unusual that that is the common factor among DE drivers that have incidents.

A lap time is the sum total of dozens, maybe hundreds of decisions and control inputs you make over that lap. Make each one better, even one or two at a time, and the lap times will come.

There is NO car that can't be driven quicker by someone else, that's not the competition or motivation to do better. Look inward. You just want to improve yourself. Good luck!

LuigiVampa

Riding right seat with an experienced instructor, in my own car, is what really unlocked a new level of confidence in myself and my car.

When you realize that the driver is the limiting factor, and not the car, it helps you get to the next level.

Nickshu

Read the book "The Rock Warrior's Way". Can be had as an audiobook as well which is what I use. Excellent book, not about driving, but applies to any challenge. Another Rennlister suggested it to me early on, it's excellent and popular amongst racers and many other sports. It's more of a philosophy book about your mindset when doing challenging and dangerous things that rely on your individual performance to be at a high level.

Simulator may help, but I have had mixed benefits from my sim use.

If you have the resources/time, just go racing. I was far from the fastest HPDE guy when I went W2W racing. It made me better WAY more quickly than doing more HPDE did. It also made me a lot more motivated to improve than just turning laps by myself. YMMV of course.

needmoregarage

@ANGST , congrats on a sensible and mature attitude for improving your driving skills. Based on what you said, you are a credit to the sport!

In addition to the excellent, professional advice above, I would add:

- take care of yourself physically, and don’t discount the importance of rest, nutrition and hydration to feel as good as possible. It becomes even more important during extra-hot conditions, or any condition that puts more stress on the body and mind

- take time after the event (maybe once you’re home) to run laps in your head (bench laps). Envision yourself doing everything right, just as you are striving to achieve. Sit in a chair, put on your helmet, move your hands and feet and try to imagine everything about the lap (sights, sounds, smells, feelings, etc). Olympic and professional athletes use these techniques to improve and embed skills.

- I’m not a psychologist/psychiatrist, but I’d say if you have enough anxiety that you believe it affects you (or potentially affects you) in a negative way, it could be worthwhile to seek some techniques or self-reassurance before the event. If you BELIEVE that you’ll do well and be successful, you have a far greater chance of achieving your goal. If you question your abilities excessively, you degrade your chances for success. I’m not implying all you have to do is “believe” in order to “achieve”, but having the right mindset goes a long way to reaching goals. And if nerves get in the way more than they should - find a technique (whether breathing, positive statement/affirmation, etc) that helps you calm and center your focus and feel ready for the challenges of improving your driving performance.

- I also tell students (and instructors) to listen to their gut. If you don’t feel well, it’s better to skip a session than to go out and drive poorly. Wait till you feel better. And when you’re out there, if your gut is telling you you’re too fast, or something is “off”, then heed that “voice”. It’s far better to pay attention to that gut, than ignore it and find out the hard way that your gut was right. And if your gut was “wrong” (and it’s a survival instinct kicking in) then you’ll learn from more experience and seat time that your gut should recalibrate to your current (higher) level.

Best of luck - it sounds like you’re doing everything right!

ANGST

I did have my last instructor offer. I think I should try maybe next time.

ParadiseGT3

Is it just a generalized anxiety, or specific aspects of the DE driving/lap?

Instructing my son recently, he was anxious with threshold braking, initial application force. Worried the back end of the car was going to step out or spin. So, we worked to solve that anxiety, specifically. Targeted skillset improvement can overcome certain anxieties.

But if it's just a more generalized anxiety, that is tougher to address. There are guys who are more sanguine with certain inherent risk activities, and those who tend to see the adverse outcomes. That is genetic & psychological to some extent, tough to overcome. My palms sweat watching free solo climbers on youtube, 12' up a ladder and I'm ready to give up on life, but from a young age been at home in speed environments. For some guys I know it to be the opposite. Experience and repetition certainly helps, but if you've been at it a while and you're still anxious, maybe it would help to temper personal expectations and slow the run group progression. Nothing wrong with that. Find your comfortable pace, focus on skill optimization within that window, and have fun.

ANGST

It's both , I am working on the general anxiety too .

Threshold braking ... YES , the back end dancing about was unsettling , I think I finally got used to that now , the last instructor I worked with helped me with it quite a bit , and the ones before too

I need to trust my feel for the car more. I think I have good idea of what the car is doing though the seat. Skidpad helps . I have had the car get a little "squirrelly" on the track a few times and caught the back end stepping out rather well . The one time I spun a car on track was when it was about 38 degrees out and raining , there was no warning , just spin . Luckily it was a slow car ( e36 ) in a slow corner.

Jared Rodeheaver

This is also a great book: Another thing to think about is how can you become comfortable being uncomfortable. Other activities that help you stay calm and anxiety resistant etc.

ANGST

I like to think of it more as being comfortable with what was once uncomfortable . Maybe it's nuance ,but that sounds better to me, not sure how to explain it.

being uncomfortable goes with the post before about trusting your gut, I like to expand my comfort zone.

ProCoach

This is a perennial recommendation and at the top of the list from Ross Bentley. It works, and fits into the idea of how to achieve what ANY driver has to do to improve.

"Become comfortable being slightly uncomfortable."

swisman

https://www.porschedriving.com/birmingham/

Consider taking some courses at the Porsche Track Experience School at Barber Motorsports Park, in Birmingham, AL.
I have been thru their entire program & can't say enough about the quality of the school.
I was an absolute newbie 10 years ago & got my SCCA full completion license thru the school's program.
You're driving their cars...world class instruction, at an awesome track.

ProCoach

Threshold braking instability is often induced by a binary (off-on) application of high initial brake pressure. The correct approach is to, while still preserving fast feet from WOT to the brake, begin to apply and as the nose dips down, continue squeezing to max pressure. All this happens in less than a second. Pros do it in .35-60 seconds.

Most street cars are so softly sprung, it's easy to make that occur. The damping, or control of the nose going down and the tail going up (which unweights the rear tires) is not that great in street cars and full tread street tires.

Best thing is to squeeze slower initially, then quicken the push to soften the pitch change, while still providing maximum pressure as soon as you can.

Too sudden an application can easily upset the car by too sudden a hard application. 0>10 pressure, instead of 0,1, 2, 3, 4, 5,6,7,8 9,10.

Brian @ LGR

You are local to me. Just come and find me in the paddock and I will be glad to work with you.

I'm doing video coaching now as well.