[QUOTE=boze_man]the spin happened at the 2nd DE weekend...2nd morning...

Believe this or not, my comments are meant for the benefit of you and the other drivers on the track with you.
I assume that your instructor was not going "***** to the wall" in your car making you feel like you're on a "really bad rollercoaster...I had that GET ME OFF OF THIS RIDE feeling...was actually a little scary what these cars are capable of in the hands of someone who knows how to drive them."
If he was driving your car at, say, 8 or 9/10ths, then he was abusing his role as an instructor. What on earth can you learn when he drives so fast that he scares the s..t out of you. Totally counterproductive.
The fact that you were "getting passed by everything on the track, even an SUV BMW X3.." shows me that your emphasis was on the wrong thing. Leave your ego in the paddock and learn to drive the car correctly. First of all, there is always a mix of drivers and cars together, so being passed by whomever means very little to anyone, but you (apparently). Do you think anyone is keeping score of who passed you and who you passed? If you pay attention to the instructor during the 1st day and the 2nd day, you probably would have progressed through the field so that being passed by others was happening less and less...but you would be doing so more safely and confidently.
So, you decide: do you want to drive fast? You can you know, between the numbers and then when you get to the numbers you can eekk around until you get to the next straight. Or, do you want to learn to drive the course properly? Take my word for it, the speed will come later. It's a natural by-product of smooth and consistent driving. Your objective should not be to simply "drive fast" at this point.

 

you got bigger ***** than me, man! i'd NEVER be able to admit to that

w/ some more practice you'll get there. (ok, w/ a lot more practice... but it's so much fun it doesn't really feel like work anyway )

 

I've never been at DE nor AutoX, nor any other racing. But I'm planning on getting started in the Spring. I spoke to a DE instructor and he advised about getting a couple books. I'm about 1/2 through "Speed Secrets" by Ross Bentley and he has already addressed all your questions and more. The other books the DE instructor mentioned are "Going Faster" by Skip Barber, and "Drive to win" by Carol Smith.

 

I personally think that "going faster" is a good place to start, followed by the "speed secrets" series. I think the speed secrets series will prove to be more useful after you have started driving a little.

 

I agree, and there are 6 of them out there so far AFAIK.. Get the Going Faster Limerock DVD, it's nice to see cars in action and actually see what he is talking about.

 

Good point. The DVD is fantastic and I think it presents much of the information that is most useful to a 0/0 newbie in a more digestible format.

 

I thought dude was retired after college.

I overcooked that corner too. I've nearly spun in the esses and at the crest. I'll probably be at MSR again next weekend.

Git'r dunn.

 

huh, I didn't know there was a going faster Lime Rock dvd. My book didn't come with a DVD. Where did you pick up the LRP dvd Gary?

 

Sean, I got my video at Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Skip-Barber-Go...?ie=UTF8&s=dvd

I memorized it and tried to imitate Carl Lopez (who was the instructor driving in the video) during my racing program. That is probably why I had a big off...

I told Carl (who is still teaching at Skippy LRP 20 years later) what I was trying to do, he told me to back off full throttle at the end of the downhill next time.....

 

Thanks Boston

 

I have the Glen DVD and it was fairly good. It would be good for the newbe to intermediate but it really didn't give any "secrets" of the Glen.

 

I would say that video was made more for the advanced person but I agree, there were no great "revelations" in it. I think I liked The history of the Glen part best! The LRP video talks to you like you know nothing, thats a good thing... because I STILL know nothing in the overall scheme of things, but i'm slowly getting better.


Caveat - The LRP track condition is a wet dream in the video... NOT representative of it now. Someday.... over the rainbow.

 

We had a big get together in one of our buddy's home theater (seats 40) and reviewed/lambasted that DVD. Yates is full of himself, and the info is marginally acceptable. There were certainly no secrets, the driver was slow through the bus stop and other places, and was turning pathetic laps at 2:35. It's ok for a rank novice to learn which way the track goes, but that's about it.

 

I agree Larry. I wasn't saying it was any GOOD for an advanced driver, just that it wasn't a very good learning tool for a beginner other than track layout. And that "pathetic" 2:35 is only 15 seconds off my best time this year....

 

A few more words of wisdom...

Take it slow - baby steps. Try not to "drive fast", rather try to drive deliberately, smoothly, and accurately. I remember the day when the light-bulb went on... I was determined to "relax" and take it easy for the 4th run one day and wow, I was so much smoother and then the speed built on its own. Trying to go slower proved to be much faster - it really surprised me.

Smoothness is the key - in steering inputs, in transitions (brake to throttle), etc. It is human nature to want to go out there and advance quickly, but resist the urge and just work on learning your car in a track setting. Nature is to hammer brakes and stab throttle, but if you move toward more of a momentum style, I think you'll find it's faster.

The timer - get rid of it for a few reasons. One is that I don't feel there's anything a novice will learn from it for a very long time and in fact it could throw you mixed signals. Once you are in the most advanced / solo group, then maybe you will start to "tweak" your driving. Analysis of entry and exit speed is very advanced. As others have said, by using it you probably risk your insurance and that of the event. Could you imagine your club losing their policy because timing is discovered? I've seen several times at LRP people being asked to stop or even being asked to leave because they were using simple stop watches at a DE. Even a video camera is suspect in that it is in effect a timing device in that you can later see lap times - but I'd have to believe introspection by video is not what organizers and insurers are trying to prevent.

Keep at it and generate seat time - no substitute for that. As you intimately learn the nuances of your car, you will learn how to coax more speed out of it without even trying. Little things like rotation, shift points (never at redline - power / torque drops off well before then and you want to stay in the meat of the power band). Don't be in a hurry to move to R-comps either - much more feedback in streets.