TD in DC

Do most good drivers share key personality and/or character traits?

Specifically, are there one or two "types" of individuals who tend to excel at this sport?

By contrast, are there certain traits that will interfere with your ability to excel? Are there any traits that are fundamentally inconsistent with success? You know, an OSB genetic marker.

Also, are there certain traits that are necessary or helpful, but only if the driver makes a conscious effort to control or "harness" those traits?

Have F1 or other racing teams ever sponsored scientific studies of this or developed driver "profiles"?

Why do some of us, including me, get so addicted to this utterly ridiculous sport that makes zero logical sense when you step back and look at it objectively?

And yes, the off-season is too long for my taste.

Veloce Raptor

...cue GhettoRacer threads...

TD in DC

Which are exactly what led me to think about this . . .

Veloce Raptor

Personality traits IMO of good drovers:

-inward humility (regardless of outward bluster for the press)
-constant self-critique (look at Bill Auberlen for a perfect example)
-always learning
-the ability to elevate their game under overwhelming odds seemingly from nowhere
-discipline to all aspects of driving including physical fitness
-incredible focus when it is nut-cutting time
-mechanical sympathy & awareness in all conditions
-respect for other drivers
-ability to multitask mentally and stay well ahead of the here & now on track

TD in DC

Yes, I was trying to describe the "necessary" traits to a friend and all I could think to say was "grace under pressure."

Seems to me like most of the fast guys have type A personalities, whether they display it publicly or not.

Veloce Raptor

Flying Finn

Well, back in the day in Formula 1 if you were smoking cigarettes in a row, dinking some and overall little crazy, you were one of the top drivers (i.e. Rosberg comes to mind.)

Now it seems there's only Kimi who remotely fits in that category.

Dale Gribble

good list..but you forgot: has no fear of death and way too much faith in carbon and HANS devices

Veloce Raptor

I am not sure that they don't fear death. Rather, IMO, they never focus on it, or even think about it as a possible outcome. I could be wrong, however.

TD in DC

My friends asked me about that after my little "incident" at Watkins Glen.

I told them honestly that there was no spare mental capacity to focus on being afraid: I was focused the entire time on looking down the track where I wanted to go and focusing on success rather than failure. I was still trying to drive the car until I hit the locks and exceeded 90% angle, at which point I knew it was all over and went both feet in.

There would have been plenty of time . . . because everything slowed down while it was happening, but it would not have helped me.

Of course, my efforts ultimately were not successful, but the point is that being afraid was useless.

The tirewall bounced me back into the hot track, so immediately after the wreck I focused on the cars coming up behind me and whether I could safely get my car off of the hot track. I started the car and drove off the track when it was safe, which was the first point at which I took a moment to assess the situation.

I was not hurt, so, again, there was no point in being scared at that point.

The hardest part was driving back on the track 3 hours later after Kurt M., Kevin O, Paul and Donna A. and I had disassembled my car, straightened out the parts, reassembled the car, and realigned it. I wasn't so much scared, but focusing too much on certain aspects of my driving <cough> turn-in point <cough>. You can't drive well, which requires focusing on the entire picture, when you are focusing too much on any single aspect of driving.

TheOtherEric

I don't agree based on my experience. Seems like the Type A guys don't have the patience to focus on self-improvement. They're the guys with fast cars and sloppy skills. They spend big $$ to go fast instead of trying to improve themselves, then talk big later on. The best drivers focus on their own driving, while Type A drivers focus on beating other guys (which is not a recipe for speed!).

I totally agree with VeloceRaptor's list.

TD in DC

I am very much a type A but I focus my energy and drive on self improvement. I have about the lowest $$ car you can imagine, and I only talk big when the recipient of the talk is a friend who knows I am not really serious.

I think the line between focusing on your own driving and beating the other guys is really thin. While in a race, I am entirely consumed with trying to get past the other guys and I am not even "thinking" about my own "driving" . . . I just drive.

And honestly, you don't think the paddocks are filled with Type As, just like this board is? Type A is not synonymous with obnoxious, although obnoxious types usually are Type As.

Veloce Raptor

Todd, you make me recall MY incident at the Glen. My first-ever session on that track, 3rd lap. To say I didn't know the track would be a severe understatement. In the latter part of the Esses. I was in the process of shifting from 4th to 5th gear when I was bumped from the right rear. I knew another car was there, and was faster than I was. Apparently he clipped the right side curb as he tried passing me on the right, and bounced into me slightly...just enough to cause me to spin clockwise (especially since the rear was momentarily unweighted as I was upshiftting). He went by unscathed.

I rotated clockwise towards the right side Armco as I tried to catch the car. It went beyond 90 degrees, so both feet in NOW. Countersteering caught it just enough to only do a 180. Came to a stop on the right side grass just to the left of the Armco exiting the Esses. I stuck my fingers thru the window netting & could actually touch the Armco, that is how close of a call it was.

I kept the engine running, waited for a signal from the corner workers, and drove back to the pits with a flat spotted tire and thankfully no sheetmetal damage.

Only when I shut the car off in the pits did my heartbeat accelerate as I contemplated what might have been.

The driver of the other car, a wholly decent & honorable guy named Charles Espenlaub, tracked me down to apologize. While what happened was 100% accidental, he was concerned that I had hit the Armco. He is a class act.

2nd session that day was rained out, so I went back to the motel that night after a dinner wiht the team & some other Big Shot Racers at the Seneca Lodge (I think), and wondered if OSB for me, since it really rattled me.

But by phone, my wife persuaded me to stick with it and at least drive in qualifying the next morning, which would be my 2nd-ever session on that track.

I slept on it, and followed her advice, and all the fear & uncertainty had left my system, and I qualified a whole lot better than I expected, considering my grand total of ~15 minutes on that track ever.

And I have never felt that uncertainty or fear return, thankfully.

End of story hour...

Nordschleife

It is rare to come across a top driver who is not good at other sports. Top drivers have the intelligence to work out what to do and how to fix things when they are not right, they have terrific bandwidth, they have great balance and positional awareness, they are not sight-automatons but often have outstanding eyesight, they have great hand-eye coordination. Most top drivers are really good at catching glasses falling off a table, for instance.
With this skill set, they tend to be good at other sports, I believe Carlos Sainz was a world class goalkeeper, for example, Jackie Stewart was a world champi skeet shooter. Top equestrians, skiers and yacht racers tend to be very fast with little practice in a car.
One of the differences between amateurs and pros, is the ability of the latter to successfully harness their anger in the pursuit of driving fast.
Top drivers are great visualisers.

R+C