Veloce Raptor

Wow, what a great experience that must have been!! Congrats on your new car, by the way. I heard about it at the breakfast recently.

George A

So to go a little further on this thread, how do you convince an intermediate student this point? I think most (I said most, not all) think that they know everything there is to know about driving. This is not a put down to intermediate students but just my opinion...... It took me a while to get this through my thick skull when I was learning.

G.

Brian P

I wish I had the answer to that... I was in a very similar position in that many people told me I was driving incorrectly and needed change my style, and I either refused to believe them or perverted what they were saying to match what I thought was correct.

When I finally learned how to drive at least somewhat correctly, I dropped 6 seconds per lap at the Glen while going from R-compound tires to street tires. This change in lap times was done over one weekend. Before that weekend, I had approximately 45 DE days of experience and really thought I was driving near the limit of what could be done with the car.

It seems like a lot of people hit similar plateaus and at about the same time in their DE experience. I wish I knew a good way to get them over those hurdles.

BTW: has anybody else had huge epiphany types of moments at the track?

For me, I had gotten into the habit of waiting until the last possible moment before getting onto the brakes hard (in hindsight, I was well beyond the last possible moment) and I usually knew each turn by when I should start braking. I was your classic late braker.

One weekend at the Glen, I had corded my track tires on the second day of the event and switched to my street tires for backup. I knew that without the grip of R-compounds, I'd have to adjust my brake points and I had no idea where to start. So, I decided to do a few laps with braking early and then planned to gradually adjust my brake point forwards. However, I found that since I was getting my braking done early, I was able to enter the turn with the car almost completely balanced and I was amazed at how much faster I was able to take the turn than I thought was possible.

Rather than adjust my braking point, I ended up keeping the braking point the same and tried to slowly ratchet up my turn-in speed. It wasn't until the very end of the weekend where I felt I was reaching the limits of my turn-in speed and went back to playing with the brake point. As I said, by then I had dropped 6 seconds per lap.

After that weekend, I mentally reviewed everything my instructors had told me on the previous 45 DE days and reread all of my driving books. It was amazing how the same words had completely different meanings. I guess it goes to show how stubborn and thick-headed I was.

George A

Brian, you nailed it. I've gone through the same thing. Isn't if funny how you interpret things differently without the experience/knowledge... Heck, I have those epiphanies once in a while, but they keep getting smaller. I'm waiting for my next one.........

G.

BobbyC

Hopefully, some of us can learn from such nuggets of experience and shorten the learning curve. Thanks for sharing...

Veloce Raptor

IMO you have them ride with you & other instructors at every opportunity to see how far there is to go. I never thought I was all that...always knew there were legions of folks better...and it was evident every single time I went to the track, regardless of what run group I was in.

TD in DC

Learning is mostly about one's capability to perceive accurately, comprehend fully, and imitate well.

If you think you know it all already, you will find it much harder to perceive and comprehend.

If you don't comprehend, you cannot imitate, and you will not get any better.

SundayDriver

Since this is a thread about self rating, I think that Shumacher's self assessment of being a 6 can be used.

What would such a student say to that question? Since they know they are so good, they will probably say they are an 8. Tell them that is interesting, as the better you get, the lower you realize your score should be. If they say 8, you can congratulate them on being better than MS. Now I don't think you have to be mean about it. The point is that the better you get, the more you realize that you aren't really as good as you once thought.

I certainly was humbled by the idea that MS said he was a 6. That was the same that I rated myself before hearing any results. Makes me wonder just how much stuff there is about driving that I don't even know exists.

sjanes

It is interesting that MS would rate himself so low. I suspect Alonso would give himself an 11 (following which Hamilton would rate himself as 11.5). I wonder who (if anybody) MS would rate as a 9 or 10?

1AS

If there was ever an example of false or phony modesty, it is MS calling himself a 6. Like Einstein calling himself stupid, Michael Jordan calling himself ordinary, or Hillary Clinton calling herself a raving b**ch (okay, Hillary got it right). AS

Greg Smith

I think MS wins the humble contest.

Abby Normal

I'm about to find out as a DE nOOb...

Larry Herman

I'm paying for my next one this weekend with Chris Cervelli.

Bull

Just becaus MS is a very good drover does not mean he knows anything about ratings, particularly about himself. Good thing he didn't say he was a one on HIS scale, as we would all have to quit!

A.Wayne

Hey Now !

I'm in full agreement with MS , now if he is a 6 , that makes me a 0 , which makes the rest of you all Zero's ( well VR likes to reach , so he might give himself a 1 here , I would give larry a 2 for spinning , not winning, but without a scratch, he made the catch , at Daytona speed devil week PCA ) So again my evaluation was spot on and I , only I gave the honest answer ........0

You BUMS