Yes Sir.....

That was you, the brave soul willing to go out and show me around......and that session was by far my fastest of the day, thanks to you.....

In my defense, it was cold, the first time of the season, at a new track and on streets......but still, I should have done better.......

Next time is LRP in about a week, I will be more aggressive there, I promise...........

 

I don't think its a question of bigger *****. I don't know the track, or your car. It looks to me like you are turning in to early to many of the corners. You are missing some apexes. Generally, you are not using the entire width of the track. Early apex will result in low exit speed, evidenced by the way the guys are pulling away from you. Just my .02$

 

Good advice here above. I would suggest you concentrate on using the entire track, all of the time. Particularly in T-1, T-9 and T-10, where you appear to cheating in prior to turn-in, sometimes turning in far from the left side of the track, then not using all of the track at track-out. Get on the gas earlier and stay in it, and you will find that you will use the track at track-out, particularly if you keep turning in early/cheating in. Don't do that....there is nobody there diving inside of you at a DE. At one point, whoever was in the right seat appeared to be trying to get you to use more of the track.

And lose the damn street tires (where have I heard that said to you before?). I saw that tire rack full of R compounds you had with you.

 

Bull, I know there is nobody there in a DE diving in the corner, I just did it instinctively.....

And yes, I do have quite a selection of R-compounds on my tire rack........

 

Check the DOT dates on them, if you don't use them soon you may have to throw them away..

 

There is always a wise guy in the crowd.......

There are no expiration dates, are there?

 

Actually there is a "Born date" and they are good for several years if stored properly... those I was being a smart-***. Oh, and STOP COASTING.. Gas, Brake.. pick one.

 

+1 my brother. That is in the bible of "How to drive a 911 fast" I believe it is paragraph 3 page two........but I may be mistaken.

 

1st things first Doc. In all seriousness, and I mean this genuinely, don't offer excuses based on conditions or equipment. Now, that I've made you mad, here's why.

It is up to YOU to learn to drive around these limitations. That is why you are stuck. You want the car to do the work for you. Wrong. Drive that bitch. Get that car to rotate. When it pushes on corner exit, what are you doing to fix it? I don't mean set up wise, I mean You, behind the wheel......at that moment. To get faster you need to realize that the car is not the limiting factor. You are waiting for it to do something different. It is up to YOU to put the car where you want it, when you want it there and to make that pig sing your song.

It's not *****. It's self confidence, focus and forward planning. ***** means that you had the guts to try something stupid or risky and it worked out OK. I'm not a fan of this approach.

By the way, now that I've got your attention, do fillings ever wear out or get so old that they need replacing? I think my Dentist is ripping me off.

 

Excellent post. I would add, though, that it may be MORE than confidence, focus and forward planning, although all are necessary. Specifically, each driver has to add "talents" to his or her bag of tricks.

For example, I used to think that my ex-race car was evil. It understeered on entry and oversteered on exit. Using the tools (i.e., driving techniques) I had at the time, I drove around the issue, and actually became fairly good at doing so. Then, I had Cervelli drive my car and he taught me how to trailbrake. He told me that the car was the best setup '44 he had ever driven, because it was setup perfectly to trailbrake. Since I didn't know how to trailbrake before Cervelli taught me, I had no tools in my toolbag to address the problem at hand. Once I learned how to trailbrake, it all made sense and my ability to control my car the way it was setup improved tremendously. So, sometimes it is more than just confidence (I had plenty of that), it is also technique and experience.


It is sort of the same way with the "drive the back of the car" bit. Someone can say that to you 100 times, and you might even think you are doing it, but until you experience it, either because someone else does it while you are a passenger or you do it yourself by accident, you may not be able to understand what people are telling you or why people are so much faster than you are.

 

Bill, why should I get mad?...... I asked for opinions and that is what I am getting........

Believe me this is the cheapest education I have ever had and it has been well worth it.

No more excuses.......I just need to hear what I wasn't seeing or getting......

As far as your fillings......consider them as track tires.....

they need to be replaced sooner or later, before the potential damage they could create becomes much greater than the cost of replacing them.....capisci?

 

I hate Dentists! No offense.

Ciao!

 

Ergo the name "Dr. Pain".

 

Less experienced cars .More experienced drivers. But WTF do I know. I'm in yellow! I do know that my 987S Boxster was a hell of lot easier to drive fast then my "Formally known as F class" SC is. Never mind it (Boxster) just being a quicker car. Does that make sense?

 

Paulo,

The advice you've been getting here is excellent, and it's nice to see someone who is receptive to input. I'll pass along something I learned years ago from a good friend of mine who holds all sorts of national championships and was kicking *** and winning races until he retired from driving around 80 years ago because his back would no longer take the punishment of a race seat.

He would work on one corner at a time and get that corner down to the best of his abilities. Sometimes, that meant backing off or speeding up so that he could have a clear shot at the corner on which he was working. Once he had nailed that corner to the best of his ability at the time, he would go on to the next coner. He would do this until he had perfected the whole field. Then, he would go out and annihilate the field.

This takes a lot of patience, but if you practice it, you'll be amazed at how much quicker you can be.

Here's a funny story that Margo tells about our friend...

In trying to learn Road America, I went out with Vic Elford (lucky me ) and learned his line. No sooner had I emerged from the car and was heading back to our paddock area, than our friend came rushing up to me, "What did he say; what did he say?" He was so consumed with curiosity.

I went through Vic's line through the various corners, and after our friend's next session, he came back excitedly, "That was fabulous. I took two seconds off my time!" He was well into his 70s at the time, and it only goes to show that one is never too old to learn. That time he found was even more devastating to his fellow racers!