Mark in Baltimore

At my very first club race, I finished nearly DFL. I had a blast, but I knew that I clearly had a ton of work to do and had to take my driving to the next level. I have worked really hard at the mental aspect of this sport, having overcome some of my fear of losing control of the car and stuffing it into a wall., as well as the technical aspects. Part of my mind re-orientation was due to an email that another Rennlister, Sam N, had sent to me about another friend's ride with Wolf Henzler. The description of Henzler's style transformed the way I drove and made me faster. I also got faster after I hired Chris Cervelli. He made some suggestions about my car's suspension settings that made it much more predictable and forgiving. Along with some pointers about trail-braking, he helped me win a few races here and there.

Driving faster is a Rubik's cube that I turn over in my head constantly. I have always been a speed freak and risk taker and used to skateboard. I spent many years mountain biking, a sport that satisfied for quite a while my lust for pushing the edge. The big difference between all three sports is that wrecking the car carries with it considerable financial loss. Losing a $2,000 mountain bike, an unlikely occurrence anyway, is not a big deal.

Oh, the other way to podium that you forgot to mention is to make sure there are only three people in your class.

BostonDMD

All great points.......

the last one being especially revealing.......

Thanks Mark.....

mglobe

OMFG that's funny! You guys win the thread of the month award.

RSRRacer

I was fairly sucessful at the club level in a very competitive class. Never had a pro coach, or even a data acquisition system. What I did have was the experience of probably 100 days of DE prior to coming over. What I also had was determination.

I did not have unlimited funds or a hot rod car (despite some early protests to the contrary) but I never skimped on having new tires for every race.

I do think there is an element of either "having it" or "not having it" just like many talents. For example I used to play pool quite a bit, usually 9 ball or a game called one pocket tha't like chess on a pool table. Despite playing for thousands of hours over probably a decade, and getting a coach, I was never that good. I was a mid pack amateur but there were a hundred 15 year olds that just "had it" that could beat me easily.

A good amateur and certainly pro driving requires you to be able to percieve and adapt to vector changes almost instantly with steering throttle or brake. Not 1/2 or even 1/4 second later.... .maybe 1/10 second or less. I think some people are born with the ability to develop reflex steering, throttle, and to a lesser extent brake reactions. Some are not. If you are not, you will never ever be a good driver.

aeshultz

Mark beat me to it;
I podiumed in my first PCA race - three cars in class, I was #3.
Bingo - you can pick up your prize now.

Really silly question - just go racing.

JimmiLew

I think RSR Racer has some good points. Some people have a lot of natural talent for some things and not others. No one is perfect at everything. Some have to work hard to over come their short comings, some just have "the knack".

But Paolo, really, you just go over and over and over on the same stuff asked in different ways with the same intent or big question on your mind every time. Really.

Its simple: Sit down, sign up,. shut up, and go racing.

Till then, just stop thinking about it so much and just GO DO IT!

JL

M758

I started racing in 2002. In my first race I came in 2nd place. My second race I came in 1st place. Of course in race 1 there were 2 cars in class and in race two there was just one. HA..

Still by race 3 I was 2nd in class of 3 cars and by my 4th race I won vs 5 others in class.
That years ago. I have complete 90 more races since then and have been on the podium about 80% of the time. Most of the time in 944 spec we have had 5 to 25 cars in class. So I have done well. Part of that was due to the class being new and most of the drivers being new. So in class of rookies I was the fastest rookie since I had be doing DE in the car for 18 months before and had 15 months more experience that then in these cars.

Over the years I have used that experience to gain an early speed edge, but that evaporated over time as new drivers got in and other got more experience than me in these cars. I just finished a dry spell of not winning for 42 races this weekend. I was a big deal for me and showed me that winning comes down to talent and determination. If the class has reasonable competition you need to have talent to run at the front. However talent alone is never enough. You need to practice and focus on certain skills to do well.

Amazingly I just realized that set-up is so very critical. For the past couple seasons I had been driving around a problem thinking it was lack of talent that was causing me to be off the pace. Well it turns out that a few suspension settings were the major source of problems. However it took me way too long to learn this. Once I figured it out I started back on running a very strong pace.

So the point is you need both talent and determination to do well in club racing. However you will never know what those levels are until you try. Some guys have the talent level to be mid pack. Some have talent, but lack the focus to harness it all. In 944 spec in my local area I have seen both types of drivers. The ones that are really fast have talent and determination to exploit it.

As for pro coaching. It is only a tool to improve skills. Not bad by any means, but the best practice for racing is racing.

If you really want to know where you stack up run in spec class somewhere.

Bob Rouleau

Talent. Determination. Pro coaching. Car set up. Lots of money and time.

Gary R.

Good point Mark!
Paolo, sell that clunky F car and buy an A, B, or C car and you will fill your house with medals!!

BostonDMD

Guys thanks very much for your advice.......

I got it................. Just Go Do It and Stop Asking..........

srf506

Pete, I agree that in the first year or so of experience you will move form a back of the pack to a mid-pack racer just on average talent, experience with your equipment, and familiarity with what the heck is all going on around you. However, I think it takes several years to work your way up throught the upper half of the pack. At least it seems to be that way here in SEDiv. Maybe its because we can race almost year round here, or we have an exceptionally talent laden group of drivers. But in order to hone the skills required to be up-front consistenetly, it'll take you a couple of years at least. I can remember running lap times the equivalent of the top runners in practice and qualifying, but when it came to strategy and how to set-up and pass an equally quick driver it took a while. The biggest thing I can recommend anyone trying to do this is get as much seat time as you can and follow and watch the really quick guys as much as you can.

Professor Helmüt Tester

Oh, they'll probably have no problem giving you a license. They'll also have no problems taking it away, too. Trying to find your way to the "podium" too early can often result in THAT happening.

As already mentioned, if you're obsessed with "podium" finishes, pick a class with minimal cars. In club racing, that's referred to by the pejorative "Good Attendance Award". Maybe it's because you like driving an oddball car...or maybe you're just too self-absorbed. Only one of those things is poison.

Less talking. More racing. That's the only way to get to the podium.

Der Professor gets to the podium with reasonable frequency...but the only times that it registers as "achievement" is when it's in a freakin enourmous class, with close competition. Otherwise, it's a gold star for good attendance.

Did I mention "less talking" yet ?

MJR911

Then there is a class for guys that enjoy 'bench racing' more than actual racing. Anyone from the NE around when club racing FIRST came around in mid 90s will recall a great guy named 'Chris Berry.'

I guess that 'class' is now called 'rennlist DE/CR Forum'?

TraqGear

That also depends on who the other 2 guys are and how well their car is set up.

TraqGear

For the original question...here is my experience this past year, which was my first year of racing.

Love of the sport - 25%
Competitive determination - 25%
Coaching and working on times/racing - 25%
Having the right car - 15%
Talent - 10%

I'm constantly trying to better myself and a month hasn't gone by, since I started my first DE, that I haven't been on a track somewhere. I'm probably lower on the talent side than most, but huge on determination. I've also found that I'm now within a sec or two of the car's capabilities and that last little bit is very hard to obtain for me. But, I'm still working on it. Now, if my wallet=determination I would do koni this year...my current dream.