Veloce Raptor

Correct. Remember, entry speed into 8 is more important that apex speed at 9. But if you use every inch of the T9 apex curb, you will use less steering angle, and the car will be more stable there, allowing more throttle.

winders

Tis true.....

If my car pushes in a turn I am looking at setup before anything else. Went in too fast? I f my car is setup right, it's not pushing off the track.....

TXE36

I think I agree. Wouldn't a car with a neutral setup just 4 wheel drift off the outside edge if the entry speed was too fast?

Stating it another way, "too fast into a corner" means the car wouldn't understeer or oversteer, it just wouldn't turn enough and slide off the outside edge (assuming neutral setup).

-Mike

sierralima

This is good to hear. Because I just downloaded my video from last weekend. I was told camera is auto on-off. The card was half full. Half of the videos are from when the camera turned on by itself in the paddock. There are no videos from Sunday's sessions.

Video does give me motivation to work harder. It is like watching videos of me skiing. I think I'm skiing like Jean-Claude Killy. I watch the video and think what the hell....

hf1

That's like watching videos of me dancing.

TXE36

Boy, ain't that the truth.

Data and video can be harsh - but when they are good you know you were good.

-Mike

hf1

I'd suggest:
- keep your hands closer to 9 and 3 (instead of 10 and 2)
- keep the palms of your hands more toward the front of the wheel (between you and the wheel) instead of behind it as you seem to be doing. (Maybe you're sitting too close to it?)
- easier, lighter grip on the wheel. There's plenty of grip in those gloves. If not, get the Sparco gloves with the HTX rubber palm grip. The lighter you hold the wheel, the more relaxed your whole body will be, your reaction time will be faster, and your driving will be smoother. I was amazed what change a pair of gloves can make. The most underestimated performance mod out there.

Matt Romanowski

In my experience across a bunch of cars, too fast in can often show up as a push. Some of it depends on the initial setup, what the driver is doing, car design, etc. Also, this assumes the car is driven fast enough. A car even 1 second off the pace can show very different handling problems than a car at lap record/pole times.

ProCoach

Yep, especially the first sentence. Corner entry braking and steering should NOT be a static condition!

I wish people would use the relationship between gSum, Lat g and steering angle more. It's easy to come up with an understeer "number" now...

Working with multi driver IMSA teams this weekend, it's clear to me that a lions share of handling issues at corner entry and mid-corner are, for the most part, driver induced...

Gofishracing

I'm big on controlling your corner entry so you can control your corner exit. Consciously on every turn.

hf1

This has been my pet-theory all along. I've never complained about a car over/under-steering and I'm quite sure not all of them were set up "perfectly neutral", whatever that means. This probably means that I'm adjusting my braking, steering, and throttle to each car without thinking in order to make it do what I want it to do (at the limit) no matter how it was set-up or how worn its tires or brakes are.

Of course, we're assuming here the car's set up isn't gloriously out of shape -- I've had a few of those and have requested a change. I've probably raced each and every one of the 35+ Skippy MX-5 cars (you pick your car by lottery), sometimes more than one on the same day. Even though the claim is that they're all set up the same, there are notable differences between them. At the beginning they did all feel the same, but the differences were becoming apparent as my pace (and podium visits) increased.

TXE36

Ah, the motivating factor behind the bang for the buck of the "nut behind the wheel upgrade" .

I recall a long time ago as a beginner being frustrated with a set of nearly bald street tires under dry conditions and came to the conclusion "they were done". Put a relatively new set on the car, and dammit, they still "were done". Fortunately was smart enough to get an instructor in the car and within two laps he said "you're entering these corners too fast and you are coasting in most of them". Within three more laps I was fixed.

Some time later he comes over to my garage and finds me putting those old "done" tires back on the car, "what are you doing?". "Ain't nothing wrong with these tires" as I continued working to change them. I ran that set for another weekend before they truly were done. For a tightwad like me, cords are the real wear indicator .

-Mike

Thundermoose

TXE36

Truth. Back in 2013 I had VR drive my car and it was striking just how relaxed his wheel grip was. I mean look at this:


(ETA: I haven't actually watched that video in years and in addition to being relaxed, VRs driving is a smooth as a baby's *** while he is talking and using his hands occasionally. )

I set a new personal best on the next session I drove simply by relaxing, and nothing else.

I worked hard on not squeezing the juice out of the wheel, but the true cause of my death grip was not feeling the car enough in the seat of my pants. Once that was corrected, my steering wheel grip relax considerably, as the lap times plummeted.

One other factor in SL's BMW is the stock seats and Schroth Quick Fits. They won't hold you in as well as proper seats and harnesses and some of that wheel grip is just hanging on. Still it is possible to lighten it up.

-Mike

TXE36

I drew that plot on the white board in the TWS classroom back in May or so and it is still there. It will probably still be there in two weeks at the next PDS. (I stole the original plot from here and was recalling it for a friend).

Considering my policy of running to the cords, many will assume I have no income. (Stole that one from Globe).

-Mike