KaiB

I'd better open my eyes then!!!

Matt Romanowski

Since we're discussing blind spots and scanning, here's a video of the real reason to scan http://www.wimp.com/blindspots/

Veloce Raptor

Here's a topic that has come up again & again recently with clients who race cars with a rear wing: wing angle.

There seems to be a common train of thought that running a "flat" wing (which usually still has about 6 degrees of attack) is best, so as not to kill top speeds on straightaways. IMO this is pretty valid at a track like Daytona, where the vast majority of each lap is a straightaway (the banking is really a straightaway).

However, on most road courses other than Daytona, data and experience show that a more aggressive angle of attack makes for a MUCH more stable, predictable race car under throttle, under braking, under trail braking, and mid corner. The 1 or 2 MPH you may give up on the straights are more than made up for by being able to carry a lot more MPH in the corners, especially the faster ones.

Obviously, many other factors are at play here: front spliitter aggressiveness, spring rates, damper type & damper settings, driving style, etc. But generally in my observation & experience, folks run too little wing angle, and surprise themselves by being able to be MUCH faster with a bit more wing. And this is even true at longer tracks like Sebring, VIR, Road America, TWS, etc....

Mark Dreyer

Interesting, Dave, as you know I have a wing on my car, and from talking to various folks recently, comparing lap times with similar cars I had decided to try removal of the wing to see how it altered my lap time at Sebring. I know from talking to you at our coaching session, that your opinion was as you stated above. However when people are stating that they have run a 2:25 in a gutted base Boxster with the only other mod being Hoosier R6's, I am trying to come to grips with how I can be several seconds slower than that with all the mods I have to my Boxster S. And I am not more than a couple seconds slower than any pro that has coached me.

Veloce Raptor

IMO it's simply how hard they are pushing...and perhaps how light their car is.

LuigiVampa

Veloce Raptor and other racing gurus,

I have a question about maximum size of a steering wheel spacer.

I'm driving a 951 at HPDE events with racing seats and harness. I have an OMP steering wheel which is flat on the bottom to provide clearance between my legs and the bottom of the steering wheel. I'm six feet tall and what JC Penney's might politely describe as "husky".

Here is my questions - I need my seat all the way back in order to have enough room for my legs. In this position when I grab the steering wheel I only have a slight bend in my elbows. If I go around a tight turn I am almost at the point of driving with my fingers which is not a good thing.

I believe I currently have a 60mm spacer on the steering wheel. When I look at steering wheels on ALMS and Rolex drivers they seem to be very close to their bodies.

My question - How far out should the wheel extend toward the driver?

Thank you.

Larry Herman

It is really a comfort thing, and it depends on how long your arms are, though it seems like many drivers are getting closer to the wheel now than in the past few decades. At maximum lock, you should still be able to properly grip the wheel. For my tastes, the wheel in a factory Cup Car is too close though.

ProCoach

The wheel should be at a point where the angle of your elbow joint is 90 degrees and no more than 110 degrees when gripping the wheel in the 9-3 position (hanging your thumbs over the crossbars on the wheel) and your shoulders FULLY against the upper seat back.

Any more than 90 and your shoulders get sore MUCH more easily, you won't have as good control over smaller movements or at the limit of rotational travel, any shorter and you usually have reach problems to the shifter (which should be not far off the steering wheel plane).

Larry Herman

Peter to the rescue with the technical answer.

Veloce Raptor

i concur with Peter. One other thing: Luigi, you might also try getting your seat lower--all the way on the floor if possible. I am 6-4 and have found this aids my ability to clear my legs fro the wheel w/o being too far away from the wheel. And unlike Larry, i love where the Cup wheel is!

LuigiVampa

Thanks all for the great answers. My seat is all the way on the floor and I even stripped out the padding and replaced it with some thin neoprene to get an extra half inch down. I'm also going to pull the liner off my sunroof because I have minimal clearance with a helmet on.

I'm thinking if I can add another 20mm or so to the steering wheel it will be what I need without looking like a cup car and without causing the wheel to be very far off from the same plane as the shifter.

The comment about getting sore shoulders is right on point. I drove at Lime Rock this past weekend (once the snow melted - seriously) and my shoulders were killing me by the end of the day.

All good stuff to consider - thank you for the input. Now to find a spacer that works!

Land Jet

Can we go back to looking farther ahead for a moment please. I've been trying to work on this lately and am wondering how you hit your markers if you are always scanning ahead. I'm missing something and am trying to get a good integration between hitting my marks, watching the cars in front of me, watching the mirrors, etc. Please explain to me how looking ahead in the corners makes you faster through them. Also, how do you hit your marks if you are looking far ahead? Maybe it's the speed of my car that amplifys the thought that I have to pay extra attention to my marks in order to keep from making a costly mistake. Mind you, I am not a 10/10ths driver but I'm moving. Thanks for your input.

Adam@Autometrics

Hitting the marks is actually not the goal; the marks are more like checkpoints. The goal is to take the fastest line, which will include hitting those marks. One can drive a terrible line and still hit marks. Looking ahead is the only way to get a clear view of the actual line (line, rather than a series of points) you should be trying to take.

Hope this helps.

comatb

Luigi here is the OMP steering wheel spacer that I use. It has four positions.

http://www.ompamerica.com/racing/ste...pacers/odc022/

Bill

Veloce Raptor

Agreed.

Larry, "hitting the marks" in and of itself is really glorified point-to-poiint driving. Looking farther ahead is one component of the constant scannning a good drivver will do on track...and it's this scan, with heavy emphasis on vision beyond our "marks" that enables the flow that shows in a good driver's in car video...where hands/arms move slowly, the feet dont give the car any suurprises, and the line is more akin to what a good skiier or snow boarder (or water skiier) does: graceful & flowiing, carrying maximum speed. But scanning (rather than fixating on points, even far away ones) is key.