Veloce Raptor

Peter, IMO every driver should watch Sir Jackie's video monthly.

HiWind

Pete TV! Pete TV! Love it - thanks. If I'm getting Jackie, I need to name my car something other than Beast

LuigiVampa

It's funny - that video has to be at about 40 years old yet the information is just as relevant as when he gave the interview.

guardsredcab

Absolutely true about the relevance of his thoughts today, but did anyone else think it was kind of weird that he was being interviewed over breakfast without a shirt on?

Veloce Raptor

Hahaha! Um...Greg...I didn't notice.

BBMGT3

So the other night I did the superpole lap @ Yas South in my stock 08 gt3 on MPSC. Main relevant competition was gen2 gt3's on trofeos. I would up about 0.5s off the best time; video below:


Opening lap is outlap
quickest was 3rd lap

I know that I was at a car & tire disadvantage, but I feel like those 0.5s were there.. just not sure.

Suggestions?

Veloce Raptor

I personally don't know that circuit except from TV (looks a lot less busy in F1 lol). CoryF has been there, so perhaps he will pipe in.

The only thing I can see is that the right hand corner we see for the 3rd time at 3:33 seems to catch you out every time, and you end up turning in too loosely & then being forced to add steering at & after the apex. IMO if you can get more rotation earlier there & begin unwinding the wheel sooner, you may find that 0.5 second.

guardsredcab

Looks like a fun track - very smooth.

Dave, What's the word, are they going to let the masses, like us, on the Circuit of the Americas?

BBMGT3

Its a weird corner

The double right is awesome, but it tightens. So its tricky, you're flat/almost flat into the 1st right, which is terrifying enough, because if you touch the exit kerb you're finished. You need to scrub off some speed for the 2nd right, otherwise you will either spin or miss the braking for the hard right that you pointed out completely.

But you're right I am losing some time there, but it doesn't look like 0.5s to me.

Veloce Raptor

They say yes. PCA is already talking to them about the possibility of a Zone club race, and I know that the track will b erenting to clubs for DE's, etc, although not certain whether they will rent the full F1 circuit ir a slightly shorter configuration.

E55AMG

Wanted to get some pointers on how best to handle a new track. I'm not sure if it's normal or not, but as a beginner, I seem to really struggle 1st day out on a new track. Hopefully this will get better as I continue to get better overall.

How do you guys go about learning a new track? As a reminder, I made a commitment to get more involved in tracking last fall. Hired a personal coach and spent some time together. A few days at VIR and a few days at Monticello. Made the huge leap of selling my 997TT and purchased a 996 track car. So, aside from a day or so over the past several years you can set my track experience at 4-5 days or so.

I remember the 1st time I drove VIR last fall. You may as well have blind folded me. I had no idea where I was going. "look ahead" for some reason, seems to be harder to do on a new track when that should be the obvious thing. I dont' get it. When i'm on a new road for the 1st time I'm looking waaay ahead. When on a track for the 1st time, i seem to be looking right over the front bumper.

We went back to VIR in March and I did much better. After the 1st few sessions things started coming back. Was pretty nervous as this was the 1st time driving the new track car.

Here's the thing. Best lap (not that all were timed) I turned was a 2:22 I was following the David Murray thread here as I was going to go b ut bailed out as I didn't think I belonged out there. I saw a post from coochas (I think) who said he was going and looking forward to it as he's never been there before.

I watched a video and he's banging out 2:15 like it's nothing. How do you learn a track that quickly?

Will learning a new track get easier as I get more experienced? How do you guys go about it first time on a new track?

I'm supposed to go the Glen this weekend and while i'm excited to go there, i'm also dreading it, knowing how frustrating it's going to be and how long it's going to take to learn it.

Any advice from the experts would be appreciated!

Veloce Raptor

Chris,

IMO you made the correct choice by putting someone in your right seat. This makes the learning curve much easier.

Looking at your words above, I see a common theme: that you have convinced yourself that you are nervous and unsure. In many ways, we can be our own worse enemies, in that we allow the natural intimidation of a new track get the best of us.

Yes, IMO it does get much easier as you get mor eexperience. You learn, for example, that there are vast similarities in many corners of new tracks with the tracks you already know well. This makes figuring them out much easier over time.

IMO the toughest things to figure out at a new track are totally blind corners (meaning where you can't see either apex or track out at turn in). Sebring T1 is a great example, as is Road Atlanta T12, and nearly every corner at Barber A good instructor or coach will hhelp you relax & build a mental cadence for those corners so you anticipate where things are.

When I go to a new track, I'll look corner exits first, and try to extrapolate good entries, working from late apexes gradually to earlier, and slowing my hands. I'll look at fast sweepers and try various approaches to them to stabilize the car. I'll look at places where trail braking will really halp me to get the car to rotate & point. I'll look at escape routes in case I go off. I'll force myself to look at corner stations to raise my vision. And I'll look for permanent milestone points to help me position the car. By permanent, I mean things that won't disappear in a storm or with a car hitting it. For example, cell towers, blend lines, corner stations, curbing, etc.

As for Watkins Glen, get someone in yoru right seat for a session. It is a relatively easy track, since all corners except one are on camber...and the one that isn't is flat. So there is tons of grip.

Larry Herman

I find that the first task that I do is to understand the layout of the track. I want to know which turns are straightforward, and which turns are linked. With the straightforward turns, I know that initially I want to take a very late apex, and learn where to track out. As I get more familiar with this, I will move my apex point earlier and earlier until I feel comfortable that I am not "parking it" in the turn. With the linked turns, I will have figured out in advance where I need to "stay to the inside" to setup for the following turn. The most important turn is the last one, and so I will work on coming out of that one, and when I get it down, will work on carrying more speed through the whole complex.

Then I will keep driving at this level until I can feel the flow of the track. It is really important to get the flow before you try to go faster. If you don't have that gut feeling as to how you are doing, you will not make any real progress. At that point I will start working harder on the most important turns until I feel that I have them down fairly well, then onto the less important (or trickier) turns. Once I have gotten to this level, I will start over again working on the track turn by turn. It's kind of like climbing a stair tower. Once you get to a landing (level) you stop for a minute to collect yourself & have some fun. Then move onto the next level. All that said, some tracks may take the whole weekend to get comfortable, and some just a handfull of laps.

E55AMG

Thanks for the tips. Great idea on looking at corner workers to force your vision up.

Yes, I've also noticed that some turns are pretty similar at different tracks.

fleadh

With so little track time, don't worry so much about learning new tracks. If possible, I'd stick with the 2 tracks you know until you're much more comfortable there. Once you're comfortable with your car and driving skills, it's 10000x easier to learn new tracks -- trust me, I went through the same thing.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying avoid new tracks or you won't be able to figure them out.. I'm just saying it'll take so much of your focus that should be spent on the fundamentals, you're going to get easily frustrated.

Does your 996 have a passenger seat? If not, make sure to get one put in there. Have an instructor ride with you early in the day/weekend (even at tracks you know) to help you remember and reinforce what you need to do.

Lastly, with such little track time, don't worry about the lap times so much. I'm not one of those guys who thinks lap times don't matter when you're starting out, I think everyone from their 2nd day on track until their last day on track should always have lap times. But, they're just a measuring stick for a given day in a given car for a given driver in some very specific condition. Don't drive to the lap time, let it come to you.

It sounds like you're doing everything rite for someone who wants to get better (track car early + pro coaching), so keep it up and don't get to caught up in lap times or learning new tracks yet -- there will be plenty of time for both of those after a little more seat time. :-)

ps: to actually answer your question, get iRacing and a seat/steering wheel off amazon. best way to learn a new track in the history of man kind. then study some in-car videos on youtube every night for 7 nights before you go to bed leading up to your first day at the track. your brain will continue to process the video in your sleep if it's the last thing you do each day.

-mike