Mahler9th

Thanks for clarifying. I think you have a lot of good suggestions here and of course best will be from your coaching opportunity.

You did not address this from my post:

Do you use video in the car? If so do you have something in the camera FOV that allows you to watch and know when the brakes are coming on? In my experience this can be very helpful, and moves you far, far along the benefit curve in terms of data acq. use to identify driver performance improvement opportunities.

To me, this is invaluable no matter how you learn. I have never worked with or known any driver at your level of experience and enthusiasm that did not gain valuable benefits from video. So if you don't have it, I strongly suggest it.

jscott82

I do use video, but never thought of adding simple lights in the FOV... if I don’t do DAQ with TPS and Brake pressure (most likely will not)... There will most definitely be a red and green light on the dash next time out...

It’s the simple things like this that make a huge difference.. thanks

Astroman

NaroEscape

Our boy Jeff always has a way with words....

Heading down to RA as soon as Nadine gets home.

sundog

In my DE group, I always try and find a driver in a comparable car, who has better times than me. Then I stick to them like glue throughout a session (if I can). Ask them first if this is OK, and tell them that you aren't intending to pass them, just working on form. Last week, I found an instructor that was getting 3 seconds per lap in a 993 with r-compounds, and setup very similar to my 964. I followed her and amazingly took 3 seconds off my time, all by looking at her line, and braking where she did.

After that in my Time Trial run, I took another 2 seconds off, because with the correct line, and confidence I was able to throw the car around even more than when following her.

M758

It is a mental thing. If you are worring you are going to wreck the car you will have a hard time approaching the limits. Especially if had an off that did hurt the car. As such you will not feel comfortable dancing the car at the limit.

However if you drive like you would an autocross where a spin off track just knocks over some cones you can feel comfortable exceeding the limit. This does not mean try to throw it in the weeds, but if you do it is not big deal. That is where confidence comes from. Once you have learn to becomfortalbe with a little sliding around and the corrections needed you can feel more confortable pushing the car in places you don't want to go off since you know that you can correct it before you go off track.

Right now I take the concern is that if back end steps out in a turn it will mean a wrecked car. Those of us that drive really fast know a little stepping out is just something to corrected mid corner. No sweat as we have confidence and the skill to keep the car on track.

fleadh

One thing that has helped me recently was simply being reminded by a coach while out on a test day a few weeks ago that your grip level at any given point is a bell curve.

When I moved up to the Cup cars, they were so god damned fast, twitchy, loud, and different to drive than everything else I'd ever wheeled, I forgot some of the basics. The braking zones came up so fast and the car was providing so much feedback it was overloading a lot of the techniques I had learned previously.

Because everything was happening quickly and with so much feedback, I kept having the feeling that at any moment when things went pear shaped in a corner I'd spin off backwards in a fiery crash of death. My butt was telling my brain that we were near the limit. Even if I was, going beyond the limit wasn't a guaranteed ticket to the weeds. I wasn't really paranoid about messing up my car or getting hurt, I just know that the really good drivers simply do not crash to find the limit. They might get helped off by someone in a race or have a mechanical, but they simply do not make the mistakes that cause them to go off by themselves.

When I was reminded about the grip level being a bell curve, it clicked for me. Even though you may have high slip angles, bordering on out of control, you still have grip.. albeit less than optimal. The next time I was out on track my lap times didn't necessarily improve (I was already pretty close to his times and it'll take much more fine tuning to make up the difference!), but I felt 200% better in the car. Since then, my lap times have improved as it's allowed my brain to get out of that particular rut.

I'm not saying this is your problem, only that it's one of the very few things I can point to and say this made me a better driver immediately. Whatever path you choose to improve under braking, make sure you make changes in the smallest amount possible. Creep your way up to look over the edge, don't run up to it!

ps: something else that i find works well for me personally is to get angry at something when i get into the car. i know it goes against what most people teach- maybe it's because when i'm out of the car i'm too mellow.

-mike

Brian P

I'm a huge believer in this. More often than not, the students that I've worked with have very good car control skills and are very good at maintaining high speeds for out of balance their cars are. If they could get the cars well balanced as they turn in, the overall grip would be higher and they could carry much greater speed through the corners.

Read a few "Speed Secrets" books. The basic order is as follows
1) Work on corner exit speed first (i.e., make sure you have the right line so you can get on the gas as soon as possible). Hopefully this step is trivial for most drivers.
2) Work on corner entry speed next (i.e., carry as much speed as you can in the corner without reducing corner exit speed). If you need to do a bit of coasting to figure out this speed, so be it. Don't worry about late braking - get the car under control and carry as much entry speed as you can.
3) Work on mid-corner speed last. This can almost be summed up into "trail brake to the apex."

I realize I'm oversimplifying and that as you work on steps 2 and 3, you are going to have to revisit the previous steps and fine tune those. However, if you can master those three steps, you are going to win more than your share of races.

Late braking has a lot more to do with trying to pass someone than it does for ultimate best lap time. I've done lots of spreadsheet analyses and late braking does VERY little to improve overall lap times. However, if you screw up your late braking and brake for even a tenth of a second too long, it can REALLY screw up your overall lap times. Just keep that in mind for your qualifying sessions...

ProCoach

^^THIS^^

Spent all weekend with three guys with three different cars (F430 Challenge, Lotus Exige SCCA T2 and VW R32 on steroids) and THIS is what gained them the most time.

gbuff

I'm not a racer (just DE/open track) and I don't consciously try to get mad before a run, but I do constantly try to improve and I take copious notes following every run....some of my best lap times have indeed come when the notes read "drove pissed off".

TrackDays247.com

Takes time...

mr_fizz

See chapter 10 of speed secrets #6 (the perfect driver).

http://books.google.ca/books?id=rM_p...ravery&f=false