Advice on how to progress from beginner to racer
05-30-2012, 12:06 PM
#61
Rennlist Member
Wow
Paul, you have to get over your bad taste with PCA and its DE structure.
FWIW, in four months, I went from absolute green new to my Nat Instructor's Cert + NASA and PCA CR licences after the winter - means nothing.
The system works most of the time and accomplishes what it was designed to do.
FWIW, in four months, I went from absolute green new to my Nat Instructor's Cert + NASA and PCA CR licences after the winter - means nothing.
The system works most of the time and accomplishes what it was designed to do.
05-30-2012, 08:41 PM
#62
Rennlist Member
Paul,
As far as guide lines in PCA:
Paul,
I can assure that attitude, willingness to listen, and appreciating the instructor staff goes a long way on when advancement is given in PCA. Instructors in all groups PCA, NASA, BMWCCA, etc all compare notes on students and open the passenger door with a good idea of what to expect from the driver. It's about being safe first.
The biggest advice to the OP is check your ego at the entrance to the track and you will learn so much more. Get a data system, keep notes on each event along with car setup. Mark your progress and always get someone faster in the right seat to critique your driving and remove bad habits. Ride along with faster drivers, buy them beer and bring good wine and food to the events. Volunteer at tech and support the events. BTW, at some point the faster driver/racer is going to say "enough". At that point your a competitor and you won't get free advice on how to beat the very guy that has been helping you. That is a very good time to start racing...
As far as guide lines in PCA:
Paul,
I can assure that attitude, willingness to listen, and appreciating the instructor staff goes a long way on when advancement is given in PCA. Instructors in all groups PCA, NASA, BMWCCA, etc all compare notes on students and open the passenger door with a good idea of what to expect from the driver. It's about being safe first.
The biggest advice to the OP is check your ego at the entrance to the track and you will learn so much more. Get a data system, keep notes on each event along with car setup. Mark your progress and always get someone faster in the right seat to critique your driving and remove bad habits. Ride along with faster drivers, buy them beer and bring good wine and food to the events. Volunteer at tech and support the events. BTW, at some point the faster driver/racer is going to say "enough". At that point your a competitor and you won't get free advice on how to beat the very guy that has been helping you. That is a very good time to start racing...
05-30-2012, 09:55 PM
#63
I think the bottom line is that there are many paths into racing. You just have to make a plan that appeals to you and go do it.
As for me, I grew up thinking that any production based cars were not "real" race cars. I guess I drank the Carroll Smith prepared kool-aid. So, I bought a smaller SCCA formula race car, and signed up for SCCA drivers schools at Road Atlanta and Rockingham. After that, I was signed off for an SCCA license, and spent about 7 years racing all over the Southeast.
One warning - be prepared to make a huge committment of time and money. If you do all your own prep work, it will take every moment of free time you have. If you want arrive and drive, it may take every cent you have.
I guess I got tired of the work, so I'm a retired club racer now, just doing autocross and DE's from now on I expect.
As for me, I grew up thinking that any production based cars were not "real" race cars. I guess I drank the Carroll Smith prepared kool-aid. So, I bought a smaller SCCA formula race car, and signed up for SCCA drivers schools at Road Atlanta and Rockingham. After that, I was signed off for an SCCA license, and spent about 7 years racing all over the Southeast.
One warning - be prepared to make a huge committment of time and money. If you do all your own prep work, it will take every moment of free time you have. If you want arrive and drive, it may take every cent you have.
I guess I got tired of the work, so I'm a retired club racer now, just doing autocross and DE's from now on I expect.
05-31-2012, 01:21 AM
#64
GT3 player par excellence
Lifetime Rennlist
Member
Lifetime Rennlist
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One more thing that I touched on in the other thread, but will repeat here so folks don't need to find it :-)
I believe that a strong desire for continuous self-improvement is a key requirement. I've set a number of track records, and been on pole a lot of times, but I've NEVER had a perfect lap. There's always one corner (or more likely three or four) that I KNOW I could do faster, my intellectual brain tells me so, but my feet and hands (controlled by the brain responsible for self-preservation :-)) just don't respond :-)
I think my real key has been this desire to improve. That's what gets me to drive in series with strong competition. I stopped running local events because I wasn't being pushed consistently. Winning is great, but winning without having to work my butt off the entire weekend to earn it, just isn't satisfying to me.
I'm not driving the local Memorial Day double weekend, because I lapped the field last year, and though it's fun winning in front of my home crowd, it's not worth the effort as I won't learn much. It's also a dangerous track (IMHO) with a lot of mixed cars on track, and I didn't enjoy having to go two wheels into the grass at 130mph because a group of Miatas decided to pop out three wide on entry to a corner, when I was two car lengths back and closing at 40+mph. When I talked to the driver who I had to go off-track to avoid, his reply was "you're no faster than us through the corners, you can just wait until we go up the hill after turn 6 to pass us". What?!?? You're in a Miata on street tires, I've got slicks and downforce and a proper race suspension, and I'm not faster in the corners? That's why I passed you on the outside of 5A the LAST time I lapped you? :-) He also didn't seem to get the concept of 'closing speed', and that a car doing 130 can't instantaneously slow down 40mph, and that he was lucky his rear bumper didn't end up going through his spine. Ok, sorry, I'll calm down now. I guess I could learn something if I ran the weekend, high speed avoidance techniques of drivers who clearly don't have a well-expressed self-preservation gene :-)
I believe that a strong desire for continuous self-improvement is a key requirement. I've set a number of track records, and been on pole a lot of times, but I've NEVER had a perfect lap. There's always one corner (or more likely three or four) that I KNOW I could do faster, my intellectual brain tells me so, but my feet and hands (controlled by the brain responsible for self-preservation :-)) just don't respond :-)
I think my real key has been this desire to improve. That's what gets me to drive in series with strong competition. I stopped running local events because I wasn't being pushed consistently. Winning is great, but winning without having to work my butt off the entire weekend to earn it, just isn't satisfying to me.
I'm not driving the local Memorial Day double weekend, because I lapped the field last year, and though it's fun winning in front of my home crowd, it's not worth the effort as I won't learn much. It's also a dangerous track (IMHO) with a lot of mixed cars on track, and I didn't enjoy having to go two wheels into the grass at 130mph because a group of Miatas decided to pop out three wide on entry to a corner, when I was two car lengths back and closing at 40+mph. When I talked to the driver who I had to go off-track to avoid, his reply was "you're no faster than us through the corners, you can just wait until we go up the hill after turn 6 to pass us". What?!?? You're in a Miata on street tires, I've got slicks and downforce and a proper race suspension, and I'm not faster in the corners? That's why I passed you on the outside of 5A the LAST time I lapped you? :-) He also didn't seem to get the concept of 'closing speed', and that a car doing 130 can't instantaneously slow down 40mph, and that he was lucky his rear bumper didn't end up going through his spine. Ok, sorry, I'll calm down now. I guess I could learn something if I ran the weekend, high speed avoidance techniques of drivers who clearly don't have a well-expressed self-preservation gene :-)
