Dr911

Being a DE student who progressed s l o w l y has been mostly easy with an instructor. But now, more often than not, I'm solo at DEs.

I've come up with a self-curriculum plan for how to approach a new track, and a method for learning at more familiar tracks but (lacking experience) would like to seek input from the collective wisdom of RL for things I might do well to try.

One thing I find is I always misjudge the topographical changes on track just from videos...Can't really figure a way to build that in apart from a track walk.

Heres what I do:

1. Learn the track ahead of time-
a: watching in-car vids
b: aerial maps and crib notes
c: asking a friend to walk thru w me
d: snag a track walk if possible

2. Trying to see if there are turns I know from familiar tracks that are similar and use that info in how to approach it

3. Taking notes after each session using a track outline map

4. Asking an instructor to ride w me about 1/2 thru the DE: take notes on what they say

5. Recording at least one in-car session each day, and sharing it with (honest but non-snarky ) friends to get feedback

6. Try to go back within 2 months to same track

Any pearls of wisdom?
Any non-pearly words of advice?
Any wise guys....? (meet me outside)

Veloce Raptor

Ask to ride with an instructor as early as possible the first morning.

ProCoach

Yep. Good plan.

TXE36

I agree strongly with VR, get an instructor early on the first day. With any luck you will get a few things to work on and get a check that you haven't picked up bad habits. The last thing you want to do is find out all the stuff you were doing wrong during the last session (ask me how I know).

I don't know about your region, but I found that once into Yellow I had to be pretty aggressive about getting instruction as there simply is not the one to one instructor to student ratio that the lower run groups have. Try to arrange that early session via email before the event. Think squeaky wheel.

Record *all* of the sessions. You never know when something interesting will happen. A 32 GB SD card is enough for a two day weekend. A big 3 day event may need another 16 GB SD card for the third day. The SD cards are cheap and you don't have to keep the video afterwards nor do anything more than turn the camera on during the weekend.

-Mike

ProCoach

Vet instructors before you ride with one. Some are better than others. You'll hear a few names mentioned frequently in every chapter, every organization. Use that information to help you.

Agreed. Record everything. You never know when "FB" (Flowing Brilliance, courtesy Bruce MacInnes) will strike and you want to relive and examine that to repeat it!

Veloce Raptor

Yes, some instructors are better than others as instructors, and some are better than others as drivers. And both groups don't always coincide! That said, getting a ride with any of them IMO will give someone new to the track a relatively safe way to see the track first hand...before they drive it themselves.

LuigiVampa

You can also follow someone who is a more experienced driver.

hf1

Get an AiM Solo. Excellent tool for working a track, especially with its +/- predictive mode where it gives you instant feedback, in real time, on how you're doing as you go around the track. Experiment with lines, braking points/techniques, throttle application places/techniques, etc. and watch the Solo's verdict right then and there. I feel blind without one.

In order to feel comfortable doing the above explorations you must first be comfortable straddling the grip limits of your car. Without car control skills you will be banishing yourself to the area below 8-9/10 of available grip and will not be comfortable exploring (finding, overshooting, and recovering from) 10/10. Neither the Solo nor an instructor can help you advance while you're in this predicament.

Learning car control and getting the Solo were the two largest quantum leaps in my learning process by far.

ProCoach

God, I LOVE this...

mglobe

LSR has a team of advanced instructors who ride only with the two top run groups. We try to make sure we get in the right seat of every student at least once. We also have a team of coaches that are assigned to specific students and commit to three sessions in-car for the weekend.

If you are in a region that doesn't have that type of program figure out who the instructors are that work best for you, and get them in the car with you.

TXE36

I can make an additional comment about this. One of the tricks of COTA is to realize most of the corners that look like they are 90 degrees on the track are in fact much more than that. If you think they are 90, and approach them that way, that's called an early apex with all the fun that goes with it. Once I dug the folded up and sweaty track map out of my pocket and actually l@@Ked at it, it was bloody obvious and my lap times plummeted.

I know, I know, I should have done it from the start. On some stuff I can be pretty brilliant , but other times I can be pretty derpy and stubborn .

Improving your skills at a known track also helps. If you have good vision and feel for the car, it's not really that hard to figure out a new track - just do what makes the car happy .

-Mike

RallyeChris

I have found that many of my students make big jumps after riding in my passenger seat for a session - typically the second session of a 2 day event. I do my best to instruct them leading up to the ride-along, but everything usually comes-together after seeing/feeling/being part of what I have been instructing.

Any data is also great. I used to use a tape-media cam-corder to record my sessions. Actual data systems were thousands of dollars, now you just need an iphone and $30 Harry's for decent data. Review everything you recorded during the event and see where/why/how you made mistakes or triumphs.

I also like to ride with other instructors/racers from time to time and see how they try things. Sometimes a different approach to a corner works for you, sometimes it doesn't. Being stagnant doesn't get you anywhere, so don't be afraid to try new things on-track.

Bill Lehman

I'm a veteran PCA Instructor and have frequently been asked to ride with a "Solo" student. I like to do this and almost always find some lap time. I suggest, as others have, you seek out Instructors to ride with.

winders

Are students being taught how to go around the corners of a specific race track or are they being taught how to figure out what the limits of a corner are in their car?

I ask this because often I see people that seem quite competent at a track they know well yet look like rank novices when they get to a new track. I don't mean just in regards to the line. They have no idea how fast to go and take a long time to figure it out. It seems at the tracks they know, they have some memory of how fast they should go around a corner without knowing how to tell what the actual limit of their car is. So they look reasonably competent on the tracks they know and almost clueless on the tracks that are new.

Teaching people how fast they can go around a corner without giving them the tools to figure it out on their own seems a disservice to me.

Veloce Raptor

Scott, it's the former, generally, and it's good for my business because I focus on making them better, faster drivers regardless of the track.