Natural driving aptitude... what is it at the core?

One of the single most important skills is a sense of speed, so that you can reliably and repeatedly slow just enough to make the turn. But there is so much more, some of which cannot even be articulately explained (a know-it-when-you-see-it thing).

 

1-balls. Need to be fearless at speed
2-that feeling like you know what the car is going to do before it does it and you don't even think you just naturally correct or adjust.

 

I remember there being a study that looked at pilots/race car drivers and one of the skills they found both shared was the ability to judge closing/moving speeds of other objects/cars around them. This helps them judge passing/landing much more naturally.

It's kind of like diagnostic radiology, you can be the smartest guy in the room, but if you don't have a talent for pattern recognition and detail you probably aren't going to be as good as others who are.

 

At least it wasn't downhill!
Where do confidence and experience fit in the list of responses?

 

In my opinion, FAR greater than "balls..."

 

vision and confidence.
I have experience....in my case, all that means is that I've practiced being slow.

 

Natural talent & seat time

 

I've been karting for fun locally, Sacramento, at K1 and then moved into gas karts at Go Kart Racer. I definitely agree that having vision and confidence is key. When you listed vision, it makes me think on how I'm going to pass the car/kart in front of me at the third turn later in the track.

It's also important to have a feel for what the car/kart is doing and what it is going to do. In some races, I can actually feel the tires on the cusp of their grip during turn-in and the exit, which is just a feeling that you can't describe. It's almost like riding a on rails, but doing this consistently is TOUGH!

 

I didn't know we were friends!

Its very difficult to find a car that's kneeable these days. Steering is too loose and assisted. My wife was mesmerized the first time she watched me on the phone smoking a cig shifting with my elbows and steering with my knees.

 

I've finally met my driving twin. I have a wonderful single lane road on my way home 35mph limit with every section you could want...uphill esses, tight right handler before a half mile straight followed by a tight left then a off camber right then left esses and another quick straight. Sunday mornings .

I used to get tickets but then 90% of my friends became cops.

Nobody pays attention. Big sign that says left lane closed in 1 mile, half mile, quarter mile.... yet i watched people hit the cones. Do you look at people's reflections in their side view mirror to see their face and automatically know when they're going to change lanes? Or look them in the eye 100 ft in front of you saying out loud don't do it....then they cut you off anyway.

I have 2 accidents on record at the exact same spot doing the exact same thing...checking out a cute chick at Hess and not braking enough within 2 weeks of each other.

 

It's simple:

You are either fast or you are not. Worrying about why if you are not is a waste of time (as you will never be fast) and and if you are then why isn't really important to you.

As Niki Lauda said years ago. Why do you need a chart showing you the line around the track? Why do you need someone to show you the line? Either you know the line or you don't.

Racing is the most Zen like of sports. Either do or do not -there is no maybe.

Now I am talking about people who want to do this as a pro. For the rest of us wankers. (And we are all wankers if we do it for fun-including me!-And I drive a bit!) then yes-seat time, training, coaches will all help. But none of that stuff will put you in the top 1% or .1% of drivers.

Years ago I was driving around Mugello with Tom Kristensen in his Audi estate car. Wanted to show me corner by corner what was happening with his R8 LMP car. We went thru one set of complex corners and he said-no-that was not right. So he put car in reverse and drove backwards around the track in his estate wagon faster than I could have gone fwd in the same car. It was "another world". I could not preceive how or what he was doing. And I am an SCCA "Rookie Driver of the Year" recipient. (Not runoffs rookie). So-I am not "bad". Just I am not "good" or "good enough".
When teaching at Skip Barbers years ago we use to write on our notebooks "OSB".
Meant "Other Sports Beckon".

You can analyze to death what you need to be fast. My point is I don't think you can learn that bit. You can learn all around that-but you either have or you don't. And nothing any of us can do to change that.

 

I think that's correct...you either have it or you don't. most of us don't

that's why you see some guys progress very rapidly through the ranks from karting to top series racing...they have it, and don't need to spend 5-10 years working the ladder.

I do think that it's a different story for racecraft though...that can be learned, or in some cases never learned even for guys that have the raw speed.

 

I think a lot of "it" is feel, knowing how much grip is available, how much the car can slide, when the car is at the limit vs. right below or above the limit, etc. that's something that is tough to discover, but some people just know.

 

I disagree to some extent. I've seen many wankers get coached and get really fast. Now I agree that the best of the best get there with natural talent, but I think anyone really motivated and diligent can get very, very close to a talented pro. Now perhaps they are just developing talent, but I think that talent is rarely if ever enough by itself.

 

actually that might be a better analogy than sports...

I can play a guitar all day, every day and never be as good as Clapton was the first time he picked it up. others might get closer to his level after similar efforts. but to have that natural virtuoso ability is rare. so I agree with Keith that you can practice and refine your ability to be close to a true pro, but your learning curve will look completely different.

 

1. Vision
2. Sense of balance
3. Reaction speed
1A. Risk taker
2A. Personal retraint
3A. Intellect

 

i have worked with many many talented drivers. And all i can say is the really great ones are as removed from the skills of even the best of the rest as too be almost beyond understanding.

They truly are different from you and I . i once had the priviledge of being at a test with Ayrton Senna. And then flying over Atlantic with him. The things that stood out were:

1.) Pick any lap he did in test-ask him to close his eyes and drive it with us engineers in the office, explaining it. He would do that with eyes close. And he would be with a couple tenths a lap in his seat lap to the real lap.

2.) As he would explain a lap he would tell us what level of grip he felt under braking, what percentage changed to lateral grip as he turned the steering wheel, and when it would go back to longitudinal grip as he got on the gas. Note-not g force but actual % tire grip in lat or long mode. And then he would compare it to a test tire he had tried out 2 days before-remembering the product code for that tire.

As I said-There is or there is not. There is no maybe. You can come close but only just so close. And that difference is what makes them pros and you and me not.

 

Good for you. I always wanted to meet him. His abilities were superhuman.

But true like every other sport, the top .1% succeed. Some can be trained, others just have it.