Question for Instructors

When you compare yourself to others, it's always a bit of a moving target and not necessarily a fair assessment of your skills. Are you comparing yourself to Scott Pruett or just some guys who look quick at track days?

What you can do is develop and implement a few strategies to help you learn new tracks as quickly as possible.

First, you have to consider how you've wired your brain for on-track driving. How are your visual habits? How do you spot your braking points? How do you determine the limits of adhesion? Are you honestly willing to find your car's limits? These are just some of the questions you can ask yourself. All of your fundamental habits have a direct impact on your ability to learn a new track.

Second, what is your approach to new tracks? Do you just show up and wing it? Or do you study quality in-car videos, run laps on your simulator, talk to pros, etc.?

It's time to assess where you are in order to formulate a plan to get you where you want to be.

 

Exceptional post.

To the OP, congrats for asking great questions and it sound like you're headed in the right direction.

I think it IS a matter of confidence and experience, both. Confidence to trust your skills both in analysis, sensory-input-gathering and car control as well as experience to identify and put into place successful strategies identifying and assembling key combinations of corners. It helps to be very sympatico with the car, too! Good luck, you can get there.

 

I'm not an instructor but what works for me is to "look out then look in." When I first go out I'm not looking at the track I'm looking away from the track. Part of my recon is where are the corner workers, where are the runoff areas, if I go there where can I reenter the track, where can I take a chance, where should I be conservative, where can you drive offline then drive it, where can I box cars in, where will I have to drag race, where is it 2 wide where is it 3 wide. As laps go by I look toward the racing or time trial line. The last thing I look at are the nuances of the "line" like breaks in the concrete, a drain grate, curbing etc... I work one corner at a time in order of importance to laptime but I'll sacrifice that for a turn that is a good passing zone or pinch point. Then with all this planning the race starts and I forget everything.

 

I would agree with B-mak watch videos of the track on www.youtube.com and www.Streetfire.com . Go buy a simulator or video game like GTR2 for $20 at best buy. Then download just about any track out there:

http://www.nogripracing.com/files.php?subcat=46

Even buy forza 3 or gran turismo. No video game is going to be perfect but at least it will give you an idea of the track.

Also have a good Instructor go out with you someone who knows the track. There are secrets to just about every track and you have no way of knowing them without someone who knows that particular track.

Another thing would be to read Speed Secrets. One of the things Speed Secrets taught me was to keep a journal of track days, times, notes for every corner, etc. You might not be fast your first day at a new track but this will sure help you your second.

 

More good advice, but I think keeping a journal and making entries after EACH RUN helps accelerate the curve by notating where you feel comfortable and to work through areas of difficulty.

I do get a lot of individual work at VIR, not because there are "secrets," but because I can save drivers so much "pound around" time by equipping them with the knowledge and nuances to go quickly at a relatively complex track. I recommend the use of simulators, but with an experienced instructor or coach to guide you. The fidelity of the tracks are important, which is why I recommend different sims for different tracks. iRacing, FM3 and GT4 are all good to great, some in GTR2 and rFactor are ok but many are not.

 

And that will be the best money you have ever spent. More than brakes, more than tires, more than track day fees...

 

I've found that until drivers are on-track SO often that they can push the mechanics of driving the car towards a subconscious level or by rote, that saturation is reached pretty easily and it all becomes mush! I would say that the personal note debriefing is extremely valuable for going back over the session while it is fresh in your mind and identify ONE, TWO or a maximum of THREE things to focus on for the next session.

The more drivers I work with, the more it is apparent that by re-focusing on just a few basic, fundamental tenets, great strides can be made. Especially when coupled with some significant experience they've already accumulated. An observation, then an evaluation leading to re-direction and re-dedication, if you will. Good luck!

 

It comes with experience, firstly because after you drive enough tracks, you won't encounter anything new anymore (or more accurately, new corners or combinations are minor variations of what you've seen and you adapt instantly), secondly because you learn-to-learn and develop the single minded focus that allows you to memorize the track quickly, and thirdly because with time all your car-control inputs are now second nature and not consuming any of your real-time processor power, so you can focus exclusively on the track.

I wish this was first hand experience, but it's observation, mostly watching the 10 year karting career of my son and his peers.



Bonus observation: Today's young drivers are also making use of simulators more and more, either live for speed or iRacing. Now when they show up at a new track they don't even need to think about the map at all, simply focus on nuances like variations in pavement grip or camber. This is all huge competitive advantage: time not spent learning the track is time that can be focused on refining the setup. Unlike track days, race weekends afford very little track time, often it's practice session, qualify, race.

PPS: just read the whole thread; apologies, this is kind of a redundant post on the tail of lots of excellent observations!

 

Hey, OT but did you ever get an S2?

 

Great advice by you guys.. so HOW the hell do I keep my right leg from violently shaking JUST after I have tested the limits of my car on the track!!!

 

Hah! That's factory!

 

Peter,

Do you train/coach on a static simulator or tactile/motion feedback simulator?

-Chris

 

Chris, I use a triple screen (Eyefinity) Fanatec Rennsport static simulator, but I'm not married to it!

I use a licensed demo/tradeshow version of iRacing as well as the Power and Glory mod for GTR2, GTL and GTR2. I use some rFactor mods. Very effective for what I'm doing and staying pretty busy with drivers in the off season and even now. Mike Bonds is working HARD to place a Blue Tiger demo platform with me but I'm not sold on it yet.

Across the street from my building, my clients and I have scheduling privileges to one and soon two Cruden/Moog platforms (Red Bull/Ferrari/Williams F1 hardware, as you know) with Racer but the software is crap and and the motion calibration makes most folks sick.

Would like to follow up with you on CXC MotionPro. My prospect in LA uses his coach out there's SimCraft, but he's not impressed...

 

Interesting, You have quite a bit of experience in this industry!

I'd love to get your client in our simulator anytime. Have him contact us anytime.

-Chris