The one thing you learned/did that made you faster?

Have a car with data logging, other faster drivers with the same car who share data and a very good coach. And a big budget for consummables as there is no substitute for lots of track time with the above. Without the above, track time is likely to be practicing bad habits.

Time, budget and discipline - not much different from any other sport...

 

This may be a bit unorthodox, but the one thing that dramatically improved my time, across the board (track, whatever), is learning to become a better rider. A motorcycle forces you to drive with your eyes and in proper balance. A bad line, late braking, missed apex — all of the things that are mere bobbles in a car — on a bike can often mean exiting on your backside and hopefully you're in full leathers (I've done it... more than once). And, for what it's worth, many of the greatest F1 drivers of all time: Schumi, Senna, Surtees, Ascari, Nuvolari, all were either competitive or very enthusiastic about motorcycle racing.

Aside from that, and I'm paraphrasing, "How do you get to [Monaco]? Practice, practice, practice."

 

Depends what is after the corner. Long straight yes. Series of esses, might mean getting into the turn first and fastest since the other guys cant re-pass you due to track configuration as you rebuild momentum. Agree with your think ahead!

 

Finesse - when braking, cornering and exiting.

Inertia - going through the corner

No pads underneath my seat - for better feel of what the car is doing

Data - I don't mean telemetry or PI. Break each corner into 3 sections (entry, apex and exit) and explain/analyze with the engineer/mechanic exactly what the car, and you in response, are doing.

Split times - split track into sections for adjustments and testing

Look straight - Even if defending a position. Don't bother with the other cars and look back/use mirrors as little as possible.

 

This is a fantastic thread; thank you everyone.

 

Ditto! Thanks!

I'll never turn pro, but I want to learn to be a better, faster (and safer) driver. I did one session in Skip Barber's High Performance Driving School, and I think it made a night and day difference in how I handle my car both on and off the track. I'll be back next month for the Intro To Racing, and can't wait.

See you on the track, and thanks all once again for sharing your experience!

 

Lots of great stuff here and instead of ditto'ing...

Mechanical grip is king, THEN use aero adjustments (for those of us with winged cars).

Smoother is faster.

 

Well in keeping with the theme of the original posters question...the one single thing I learned was to look ahead into the turns

When I instructed for NASA the single thing people would consistantly do wrong was not keep their eyes up and look ahead..and so the one single most importand thing I learned was also the one single most important thing I also taught

 

Back in 1986 I rode with Dorsey Schrader in a BMW M5 at TWS in College Station, Texas. He let me take a couple of laps around the road course while he observed. He watched my braking and exits. He helped me understand that being completed braked prior to putting in any steering input at the entrance of the corner and rolling, not jabbing, rolling the throttle back on evenly brought on much higher exit speeds with much better control and less wheelspin. I could drive deeper into the corner and have much better control coming out at much higher speeds.

 

The 2 things that made a drastic improvement in my driving were (not in any order)

1. A half-day car control clinic. Being on the skidpad/autocross where you are constantly working the car and learning about under/oversteer and correction is just an amazing experience. It's not so much about the car control itself (although that is of course very important), but for me more about gaining the confidence that I can push the car to 11/10ths and get it back.

2. Having a serious off and realizing it wasn't a big deal.

 

I race karts at our local track (Grand Prix New York in N.Y., www.gpny.com), and I've learned that either:

A) Following behind a faster driver or..
B) Driving in front of a faster driver will allow you to hold your line better and it will boost your confidence tremendously. I went into racing a little less than a year ago without any on-track teaching, and now I'm running with the best drivers in the facility. (And moving up to different types of racing.) Also, karting has seemed to give me a good sense of speed, and how a vehicle will react at certain speeds.

 

I did the (scotch) tape thing once. For those of you who suggest looking ahead, do you have an alternative technique to the tape? When I'm driving to and from work, looking ahead is the standard because there are other people on the road. My eyes are in my mirrors, on entrance ramps, the next turn and what's in front of me - my peripheral vision is constantly working. But in the middle of the night, when no one else is around, I'm dead focused on the next apex and nothing after. I know I should be looking at the next apex before I touch the first, but I just don't. I'm so focused, and even when I had the tape I wouldn't look above it. How did those of you who had this problem overcome it?

 

practice practice practice.

one thing that might help is if you can get into the habit of talking to yourself out loud. then it's just a matter of telling yourself "look up" regularly.

obviously, coaching can help in this regard as well.

 

At night is when I prefer to drive - less people, more fun. A few years ago - back when gas was cheap! - I would sleep during the day on weekends and venture out at night. I recall driving a mile to work everyday, and putting a thousand miles on my car during the weekends. I used to lull myself into a rhythm, but I 'practiced' out of it. It seems it would be easier for me to 'look ahead' at night since there's no one else around - but alas, that's just not the case.

Coaching...! Oh, man, would I love that...! So ...who wants to ride with me to work every morning...?

Talking to myself is definitely a possibility - I talk to myself in the car anyway. I'll just have to leave a note for myself to talk to myself about looking ahead.

Thanks for the advice guys - very appreciated.

 

This has been the best thing that has ever happened to me. When I am at the track for one of our World Challenge races I am always soaking up all the information I can gather from around the paddock. I have a couple of guys I always talk to at the track that I try to find out all the info I can from. I go over to the ALMS guys that I have raced with over the years and get information from them. I soak it all up. This is what helps me to go fast.

All of this advice is some of the info I try to put together with my clients when I coach them. Most of the time I want to try to get give them every bit of information that I wish I had in my first years. Coaching helps them to learn all the info for less money and less time than it took me to experience everything I know. To them it is what has helped them to get faster more consistently at the track.

 

hey billy i think u watched me in a 360 challenge eat a few detroit big blocks at button willow a few years back!
i helped out a 348 with slowdown lite,someone told me there was a nice post about 3 360 battiling! how u doin!
sorry havent been at the tracks for 4years but have just put my 360gt lm back 2gether lets get every one to
spring mountain in pahrump and run!!

 

Seth- do you ever find that your clients are intimidated with you in the right seat, or does this go away once you get up to speed?

 

I would not say it is intimidation but I would think it is more pressure than having no one. Most of the time the first session on track is them brushing the rust off and getting used to me as co-pilot. This is usually the worst session we have together. After that it is all about learning and becoming a more consistent driver. After we start working on that they automatically become faster.

 

Two best things for me were letting an instructer wring the crap out of my car, then having me follow another instructor with me driving while he explained every detail of car control around the track. Also helping was realizing, like golf, I only have so much brain power to concentrate on a few things until I can move them to "second nature" status. After that, you pick another "thing" to work on. If you try to become a pro driver in one outing, you are going to fail. Control what you can and be realistic about your capacity to learn and natural (or lack of) abilities. Everyone can be a better drive as a result of instruction, but not everyone is going to make it as a pro. Just by virtue of the fact that you are in a class, you are better than about 99% of the drivers out there.

 

+1. I had that experience this past weekend. I was working with someone who called themselves "advanced-intermediate" because he'd been to VIR for "11 2-day weekends" but done no other tracks. That's pretty low-time compared to the average person I work with. Certainly, the lions share of the challenge was putting him at rest and making sure I stayed quiet and not a distraction. We did a LOT of debrief after the first session and the second was MUCH better. It was interesting to hear him say that he had gotten more feedback and direction in two sessions with me than in his entire track career! I told him we'd only scratched the surface and that I was the "pusher man."

What surprised him most was that he quickly realized that there was no "magic bullet," but by remaining disciplined and paying attention to being consistent, as Seth says, this methodology allowed him to cut HUGE amounts of time off just in that short time.

 

Fantastic post! The advent of data has helped a great deal. Often if people can see a particular performance level done (or possible), they can do it or come closer to it.

The biggest difference between a gifted amateur and a pro is the number of hours and the frequency of time spent behind the wheel. I'm sure Seth will agree with me when I say that while he was a very good amatuer driver when he won the ARRC in IT, he's whole worlds better after a few seasons as a professional in World Challenge.

I'd like to think it's mostly because he possesses an inquiring mind, sucking up information like a sponge and missing no opportunity to pound around the track, but I'm sure he thinks it's natural talent! <very big grin>

 

The best thing I've done to get faster (not fast, but faster) has been racing in competitive series. I cannot overstate the benefits of racing in Skippy, or Spec Miata, or Spec Racer Ford, or Pro Mazda, etc etc. Whenever you can, be on track with the best drivers you can find.

Use of data would be a close second.