The #1 On-track Adjustment for Driver Improvement is...?
#41
Posted 01-06-2011 01:43 PM
You need to understand both mentally and PHYSICALLY what your car is capable of. This means first of all putting a hot shoe in your car with data acquisition. They will be a lot faster. So now, mentally, you know what you are doing differently (by looking at the data). Now strap a passenger seat in your car and run a few laps shotgun. Now your brain no longer says "OK I know he goes through here 5mph faster but that's impossible" it says "oh no we're going to die, oh hey look he did it." Don't under-estimate the power of that. Your body and mind both need to be in sync. You can't force yourself to go fast it has to happen naturally. If you think you're going to die you are tense and cannot perform properly so you will not be able to go as fast as the relaxed guy.
And as far as the "scare yourself" part that's substituting bravado for brains/skill. That gets you hurt and in the wall. In all my years racing I have only been scared twice. You should never, ever take such a big bite into the unknown that the consequences are in the tires or crashing. When you are attempting to go faster in the turn it should be 1mph here, 3 feet later braking there. If you do that the consequence will be simply that you have to brake for longer, can't get to the gas early enough, you lose 1mph exit speed etc. You don't want to go flying off into the weeds just to prove that you can't go that fast into the corner. That doesn't teach anything other than how to crap your pants in a hurry.
- dstevens, TEAM MEDICARE and James York like this
#42
Posted 01-06-2011 02:41 PM
I did an oval school for the Hooters Pro Cup just as I was geting into road racing. That greatly helped my road racing corner speed. I was having trouble overcoming the speed needed to carry through the corners at Lakeland (same shape as Martinsville - the paperclip). The instructors helped me to break my fear by helping me to focus on one thing at a time (as I mentioned in my previous posts for road racing). I wasn't allowed to use brakes in the lead follow sessions. We had communication so the instructor could talk to me during the run. At first, he said to lift at the flag stand and coast into the corner. We did this for 5 or so laps and if I could keep the car down on the line, he would then have me move further down the straight with no brakes. If I could hold the inside line for 5 laps or so, he moved it down a little further. Before that run, I just could not visualize how the fast cars were getting through there so quickly. After that session and only slowing from 110 mph to to like 70 something, I was really getting a feel for what the car could do and what that speed felt like. I ended the weekend with the second fastest times, but liked road racing better, so here I am.
#43
Posted 01-06-2011 03:08 PM
Great post about riding along with someone experienced so that you can see and feel the speed.
I did an oval school for the Hooters Pro Cup just as I was geting into road racing. That greatly helped my road racing corner speed. I was having trouble overcoming the speed needed to carry through the corners at Lakeland (same shape as Martinsville - the paperclip). I ended the weekend with the second fastest times, but liked road racing better, so here I am.
Keith is speaking the truth here. Last year I was instructing a new racer and she was clearly reluctant to take the car anywhere near it's cornering limit. After three sessions, I realized she had no basis for judging where the line was. I then took her out in her car during an instructor session and ran laps at 9/10 (versus her ~7/10ths cycles).
The result in the next session was astonishing. She reduced her laps time by more than five seconds right out of the box! Sometimes you just have to learn what the car can do.
Rick
2009, 2010 & 2011 SCCA Great Lakes Div. Reg. SM Champ
2006, 2009, 2010 & 2011 Cincy SCCA Reg. Driver of the year
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#44
Posted 01-06-2011 09:02 PM
The first thing it showed me, is that the car with me driving it was capable of hitting some pretty impressive G-forces, so despite having a heavier car, it wasn't the car's capability that was the reason some people could tear ass around me in corners. My peak G's were high but I was only near the limit for little bits of the corners so if I could figure out how to drive the corner and spend more time near the limit, it would definately be faster.
The second thing it showed me, is that differences I'm making actually each add up to much more time than I thought. You're going to be experimenting and even when you learn something that's faster, you won't do it right every time. You look at the time differential for segments of the course and you realize there's a lot of time scattered all over the course. Some corners more than others but in the learning phase, if you say that on average there's a 10th to be gained or lost on each corner, then multiply by 12 corners, there's a lot of time just in little things here and there. You see really fast peoples' data and see that they are far more consistent over the whole course and their little mistakes are much less than 10ths.
This, for the beginning driver is actually a bonus. You know that you are 100% capable of driving at your own limits and set times much faster than you've ever driven. You also know you don't drive around the course the fastest way possible and still have plenty of room to learn to drive faster. You don't need data for that, but it puts it right in your face.
You can look at it as, "Look at all the screw ups I make on the track that slow me down!" Or...you can look at it as, "If I dial this in a bit, I have something to work with here and I'll be racing with a group of people a bit closer to the front."
#45
Posted 01-08-2011 05:38 PM
Working to call myself a GT driver.
#46
Posted 01-08-2011 07:51 PM
Would learning this be considered a "driver improvement" in your opinion? Thanks!
Ron
RAmotorsports
#47
Posted 01-09-2011 12:37 AM
Totally, I do it whenever I can, but I think that a background in karts has really developed my left foot. To me, I think that it does have maybe 1-2/10ths a lap, but I just have confidence with my left foot when going deep like for a pass or something like that. And you can be faster on and off the gas/brake. But thats just my 2cents.Quick question to those guys who are consistently in the top 5 were ever you may call home. How many of you utilize left foot braking when possible?? Whether you do or don't can you elaborate on why or why not this is a good or bad idea...or maybe it's neither but just a preference?
Would learning this be considered a "driver improvement" in your opinion? Thanks!
Working to call myself a GT driver.
#48
Posted 01-09-2011 03:15 PM
Regardless of driver preference for left foot braking (karters grew up with it so feel good with it while most of us had to learn), in my view the reasons for it are:
1. Speed from brake to gas. There are typically only a few corners that reward/demand truncation of this transition and some corners may actualy benefit from a pause between braking and throttle.
2. Ability to seamlessly modulate from braking to acceleration. This, when done well, can ensure no sudden dynamic shifts in tire load, thus the ability to run closer to maximum adhesion. I love to watch in car footage of Jenson Button drive as he is absolutely magical in this regard. To a large extent seamless modulation can be done with good right foot technique but can never theoretically match left foot braking.
3. Ability to adjust car attitude mid corner by overlapping interplay of brake and throttle. This is arguably the most important reason to use left foot braking and only certain corners require or reward this technique. The back stretch of Heartland has a kink which rewards this - Foss used it to good effect in 2008 Runnoffs. I just spent yesterday racing Legends cars at a road course and pretty much the only way to competitively race these overpowered short wheel based cars around the corner without spinning is to modulate brakes and throttle using left foot braking.
The difficulties of left foot braking are numerous, including (1) getting confused in the pressure of a race and missing the brake pedal - always interesting, (2) developing the muscle sensitivity of left foot to properly modulate - I remember Heartland 2008 when I slightly misjudged pressure and the car instantly rotated and I slid backward past the corner station at 70mph as they applauded and I wondered where the wall was, (3) remembering which corners are left foot corners, ie. No gear change, in the heat of the race. But then these may be simply reflections of my inadequacies that other consistent top 5 finishers never experience.... Nevertheless I use left foot braking when the corner demands.
My advice to anyone learning to left foot brake is to practice on your daily driver (assuming you have an automatic) until you can be really smooth, drive that way without concious thought and not over brake. Don't learn in heavy traffic unless you want to test your insurance coverage. Took me about 6 months of daily driving and I am still not natural at it.
Craig J
#49
Posted 01-10-2011 02:21 AM
It seems that karters and formula car guys learn the technique. It takes getting used to.
#50
Posted 01-10-2011 12:22 PM
#51
Posted 01-10-2011 10:08 PM
Why would you use any other foot than the left to brake?...
It seems that karters and formula car guys learn the technique. It takes getting used to.
Easy to always left foot brake with sequential gearing - but left foot braking while heel and toe downshifting a stick shift presumably requires growing a 3rd leg or some technique I have not yet discovered. Please do tell...
Craig J
#52
Posted 01-10-2011 11:54 PM
I guess depending on your background this will be natural or take a lot of practice. I'll never forget years ago when my buddies grandfather drove us around in his automatic Delta 88...he never understood why people were always honking at him...he was a left foot braker who's foot never came of the pedal! He went through several sets of brake light bulbs
Ron
RAmotorsports
#53
Posted 01-11-2011 07:09 AM
#54
Posted 01-11-2011 12:20 PM
#55
Posted 01-11-2011 01:16 PM
Easy to always left foot brake with sequential gearing - but left foot braking while heel and toe downshifting a stick shift presumably requires growing a 3rd leg or some technique I have not yet discovered. Please do tell..
It requires practice. The next time there is a stock car road race on TV, Cup or NNWS watch the foot cams. Said is the master as is Ambrose, Fellows and the other road racers. It's a dance and you don't do it every time, only when necessary. Sometimes heel/toe, sometimes left foot.
What I'm doing in this car is arranging the pedal pads to better accommodate left foot and heel toe. The brake pad is like a tee, reaching closer to the throttle and more off the left of the pedal for when left foot is more appropriate. The clutch pad is moved so it hangs all the way off to the left, allowing a couple more inches clearance to get the left foot in. When I remount the pedal assemblies I'll post some shots on the blog.
#56
Posted 01-11-2011 08:02 PM
#57
Posted 01-13-2011 08:09 PM
2011 National points champion!
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#58
Posted 01-13-2011 09:05 PM
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