First Things First

This article will take a high level view of driver improvement with an eye toward the beginning racer and/or anyone interested in making incremental improvements next season.  There are many books and articles on the subject so I won’t attempt to rewrite them here.  What I will do is try to provide you with some nuggets of gold that have helped me achieve my racing goals over the past 3 seasons.

Before we dig into the details I’m going to assume that you have a safe and reasonably well prepared car.  If you’re not sure what that means, please take the time to research these subjects.  There are lots of books and articles out there.  You’re fellow racers are a good source of information too.

A word of advice, don’t worry about the ‘go fast’ goodies until you can look at yourself in the mirror and say in all honesty that you’ve exhausted your driver improvement opportunities.  The time will come when you will want to focus on things like horsepower and torque but take it from someone who’s been there you only need to look as far as the guy/gal in the driver’s suit to find the investment with the biggest return.

Becoming a Better Driver

For most if not all of us I think it’s a safe bet that our number one goal is to have fun.  But, whether you’re a seasoned veteran or just getting started what comes next is critical for our on-track safety and our continued improvement as racers.  With any endeavor there are usually a few key areas where we need to focus our attention, especially in the beginning.  As I’ve mentioned before much has been written on the subject but what I share here are some areas that have proven instrumental in my personal improvement:

1. Car Control
2. Car Prep
3. Race Craft
4. Going Faster

Aside for bringing a safe car to the track I believe the single most important thing you can focus on is car control.  More on car control later.

The Plan

When I show up to the track without a plan I definitely still have fun but I have rarely improved.  A couple of basic planning tools that have served me well in achieving my goals include:

1. Plan to work on at least 1 one thing every time you go out.  Car control techniques are good candidates for those of us still working to perfect this aspect of our driving.

2. Take notes (mental and written) and reflect on everything you experience on track.

3. Compare notes with other drivers, your crew, instructors, etc.  Basically, anyone and everyone that can provide different perspectives on your own experiences.

4. Use video.  Video combined with the items above will help you zero in on the things you did right and as important--the things you still need to work on.

The Approach

There are 2 key components I’ve used in defining my approach to improving as a driver--they are consistency and awareness.  While both are tools that we can use to become better drivers they require development and refinement.  That is, I had to learn what these things meant to driver improvement and I have spent the past 3 seasons furthering my understanding of how to develop and apply them.

Consistency is often used as a way to describe how we performed while on track.  Here I’m using the word to describe the approach you should take when preparing for any on track session.  A consistent approach to planning will help you reap greater rewards from your efforts.  A consistent approach to car prep will yield a better foundation to assess whether you are improving.  Improvement can be measured by fewer spins, faster lap times, etc.

Awareness is another tool that needs to be developed and applied.  Certainly awareness can be applied in the broadest sense to our on-going learning experience.  However, here I want to narrowly focus us on its use while on track practicing car control.

No matter how long you’ve been racing there’s always something new to be learned if you’re paying attention (i.e. awareness).  It helps if you know what to look for and have a plan to capitalize on your findings.  Your findings should obviously include the things you’ve explicitly planned to measure.  However, every time on-track presents a new set of circumstances that might result in a new finding.  For example, your car started pushing in T7 last session.  You’ve been on track numerous times today without that happen, why did it start now?

Car Control

So once you’ve completed the required driver education sessions and have your license, what do you do next?  As mentioned earlier, the one area that I believe to be the foundation to any success I’ve had over the past 3 seasons is car control. 

Car control encompasses many dimensions of driver and car.  Here I’ll focus on a couple of things you should consider practicing every time you go out.  Track days and race weekend practice sessions are a particularly good time to work on these.

1. Look Into Your Future.  I honestly don’t know who first used this phrase on me but it means to look as far ahead (down track, through corners, etc) as possible.  This concept will have been introduced to you during your initial driver training process.  However, I speak from experience when I say it is one of the harder things for a new driver to execute consistently.  Developing this skill, among other things, will maximize your ability to react to incidents occurring in front of you (i.e. did you see that yellow flag?).  It also aids in your ability to keep/get your car pointed in the right direction. You will have undoubtedly heard the phrase ‘look where you want to go’ too.  It’s very uncomfortable doing this especially if you are starting to spin but trust me…it works.
2. Be Aware of Your Surroundings.  This means to be aware of the other cars around you at all times…this requires a constant and consistent use of mirrors, peripheral vision, and often what seems like a 6^th sense.  The safety benefits of this are hopefully obvious (e.g. you avoid turning in on one of your fellow racers).  But let me tell you, once you begin to perfect this skill (along with your car control) the fun can really begin.  If your goal was to race ‘wheel to wheel’ this skill is the one of the key ingredients in allowing you to realize that goal.

The Car Control Laboratory

First, practice what your instructors have imparted on you every time (and I do mean every time) on track.  Second, find a way to safely ‘push the envelope’.  I don’t mean going faster; I mean push the envelope of car control so you can practice at or near the limits of your ability.  Think about it.  The whole point of driver training is to teach you how to stay on track.  But, the reality is that you will eventually find yourself in a situation that you’ve likely not experienced before…e.g. a hard push on entry or some tail happy over steer at mid-corner.  Do you know what to do?  Will you react quickly enough to ‘save it’?  Could you have sensed the situation and prevented or minimized it in the first place?

While every time on track presents an opportunity to practice car control there is one other ‘laboratory’ to consider…the skid car.  For new racers this will have some of the biggest return on investment compared to other places you could spend your money.  For veterans, I think you’d be surprised what you might learn or remember.  As your fellow racer, this where I want you to have your first experience with recognizing and correcting the infamous ‘push’ or ‘over steer’.   Think of it as your own private laboratory where the experiments are controlled and no drivers or cars get hurt in the process.

Final Thoughts

The responsibility rests with all of us to constantly strive to improve our car control.  With dedication to this purpose you will achieve an ever increasing degree of safety that helps keep racing a positive experience for you and everyone around you.  And, last but not least your improvements will build the foundation for the next stages….race craft and going faster.

Editor’s Note: