Nice video David!
Maybe I'm crazy but there is a trend I've noticed recently in my videos and it seems to show up again in yours. I observed Eric Peterson possibly doing something similar when he was in the first slalom going out on Sunday. I have no idea if this is a factor in actual course times but I find it interesting nonetheless. I haven't closely observed anybody else's driving so I can't comment if this is something that most drivers exhibit but it will be interesting to see if anybody else notices it in their own driving. Even more curious and perhaps much harder to pinpoint is the thought that it may be related to our car's ergonomic layout and less a function of our driving styles.
What is it? LHB, of course! Huh? If you watch carefully, you'll notice that in any videos I've posted and the video that David posted, we seem to exhibit a strong tendency of "Left-hand bias" while driving. You're probably thinking so what? I mean, most of us naturally drive with our left hands freeing our right hands to shift, fiddle with the radio, smack around our passengers, etc. It seems that this tendency crosses over to our approach to heavy left-right/right-left transitions and if you look carefully, you'll notice that we tend to be more forceful when making a hard right transition than making a hard left transition.
As most of us tend to keep our hands in the 10-2 (or 9-3) position, it is natural and logical that we would use the opposite hand to make a hard transition, correct? In the case of a right-hand turn, we generally keep the left hand in the same spot on the wheel while the right hand is used as a guide. It would be a bit unnatural for the right hand to be doing all the work since it would have to cross under the wheel and I know I'm definitely not that flexible. The same but opposite thing happens for left hand turns.
So what's my point? Watch David's video again in the slaloms and you'll notice he is more forceful with the wheel when turning right than turning left. In Eric's case, I obviously don't have in-car video but I noticed the car moved differently during left-hand transitions than it did during right-hand transitions. When I was lined up looking directly down the first slalom, it was obvious that something was going on. It would be interesting to see an in-car video of Eric's driving to see if he is doing something similar to David and I. It's possible that David's and Eric's (well, Karl's) car have a different balance depending on which direction they are turning but I tend to doubt that is a big factor.
Does it mean anything? I have no idea!
In my case, I've noticed that when the car is moving slowly requiring a huge crank of the steering wheel to change directions, I'm much better going right than I am going left. I can't seem to get my right hand/arm to move quickly and decisively enough to match the pace of my left hand. And, for the record, I am right-handed. I do have a quirk that I swing a bat and golf club left-handed but I think that is more related to the fact that I am left-eye dominant. That's an entirely different discussion...
David and Eric, which "hand" are you guys? I really think the "trend" is more related to the fact that we drive left-hand drive cars but I'd be curious to gather as much data as possible. Has anybody else with in-car video ever noticed this? I tend to think the track guys wouldn't notice this since their inputs aren't usually near as violent as us cone-dodgers.
Another question raised is does this "trend" cross over to others that learned to drive on the opposite side of the car? Do they exhibit a strong RHB?
Thoughts?
Jim
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
OK, just kidding about the loss of data. Unfortunate about the time, but it just means I have to prove it wasn't a fluke at the next event!
- AB
- AB
