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This is a sort of a follow up to the discussion we had at the NCAC during lunch as well as some of the instruction provided during the school phase. Some people weren’t able to attend and even for those that did make it, I thought it might be helpful to summarize some of the material that was covered.

The big key here is that you need to find stuff that works for *you* and the only way to do that is to be willing to try different things and see for yourself. An event like the NCAC isn’t the best place to try new stuff so a lot of this may apply after that and for any other local events where you are trying to fine tune your approach. For “big” events like the NCAC, it’s usually best to stay within your comfort zone so you don’t have any extra distractions but only you know if you’re really capable of changing stuff on the fly.

The best thing you can do is to talk with and observe people who are “faster” than you but never discount the possibility that you can learn something from somebody that is “slower” than you. Take every opportunity you can to learn something and don’t forget that even if you are discovering things that don’t seem to work, that is a learning process as well.

While this will be a list of things that work for me personally, I still constantly re-evaluate my approach to things to see if I can further improve. I certainly don’t feel like I know everything and there are definitely plenty of people that are “faster” than me. As soon as you feel like you’ve “got it”, you can do nothing but go down hill from there. For me, the challenge and fun is improving, not the actual process of competing. That may seem a little strange at first but I honestly don’t care if I win or lose. If I come away from an event feeling like I learned something no matter how seemingly insignificant, I’m happy. As some wise person once said, “It’s the journey, not the destination”. Or something like that…

Feel free to add stuff that works for you since my approach surely isn’t for everybody.

Jim

Pre-Event Preparation:

* If you have things to do the morning of the event, do it the day before.

This includes things like packing the car, getting directions to the site, gassing up the car/tow vehicle, going to the ATM or whatever else that might come up. It makes the morning of the event so much easier if you can just hop in the car or tow vehicle and drive straight to the event. About the only thing you should have to stop for is breakfast if you don’t eat at the house or hotel.

* Get there when the gates open.

It’s always better to have to wait around a little at the site before the event instead of scrambling around at the last minute trying to change tires, get tech’d, register/check-in and do your course walks. It also usually give you a choice of pit spot so you can park as close as possible to the action. Parking close to the grid/course will save a bunch of time walking around and if you are tired and/or hot, you’ll be thankful you don’t have far to go.

Next up: Course walking.

Jim

Course walking:

* Walk early and walk often.

Start walking the course as soon as you can and take as many walks as you can stand. I’ve often found that I’ll see things differently after a couple of walks and I may wind up changing my approach to certain elements as a result. Maybe I’m dense but I rarely see the course the same after the first walk as I do after subsequent ones. This can be difficult at some longer courses such as the ones we see at Laurinburg and Sanford but it just goes to emphasize that you need to start early.

* Walk the line and pay attention.

Try to take at least one walk by yourself. I usually try to take my last course walk by myself so I can concentrate on where I want to be and when. It’s a good time to evaluate any input you may have obtained from others as well as solidifying your own game plan. During your walk, walk the same line as you would from the driver’s seat of your car. It may look goofy but you may find that your approach to certain elements changes slightly depending on your car’s width.

* Break the course down into sections.

I don’t have brain capacity to memorize every cone in the entire course so I’ll just try to remember the course as a series of sections. There are really only a few types of elements in any course and you can generally break them down into slaloms, offsets and sweepers. “Special” elements like lane changes or Chicago boxes are really just slaloms as you can ignore nearly all the cones except a few key ones. All courses can be broken down into the base elements so I’ll wind up remembering a course as follows: start, slalom, offset, slalom, sweeper, offset, finish. That is just an example but you’ll find most courses are deceptively simple once broken down to the base elements. Ignore the clutter!

* Don’t ignore the white space.

I call everything in between elements “white space”. In general, you’ll want to drive as straight as possible through the white space but never give up an opportunity to set yourself up for the next element. Sometimes this mean that you don’t have to do much but other times you’ll really have to attach the last cone of the previous element to get yourself setup for the next one. If that is the case, do it early and quickly so that you’ll have a quick opportunity for a breather while approaching the next element. For example, if a previous element has you exiting to the right and the next one has you entering to the right but is offset to the left, attack the exit of the previous element as early as possibly to set yourself up for the next one. The later you wait, the harder it becomes to get the car in position for the next element and it will cost you big if you are out of position.

* Watch out for clutter or severe elevation changes.

Look out for elements with tons of cones. You eye-line is usually much lower in the car than when you are walking so if you come up on a section that has a bunch of cone clutter, kneel down to get an idea of what you may see from the driver’s seat. This can help with the “sea of cones” effect that sometimes occurs in a busy section. It can also help when cresting a hill or with any other natural terrain feature where you may not have a clear line of sight to all the cones.

* Analyze elements “backwards”.

To me, the most important thing you do out on course is get back on the gas. I believe this applies universally to all cars regardless of horsepower, size, drivetrain layout, etc. When analyzing an element, don’t pick your braking spot first ‘cause brakes only slow you down! As far as I know, nobody ever went faster by excessive brake application. Figure out where you want to get back on the gas and try to make it as early as possible. Given your “gas spot”, figure out whatever you need to do to get the car in position and pointing the correct direction to get your foot back on the gas. If that involves using the brakes, that’s fine. If that involves just a slight lift, even better. If that involves never coming off the gas, that’s ideal! Do whatever you can do to get on the gas early and keep your foot in it!

* Make things easier on yourself and the car.

This goes hand-in-hand with using the “white space”. If a cone defines a turn, don’t drive straight at it! Give yourself room to be able to keep some of your momentum to turn around it. Driving straight at cones that define turns will always cause the exit to be pinched off and that directly leads to a huge delay in getting back on the gas as well as breaking your momentum. There is a fine line here between using up too much distance and losing momentum but you will start developing a feel for what works with experience. If you are unsure of how much space to use, less is generally better but that certainly isn’t always the case. If the turn is followed by a long acceleration zone, give yourself a few more feet at the approach to the turn to maximize your momentum on exit. We aren’t road-racing here but you’d be surprised what a difference a few feet can make on the approach.

Next up: Driving the course.

Jim

Good stuff Jim!!

This is where I have the hardest time. I sure do love to blab my mouth. Blabbing = not paying attention

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02 Focus SVT
STF 9

I vote for a sticky on this!

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One of those LeMonHeads...
91/95 Miata, 02 Focus SVT, 01 Ford F250, 09 Suzuki SV650SF
rusty 84 C4 Vette, tiny piece of the General Lei
Irish Sport Horse - 1hp NA!

Or perhaps a "tech articles" forum that isn't for discussion, but is just a place where we post the "meat" of threads like this and is otherwise locked?


--Donnie

Thanks Ryan-- I definitely appreciate the feedback!

Jim

Driving tips:

* Focus on the rear of the car, not the front of the car.

Sounds strange, huh? What does it mean? For me, it means trying to constantly run over cones with the rear tires instead of trying to turn around them with the front of the car. It’s a subtle distinction but the results are surprising. The classic scenario where this comes in handy is any slalom. Most people try to dodge the cone in front of them with the front of the car but I find that totally throws off my rhythm. Instead, I constantly try to run over the cone I’m passing with the inside rear tire and I find it gives me a much better chance at establishing a fast rhythm.

By constantly focusing on killing the cones with the rear, it makes me turn in much earlier than if I am trying to dodge the cones with the front of the car. You have to visualize the cone as you are passing it and have a decent feel of how long your car is but what you will find is that it is generally hard to actually hit them with the rear. If you do find yourself actually hitting them with the rear, all you have to do to correct it is speed up! The goal is to go faster, right? The best way to go faster is to speed up!

There is always a delay between your brain initiating the “command” to turn the car and the time it takes for your limbs to react. If you add in the delay of the actual mechanical bits of the car to react along with the dynamic change in momentum and direction required, you’ll find that it adds up in a surprisingly big way which can easily cause you to get behind in a slalom. By focusing on running over the cones with the rear of the car, you’ll find that you have to think about it much earlier than simply reacting to what you see out of the windshield. That simple change gives you a big head start on initiating each turn and, subsequently, it is much easier to stay ahead of the game. Try it!

How does this help in other features? Again, the biggest advantage is learning how early you can actually initiate your turn-in. This will keep you closer to the cones and in this game of inches, distance always equals time. The less distance you use up, the less time you will use up and as you know, the clock is always ticking! Another side benefit is that it will help you with car placement. It’s one thing to say “I want to put the car here for a particular element” but it’s another thing entirely to have the car pointed in the precise direction you want. Your angle of approach to most cones is just as important as how close you get to them. It’s another subtle issue but it really highlights the idea of “getting behind the cones”.

If you take this approach, suddenly it becomes easier to make it around offsets as well. You’ll find yourself setting up a hair wider on the approach to an offset cone because you know you want to kill it with the rear. In order to kill it with the rear and set yourself up for the next offset, you’ll be forced to approach the cone with a slightly later/wider arc. This ties directly in with using the white space properly and in this case you are only talking about a couple of feet. It also underlines the principal of not driving directly at the cones otherwise you’ll never be able to get to the backside of it with the rear of the car. Again, you’ll find with experience exactly how wide of an approach you need to take and this is one place where it pays to watch experienced people very closely.

* Don’t overdrive the front tires.

This is especially important in FWD cars but it applies to RWD and AWD cars as well. In nearly all cases, you want to make sure the front tires are stuck to the pavement. This means that if you are pushing the car hard enough where the front tires are losing traction, you need to back off. You can back off by either unwinding the steering wheel a little or backing off the throttle a little. Which one you do is dependant on the situation but you should eventually develop a feel for which method is appropriate. Keep those front tires happy!

If you are in a FWD car, losing traction with the front tires is deadly and a surefire way to add time to whatever you are doing. The classic example of this is a slow pin turn where you entered a little hot and the front tires start scrubbing. In this case, you need to unwind the steering wheel a little bit and while that may seem counter-intuitive, it is the fastest way to regain grip. Most people will continue cranking in steering input which makes the situation worse but it just seems natural. Think about driving on snow-- it’s basically the same principal. You can’t steer if the front tires are sliding across the surface of the road and if you can’t steer, you’re probably not going the direction you want to go!

A special case of this applies to FWD cars and throttle-induced wheel spin with an open differential. I’ve found that in most cases, trying to modulate the throttle in hopes of controlling inside wheel spin is futile. I’ve datalogged many instances of this and it’s nearly always faster to just keep your foot planted to the floor and let it play out. Eventually it will hook up again but in the meantime, trying to modulate it just slows down the forward momentum of the car. The only time it is worthwhile to modulate is if the wheel spin if causing massive understeer and pushing you off in a direction you don’t want to be going.

* All throttle or all brake? Not so much…

One thing you’ll hear from a lot of people is that you should always be on the throttle or brake while on course. While this is mostly true, it does not mean that you are always foot to the floor with the throttle or pushing the brake pedal through the firewall.

When I talk about getting back on the gas in a certain spot, I usually mean I’m just starting to ease back into the throttle. While I do occasionally jump on the throttle in a binary fashion, in most cases I’m squeezing it gently to start the acceleration process. This is especially important in sweepers where you can’t use full throttle until about 3/4’s of the way through it. I’ll try to get back on the throttle at about the half-way mark but it will be gently and usually no more than around a 1/4 throttle initially. One of the hardest things to learn is to squeeze the throttle or apply partial throttle in cases where the car simply can’t use a full application at that point.

This shows up in all sorts of elements where you are trying to maintain your speed. In the case of a slalom, you are generally trying to keep a constant speed through it, right? Every time you heavily transition the car, you’ll bleed of speed which means you need to apply throttle to keep your momentum. As the car unloads, you’ll need to back off the throttle otherwise you’ll pick up speed which will throw off your rhythm. In a slalom, I’ll generally oscillate somewhere between 1/4 and 3/4’s throttle to maintain my speed. It’s kind of a dance and you’ll start to develop a feel of how much is appropriate and when. The throttle is not an on/off switch and don’t treat it as such!

A similar approach applies to the brakes. In general, when you need the brakes, you’ll want to apply them forcefully but don’t just jump on them. Try to think of squeezing into them and you’ll find that it upsets the car much less allowing you to do cool stuff like turning. There are a lot of cases where a gentle brush of the brakes is appropriate as well to temper a bit of momentum so don’t think you always need to jump on them 100%.

More driving tips to come...

Jim

- Pick out key cones. There are usually three or four that you really need to get right in order to be fast. In the words of Jim P., I don't care what you have to do to get here, but if your car is pointed in the right direction and you're right on the key cone, you'll be fast.

- Drive the course in your head. After doing your coursewalks, you should have the course memorized. If you can't remember a part of it, rewalk it, or at least check out a course map if available. Do this throughout the day and especially right before you run.

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Has no responsibility whatsoever.

For what is worth, I agree with everything Jim said.

One thought to add though. When going a little wide on corner set up relative to what a lot of drivers do (good idea!!!!), watch out for sand, etc. out there, especially with a relatively wide car on a site which tends to create marbles. Sometimes you just have to drive the "popular line". For those of you going to Topeka this may be critical, especially if you run later in a day. It is a good idea at BIG events like Nationals to take a mid day walk through if available simply to see where the marbles are. Just like getting to events early, it pays to be first in line (or even start your walk further down the course) to be able to actually see the course during those mid day walk throughs at Nats. Then check out the part you skipped while the pack is still walking the last parts of the course. See where the sand, etc. is on the drive from the grid to the start line also so that you can avoid getting "some" of it on your, hopefully, hot sticky tires. At Pro Solos I would walk the courses after my morning runs (Mod was always in the last heat) BEFORE getting lunch, etc. just to see where the marbles were.

Dick

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Dick Rasmussen

FS 50 2018 Mustang GT

I always drive the course in my head, but I'll do it four times. The first imaginary run is just to see how the course really flows at speed compared to how it walks. I'll be hitting a cone on the second run (it's always in a slalom ). This allows me to do & see some things that I might not have done or seen when really "going for it" - because once I've hit a cone, I know this run is blown and I can relax and try some different stuff. On the third run, I apply what I learned on runs 1 & 2, and really nail it. And on the fourth run, I just go out and drift every turn.

You bring up some very good points, Dick.

Strangely enough, I actually find the dirty off-line issue to be more of a problem late in the day at local events than at the bigger ones. I'm guessing that enough of the people at the bigger events take a similar slightly wider line around tight features such that the lines I want to use stay relatively clean.

In contrast, more people at local events tend to drive from cone to cone and I find myself altering my game plan slightly on occasion as a result. It's sometimes harder to deal with at local events since there is rarely an opportunity to check out the course up close after the event starts. It can make for some interesting and wild first runs from time to time, that's for sure.

I ran into this problem at the SpeedFed event last Sunday as there were a large number of participants that were relatively unfamiliar with auto-x'ing. As a result, if they weren't busy dnf'ing, they were driving straight from cone to cone and with the dirty nature of the lot we were using, it resulted in a ton of garbage off-line. The course was fairly tight everywhere which further exacerbated the situation especially given that I was in the last run group. My first 2 runs were spent sliding all over the place and I finally had to concede that I couldn't run where I wanted by the 3rd one.

Jim

Jim,

Agreed again. At big events it is more useful as a reminder to not get too carried away with a wide line since you will be sorry.

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Dick Rasmussen

FS 50 2018 Mustang GT

I have the same problem with this type of thread/info in varous 914 forums. That is why I am one of a few working on a 914 Wiki. Info like this is great to have, but gets lost when documented on a forum/bbs. Wasn't somone (Mike?) doing a Wiki?

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Richard Casto
1972 Porsche 914
2013 Honda Fit Sport
2015 Honda Fit EX
http://motorsport.zyyz.com
Money can't buy happiness, but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than a Kia.

This is one of those deceptively obvious assertions that becomes more true each time I read it

Jim, Thank you for sharing your thoughts. That was exactly the kind of knowledge sharing that I had in mind when I proposed the practice day.

Everybody who didn't attend the practice day last Saturday should now write out a check to THSCC for $30 and mail it to Bowie Gray at:
P.O. Box 3122
Wilson, NC 27895

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Art McDonald
Premier Amateur #518
2008 Dishman Cup
Pivot Cone Snob

Rodney is a waxer (but in a good way)