|Video| Lewis Hamilton explains his driving position #F1

Posted on by

As most of us know, driving position is massively critical when it comes to providing a solid performance in any car or kart.

Although none of us are driving Formula 1 cars, take a look at this video and think about what your own racing position is like. Can it be more comfortable? Your body remembers a lot of the feedback that you’re getting from the seat. So the more comfortable you are, the better your performance will be.

* I’ve always loved Mercedes’ Formula 1 videos, as they explain a lot of the inner details about driving a Formula 1 car. As an added highlight, I really like seeing Lewis Hamilton in these videos now. He seems much more relaxed than during his time at Mclaren, which shows in this video and also in his driving.

Make yourself faster on a budget – Part 1: Breathe

Posted on by
148646_10152364333165438_1226134329_n

You don’t need to be Lewis Hamilton in order to get faster.

Amateur racers can improve themselves if they practice a little bit each day. There are simple things that drivers can do to improve their racing that only take 15 to 30 minutes per day, and cost you very little. The sweet thing is that a lot drivers aren’t even attempting to do many of these little things during their ‘downtime’. That gives you an advantage.

You’ve got 30 minutes today, right? Then you can start becoming faster.

Continue reading →

|Video| F1 Driving Styles explained (2006)

Posted on by

This video is a rare-chance to get more detail about how different Formula 1 drivers handle their machines. I wanted to put this under the driving technique section, only because this video highlights how there are several different ways to get around a corner.

The commonality in all of the different driving techniques is that the driver is constantly looking ahead, (see related post on that here)  and anticipating what is coming to him, rather than attempting to react after the steering inputs have already been made.

Thoughts? Think about how you approach your own driving style and let me know.

|Technique| Your body might be causing you to lose time…

Posted on by


Last week, I  wrote about the negative effects on driving when over-stressing one area of the body. Now what happens after the entire body has been stressed?

Another thinking has emerged, using the tensegrity model, that your body’s fascia plays a large role in determining your posture and structure. Fascia is the connective tissue that makes up nearly 60% of the muscle. It also encases and suspends the muscles and bones of the body.

Fascia is plastic in nature, which means that it cannot change its structure quickly like muscles that contract and relax – rather it adapts and grows around the structures and strains placed on the body.

So what does that means in terms of racing?
Continue reading →

|Video| Anyone can help your driver succeed…if you’re willing

Posted on by

(Sigh, Youtube killed this video. When I find it again, I’m going to re up-load this.)

As a racing driver develops, it’s important to develop a strong relationship with the teammates that he has around him. I can’t stress enough how pivotal these people can be.

I’ve already talked about the importance of driver support, and how anyone can be a coach for your driver. However, the most important thing is that your involvement is positive. It’s critical for his development to create a strong bubble of trust so that he can thrive through his success and failures.

Take a look at a video of Rob Smedley and Felipe Massa, and think about how you can better help your driver succeed the next time you’re on track together.

Get involved.

|Technique| A driver’s body is more connected than you think.

Posted on by

Until recently, it was assumed that the body operated as a mechanical model where it was assumed that forces were localized to individual parts of the body. So for example, when gripping a steering wheel it could be assumed that the force would (mostly) transmit through your hands, forearms and upper arms to eventually stop at the neck and shoulders.

However, myofascial research (muscles and their surrounding fascia or connective tissue layers) is now painting a different picture.

The research has found that the current model is incomplete and that the body actually functions as a tensegrity based system, where instead of the body being individual parts that sum up a whole, everything is connected. Under tensegrity model, forces are distributed throughout the whole system and cannot be localized to one body part.

So what does that means in terms of racing?

Continue reading →

Tire Management (Part 1)- It’s all about understanding the alphabet

Posted on by

No matter the machine, all cars have one common element. The only thing that is constantly touching the ground are its tires. Those rubber contact patches are crucial to what helps accelerate the car, slow it down and keep it attached to the ground.  Managing the weight of the car between the limits of its four contact patches of the tires generates the speed and lap time we’re all looking for.

In its most basic principle, we as drivers are tire managers. Now that’s easy to talk about, but a lot more challenging to accomplish in the real world.  So where do we get started? Let’s start first with understanding how a tire basically works.

For simplicity sake, think about a tire being able to do only three things – help the car (a)ccelerate, help the car (b)rake and help the car (c)orner. (ABC) A tire has a finite amount of grip and useable life available to keep the car on the road surface.  As a car enters a corner, the driver balances the machine’s weight over its tires using the steering wheel, throttle and brakes.  As he drives through the corner, he will place more emphasis over on one of the three tire dynamics more than the others.  It’s all one big balancing act.

The key thing to remember is that using the tires is always an equivalent exchange, and the elements are always overlapping. The more of one dynamic you introduce, the less of the others that you have available. You have to give some input back, in order to use something else.  Grip does not come for free.

But what does that mean? Let’s use an example.

Continue reading →

|Technique| You don’t have to be a racer to help coach one

Posted on by

A few days ago, I wrote an article about the importance of having a good driving coach, regardless of a driver’s skill level. Soon after, I received a reader comment which resonated with me:

  • “Loved your article on driver coaching. My friend races go-karts. I wish I could help him more, but I’ve never raced a kart myself, so I don’t think I’d be that helpful as coach.” -Reader Comment

This statement could not be any less true. You could be helping your driver right now, and you don’t even have to be a racer!

Continue reading →

Driver Coaches aren’t just for bad drivers…

Posted on by

Today’s crash wasn’t as bad as this one at Spa, but these incidents are something that Romain can remove from his driving habits.

Watching Romain Grosjean’s first corner collision at the start of the Japanese Grand Prix, one starts to wonder what can be done to help the young Frenchman from plowing into someone. It’s clear that he’s got talent and speed, but something inside the young man is preventing him from realizing his potential.

His first corner incidents seem to be more unintentional than anything else, which means that they can be removed from his driving habits. He’s already had a one race ban, and now it’s coming to the point that people are starting to give him less of the benefit of the doubt when he is involved in an incident.

What would help Romain Grosjean? He just needs a driving coach.

Most people don’t feel like they don’t need a coach, because they feel like they don’t need someone to teach them how to do something. (Not only is that incorrect, since we can always do things better, but the definition of a coach is also just misunderstood).  A coach takes on a different role than an instructor. Coaches aren’t there to tell you how to do something, they are there to help you improve what you already know you can do. A good coach is a mentor who use their skills to improve the mental programming of their student, and act as counsel as they encounter challenges.  More like a buddy-teacher with more experience, rather than a drill sergeant.

Coaching is not a new thing in sport. Many of our greatest athletes at the peak of their careers have had one. Also, you don’t only need a coach when you are a developing novice.  Accomplished people like Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan have had coaches, even when they were at the peak of their powers. They’ve helped to mold them, keep them focus and support them into the zone when they need to perform at their best.

Unfortunately, most racing drivers feel like they don’t need coaching, because they view coaches as instructors who will try to re-teach them how to drive, rather than being their driving peer. (That’s also because most ‘coaches’ inappropriately  act like instructors, which serves to make the problem worse.)

Asking for a good coach  just means that you are seeking a mentor to help sharpen your abilities, not admitting that you have faulty skills. That is an important awareness.  It’s noting that you need someone who is more skilled to help you improve, not that you are weak.
—–
Back to the case study that started this whole discussion. Earlier in the 2012 season, Jackie Stewart volunteered to act as a driving coach for Romain. It was an offer that Lotus F1 driver turned down. Maybe that is something that he should have a re-think about, given his recent result. Stewart wasn’t asking to be Romain’s driving instructor. He doesn’t need to teach Romain how to drive a car fast. He was offering to be a coach, which we all know is totally different.

If I was Romain, I wouldn’t take that as an insult if a legend like Stewart wanted to help me improve. If he won’t take him up on it, maybe I can get Stewart to coach me instead…

If not Stewart, maybe I can call Alex Wurz….

Want to be faster?- Start by loosening your grip…

Posted on by

 *I believe that the more information that you have as a driver, the better your opportunities will be on track. I’m going to be writing a few articles about how I believe you can improve your driving form. Let me know what you think by leaving comments on the StartingGrid Facebook or Twitter pages!

—

As a driver, the higher quality of kinesthesia that your body receives, the more likely you will achieve a positive on track performance. The inputs that you feel through the road surface, the tires, suspension and the chassis help to determine what decisions you end up making on track.

So it would benefit you to have the best input surfaces possible. Over the next few articles, I will focus on how the driver can improve his sensitivity in some of the key contact areas of the body with the car/kart. I’ll talk about how the brain inputs the signals that it is receiving, and what changes you can make to improve the quality of your driving inputs.
Continue reading →

Reflections- Logs do more than just track your progress…

Posted on by

Recently I’ve  found myself in a huge mental fog, at least when my own driver development is concerned.  For months, I’ve felt like I haven’t been improving much while my peers are moving on. In the meantime, I kept driving and practicing with the means that I have, but I’d felt like I’d hit a bit of a talent wall.

I decided that it was time to make some changes to see if I could make it over that next hurdle.

Continue reading →

Can video games help racing drivers? I think so.

Posted on by

About 20 years ago, when Sega came out with ‘Pole Position’, video-games weren’t much help for the up- and- coming racing driver. However, now with the advances in modern video game technology, I feel that racing games have become a useful driver development tool.

For drivers like myself, who don’t have access or budget to spend all day at the track or in a state-of-the-art racing simulator, using a video game is useful aid for when I am able to set a wheel on the track. Of course, you don’t get the same kinesthetic information as you would in a real car. I don’t think that racing games should be used to simulate real-world physical driving. However, I think a good video game is useful to develop stronger mental programming within the driver.

As part of my own training regime, I’ll play a racing game after my workout in order to help me improve my mental environment. In my mind’s eye, I visualize having strong race starts, keeping consistent lap times, how to overtake difficult opponents, etc.   I’ll take the time to analyze my own ‘self-talk’ while I’m racing, to see where I can help myself improve my focus over an extended period of time.

From the conversations in the garage before I “get into the car”, to the post-race debrief where I’m analyzing my recent performance, I try to visualize the ‘full experience.’ In short, I do my best to provide my brain with strong mental imagery to grow from.

Of course this is all to a point. Mental development is all about training the subconscious mind. As I’ve written in articles before, the brain doesn’t understand the word ‘no’, so if a driver approaches a video game with the same mental focus and attention as he would his real car/kart, it helps to bridge the gap in his/her subconscious mind for the next time that he’s on track.

When developing good mental habits, I believe that you have to provide the brain with a scenario that it will believe in order for the training to be the most effective. Otherwise, the training doesn’t work. For example, rather than trying to focus on winning every race, which is improbable, it can be of more benefit to train the mind on how to learn how to make the best of a challenging situation. (For example, starting a race in 13th place or in a slower car.)

If you’re into racing, do you do this sort of mental programming too? Think about it next time you pop in a copy of Gran Turismo. You may have just found another use for your Playstation…

Racing Insights- Comfortable being uncomfortable

Posted on by

Recently, I reminded myself of a key experience: ‘The human mind is a strange place. What it’s looking for, isn’t always what it needs.’
******


This weekend, I decided to head out to race with my local autocross club. Since I’ve picked up my Miata, I haven’t autocrossed much as my attention had been sorted with indoor go-karting. Packing up on Sunday, I got into the car and started off on what I thought to just be a relaxing afternoon.

Boy I had no idea how wrong I was.

Continue reading →

Slip Angle, Take 2!

Posted on by

[ From the captions on the photos in the first post of this series, it seems I may need to clear up a little bit of confusion regarding slip angles:  the concept applies to all four tires.  

I left the photos and captioning to my fearless editor (and great karting instructor), Davin.  His captions lead me to believe that he may have only understood part of what I was trying to convey

(Don't worry, Davin... this isn't an easy concept to abstract and my upcoming force diagrams will help!).  So, Take 2! ]

High Slip Angle- Take a look at the angle of the front wheels. That’s not the fastest way.

Let’s take the photo of the drift car.  The car is moving from left to right in the frame.  The car, however, is pointed about 45 degrees towards the camera.  Let’s look at the relative slip angles of the front and rear tires.

Front tires:  The front tires are pointed towards the center of the corner.  The driver is turning the wheel left, but the car is so sideways they are effectively acting as if they are turned right (if the car were pointed straight).  Eyeballing the angle, they looks to be turned inward around 15 degrees relative to the direction of travel.

This is a common slip angle, on the upper end of the range on asphalt, for a car near the limit.  This tire is working pretty efficiently, and it knows nothing about what the rear tires are feeling.

Rear tires:  The rear tires are pointed the same direction as the car… about 45 degrees from the direction of travel.  This is an extreme slip angle.  The tires are sliding as much as they are rolling and generating a huge amount of mechanical drag on the car.  The lateral grip offered by straight up static / sliding friction is minimal.

Stability is maintained by the forward (relative to the car, inward and forward relative to the curve) sliding friction generated by the spinning tires.  This action is also what is keeping the car moving forward in spite of the mechanical drag created by the high slip angle.

I’ve driven several race cars that didn’t have  enough power to keep a drift going… they would grind to a stop even under heavy throttle due to the mechanical drag.

To maintain the drift in this photo, the driver can modulate the throttle to adjust the action at the rear of the car or adjust the steering angle to keep the front end pointed the right direction.  The higher the slip angle, the bigger the challenge to smoothly maintain the arc of the track… but that is the art of drifting!

Editor’s Note: Thanks for the flattery, Andy.

Slip Angle

Posted on by

Read the title.  Raise your hand if you know what I’m talking about.  Anyone?  Anyone?  Bueller?

Low slip angle- Notice how the front tires are only slightly angled.

Slip angle is a technical term which is defined as the angle difference (commonly measured in degrees) between the direction a tire is rolling and the direction a tire is traveling.  If a tire has zero slip angle, it is rolling straight down the road.

Any non-zero slip angle implies that there is a cornering force.  Drivers on a typical weekday commute make their trip with entirely unremarkable slip angles – generally so small that the driver doesn’t notice.  Rally drivers, on the other hand, operate with very high slip angles – the tires are often more sliding than rolling.

Continue reading →

“Every action has an equal and opposite reaction”- Smoothing out your driving style

Posted on by

“Every action has an equal and opposite reaction”

I’ve been thinking about Newton’s third law since last night, after taking some laps at my local kart track. As strange as that may sound, Newton’s laws put a fundamental baseline on my driving style. After a session, and taking some time to write notes down in my driver’s log, I found myself thinking about the importance of having a smoother driving style to improve my technique.

You may ask- “Why does smoothness matter?”

Continue reading →

Squeeze!

Posted on by

There are many skills required to be a championship level driver.  The most significant to entry level drivers is to get on the throttle early.  Brake early, drive a late apex line, and squeeze on the throttle before apex.  Doing this will yield a higher speed at corner exit and you’ll be faster all the way to the next braking zone.

At the limit of adhesion, it is difficult to add throttle.  The car is using maximum grip to corner.  If a late apex line is used, the driver can start unwinding the steering wheel very early, typically just before apex.  As soon as the wheels start to straighten, throttle can be added and speed can be increased.  When doing this, it is absolutely crucial that the throttle be applied very smoothly (especially in a high horsepower car).  Squeeeeeeze the throttle.

Squeezing the throttle gently shifts weight to the rear wheels (the drive wheels in most sports cars and race cars) and allows the driver latitude to continue applying more throttle.  5%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 50%, 75%, 100%.  Just roll on gently.  Connect the hands to the right foot.  As the hands straighten the wheel, the right foot goes down.

The greater the capabilities of the car, the more important this technique is.  A quick slap at the throttle can shock the system and has the potential to spin the tires causing a loss of grip.  A stock Miata is much more forgiving about abrupt throttle movements than a Viper, however it is no less important to be on the throttle early in the Viper!  The driver squeezing the throttle earlier (in equal equipment) will find an easy pass at the end of the straight.

If it isn’t a reflex, add this to your skill set.  I consider it a prerequisite to winning.  A champion isn’t made with this one technique.  This will move you forward on the grid and in the results, that’s true.  Remember:  All the fast guys are doing it, but it isn’t all the fast guys are doing.

“What is the value of experience?”

Posted on by

*Another post that I’ve dug out of my archives. I guess I’ve been blogging for longer than I realized. ;) I’ve got some new posts coming soon. :)

****

“How does one to get to Carnegie Hall?”

The answer here is ‘practice, practice, practice.’ With the exception of the select few, many of us will have to practice for several years, if not decades to be truly fast behind the wheel of a car. Or, until they find a way to download stuff into your brain, like in the Matrix. When you watch a driver like Walter Rohrl or Petter Solberg rifling around a corner, they did not achieve that level of driving skill overnight. It takes years of practice, research, and training to get to a high level of driving skill. (However, if you love driving, that should be fun, right?!)
Continue reading →

Want to track your improvement? Get a driver’s log.

Posted on by

If you follow professional racing, you’ll see how drivers have telemetry, which helps to track and measure his performance during sessions. As the majority of amateur drivers do not have access to telemetry systems, one of the key instruments they can use to track their development is a driver’s log.

Having a log allows the driver to keep notes of his key learnings while at the track. Each driver should tailor their own for their own specific needs. However in general, a log can be used for the following uses:

  1. To track the number of hours logged on track
  2. To track lap times through sessions
  3. To track set up changes on the car,
  4. To track changes to track condition due to weather.
  5. To log track notes and reference markers to use to negotiate the track.
  6. To brainstorm solutions to problems, either with the car or the track
  7. To develop learning strategies which help for the next time that he is in the car
  8. To note advice given by mentors
  9. As a contact log for people that he meets surrounding his racing career.

If you don’t have one, I would recommend creating one. Don’t think of a driver’s log as just a diary, think of it as a development journal which allows you to track your progress. Like any development tool, it’s only helpful for the driver if he consistently uses it.

Get in the habit of logging your progress. When you look back, you’ll be amazed how far you’ve come!

(Note: I will be defining the driver in the masculine tense throughout these articles, only because it makes it easier for me to write. (He, him, etc.) In reality, racing drivers can be both male and female. I actually encourage more women to get on the racetrack and start mixing it up!)

How ‘the Zone’ improves your driving performance.

Posted on by

Every driver talks about performing in ‘the Zone’. A state of mind where a driver’s performance is at the peak. Cornering seems effortless, braking points are sublime and the driver’s brain is free of all distracting thoughts. All that matters is what is happening now, the driver is acting without judgement, and he is getting the maximum performance out of his drive. Lap times are consistent, speed is high, and every about racing seems simple.

Being in ‘the Zone’ is an encouraging feeling. What it tells the driver is that deep down in their subconscious capabilities, they have a strong understanding of what they are doing, and how to perform at the maximum level.

When a driver is in 'the Zone', even the most difficult conditions will seem effortless.

Continue reading →

Driver Support- How to foster success.

Posted on by

The art of driving a racing car is largely psychological. The ability for the driver to relax and consistently execute the actions he needs to each lap is key for success on track. A defining element of successful racing drivers is the support structure that he has built around himself.

It is critical for the driver to immerse himself in an environment where he can feel confident in his ability, comfortable in taking on new challenges, and supported through the continuous development of his skills.

A driver should never feel like they are alone. A support structure is critical.

Continue reading →

Relaxation: The art of controlling your destiny.

Posted on by

When do you make the best decisions?

Is it when you are tense, upset and stressed? Or is it when you are relaxed and focused. I hope, for the sake of your blood pressure, that it’s the latter. People make better decisions when they are relaxed. By being more relaxed, the brain is able process data with a higher quality, and make more informed critical decisions.

That’s great, but what does that have to do with racing? (I know that’s the question you’re asking…) Being able to learn how to relax is a key skill that allows you to feel more comfortable on the racetrack, and have more confidence in your ability to make decisions when required. When a driver is relaxed, they are able to become ‘fully integrated’ which provides the ability to extract the maximum performance out of the machine.

Relax to get the maximum out of yourself and the machine.

Continue reading →

Driving Technique Article: “Looking Ahead- A sneak peek into the future”

Posted on by

Motor racing is a dynamic sport. This means that the driver is constantly encountering new situations, which require him to make different judgment calls on each lap. The number of data points that he has work through over the course of a race can seem overwhelming at times.

Wouldn’t be excellent for the driver to be able to have a way to take in information more easily, and select what information is the most important? It would make each race slightly easier, if I had a crystal ball to tell me what’s coming up and how to prepare for it.

Preparation is key to being a successful racing driver.

While not being a crystal ball, being skilled at looking ahead up the racetrack provides the driver with the ability to gain a ‘sneak peek into the future’, if only a slight one.

The keys to this skill are preparation and anticipation. The driver must be able to keep his eyes on what is coming up next, not what is happening to him right then. Being able to stay focused enough to tune out the ‘noise’ of the racetrack and anticipate what needs to happen next is one of the skills that define a successful racing driver. (Read more after the bump.)

Continue reading →