Over the past two months I have been focusing a great deal on just driving. I found that I was taking things entirely too serious and began to bring the wrong set of emotions to the track. It only took the right catalyst and it all went wrong. I put myself and other members of the League in a very uncomfortable position. I still feel pretty bad about it. I also have to thank everyone that had to deal with it for making all the right decisions and following the rules we all live by.
Penalties have a huge impact on those that must file, those that get filed against and the Team that has the responsibility to sort it all out. There is a pretty dark cloud that hovers over the whole program. First and most important is that the rules are there to keep order. Without them, we are just another lawless public lobby. The
SNAIL OLR is the foundation of everything we do.
It can be a little intimidating. Maybe we should think about it another way. While the rules and the Stewards Corps shall
always be respected, penalties are a part of every single form of competition and should be embraced instead of feared. It is not a video game, it is a driving simulator. We go to great lengths to "simulate" every aspect of racing we can muster up. We have full racing cockpits, Buttkicker subs, surround sound and triple screens to immerse ourselves as deeply as we can into the experience.
We all need to remember that penalties are part of racing. We all make mistakes and we all get a little aggressive from time to time. Sometimes we need to file a report and are hesitant because of what may come of it. Sometimes we get a report filed against us and it leads to bad feelings. We are looking at it the wrong way. Penalties are nothing personal. It is no different than pulling the Go Directly To Jail card in Monopoly. Bummer yes, but just part of the experience. I guess the point of it all is to remember that the process is for our benefit and not to take it too seriously.
I started out by saying that I had been spending more time just driving. Once I got my mind right and started getting back to why I am here, things started to change. Two months in a row, I have come in second place in points for the monthly championships. Had the pleasure of being a part of 2 Race of Champions. Doubled my wins and collected a couple of Sunday night overalls. All things I had never done in over 2 years with SNAIL.
Most likely the coolest first for me was to choose prize A. While still a difficult task, I enjoyed it much more knowing that I wasn't going to get chastised before the combo was ever run. I am pretty proud of everyone for the respect that you all have been giving the prize winners. Even when they pick a one and done. My whole mindset changed because I went through the penalty process, saw what I was doing and learned from my mistakes. MY mistakes. Seems I am having a pretty damn good time these days!
I have enjoyed watching the League grow and mature over the years and one of the things I enjoy most is the level of sportsmanship that our League shows. I could go on for hours showing examples but by now most of you have scrolled down to the next post!
The one attribute that has been with us since the beginning is the availability of drivers that are willing to spend time and teach others what they know.
This phenomenon seems to be growing at an amazing rate. There is a river of knowledge flowing on the thread and on the track. There is almost always someone around to answer questions or help out with technique and racecraft. This is such a positive for our community the League as a whole. We are all becoming better drivers every week. A huge SNAIL thank you to all that share what you know.
Keeping with that spirit, I want to introduce this weeks co-writer @
VrapPlus .
This may be old for some but new for others. Sometimes we need to start from the beginning.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Basic Driving Theory
Since posting my reply @rob1nh00d, I have asked to contribute to the Pit Board by @ ExoSphere64. Like I stated before I in no way, shape or form claim to be the fastest driver, I have limited experience with autocross back when I was young fella. One thing that I do have though is a passion for motorsports and this community, also a keen eye for breaking things down, and a solid mind for explaining them in laymen’s terms. So with high hopes and an empty stomach ( so hungry right now) I’ll kick this first edition of what will hopefully become a good source of information and reference for our community, I’m a firm believer that if you combine practice and study you will improve yourself in anything that you apply time and effort into.
Today I’ll tackle the subject of slow in/fast out, out-in-out, as well as late braking, early braking ; and we’ll delve into fast-in-fast out as well, another valid and useful driving technique.
What is slow in/fast out? Slow in/fast out is a term used to describe the most basic technique taught around the world on how to tackle a corner effectively, promoting both car control and speed. Rumor has it this term was first used to describe the way early day Porsche’s had to be driven, given the rear engine rear wheel drive cars tendency to want to spin out under braking and turn in. I personally believe it’s a follow on mantra of the slow is smooth and smooth is fast mentality; whatever the case may be, we know it works and its results cannot be disputed.
On to the Meat and Vegies: As I’ve touched on earlier the whole concept revolves around car control and speed, slowing the car down sufficiently in order to take the turn in the most effective manner; while clipping the apex, explains the first part of the mantra. While accelerating early on the apex while keeping that control and gaining valuable speed, covers the second part. Let’s refer to the picture in order to get a clear visualization of what the concept means and how it is applied.
As you can see, there are 2 points of interest illustrated here. We’ll start off with the braking point, it’s early, and it’s precise and controlled. The braking begins at the point at which you find yourself the most comfortable, and can effectively slow down while maintaining control and speed. If you find yourself making your tires squeal for life and lock up while braking, you are doing it wrong! Slowing down for a turn should be done with as little fanfare as possible, finding your braking point is a pretty straight forward process. The easiest way to do this is to use visual cues to determine when to start braking, relatively to your current speed; remember the faster you are, the longer you have to brake to slow down. Find yourself a corner, find yourself a marker or visual cue, and begin playing around with when to brake early, as well as when to brake late.
There should be a dead zone, between both areas; whereas the application of your brakes is the most consistent, provides the most control and is comfortable. The beginning of this zone is usually right at or slightly before your visual marker. Your late braking zone is; anywhere from 10-25 feet depending on the type of turn, past your initial brake zone. Later braking should be accomplished with more brake input while still minimizing tire squeal and lock up, as well as still maintaining positive control of your car. Late braking is used for over taking, as it can be a hindrance if not applied properly. Remember to always settle your car before initiating a turn; all weight transfer should be stabilized before the apex of a turn.
Now, on to the apex; basically the straightest way around a turn, this is where out-in-out comes into play:
Dozens of hours are spent every week by us, memorizing new combos, improving times and such. One constant item that I find myself repeating to some of the junior guys is to enter a turn wide, initiate your turn in, clip the apex and use the whole race track on exit. That my friends is called out-in-out; it’s pretty straight-forward, and if you combine it with the braking techniques we talked about earlier, makes tackling any turn a breeze! Now there are two techniques we’ll touch on regarding the apex and the utilization of out-in-out.
First, there’s clipping the normal apex; sounds simple enough, and there’s no catch. When approaching a turn, position your car so as to be as far away on the opposite side of the track of the direction of the turn, use your braking point and initiate your turn in. Your wheels on the side of the car that is closest to the turn, should always aim to clip the apex; now once you have touched the apex, it is time to begin accelerating, while at the same time gradually straightening out your wheel and moving the car once again to the opposite side of the track, thus minimizing friction against the wheels and obtaining speed. Thus improving your exit speed out of a turn; which, as we all now is key to maximizing straight-line speed of a vehicle while coming into a straightway.
Second, we transform a turn into a late apex turn. This is accomplished by using the late braking techniques to; in theory, change the angle of the arc. You initiate your late brake at your safe zone (10-25 feet,) push the car deeper into the turn, rotate the car tightly once weight transfer has been settled, and get on the throttle and aim the inside wheels towards the curb. Once again clip your new apex, and then proceed to use the whole width of the track while coming out of an apex to maximize exit speed. This method is good for over taking on the outside as well as tackling longer turns.
DUN DUN DUN! What the hell is fast-in-fast-out? Glad you asked! I didn’t know about it either until recently, but I’ve always noticed; especially when watching the faster guys’ race, that they did something, let’s say different. Fast-in-fast-out is accomplished by carrying more speed into a corner, by riding the brakes and gradually letting them off up to the apex, at which point acceleration is immediately resumed. It takes a lot of car and brake control in order to accomplish this, as you are settling the car, while still on the brakes. The car settles gradually and by the time the apex is reached it is pretty closed to being neutral, once the apex is hit the weight transfer is kicked to the rear and the car’s weight is thrown back off center. If done correctly and consistently, you should see yourself improve drastically, due to the fact that you maintain momentum through a corner. The downside is if you have not mastered slow-in-fast-out and have pretty good car control you’ll end up spinning out or going wide, end result of losing time.
That’s it for this edition! Hope you all learned something new, or reinforced existing skills!
Thank You Vrap!
Race Clean, Race Hard, Race S.N.A.I.L.