Success is a lousy teacher. True growth as a performance driver comes from embracing, and learning from, the mistakes we make on track. Big mistakes teach hard lessons, and create unforgettable “pucker” moments. This article will address the subtle, small, often unconscious mistakes that creep in and erode our lap times. This article will give you some tools to identify, and correct, those unnoticed, unforced errors to help you find the next level of performance.
Death Grip
This applies to many beginners and intermediate drivers, manifesting from high stress, anxiety and tension, which results in a “death grip” on the steering wheel. Many drivers don’t even realize they are strangling the steering wheel, increasing fatigue while reducing steering feel and sensitivity. Remedy: Think of the steering wheel as a communication medium, delicately conveying all the bumps, ripples, and grip sensations encountered by your tires. If you tend to manhandle the steering wheel and squeeze the life out of it, try softening and wiggling your fingers on each straightaway. When reapplying grip, gently squeeze the wheel like it was a shopping cart or a golf club. Check in with yourself after exiting a corner and gauge how tightly you’re gripping the wheel.
Go-Kart Hands
In action movies with car-chase scenes, wildly sawing at the steering wheel makes the car go faster. In real life, “fast hands” during initial turn-in can cause a spike in load transfer to the outside tires, over-working them and causing a slide. I refer to twitchy, fast hands as “go-kart” hands, as many karters become accustomed to hurling karts into corners due to the solid rear axle. Most modern cars don’t do well with rapid-handed hurling, though.
Remedy: Think about gently “introducing” your car to a corner. This concept is taught by one of the leading F1 coaches, and refers to a gentle, progressive micro-turn of the steering wheel as you begin the turn-in process. On your in-car video, the tiny micro-turn will be almost imperceptible, and only last for less than 1/10th of a second, but the micro-turn of the wheel, right before continuing a smooth turning input, allows the car to begin to “take a set.” This tiny pre-turn essentially initiates a small amount of load transfer to the outside tires, allowing them to dig in and start to stretch as they claw for grip.
Sluggish Right Foot
Sometimes, we get complacent at the end of straightaways and gradually lift off the gas, lazily move our right foot to the brake pedal as we coast for a bit, and then gently apply the brake pedal. It’s also known as “limousine braking” because when driving a limousine with passengers, it pays to approach a stop light delicately. You’d ease off the gas, coast for long while, and cautiously apply the brakes. This is the opposite of how to brake during performance driving. Remedy: Challenge yourself to see how fast you can transition from the gas pedal to the brake pedal. Can you do it in 1/10th of a second? There should be no delay. Your right foot should go from full throttle to zero throttle almost immediately, and your foot should start applying brake pressure with no lag. If you right-foot brake, the transition might take 1/10th to 2/10th of a second. If you left-foot brake, you can slightly overlap your braking with your throttle attenuation, reducing this lag to almost zero. For right-foot brakers, race yourself to see how fast you can move your right foot from gas to brake.
Crabbing
Many drivers unconsciously drift toward the inside of a corner well before the proper turn-in point, artificially making the track narrower. It’s like a tractor beam sucking them in, causing an almost imperceptible nudge of the steering wheel and gentle arc toward the corner entry. It’s a costly mistake because it reduces the width of the track and requires more steering angle than necessary. In short, “crabbing” toward the apex can cost at least 1/10th of a second.
Remedy: Mount a camera that shows your hands. Look for your hands bending ever-so-slightly and much too early. The car will appear to be magnetically easing its way toward the corner. Now that you’ve identified the problem, it’s easy to correct. Consciously focus on keeping your hands straight as you approach the braking zone. Stay perfectly parallel to the outside edge of the track on a straightaway preceding a corner, and start as far to the outside as you can. When you start releasing your brake pressure, that’s the signal to start turning the wheel.
Over-Slowing The Car
Approaching a tight corner from a straightaway, you realize you’ve over-slowed the car before turning in, so you try to make up for it by applying throttle too early, before the apex. This compounds the initial mistake by causing understeer, reducing desired rotation, and often results in missing the apex. It creates an artificially low limit and sabotages lap times.
Remedy: If you realize you’ve over-slowed the car on corner entry, force yourself to coast between the point at which you release the brake pedal until you arrive at the apex. It will feel like torture because you’ll want to increase your speed with throttle. Resist the temptation to hit the gas, because this exercise will teach you to roll more entry speed and learn to trail-brake better. Instead of braking later and harder, try to release the brake pedal a tad sooner. I don’t mean to “pop off” the brake pedal suddenly. Begin progressively releasing the pedal sooner, so you start your turn-in at a slightly higher speed. If your car makes the turn without protest, then try releasing the brake pedal even earlier. When I coach racers, one of my most common verbal phrases is, “Release the brakes!” Importantly, I’m not saying to avoid trail-braking, I’m just saying to start releasing the pedal earlier so the car isn’t artificially sluggish.
Creating Understeer
If you try super-late, hard braking, you might cause dreaded understeer. Ask too much of the front tires and they will ultimately beg for mercy. Generating too much brake pressure while simultaneously turning might cause the car to plow straight ahead. If you panic and turn even sharper, the car becomes even less obedient and forges straight ahead. Remedy: If you’re plowing straight ahead while cranking on the steering wheel, brakes mashed to the floor, do the opposite of what got you in the situation. If plowing under hard braking, and the car won’t turn, reduce brake pressure and straighten your hands momentarily. Ask less of your front tires in terms of braking so you can ask more in terms of turning. Next, reduce your steering input momentarily. Straighten the wheel for a split second and allow the front tires to regain traction while pointed straight ahead. Then, the car will suddenly regain grip, slow down faster, and you can progressively turn the wheel and get on with it. You’ll miss your apex by a mile, but that’s a small price to pay to save your tires and learn how to correct this common mistake.
You don’t learn to find your limits when cruising out in front. It’s those near spins, missed apexes, and unforced errors that truly teach the razor’s edge of control. Seek to identify your mistakes, embrace them, and consciously work to correct them and you’ll unlock a new level in your performance driving.
Love this info, thank you!