Alfas at the Glen 2010

Alfas at the Glen 2010
Courtesy Edd Mangino

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Basic Skillz: The Importance of Being Calm in the Cockpit

Kevin from TrackPedia asks, "What are the most common questions people ask you as a professional driving coach?"

The number one question is "How do I go faster without wrecking the car?"

A majority of people periodically reach a performance plateau where, no matter how hard they drive (or what moderate mods they put on their car), they function very close to and can't often go quicker than a particular target time. Invariably, they're trying too hard!

They're also "slaves" to a particular lap time, which on many tracks can vary seconds between the cool morning and the hot afternoon, let alone between weekends and seasons... 9 people out of 10 fix it by relaxing, returning to a crisp, disciplined approach to technique and just focusing on getting into a "zone" or a "groove" where their rhythm and timing are better.

Data helps the most in diagnosing what and where the problem is, as a car can always be driven quicker by someone else. Analysis of the areas of most inconsistent performance and focusing on developing a better plan for that part of the course can often pay big dividends.

Let me look through my notes...

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