I'm finally at that point in life where I have enough money to go racing semi-regularly. I want to improve my driving skills. If you're an old pro at racing, if you're not, please let me know what I can do to improve.

Posted By blackdbl0si on 09-30-2011 01:35 PM
May I suggest some anti-roll bars?

*runs and hides from the shitstorm that is about to start*

I want to go faster, not slower...

Posted By Boxed Fox on 09-30-2011 02:05 PM
Like Mike said, seat time and good guidance are king. Do whatever you need to to get as much of both as possible. I gave up target pistol so I would have more money for entry fees and driver coaching.

While you're at it, go to some club race events and see if you can get friendly with a couple of the local club racers. Wheel to wheel racing is a very different environment from your average track day and they require a different mindset. The guys who went through comp school can help you prepare for that. They'll also be able to point you to the people you need to know in each club (e.g. the comp school instructors). I'm not sure what the at track culture is like where you are, but some of the race school instructors in my region are so helpful you have to end the conversation to make them stop giving you advice.

People are really friendly, but the track I'm running at so far has a policy against letting two people ride in the same car, ever. That includes instructors. Obviously, I'm going to try a new track next time out. If I knew a single syllable of Japanese I might go that route too. Since I don't, I guess it's just time to bend over and accept whatever fee the Korea F1 track charges ...

Posted By Mike Kojima on 09-24-2011 11:45 AM
Probably get more seat time and good instruction. Maybe drive a variety of vehicles as well like RWD, AWD, Karts and open wheelers, try drifting and rally and learn the fine art of really controlling weight transfer.

I'd love to try an open wheeler, but $$$$$. I've tracked FWD and AWD cars. I thought AWD was horrible for learning since it allowed me to get away with so much hooning. The car I felt like I learned the most from was my old autocross 80 Corolla. 

Posted By DaewooOfDeath on 09-24-2011 05:54 AM

I'm finally at that point in life where I have enough money to go racing semi-regularly. I want to improve my driving skills. If you're an old pro at racing, if you're not, please let me know what I can do to improve.

 

Hey all new to the forum this is my first post but it's right up my alley...

As mentioned before, seat time is the most important thing for anyone including seasoned vets.

For the beginner I cannot stress enough the basics, braking and downshifting and corner entry so you can carry max speed through that corner are the 3 things that make or break a good lap time. Anyone can push down the throttle, but getting the car set up properly to come out of a corner and make the most of getting on the throttle and being able to make that straight as long as possible are the key ingredients.

 

 

 

 

Posted By DaewooOfDeath on 10-01-2011 12:02 AM

Posted By blackdbl0si on 09-30-2011 01:35 PM
May I suggest some anti-roll bars?

*runs and hides from the shitstorm that is about to start*

I want to go faster, not slower...

You will gg faster, I think I proved it.  Better chassis frequency resposne, better roll graident, more control of the contact patch.  I get paid a lot to consult on this stuff and have a pretty good record of good results  at the pro level.

Posted By kj on 10-02-2011 11:48 PM

Posted By DaewooOfDeath on 09-24-2011 05:54 AM

I'm finally at that point in life where I have enough money to go racing semi-regularly. I want to improve my driving skills. If you're an old pro at racing, if you're not, please let me know what I can do to improve.

 

Hey all new to the forum this is my first post but it's right up my alley...

As mentioned before, seat time is the most important thing for anyone including seasoned vets.

For the beginner I cannot stress enough the basics, braking and downshifting and corner entry so you can carry max speed through that corner are the 3 things that make or break a good lap time. Anyone can push down the throttle, but getting the car set up properly to come out of a corner and make the most of getting on the throttle and being able to make that straight as long as possible are the key ingredients.

 

 

 

 

 

You mind if I send you some videos of me driving?

Posted By Mike Kojima on 10-03-2011 12:23 AM

Posted By DaewooOfDeath on 10-01-2011 12:02 AM

Posted By blackdbl0si on 09-30-2011 01:35 PM
May I suggest some anti-roll bars?

*runs and hides from the shitstorm that is about to start*

I want to go faster, not slower...

 

You will gg faster, I think I proved it.  Better chassis frequency resposne, better roll graident, more control of the contact patch.  I get paid a lot to consult on this stuff and have a pretty good record of good results  at the pro level.

I was just pulling your chain.

You made a very good case, and I will use your setup if the Hoelscher setup doesn't work, but for now I'm going to try the barless route. I'm very lucky in that two people with good results at the pro level have offered me their expertise. 

no not at all, shoot me a couple of links

Posted By DaewooOfDeath on 10-03-2011 12:17 PM
The forum isn't letting me pm you, so here goes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLzX7_ntl-4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKIP-YnC6Yw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCtTXO8dbQk

You can skip the first three minutes of the first video if you don't want to listen to my super slow, hyper enunciated-for-Korean-middleschool-students introduction to racing.

lol@

"I should be faster,

I hope

Maybe

Probably not"

It's really hrd to tell from the video, fun to watch but nearly impossible to find much to critique due to the narrow filed of vision.

couple things be smoother with the steering, sometimes it seems like you grab a big handful of steering wheel and yank it into the corner, with a low horspower car every movement you make is scrubbing speed. ( it applies to high horsepower cars too but horsepower masks driver errors very well in the amatuer ranks)

secondly and maybe more importantly is you do fine on your own or when you're on the "hunt". When the other cars are a turn or two in front and you're racing the course you use most of the available track and your lines appear to be pretty much where you should be.

BUT.... when you get a car or cars in front of you you start racing the other cars and not the track. you compromise your lines you turn in early trying to get into the corner faster you pinch off exits here and there, your steering inputs become more hectic. remember what allowed you to catch up to the pack, don't throw that away and start racing the other cars, stick with what got you there in the first place. the faster driver is the driver who races the track faster than the other cars, think ahead look through the other cars ignore tham and drive your race not theirs, don't take what they give you, take what you need.

does that make sense?

The 11:45 mark on the 3rd link is a good example where you compromised your line in order to make a pass but the pass didn't stick because you left yourself no room for an exit "he blocked me" you said but in reality you stuffed your car into a position where you had no chance of making that pass stick. you need to set up your passes earlier.

all that being said you seem to be having fun and that's the most important thing, don't ever lose that aspect of the sport.. You share these with your students? how much fun is it to be in your class...lol 

ken

Posted By DaewooOfDeath on 10-01-2011 12:05 AM

People are really friendly, but the track I'm running at so far has a policy against letting two people ride in the same car, ever. That includes instructors. Obviously, I'm going to try a new track next time out. If I knew a single syllable of Japanese I might go that route too. Since I don't, I guess it's just time to bend over and accept whatever fee the Korea F1 track charges ...

Yeah, start looking for alternate venues. In-car instruction is what you could probably use the most of right now.

if you don't feel like paying to run at Young-am, fly me back to Japan and I'll translate for you  Most of the tracks over there scare me but I've always wanted to run at Okayama International.

Autocross is not a Pro-Motorsport.  At best its a serious hobby.

Posted By Boxed Fox on 10-03-2011 10:18 PM

Posted By DaewooOfDeath on 10-01-2011 12:05 AM

People are really friendly, but the track I'm running at so far has a policy against letting two people ride in the same car, ever. That includes instructors. Obviously, I'm going to try a new track next time out. If I knew a single syllable of Japanese I might go that route too. Since I don't, I guess it's just time to bend over and accept whatever fee the Korea F1 track charges ...

Yeah, start looking for alternate venues. In-car instruction is what you could probably use the most of right now.

if you don't feel like paying to run at Young-am, fly me back to Japan and I'll translate for you  Most of the tracks over there scare me but I've always wanted to run at Okayama International.

Haha, yah I'm going to try the other two tracks here in Korea, where I can use my Korean skills for free, before I try a whole new language.  I would kill to run at Suzuka or Ebisu, but Motegi looks epically boring in anything other than a mega power car.

Posted By kj on 10-03-2011 01:36 PM

It's really hrd to tell from the video, fun to watch but nearly impossible to find much to critique due to the narrow filed of vision.

Couple things be smoother with the steering, sometimes it seems like you grab a big handful of steering wheel and yank it into the corner, with a low horspower car every movement you make is scrubbing speed. ( it applies to high horsepower cars too but horsepower masks driver errors very well in the amatuer ranks) 

Secondly and maybe more importantly is you do fine on your own or when you're on the "hunt". When the other cars are a turn or two in front and you're racing the course you use most of the available track and your lines appear to be pretty much where you should be.  

BUT.... when you get a car or cars in front of you you start racing the other cars and not the track. you compromise your lines you turn in early trying to get into the corner faster you pinch off exits here and there, your steering inputs become more hectic. remember what allowed you to catch up to the pack, don't throw that away and start racing the other cars, stick with what got you there in the first place. the faster driver is the driver who races the track faster than the other cars, think ahead look through the other cars ignore tham and drive your race not theirs, don't take what they give you, take what you need.

does that make sense?

The 11:45 mark on the 3rd link is a good example where you compromised your line in order to make a pass but the pass didn't stick because you left yourself no room for an exit "he blocked me" you said but in reality you stuffed your car into a position where you had no chance of making that pass stick. you need to set up your passes earlier. 

all that being said you seem to be having fun and that's the most important thing, don't ever lose that aspect of the sport.. You share these with your students? how much fun is it to be in your class...lol 

ken

 

So I'm mostly making mistakes when I'm trying to pass people. I went back and looked at the videos and you're absolutely right. My question is, how should I pass when I'm by far the biggest "momentum" guy? On that particular track the only two places I've made passes stick were (one time) diving in on the hairpin at the end of the front straight away. I consistently outbrake my opponents, but I'm usually not close enough to make a pass. The place where I made a ton of passes was on the long sweeping right hander going around the outside. I kept trying to go around the outside in the technical sections and the second hair pin and kept missing. I should probably give up on that tactic.

When I'm racing guys who put up similar lap times (high 1:19, low 1:20s), or even guys who are two or three seconds a lap slower, I tend to be dramatically faster in the corners  and dramatically slower on the straights. This means I end up catching them in places where it's really hard to pass or passing them in places where they can pass me right back. What should I do to deal with situations like this?

And yah, this is a lot of fun. I do a lot more than share videos. My students built the car last year during summer vacation. This winter vacation they're going to make a new engine. I'm getting paid to play with cars and build a racer Daewoo. Some months I almost feel guilty taking my salary. Well, right up until the point where the school makes me buy my own parts ...