Scca solo, NASA TT/ST/AI/AIX. What do you race and why?

[claudermilk]

I noticed the same thing. After years of autocrossing & dealing with the rapid-fire assault of maneuvers open track almost seems slow motion. You feel like you have tons of time the think about the upcoming corner. I also think the autocross experience helped immensely in making the open track learning curve much steeper.

 

[Norm Peterson]

I noticed the same thing. After years of autocrossing & dealing with the rapid-fire assault of maneuvers open track almost seems slow motion.

As long as you can also dial your hand and perhaps foot movements back from an autocross pace, anyway. I've heard that it sometimes takes a bit of coaching and "unlearning" to transition back to being smooth at the less frantic pace.


Norm

 

[jayel579]

As long as you can also dial your hand and perhaps foot movements back from an autocross pace, anyway. I've heard that it sometimes takes a bit of coaching and "unlearning" to transition back to being smooth at the less frantic pace.


Norm

That's accurate Norm, I agree with you. As much as autocrossing and track driving are very similar they are very different as well, i.e. autocross quick hands for corrections but not always at turn in/track out on the race track. You have to realize what skills from autocross work on the track and what track skills work on parking lots. Some of those skills have to stay in there respective circles and don't overlap. Some people can't over come those habits that they have developed for their decided discipline.

 

[csamsh]

That's accurate Norm, I agree with you. As much as autocrossing and track driving are very similar they are very different as well, i.e. autocross quick hands for corrections but not always at turn in/track out on the race track. You have to realize what skills from autocross work on the track and what track skills work on parking lots. Some of those skills have to stay in there respective circles and don't overlap. Some people can't over come those habits that they have developed for their decided discipline.

My experience....yes I had to learn how to be slow when going from autocross to track "slow in fast out" and all that. Now, as I get faster on track, it needs to be "fast in fast out" to set a good lap. Throw the car in the turn and get it out as fast as possible. Achieve maximum steering angle as soon as possible so I can spend more time on throttle, and use the slip angle. "Slow and smooth" inputs are difficult to use to achieve this. Is this good for setting lots of consistent times? Probably not. But...that's not what I'm trying for anyway.

 

[claudermilk]

As long as you can also dial your hand and perhaps foot movements back from an autocross pace, anyway. I've heard that it sometimes takes a bit of coaching and "unlearning" to transition back to being smooth at the less frantic pace.


Norm

Very true. For myself, I have not had too much trouble with that.

 

[Norm Peterson]

"Slow" and "smooth" are somewhat relative, and it is possible to be 'fast' with the hands as well as smooth. A 1g 70 mph corner does not require as much steering as a 1g 35 mph corner, so you still aren't going to be quite as frantic in your efforts to get there. When you get to the point where that corner becomes, say, a 75 mph corner, yes, you probably should expect to be speeding up your steering inputs a bit.

I'm guessing that at 35 mph you can more easily and with less risk recover from running a tire beyond its maximum grip or from trying to develop its slip angle a little too quickly.


Norm