der Bayerische July/August 2020 - 33

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(Above) Racepak Vantage CL1 - note the accelerometer on the right and the
lap map in the center of the screen.
at a time. Start with Habit 1 and practice mindfully. When you've got that
habit down, then move on to the next one.
If for some reason you cannot practice on a real course in a real car,
then try iRacing.
Habit 8: HAVE FUN.
Enjoy the entire experience, including your work assignment. After all, if
you're not having fun, then why are you here?
Habit 9: DON'T OVERDRIVE THE CAR.
If you can't get within inches of your intended mark on the inside of the
corner, then maybe you're trying too hard and overdriving the car.
Remember, applying the throttle pushes the car towards the outside of the
corner; sometimes we have to slow down first in order to be fast. As Pat
G. points out, a common mistake is to drive the slow parts too fast and the
fast parts too slow. Focus on driving close to the cones (or close to your
apex, track-day driver); first minimizing distance travelled and then
maximizing load on the exit.
Track-day drivers - don't overcook the corner, spin, and stuff the
car into the wall. You'll never hear the end of it. To recover from
understeer, slow down and straighten the steering wheel. To recover
from oversteer, counter-steer. That is, turn the wheel in the same
direction that the tail of the car is going. If the tail is swinging around to
the right, turn right. If the tail is swinging around to the left, turn left.
Follow your tail. If you unintentionally initiated oversteer in a corner by
lifting off the gas (shifting the car's weight to the front and off the rear
wheels, causing the rear to become "light" and lose traction) then gently
squeeze the gas to shift the car's weight back to the rear and regain
traction. If you initiated oversteer by applying too much throttle and
breaking the rear tires loose (in a rear-wheel-drive car), then ease off the
gas. This needs to become instinctive, since you won't have time to
analyze the situation when it happens. Spend some time practicing
on a skidpad.
What's next? This article is the sixth of several entitled "The Habits
of Highly Effective Autocrossers" (with apologies to Stephen Covey).
(As Fraser points out, the series started out as "The Seven Habits...", but
this article brings us up to ten, plus numerous tips, as you saw
recapped, above.)

July I August

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Habit number 10 is this: ANALYZE YOUR DATA.
I'd say "analyze your performance", but in order to do that, you first need
something concrete to analyze. (No, your recollection of the run or session
is not good enough.)
The foundation here is to record an in-car video so that you have
something to review. Position the camera so that the video shows the
course from the driver's point of view (not your fender's p.o.v.) and shows
the driver's hands and the steering wheel. In order to analyze your
performance, you need to see your steering inputs, and you need to see the
course as you saw it when driving. The best place for the camera is behind
and just to the right of the driver's right shoulder at eye-level. If you have a
roll bar with a diagonal brace behind the driver, mount the camera there.
Or install a harness bar. Or mount the camera from the sunroof, behind the
driver. I've used a suction cup to mount the camera to the inside of the rear
windshield, showing the driver's hands, the steering wheel, and the view out
the front windshield. If your car doesn't have a roll bar, perhaps the best
setup I've seen is an adjustable camera mounting arm that attaches to the
headrest post(s) of either front seat.
Review the video after every run or session, before you start the next
run or session. Ask yourself the following questions:
* Am I close to the critical cones (close to my inside apex)?
* Am I looking ahead?
* Am I entering wide and exiting tight?
* Am I turning for each corner at the right place? Or too early? Or too late?
* Is my driving smooth?
* Am I taking each corner as fast as possible? In slow(er) and out fast(er)?
* Am I driving crazy fast? Or being too conservative?
* Am I trail braking to help rotate the car and avoid having the front-end just
push / scrub / understeer?
* What can I do differently to try to get a faster time?
Ask someone who's a better driver than you to help you review your
video. Listen to what they have to say.
Advanced drivers - if you're seeking to squeeze out those last few
tenths, get an onboard data acquisition system or app (i.e., a data logger).
Since the most important mod you can make is tuning the driver (not the
car), pick a data acquisition system that focuses on how the car is
responding to your inputs. IMO, those factors include the following:
* Acceleration / deceleration
* Lateral G forces
* Precise location
(Below) Race Chrono - note the accelerometer on the bottom right and the lap
map on the top left.

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