In reply to P3PPY :
yeah, I find if I don't try hard to keep myself focused I'll start thinking about work or something and start making mistakes. This isn't an issue of course if the racing is close, but if there's no one for me to chase or be chased by it's easy for me to zone out a bit
Tom1200 said:In reply to P3PPY :
I am the ADD Poster kid..................this is why I drive at the level I do. Leave no room for other thoughts.
Yeah man, I totally get that. It's like stretching a new muscle for me-- it's kind of exhilarating in its own way, like really actually living life. And driving fast is fun, too
Gixxeropa, YES! I couldn't believe at Gingerman I was thinking about work!! That's when the dialog started
RacerBoy75 said:At one the last autocrosses this season I noticed that the heel of my shoe was dragging on the carpet when going from throttle to brake, so I guess my brain wasn't totally maxed out while driving. I normally wear those weird Hoka shoes with the long soles, so I thought that I should try a different style of shoe. I found a pair of Pumas with very thin soles on clearance for cheap, so they should be great for driving. Since I autocross my local Porsche, it looks like I'm turning into the stereotype of a Porsche owner with the fancy driving shoes - now I just need to wear a TAG Heuer watch, wear Porsche branded apparel and sunglasses, and spend $$$ on my hair.
I bought a pair of these Xero "Barefoot" type shoes for driving. Turns out they are really comfortable and cool once you get used to them. I can't wear my Asics anymore because they are too hot.
JG Pasterjak said:For me, wheel to wheel is 80% focusing on working traffic and race strategy and 20% focus on actual car operation. if the car operation part starts to swell it's usually a sign something is up with the car.
Time trial is basically a flip. 80% focus on execution and 20% on strategy, traffic management, gauge gaming, lap time monitoring, etc.
The real challenge for time trial for me is staying in the moment, or in the future instead of drifting into the past. concentration needs to be entirely on executing the next input, not analyzing the previous one. That's what post-session review is for.
That's because you drive fast cars! Slow cars in fast groups takes a lot more brain power and awareness to not hold up/cause traffic jams.
Track driving/racing is similar to almost every other sport, in that the point of practice is to store big parts of the activity in your involuntary "muscle memory" so you can devote your mental resources to other things that are strategically important or help you win or improve. Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hours rule is a good demonstration of this.
But there is another saying that I once heard from a music teacher. "Practice doesn't make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect." Getting to a point of experience where you can do brainless laps and time pretty well is a thing, but that's the point that you stop improving. To continue to improve you need to always be analyzing your shortcomings and directing your effort to improving on them. And if you're talking about wheel to wheel racing, then you're always dedicating a lot of mental energy to understanding your opponents' weaknesses and trying to strategically exploit them.
So in short, I sometimes do brainless muscle memory laps for fun, mostly at track days. But most of the time I'm on the track I'm trying to solve various puzzles to get better or beat competition.
ShinnyGroove (Forum Supporter) said:So in short, I sometimes do brainless muscle memory laps for fun, mostly at track days. But most of the time I'm on the track I'm trying to solve various puzzles to get better or beat competition.
Where I am at with the Datsun is that I can drive it at the limit with zero thought. I find that frees me up to work on strategy.
Even at track days I do this; with so many high horsepower cars I get passed a lot so I am always working where to get them past.
gixxeropa said:In reply to P3PPY :
yeah, I find if I don't try hard to keep myself focused I'll start thinking about work or something and start making mistakes. This isn't an issue of course if the racing is close, but if there's no one for me to chase or be chased by it's easy for me to zone out a bit
I still try to bang out on the limit laps the whole race. In the last few years I've nabbed a spot with two or three corners to go.
It's usually wounded car limping towards the finish........I have no shame. I try to get as high up the overall as possible.
W2W... In qualifying a lot of concentration on car placement, shift points, etc. In the race, the driving is more automatic as i think more about strategy. Sometimes the "strategy" is to keep driving like it is qualifying... really concentrate on hitting the marks. But, like JG said, if the car starts changing the brain power shifts to analyzing what is happening, and what to adjust.
This thread got me thinking... I didn't realize that in a 1:30 lap around Road Atlanta I shift 21 times. Like every 4.5 seconds. So, much of the time I'm steering with my left hand. Yet all that never dawned on me until i thought about it, because it is like automatic. I do know that when it is all clicking right it just feels like slow motion.
Recently, listening to F1 coverage, I am amazed at the level of clear conversation drivers are involved in during truly intense driving. I don't think I ever achieved that level. Maybe on a long straight I could say something coherent. 
In reply to Purple Frog (Forum Supporter) :
I can On the 125GP bike it was something like 24 shifts around 9 turn Willow Springs.
As for talking; I can manage it instructing but I am sure if I tried this while racing I'd implode. In 37 years of racing I've never had a radio in the car.
Purple Frog (Forum Supporter) said:Recently, listening to F1 coverage, I am amazed at the level of clear conversation drivers are involved in during truly intense driving. I don't think I ever achieved that level. Maybe on a long straight I could say something coherent.
Something like "don't talk to me while I'm racing" ? :)
One nice thing about the S54 is the extremely broad power band. I only shift 8 times at Sears Pont (4 up, 4 down), and one of those is kind of optional (downshifting to 3rd for turn 4, then shortshifting back to 4th before the apex for 5)
Having a radio in the car is huge. Super super useful for coaching days, essential for enduros, and having a spotter can be very valuable during a sprint race.
When I was going through the process of getting my w2w race license the instructor said something that has stuck with me. Basically it boils down to this:
To be a good driver in a racing situation you can't take 100% of your mental capacity to just drive the car. You must have enough capacity remaining to watch the flaggers, keep track of the position of all nearby cars, etc.
In some cases this may mean that you need to 'back down' your pace a little in order to properly process everything. For some drivers (even the pros) this is easier said than done and they make poor decisions and get into trouble.
@red_stapler mentioned "flow state" and I think that's the right description for it. All focus is on driving - visual and tactile inputs and response. Wide field of vision. No internal dialogue ever. That's been a challenge in going back to the Miata. There's not much going on relative to driving a fast car in the midst of fast traffic.
In reply to jwagner (Forum Supporter) :
My Datsun is more difficult to drive than the Formula 500 The level of performance is such that the level of intensity varies from cruising down the freeway to 101% race battle.
In reply to nuthunmuch :
I know of a driver who was probably capable of being on the podium at the RunOffs but crashed constantly. They had a nasty crash that nearly cost them their life.
Every once in awhile I get a student that zones out this way; I use the aforementioned story to bring them back to reality.
ShinnyGroove (Forum Supporter) said:But there is another saying that I once heard from a music teacher. "Practice doesn't make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect."
This is 100% correct, but there's a variation on it that gets the point across better - "Practice doesn't make perfect. Practice makes permanent."
"Practice makes perfect" is most definitely a myth!
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