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instructor’s insight ...
Learning to Drive a New Track (and Remembering an Old Track)
Every year we suffer through the winter months in
anticipation of a new season of PCA driving events.
Many of us “Track Rats” spend the winter working on
our Porsches, making improvements to our cars for
safety and performance. The wise drivers are reading
the driving related books and seeking the advice
of the seasoned drivers to improve their driving performance
on the track.
One of the subjects which comes up amongst drivers
is - How does an experienced driver go about learning
a new track? What are the steps a person should
take to learn a new circuit? I believe there are many
different answers to these questions. However, most
drivers who have had the experience of visiting a new
track and learning how to drive it have similar methods
to tackle the problem.
Professional and amateur drivers learn through “seat
of the pants” or sensory inputs while driving on the
track. They know how the car should feel when cornering
and accelerating down the straight. Most drivers
can also hear when the car is working well and
whether the engine picks up speed through a corner
without even looking at the tachometer!
One of the key points in the process is to prepare
yourself mentally to learn prior to driving on the track.
As simple as this may sound, I have seen many people
who come to a new track and are overwhelmed
with car preparation, registration, etc. causing them
to forget the primary task of learning their way
around the track!
Professional drivers maintain their focus when learning
a new track and will not allow themselves to be
distracted by car problems when practicing and qualifying
on a new circuit. This is a luxury most us may
not have while participating at a PCA DE event.
Personally, I like to show up early at the new track
and make sure the car is ready. When, registration
opens I like to be first in line. Get the paperwork
rmrporschenews
done and ask questions to become familiar with the
facility. Look at the track map and figure out how to
get on and off the track. Then, find where the facilities
are; gas, food, water, bathrooms, etc.
Then I like to go around the pits and talk to everybody
and gather as much information about the track as
possible. Socializing is a big part of any track event.
You can get a lot of information about a place just by
asking people who have been to a particular track before.
Always, have your track map at hand and ask
for tips on how to drive the track the first time. I’ve
never been to a track where the other drivers would
not help each other.
Next, find out when your group is staging and get to
the grid on time. Many drivers like to get into the car
and have a little “quiet time” before going out on the
track. This helps them concentrate 100% on learning
while driving the track the first time. Plan how
you are going to drive through each corner, observing
and placing information into your memory bank.
When given the signal to go, try to relax and concentrate
on getting yourself and the car warmed up
the first couple of laps under the yellow flag. A good
driver will spend the next couple of laps observing
key reference points of each corner and overall landmarks
for orienting themselves on the track.
Brake points, turn-in points, apex points and trackout
points need to be recognized and memorized. The
contour and elevation changes of every point on the
circuit can drastically change the way a driver approaches
a particular corner. Overall track condition
is also an important piece of information. There are
always some places on a road racing circuit where
you do not want to go off for one reason or another.
While watching the pros learning a new track, I have
observed the fastest drivers testing the breakaway
point of their cars on each corner. This is done by
braking adequately when approaching a corner and
stabbing the throttle to see if the track surface has
good traction when applying the throttle.
Alan Fritze, RMR-PCA Chief Driving Instructor
A few laps later, a driver should be refining their turnn
points (most important!) and throttle application to
obtain the best result through each corner. Forget
late braking. Find the point where you can put your
foot down and put the car into a stable four wheel
drift without losing momentum through the turn.
Consistency breeds confidence while driving on the
track. When the driver senses the car is behaving
well as it is being driven around the track, they can
attempt to reduce their lap times by entering the
turns at a slightly higher speed and see if the car has
enough traction to comfortably negotiate the turn
without leaving the track. Sometimes a minor correction
of the turn-in point or apex point can help a
driver go through a corner in a more stable manner
at a greater speed.
Using the tachometer or the speedometer to benchmark
track-out speed and speed at the end of the
straight helps a driver to improve his performance.
An in-car timer is also useful for taking overall lap
times or segment times through certain sections of
the track. Try and take notes as soon as you come
in and record your tach readings before getting involved
in some other task.
Weight transfer points are also important to maximize
the performance of your vehicle through a sequence
of corners. By modulating the brakes, a good
driver can prevent the car from transferring to much
weight to the front of the car when entering a corner.
The driver can then control the amount of
weight transfer to the rear by gradually releasing the
brakes and applying the throttle judiciously to keep
the car from understeering in the turn. This is often
called trail braking and must be practiced to be effective.
April 2009
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