Is there a more important racing mantra than "slow in, fast out?"

No coasting!

 

As the late, great Terry Wogan said on his not quite record-breaking hot-lap of the Top Gear track "slow and steady wins the race".

 

.
"To drive an F1 (or C9) car you have to be a little mad". "

"On the morning of a race there's a mix of excitement and fear. If it's a wet track, then it's worse as you're not in control most of the time, which is the thing all drivers fear the most."
Jenson Button

. "Easy on the gas, don't touch the grass"
. M V6

 

Here's a few from my local dirt tracks.

-"You can't hold a trophy when you dead."
-"Don't punch a man with a helmet on you dumba**."
-"Godd***** Bobby, the wheels go on the bottom of the car."

I also got a hilarious story. My local dirt track holds a drivers championship for all classes. Late models, modified, sprint cars, you name it. Well the points are tied to the number and class, not Necessarily the car.

So one night, the track champion in the modified division blows up his motor during hot laps. (Basically heat qualifying) Has he didn't complete a lap, he wouldn't get to race unless "A car with the number 23 completes a hot lap before 8:00pm." Well they make every effort to do the motor swap in time, but it looks like they aren't going to make up. So what does he do? Tapes the numbers 23 on the part's van and does a lap with that! The track organizer is pissed, and comes up with a plan. Right then and there he created a new rule, whatever car qualifies had to start the race.

So heat 3 rolls around. There's 9 modifieds and one Chevy ASTRO van rolling around for the pace laps. He does one lap, (under yellow), parks the van in the infield, runs over to his car, gets in, and rejoins the field as they take the green effectively 1 lap down. After a few cautions, and getting a lucky dog pass, he eventually fights up to 3rd and gets into the feature event. He finished 5th of 20 cars in the feature with (as far as the track record books are concerned) a Chevy ASTRO van.

God I love dirt track racing!

 

I'm also running the GTE right now, and learning trail braking with the slightest amount of slide to get you through mid corner is good. Also, coasting is okay mid corner especially on late apex. Some guys I watch give like 25% gas at first and then wheel straight, 100%. That 25% plants the rear.

 

“This is a rule of racing: No race has ever been won in the first corner; many have been lost there.”
― Garth Stein

"Balance, or drivability, and the ability to accelerate while cornering are more important than maximum cornering power - every time. Until you reach the top levels of professional motor racing you will achieve more results by optimizing the package that you have than by redesigning it."

-Carroll Smith

 

And applied to computers: "if in doubt, reboot".

 

Its not a quote but if youre starting out in sim racing I really really suggest you watch this video.

 

Brake in a straight line... (until you start trail-braking)
Minimize brake and gas pedal overlap
Use every inch of available track.... and then some

 

"The speed was ok but the corner was too tight.."

And my favourite from Kimi Raikonnen in response to a daft interview question..
“The helmet has a very special meaning to many drivers. How is it important to you?”
“It protects my head.”

 

Smart guy

 

Use all the track, hit your apexes, keep it on the grey stuff.
I lose most of my time missing apxes

 

"slow in, fast out?"

What is this part of the title about?.....

 

You're a poet.
And you don't know it.

 

Haha, I will bite, you are right,

 

Since we're rarely alone on the track...

"NEVER hit your teammate"

 

If I could ad a thought to this overall concepts it could be "keep it straight as much as possible", I mean, try to make the car go on straight lines everypwhere on the track.

By getting the feel for how much a car can rotate under throttle and brake application, we can work with that to make the rotate earlier pointing to the next straightline.

We could split this idea into 2 thoughts:
- when entering a corner we should always be trying make the car rotate as quick as possible, so we can manage to get back on throtle earlier;
- if we master how much rotation the car can make during brake (corner entering) and throtle (corner exit) we could manage to have the car pointed earlier and to apply throtle earlier on the corner, using the acceleration as a rotating tool.

It works for all types of cars. Every car has its behavior on braking and accelerating so it will be different on each, with more or less room for errors

 

Racing is not about fastest speeds, but about shortest time to complete a lap/race

With this in mind it's easier to ease off when it doesn't carry a time benefit.

 

Never coast.

Ideally you should always be either accelerating, or braking - never coasting. Coasting only ever makes you slower.

By aiming to coast as little as possible, it will not only help you find that optimal braking point, but it will also teach car rotation using brakes/throttle, as well as helping with learning trail braking.