Re: Driver's School Braking Questions

[Jim Ochi <jochi@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Steven Schlossman <steven@domain.elided> wrote:

>My biggest concern at this time is braking and acceleration.

>I feel my ABS [on my 98 318ti] kick in too quickly to allow be to stop
>smoothly. Acceleration is slow since I'm usually in the wrong gear.
>
>What can I focus on in my daily driving so I can be more aware of braking
>and acceleration?
>
>Afterall, my total track time is probably 4 hours.
>I only had one off track excursion and I'm still on stock tires.

Steven - 

I'm nowhere near the level of Duane or many of the others on this list, but
in addition to Duane's advice, I would add:

- - Seat time, seat time, seat time.  Like any other skill, this is not
something that you'll learn in a single school.  It takes time and practice.

- - It sounds like you're trying too hard to go fast too early, especially if
you've already had an off-track excursion.  It's a hard thing to do when
the adrenaline and excitement of being on the track are kicking in, but try
to take it down a notch and concentrate on smoothness for a while.  Brake
early, roll on the gas, make sure you hit all your turn-in points and
apexes.  Try to string together several laps driving a perfect line.  Try
to do an entire session without blowing your line.  Tell your instructor
that this is what you want to concentrate on for that session, and follow
their advice on how to do this.  Once you get smooth, the speed will come.

Stuff you can do on the street (or, I should say, off the track):

- - Look ahead.  Much of smoothness comes from knowing what's ahead and
knowing where you need the car to be at all times.  Don't just focus on the
bumper of the car ahead of you, or what is happening immediately in front
of the car (of course, don't do something stupid if you're in traffic...).
Duane's tape strip exercise is a good one!

- - For every corner, spot your braking point, your turn in point, the apex,
and where you want the car to be on exit.  Hit these points.  However,
since you're on the street, concentrate on hitting these points smoothly
and leave yourself enough of a margin for error.

- - Turn off your cell phone, radio, passenger :-) and really concentrate on
what the car is doing.  Pay attention to how the springs compress as the
weight transfers from wheel to wheel.  Try to smooth out the weight
transfers - for example, when you corner, the weight should smoothly move
to the front wheels when you brake, max out when you turn in, and smoothly
move to the rear wheels when you accelerate out.  If you're braking, the
front should not bob up and down.  When you're accelerating out, try to
keep the nose from jumping up on the transition to the gas, then settling
back down.

- - Slow hands.  Try to move your hands as slowly and as fluidly as possible.
 You should be able to take constant radius turns in three stages - turn
the wheel, hold constant, unwind.  No jerks, no sawing, no corrections.

- - Car placement and precision.  Know where your wheels are, and where you
want to place them.  For example, on my daily commute, there are certain
road imperfections (dots, bumps, pavement cracks, pavement gouges) that I
try to put my wheels on.  Remember to look ahead, and not stare at the spot
you're trying to hit.

- - Practice your shifting.  Heel and toe every downshift.  Pay attention to
not jerking the car.  You should try to brake smoothly and downshift
without the front of the car bobbing up and down.  If you row the gears at
every stop or corner (freeway offramps are especially fun!), your heel and
toeing will get pretty good in no time.   

- - As Duane says, autocross!  Be sure to get rides from the better drivers,
and ask them to ride along with you.  As you ride, pay attention to car
placement, smoothness, line, and how the driver is using the controls of
the car to make it do whatever it's doing.  If you can, try to spot where
the driver is looking  - this is another "look ahead" exercise.  Pay
attention to transitions, and weight transfer - if you want, close your
eyes and concentrate on feeling what the car is doing.  Try to spot
mistakes, and if they're so inclined, discuss the run afterwards and see if
the bobbles you spotted correspond with where they say they screwed up.
It's even worthwhile to ride along with other rookies and newbies - you
really learn what doing it wrong feels like!  Don't wimp out if the weather
is bad - autocrossing in the rain really rewards smoothness and driving the
correct line.  

Hope this helps,

Jim Ochi
jochi@domain.elided

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