RE: Braking at Driver's Schools

["Duane Collie" <drcollie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>From: Steven Schlossman <steven@domain.elided>
>Subject: Driver's School Braking Questions

>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,

What you need is simple - more track time.  This is something you (as did
all of us) need to work up to.  With only 4 hours total time you're not into
the finesse of refinement yet.  You're probably right where you should be.
I think the most important thing you can do as a relative newbie to the
track is to have a total awareness of what is going on around you while
driving on the racetrack.  Things happen fast out there.  Focus on the cars
around you - where they are at all the time?  Do you see every flag station
and worker on every lap?  You should.  Do you see every runoff area and have
an 'escape'  planned for every turn?  Do you know what to do when the car in
front of you gets loose?

Once you get comfortable with the track environment then you can start
working on the dynamics of the hot lap.  Acceleration is a no-brainer.
 Slow -IN  : Fast OUT. Remember that and you'll rarely get into trouble.
I've done some instructing, certainly not as much as many others on this
list, but two things I notice about novice/intermediate students that want
to go fast:

1) They jerk the car all over the course. Slapping the shifter,  abrupt
turn-ins, sawing the wheel in the corners, etc. Manhandling it. Driving
quickly is like an aggressive ballet you have smoothness and a rhythm with
speed.   Doesn't mean everything is done gingerly, in fact it is not.  Ride
with a hot instructor sometime - you'll be amazed at how violent-yet smooth
the ride is.  Jerking the car around unbalances it and makes you go slower.

2) They are afraid of the brakes.   Brakes is where you make time on the
track.  Always brake in a straight line and brake hard - but don't 'punch'
the pedal. When you decide to brake lay into the pedal hard, but smoothly.
Go deep. You'll be amazed how strong BMW brakes are, especially M3 brakes.
Braking hard is some scary stuff and you have to work up to it.  As you get
better you'll wnat better pads (and that means a separate set of pads) and
stickey tires.

Street Driving Tips:  Well, you really can't work on speed, but you can work
on smoothness and turn-in.  Here's a few things I do on the street to make
the commute more educational, and none of these require you to do anything
illegal.

1)  When you're in a sweeper (freeway exit ramp, etc.) commit to your turn
and watch your hands.  Turn the wheel in a fluid motion and if you are doing
it right, you won't be sawing the wheel (undercorrect/overcorrect).  Once
you are in the turn the wheel should remain stable at the same position.
Your hands will be steady in the turn

2) Learn to late apex at traffic intersections.  This requires no speed at
all - in fact I practice it in my pickup truck.  Go in deeper before the
actual turn - do your turn-in, and accelerate out.  Where this is really
interesting is if there's a car in front of you (most every driver early
apexes) and you go into four lanes.  As the driver in front of you starts
his turn early, you'll see him go ide to the outside lane. You go in deeper,
turn -in and take the inside lane, and will be all straightened up while the
other vehicle is effectively running out of road and carrying no speed
forward.  Fun game.

3) Take a 2 foot piece of masking tape and tape it horizontally right under
you line of sight to the outside of the windshield.  Then go find some curvy
roads.  What this will effectively do is force you to 'look through' the
corners as you have to peer above the tape.  Very effective exercise. Once
you learn to do this, your track times and responses will increase
dramatically.

4) Autocross!  The best mind game there is.  Good autocrossers make good
track drivers (the reverse is not true, however).  Autocross lets you
explore the limits of the car at far lower speeds than a track enviroment.
Plus, you have to think VERY quick.

5) If you can afford it, take a Skippy School (or Bondoraunt, Russell,
etc.).  You'll learn more there in a day than in a week of track days.

Most of all, have FUN.  Speed and skills will come, with time.

Duane Collie
SVR / UUC / Bubba

P.S.  Autocross tip for E36 pilots : Remove the inside rear view mirror for
the day.  All you have to do is twist it left/right and it comes right off.
Lets you see the right handers much better.

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