Q: “I’m a relative newbie who made the jump from HPDE to racing and experienced something weird at my last race. The car in front of me brake checked me on the main straightaway. I was tucked in tight and drafting him. He did it again in a race the next day. We were both driving slow momentum cars. His car was slightly faster. Is this something I should expect to see from other racers in the future? It felt dirty and dangerous. Maybe I’m just a newbie and it’s standard stuff.”

Q: “I’m fairly new to the sport of track driving, and I’m wondering whether I should be insuring my car when I do track events? I’ve looked at the cost of track day insurance, but not really sure it’s worth it. What do you think?”

Q: “Is it okay to skip gears when downshifting? For example, instead of a 5-4-3-2 brake and downshift, if your transmission allows, could you bypass shifting into 4th and 3rd and just shift into 2nd from 5th at the same point?”

Q: “Do you think a higher horsepower car or higher downforce car is more difficult to maximize EoB (End-of-Braking) to full throttle?”

Q: “At an HPDE, how do I practice trail braking without being a hazard to the other participants by accidentally going sideways or spinning out of control in the corner?”

Q: “While I feel I have a good awareness of cars around me, I’m struggling with wheel-to-wheel racing. The problem is, I’m new to the type of car I’m racing – touring cars. I feel totally blind when I’m competing with other cars. I used to race open-wheel cars, and I could sense where other cars were around me, and then confirming it with very good convex mirrors. With the touring cars, every time someone dives inside me in the brake zone, I have no idea if I should turn in on the corner or not because I have no idea where the other car is. I don’t want to turn in if they’re already there, so I just get passed easily. I feel intimidated. I want to get better at racecraft. Any suggestions?”

Q: “I wanted to tell you this. I went out after being off the track for 9 months, but while I was held up in the house I took your webinar on braking (Improve Your Braking & Corner Entry), and the one thing I remember you telling us is pay more attention to where you finish your braking then where you apply the brakes. OMG, this was much more important than I thought! I like comparing my lap and a pro driver’s time in my car. I am a visual person and I like to see at a glance where we are on the throttle and brakes. I did figure out that the reason I was losing time at Thunderhill was not braking too early. In fact, the pro and I were consistent on where we started braking, but I held the brakes on just a little longer. Obviously, this would consistently slow me down. So, without Data Acquisition is there another way to learn when it’s the perfect moment to get off the brakes?”

Q: “I’m a relative newbie who made the jump from HPDE to racing and experienced something weird at my last race. The car in front of me brake checked me on the main straightaway. I was tucked in tight and drafting him. He did it again in a race the next day. We were both driving slow momentum cars. His car was slightly faster. Is this something I should expect to see from other racers in the future? It felt dirty and dangerous. Maybe I’m just a newbie and it’s standard stuff.”

Q: “I’m fairly new to the sport of track driving, and I’m wondering whether I should be insuring my car when I do track events? I’ve looked at the cost of track day insurance, but not really sure it’s worth it. What do you think?”

Q: “Is it okay to skip gears when downshifting? For example, instead of a 5-4-3-2 brake and downshift, if your transmission allows, could you bypass shifting into 4th and 3rd and just shift into 2nd from 5th at the same point?”

Q: “Do you think a higher horsepower car or higher downforce car is more difficult to maximize EoB (End-of-Braking) to full throttle?”

Q: “At an HPDE, how do I practice trail braking without being a hazard to the other participants by accidentally going sideways or spinning out of control in the corner?”

Q: “While I feel I have a good awareness of cars around me, I’m struggling with wheel-to-wheel racing. The problem is, I’m new to the type of car I’m racing – touring cars. I feel totally blind when I’m competing with other cars. I used to race open-wheel cars, and I could sense where other cars were around me, and then confirming it with very good convex mirrors. With the touring cars, every time someone dives inside me in the brake zone, I have no idea if I should turn in on the corner or not because I have no idea where the other car is. I don’t want to turn in if they’re already there, so I just get passed easily. I feel intimidated. I want to get better at racecraft. Any suggestions?”

Q: “I wanted to tell you this. I went out after being off the track for 9 months, but while I was held up in the house I took your webinar on braking (Improve Your Braking & Corner Entry), and the one thing I remember you telling us is pay more attention to where you finish your braking then where you apply the brakes. OMG, this was much more important than I thought! I like comparing my lap and a pro driver’s time in my car. I am a visual person and I like to see at a glance where we are on the throttle and brakes. I did figure out that the reason I was losing time at Thunderhill was not braking too early. In fact, the pro and I were consistent on where we started braking, but I held the brakes on just a little longer. Obviously, this would consistently slow me down. So, without Data Acquisition is there another way to learn when it’s the perfect moment to get off the brakes?”