Ask Ross

Q: “I’m looking for the formula to adjust my cold tire pressure based on the ambient air temp. I had heard someone at the track mentioning this but missed getting the formula. I have used the pyrometer to ensure I have a tire pressure that gives a very even temp across the tire, let the tire cool overnight and took the tire pressure as my future starting cold tire pressure. At the same time, I recorded the ambient air temp to have record of both. My question is, if on the next time to that track, the ambient air temp is higher or lower than the day I recorded my previous tire pressure, how much do I adjust my cold starting pressure? Of course, I have done all of the above for each tire, arriving at four different starting cold pressures. Is there a formula that will give me the adjustment?”

Q: “I’m new to HPDE and have done 2 events so far. I live in Colorado and my first HPDE event was at Pueblo Motorsports Park. I drive a modified Miata and my instructor at the time thought I did amazing and that I took all the right lines and everything on the track. I was “in the groove” so to speak. My instructor thought I was good enough to advance to HPDE 2 and I told him I wanted to stay at 1 to be safe because this is only my first track. I then went to my second event at High Plains Raceway and had a completely different instructor. At that track I could not “get into the groove” and went completely off track at turn 10 twice. I kept pushing myself even after because I knew I could do better, but I felt I was not getting any better. What I’m saying is I was extremely comfortable racing at Pueblo and thrown off by High Plains, due to either the elevation changes on the corners or the track having, in my opinion, odd lines. My instructor had taken me in his car around High Plains to show me the lines I should ideally be taking, and I noticed he wasn’t using the entire track width. But the next time I went out I mimicked the exact lines he was using and he said I wasn’t using the proper lines, and it dropped my motivation a little bit. What I would like to ask is how I can adapt myself to become comfortable to different instructors and different tracks?”

Q: What advice do you have for getting rid of motion sickness when riding as an instructor?

Q: “I’ve been an avid reader of your content since about 2002, and I find that you always have some new angle of providing new knowledge to us drivers. I have a question that’s a bit borderline off-topic. I don’t remember whether you’ve mentioned alpine skiing anywhere, but even as an inexperienced skier I find there are some similarities which could actually help my driving. For example, the use of vision, the importance and use of balance, and of course, the way of finding “the line.” I know that you often look into other sports to find ideas for use in car racing, and therefore I want to ask you if you know of any good alpine skiing “speed secrets” books to explore?”

Q: “I’m doing sim racing and until now I was not too much paying attention to the EoB (End-of-Braking). What can we look at to use as a reference point for the EoB? For the BoB (Begin-of-Braking) it’s easy to look at a wall, curb or sign, but for the EoB I don’t really see what to look at.”

Q: “I race endurance wheel-to-wheel and at present I do not use heel/toe downshifting. I understand that this technique is a needed skill to be a “great” driver. If you had to rate this skill, where would you consider it to be?”

Q: “I’m currently reading Skip Barber racing school’s book “Going Faster” and came to the chapter about shifting. The author wrote that race cars usually don’t have synchros, and thus require double-clutch for downshifting. Since the book was written in the ‘90s, I’m wondering if it’s still true for race cars nowadays? Is it a required technique if I plan to develop my racing career in the future?”