Ask Ross
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Speed Secrets Merch
Got questions? I’ve got answers. This is where I post answers to the many questions I receive. You may find the answer to a question you have here (you can use the “Search” tool to the right, or just scroll through the pages and pages…), but if not, you can email it to me (use the big red button to the right).
Q: How important is visualizing for race drivers?
Q: “I watched a video of Alexander Rossi closing his eyes and imagining driving a lap of the Long Beach Indy car track. It was amazing how accurate he was. My question, then, is how important is circuit visualization for a driver?”
Q: How can I adapt to driving different tracks, and having different instructors?
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: How do I know whether I’m too smooth or not smooth enough when driving on track?
Q: “How important is the balance between getting back on the power early and quickly exiting a corner, but making sure that you are smooth?”
Q: What advice do you have for getting rid of motion sickness when riding as an instructor?
Q: What advice do you have for getting rid of motion sickness when riding as an instructor?
Q: How can I drive more consistently at the limit?
Q: “I have a problem driving on the limit all the time. As soon as the car starts move, especially with oversteer on entry, I react immediately and arrest the movement. How do I get past this?”
Q: Does turning the steering wheel more in the middle of a corner make me faster?
Q: “I notice that many of the top drivers turn the steering wheel more right in the middle of the corner, just about the apex. But I never see anyone teach it. Example: Lewis Hamilton’s record lap at COTA on YouTube. I have found myself doing this on the sim and some in my car in real life. In the slow speed turns on entry, they add X amount of steering input, then as they approach the apex and are scrubbing speed, they add more input. This makes sense because as you slow, the tires will take more input. Comments? Good? Bad? Too complicated for amateurs? It seems pretty natural to me on the sim? I presume if it is used during a record lap, it must be faster?”
Q: What is maintenance throttle & when should I use it?
Q: “I hear the term ‘maintenance throttle’ used, but I don’t really know what it is. And how and when I should use it. Can you explain?”
Q: How do I know if I’m driving my car at its limit?
Q: “At a certain point, any car driven to its limit by the best driver will have a lap time that cannot go much lower. Short of having a pro do lap times in my car, is there any way to determine the difference between a plateau and the best lap possible?”
Q: Do I need to turn in late to get to a late apex?
Q: “I’m told by my instructors to late apex corners, but I sometimes feel I’m turning in too late, and I have to turn sharply to do that. Is there a way to use a late apex without turning in late? Or is this all geometry?!”
Q: Does getting back to throttle early always mean a better exit?
Q: “Does an earlier throttle application always mean a better exit off of a corner? It seems that sometimes when I start accelerating early, I don’t end up with as high a top speed on the straight as other times. What’s going on?”
Got Questions?
Skills
Types
Subscriptions
Speed Secrets Merch
Got questions? I’ve got answers. This is where I post answers to the many questions I’ve received. You may find the answer to a question you have here, but if not, you have two options: If you want the answer immediately, sign up for my SpeedSecrets.ai app (think of it as “Google on steroids, focused solely on performance/race driving”), or email it to me.
Q: How important is visualizing for race drivers?
Q: “I watched a video of Alexander Rossi closing his eyes and imagining driving a lap of the Long Beach Indy car track. It was amazing how accurate he was. My question, then, is how important is circuit visualization for a driver?”
Q: How can I adapt to driving different tracks, and having different instructors?
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: How do I know whether I’m too smooth or not smooth enough when driving on track?
Q: “How important is the balance between getting back on the power early and quickly exiting a corner, but making sure that you are smooth?”
Q: What advice do you have for getting rid of motion sickness when riding as an instructor?
Q: What advice do you have for getting rid of motion sickness when riding as an instructor?
Q: How can I drive more consistently at the limit?
Q: “I have a problem driving on the limit all the time. As soon as the car starts move, especially with oversteer on entry, I react immediately and arrest the movement. How do I get past this?”
Q: Does turning the steering wheel more in the middle of a corner make me faster?
Q: “I notice that many of the top drivers turn the steering wheel more right in the middle of the corner, just about the apex. But I never see anyone teach it. Example: Lewis Hamilton’s record lap at COTA on YouTube. I have found myself doing this on the sim and some in my car in real life. In the slow speed turns on entry, they add X amount of steering input, then as they approach the apex and are scrubbing speed, they add more input. This makes sense because as you slow, the tires will take more input. Comments? Good? Bad? Too complicated for amateurs? It seems pretty natural to me on the sim? I presume if it is used during a record lap, it must be faster?”
Q: What is maintenance throttle & when should I use it?
Q: “I hear the term ‘maintenance throttle’ used, but I don’t really know what it is. And how and when I should use it. Can you explain?”
Q: How do I know if I’m driving my car at its limit?
Q: “At a certain point, any car driven to its limit by the best driver will have a lap time that cannot go much lower. Short of having a pro do lap times in my car, is there any way to determine the difference between a plateau and the best lap possible?”
Q: Do I need to turn in late to get to a late apex?
Q: “I’m told by my instructors to late apex corners, but I sometimes feel I’m turning in too late, and I have to turn sharply to do that. Is there a way to use a late apex without turning in late? Or is this all geometry?!”
Q: Does getting back to throttle early always mean a better exit?
Q: “Does an earlier throttle application always mean a better exit off of a corner? It seems that sometimes when I start accelerating early, I don’t end up with as high a top speed on the straight as other times. What’s going on?”
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