Q: “How do I try to manage my tires’ heat so that they don’t get oily and slick as the day gets hot as I’m driving? I’ve noticed I can get efficient traction my first two laps if it is hot out, but after that the tires seem to want to slide a bit more.”
Q: “I’m not a racer, just a guy who tries once a month from May through September to do open tracks days. This past summer, I’d go into a track session planning on working on a particular thing, but a few laps into the session I’d get lost in the moment and stop working on what I wanted to improve. Any suggestions on how to stop this?”
Q: “How can I still find motivation to continue after 15 years of racing the same car on the same regional tracks against the same people – it’s gotten stale. I enjoy racing and I have that as an identity, but unfortunately I’m not sufficiently well-financed to afford a second car or race at tracks more than a day’s tow from my home state. I suppose I could sell my current car to buy another, but sentimentality is kind of preventing that. I wondered if you had any advice for me.”
Q: “I seem to do well in practice and qualifying but when it comes down to competition, I choke. The only time when I actually did well was when I was extremely dehydrated and on the point of passing out. All I wanted to do was finish the runs and get out the car. I’m guessing I was in the mindset of fight or flight and not really caring about the results. But in turn I podiumed with the best drivers/cars in my series. Do you have any tips, podcast, books or just some insight you can recommend on driver mentality? I seem to get too into my head and it’s tough to get out.”
Q: “If telemetry tells me I’m over-braking for a turn, but reducing braking creates understeer, is it a steering input issue? To clarify, reducing braking causes me to miss the apex. What is going on here? Do I stink at turning in?”