Q: “After 1.5 years of club racing, I find that on a good day I can fight for 3rd. The problem is, I can only get to that level of performance on Sunday afternoon, after a three-day weekend. There are points on Saturday, and I have neither the time nor money to put in all those Fridays. What can I do to be fast on my third lap out?”
Q: “I have been trying to improve my corner exit speed. As I am exiting certain turns, turn 1 at VIR for instance, I am at full throttle pretty much past the apex even before I fully straighten my steering wheel out. So, I am cornering at full throttle. Why am I not sliding or spinning? I am a firm believer in what you said many times in your books that the tires can only do 3 things at 100% – each either accelerate, decelerate or corner and they can do a combination of the above but only up to 100%. So, I am 100% accelerating and still cornering. How can that be? I drive a Cayman GT4 with Hoosier R7 tires. Can it be that these tires can handle more, meaning 100% full throttle in my car is really less than 100% throttle for these particular tires? I hope I am making sense!”
Q: How can I improve how quickly I apply the brakes? And is it possible to apply the brakes too fast?
Q: How can I improve my ability to sense how closely I can get to another car on track?
Q: “As I’ve gotten quicker, I’ve been able to hone my technique and get tangible results. One area that I just can’t seem to get comfortable with is braking. I’m starting to chase tenths, and I feel like I’m leaving a few tenths out there because of sloppy braking. There’s no real consistency. Sometimes I even miss the brake pedal and that’s a terrifying half-second as I then frantically get my full foot on the pedal into threshold braking, and blow the rev-match for the downshift because my foot is not in position. And of course, the lap is now gone… What gives?”