Q: How do I prepare to drive at night time in an endurance race?

by | Sep 9, 2019 | Ask Ross

Q: I am relatively new to your podcasts and advice columns and have already benefited greatly from the fantastic information you share. I have been doing HPDE type track driving for a handful of years and just got my SCCA competition license this year. I have the opportunity to join a Champcar team for a 24-hour Enduro and anticipate some nighttime duties. I have only one weekend of experience at VIR from six years ago. What are your thoughts on the added challenge of nighttime visibility especially with my limited track knowledge? What do you suggest as the best way to prepare and what other difficulties might I expect to encounter?

Q: How do I reduce the amount of “chatter” I get with the tires while cornering?

by | Jun 7, 2022 | Ask Ross

Q: “I have a question for you – it’s about the ‘tire chatter’ I experience a fair amount of at Sebring. It’s most notable at Turn 7, and to a lesser extent at Turns 5 and 10. Other drivers have described this as me needing to reduce corner speed a bit, as well as not ‘throwing the car in there quite so aggressively,’ but I was wondering if you had other ideas. My setup is that I run a Ford Focus ST with some engine and suspension mods, and Maxxis Victra RC-1 tires. In experimenting on Turn 5 a bit I found that if I relaxed my hands a bit at the apex and let the car run out a bit more to track out, that I could reduce the amount of chatter, but the chatter is still there. I don’t see too much opportunity to do that sort of an adjustment at Turn 7.”

Q: How do I rotate my car into a corner?

by | Aug 26, 2019 | Ask Ross

Q: In one of your Chalktalks (thanks for those!) I asked you to describe car rotation, which you did. But what I didn’t ask was how do I get the car to rotate – how I can initiate rotation in a corner? What techniques to try and practice to do this, on track and maybe on some empty roads?

Q: How do I stay focused on improving my performance driving?

by | Jan 1, 2018 | Ask Ross

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?”