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: “Are there any substantial changes to driving technique, vision focus points, driver inputs, etc., that you would recommend when going to a street circuit rather than a “typical” racetrack? Obviously, there are walls instead of gravel traps so you don’t want to focus on them, but are there many changes you make to the actual driving?”
Q: “Okay, you’re on a skid pad and you begin to under or oversteer at a certain speed, say 40 MPH. Now you’re in a big fast corner on a race track. Does it feel the same in the seat at 90 as it does at 40 when things start to get a bit unsettled? I’m asking because at a track like Big Willow I don’t like leaving speed on the table due to intimidation.”
Q: “How can I learn to overcome anticipating what the car is going to do instead of reacting to what it IS doing. I am too much of a technical/comfort driver that wrongly anticipates how much grip is in a corner, entry speed, or tenses up when really pushing, expecting the car to slide. I am still improving but a lot slower than people that go out and spin or go off course and have to dial it back. How can I learn this aggression?”
Q: “What things can a driver to do to survive a long stint when it seems that it’s never going to end?”
Q: “I recently saw your Speed Secrets Quick Tip on a car’s weakness (https://youtu.be/4MSsc99y2VU), and I can relate to one of your specific examples of a car understeering. I’ve been having a terrible time getting my car to rotate into one corner in particular at my local track. Last time I was there, I determined that I was upsetting the car’s balance by either poor brake or steering management. It happens every time, though I’ve tried many different approaches to the corner. How do I determine whether it is my car, or my lack of skill? Is it me, or do I need a stiffer rear anti-roll bar? I felt like a chump for blaming it on the car this year, but now that I’ve started reading your autocross book, I’m starting to wonder if I’m justified in making a change to the car in my first year of driving.”