UPDATE: You may have noticed that I’ve started calling this thing, this series of articles, these posts, this Substack… Driving Directions. Why?
Because, what’s a Substack? When I launched my new SpeedSecrets.com website, my goal was to make using it and the resources I create easier to access and use. When the site listed “Substack” on the menu, many people had no idea what that was! So, I decided to call it something else. Sure, it still lives on the Substack platform, but it’s now called Driving Directions.
And it makes sense….
The way I think about it, my job is to help drivers like you go from where you’re currently at to where you want to go. In other words, give you the directions for your driving. Hence, Driving Directions. I don’t know if that’s clever or silly? I’ll leave that up to you.
As I was thinking about “directions,” and the upcoming Total Car Control Masterclass, my mind went towards the direction you want to go through a corner, otherwise known as the “line” through a corner.
The line is defined as the curved path from the Turn-in point, past/through the Apex, and out to the Exit or Track-out point. This path is a compromise between driving the largest radius, and one that best sets us up for what’s coming after the corner (and sometimes, what came before it). If all we cared about was being as fast as possible through one single corner in isolation, we’d always drive the largest radius, and the Apex of the corner would be in the exact geometric center of the corner. But we all know that if the Apex was there, we’d be late at beginning to accelerate out of the corner, and therefore, be slow down the following straightaway (assuming there is a straight afterward).
So, we compromise the large radius somewhat for a later Turn-in: a tighter radius early in the corner, and then an expanding radius as you pass by an Apex that is somewhere beyond the center of the corner. This is most often referred to as a “late apex” line.
The challenge is deciding how much we should compromise the largest radius for a later apex line; for maximum speed through the individual corner, or for better acceleration out of the turn to maximize straightaway speed after it.
As someone first learns to drive on track, the objective is to be consistent, because if you’re not, then how do you know when you’ve improved? In other words, you need a solid baseline from which to begin trying other lines to learn if a change helped, hurt, or was just inconsistent.
Assuming you’ve gone through this phase of focusing on consistency, there comes a time when you need to experiment — slightly — with the trade-off between the late apex versus largest radius line. If you do the same thing, drive the same line, as you always have, you know what you’re going to get — and it may not be what you want. To learn, you have to experiment.
Of course, when you begin to experiment, no matter how minor the change, it often feels weird or wrong. And sometimes it is wrong, but not because it’s not a better way of doing something. Instead, it’s “wrong” because you haven’t made it right, yet.
For example, you decide to experiment with a slightly earlier Turn-in to see if you can carry more entry speed without it hurting your exit speed. You turn in three feet/one meter earlier, apex a bit earlier than usual, and find yourself going back to power later than before. The conclusion is that this earlier turn-in is wrong because you’re now slower down the following straightaway, so you go back to your old ways. You’ve proven to yourself that your original later Turn-in and Apex is the right compromise.
But is it, really?
Perhaps you just hadn’t found a way to make the earlier turn-in work? Maybe if you change the way you brake and release the brakes, you can turn in slightly earlier, but make your car rotate while carrying a bit more speed into the corner, still clip your usual Apex, and begin accelerating as early as you ever could. In doing so, you’re now carrying slightly more speed into the corner, and getting as good an exit out of it as usual — but beginning the acceleration from a slightly higher speed. That’s a win-win-win.
I’d feel good if I could tell you exactly how to do that for every single corner you’ll ever experience — give you the “driving directions” for that — but every corner, every car, every tire, every track, and every ambient condition is a variable. I have, however, given you many examples and suggestions — and ways to start thinking about experimenting — in past articles (go back through the archives) on how to adapt and adjust your corner entry to do what I’ve used as an example above.
Hmmm… maybe I should call these posts “Driving Suggestions & Thought Starters”? Nah, that sounds terrible, so I’m sticking with Driving Directions.
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Speaking of this new SpeedSecrets.com website, I used this analogy to describe what it was that I wanted to be different when rebuilding it:
Imagine this: You sit down in a Szechuan Chinese restaurant and you’re given a menu that is 18 pages long, with what seems like hundreds of options. You flip through the menu, but there are so many dishes that you’d like… maybe… but you can’t decide.
Now imagine sitting down in another restaurant, and a server comes up to you and asks, “Do you like spicy food? Are you looking for traditional Chinese food? Or are you into some new Asian fusion cuisine, or maybe dim sum?” Immediately, the server has helped you narrow down the options, making it easier to decide what you want.
The difference? In the first scenario the restaurant is telling customers what they do and what they offer. In the second, the restaurant is helping you decide what it is that will make you happy, and satisfy your eating desires — they’re focused on what you want, not what they provide.
The original SpeedSecrets.com that was online up until the new one launched a few weeks ago, is like the first restaurant, and I wanted my new website to be more like the second. I wanted it focused on what I focus on: what’s best for you, what you want.
Let me know if you have any feedback about the new SpeedSecrets.com. I know it’s not perfect yet, but it’s a huge improvement — unless you truly do want the #57, spicy orange chicken with kung pao fried rice! 🙂