Allow me one last one? It's one I try to leave my students with:
Practice on the street (almost) everything you learn on course/track.
This one kinda surprises people. It's been said one of the problems with
motorsport is you cannot go down to the local plaground and practice, like
you can go shoot hoops. I disagree. I tell students the only thing you
cannot practice is mashing the right pedal, but that's the easiest part.
Everything else -- hand positions, seating positions, looking ahead, lines
around corners (your "course" defined by the limits of your driving lane),
use of the gearshift, even "advanced" lessons like left-foot braking and
trail braking, can and should be part of daily driving technique.
The result is, it makes these things habit. You habitually drive in a proper
position. You habitually look farther down the road than the taillights of
the car in front of you. You habitually prepare your turns mentally, and
even physically. You habitually use your shift knob in a way that is less
likely to grind the gears. You habitually balance the car in turns (not
necessary to be doing it 10/10ths to practice the technique). You habitually
brake in a manner designed to do it in a shorter distance (which does not
mean bombing the brakes at every street corner, or leaving skidmarks -- but
practicing judging braking distances and using them more efficiently).
So much of good competitive technique has to do with efficiency rather than
speed, it is this efficiency that should be practiced every time you get
behind the wheel. It works whether in a sports roadster or a truck. I may
not corner my van the same way I corner my street Spitfire, but the basic
technique is the same. Because it is habit. It doesn't mean hotrodding
everywhere, and it doesn't mean scaring the non-competitive driving
population. Being a *thinking* driver includes not taking dumb chances, but
I don't miss curbs by three feet taking a corner either. The theory: make
these things habit, save the thinking on course for those things unique to
that course.
--Rocky
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