Rich:
We could use this for the school. Good job.
-Vernon
on 8/13/02 10:56 PM, Richard Urschel at osp13@mybluelight.com wrote:
> I sent this to the various webmasters in the Region
> to do with
> whatever they want. You, too, may do the same.
>
>
> What you can expect from yourself as a driver at your first autocross.
>
> We see too many drivers including a few women who think they are most
> excellent drivers whose times end up reflecting their newness to
> autocrossing rather than their natural talent or driving skills. In other
> words, they are slow compared to experienced autocrossers in similar cars.
> Sadly, they seem to have a penchant for becoming quite angry over their
> disappointing times and have a tendency to go away, often forever.
>
> How much do you know about driving a motor vehicle at it's limit?
>
> Have you read all of the books on driving? If so, good for you. You have a
> good theoretical foundation for understanding all of the various skills you
> still need to develop through experience and practice. Have you ever
> driven a car at it's limit of cornering ability on public roads? If so, you
> either scared yourself out of your wits for a few seconds or you're
> socially psychopathic. You just can't get anywhere near the limits of
> handling in a modern vehicle on the open road without seriously
> endangering yourself and everyone around you. Once you've
> learned where the
> true limits of your vehicle are, you'll realize how far away you were from
> them in the past, and will never contemplate approaching them on public roads.
>
> Finding the limits and instantly exceeding them.
>
> It's relatively safe to exceed the limits of handling in an autocross, you
> might
> brake too late or too hard and slide a bit past your intended turn in point,
> you might accelerate too
> abruptly or too much coming out of a turn and cause your front tires to push
> beyond their traction limits, you might run wide in a corner and hit a cone
> or two, you might even spin. But you likely won't hurt yourself, your car,
> or anyone else the way you likely would on the open road. What you can do, and
> will likely do if you are at all aggressive is drive beyond the optimal
> grip level of your tires. Maybe when accelerating, probably when braking,
> and most certainly when going through the slower corners (see the tame
> consequences above). Your times will suffer for it, badly.
>
> You probably won't be exceeding the handling limits in fast corners though
> because you won't yet know how high they are, and the faster you are going,
> the less tame the consequences become. Emerson Fittipaldi said most new
> race drivers go too fast in slow corners, and too slow in fast corners. It's
> definitely true of new autocrossers. Before you can produce reasonably
> quick autocross times you will need to learn where the optimal handling
> limits of your car are when accelerating braking; going into, through, and
> out of slow and fast corners; and when going through a slalom And you will
> need to drive at those limits throughout the entire run.
>
> Cartoon time.
>
> To achieve and maintain optimal tire grip, you will need to learn to be
> ultra smooth but very quick in manipulating the cars controls; when
> pushing down or lifting off the throttle, when turning or unwinding the
> steering wheel, when shifting, and when pressing on or coming off the
> brake pedal. This will take a lot of seat time (practice). On
> the open road, or even on a race track, you often have seconds to set
> up for a corner. You may start braking 100, 200, or even 300 yards before
> the corner depending how on fast you are going. In autocrossing,
> you will have zero time to set up for a corner. Even if you are on a
> very short straight stretch of the course, you will begin braking as soon
> as you stop accelerating as hard as the car can, usually in second gear.
> It typically takes 35 to 50 seconds to run an autocross course. There are
> no straight aways on which you can relax while the car is in top gear. You
> will always be busy. You may become frenetic not from panic or
> uncertainty, but because you aren't yet used to the relentless pace.
> Some hold their breath for the whole run, and some don't discover they are
> doing it for years or even decades of autocrossing. Many have shaking hands
> at the end of a run due to the intense adrenaline rush.
>
> So you need to learn where the limits of your car are, how to correct
> instantly when you start to exceed them, and how to be ultra smooth
> with the controls so you don't upset even slightly the suspension of
> your car which needs total composure to produce it's ultimate
> performance. And you need to learn to do it while driving in speeded up
> cartoon time. So give yourself a break. Don't expect miracles the
> first time out and you'll have a lot fun now and in the future rather
> than becoming disappointed in yourself at your first event. In time,
> maybe a season or two, you might well be turning some pretty quick
> times. Assuming you actually do have all that natural talent and
> driving skill you thought you had in the first place.
>
> How to be smooth and fast.
>
> Undoubtedly, you already want to know all the driving techniques
> specific to autocross, how to read the course, where the correct line
> is, and everything else you can arm yourself with for your first
> event. Well, that's a much longer subject, and we might get around to
> actually writing it for you. In the meantime, I'll give you the most
> important one which you would do well to begin practicing immediately:
> LOOK AHEAD! When you drive on the freeway you look well up the road due
> to the speed you are traveling, and to give yourself adequate time
> to react to the unexpected antics of all of those other people on the
> road who are actively doing any and everything except actual driving.
>
> When people begin autocrossing they tend to look at the cones. Don't do
> it! You've already trained your nervous system to drive the car exactly
> where you look, so look at the course between the cones. Your nervous
> system also knows not to run over curbs at the side of the street
> without you looking at them, so trust it not to run over the cones you
> are about to pass by. You are going to be traveling at highway speeds
> on the autocross course and you need to look ahead as you do on the
> highway to give yourself time to properly position your car for the
> next turn and the next. If you look no further ahead than the corner you
> are about to enter, you will find yourself constantly surprised by
> each of the succeeding corners which of course will all be rushing at
> you at cartoon speed. If you do look ahead, you won't be surprised unless
> it's by the facts that you really can drive between the cones without
> looking at them, and that you'll automatically drive a line faster than
> the one you thought was optimal when you walked the course looking at
> it one turn at a time.
>
> Sign up for Internet Service under $10 dollars a month, at
> http://isp.BlueLight.com
|