vintage-race
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: Vintage racer: What car to buy?

To: John Cowan <jfcowan@pacbell.net>
Subject: Re: Vintage racer: What car to buy?
From: Derek Harling <derek.lola@sympatico.ca>
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2000 10:56:26 -0500
You've already got some sage advice but let me throw in my 2c worth.

Don't try to go fast! Learn to drive smoothly and let the speed come to you -
it will.

It's hard at first because it is easy to go fast down the straights and almost
as easy to brake late - then get it all wrong in the turn and end up slow.

I did lots of special stage rallies in Europe in the 60's - so was used to
high speed car control - but then had to go back to school for vintage racing
in the mid-80s. The first two days were frustrating but in retrospect probably
the most useful - they emphasized  s m o o t h n e s s  and accuracy. Even now
I often think back to those two days' lessons.

Have fun
Derek

John Cowan wrote:

>    I'm interested in learning to drive a race car well, on tracks like
> Laguna Seca and Sears Point.  When I decide to learn how to race, I'll
> start with sprint karts, but lets say (perhaps hypothetically) that the
> goal for now is to run SCCA Solo I.


<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>