So I’m heading out to Monticello NY for the SCDA day on Friday. We’re fortunate enough to be able to run the full, 4 mile course. You can see a track map of it here.

Boomshanka. I am pumped.

So last Thursday I ran up at NHMS with the SCDA. There was the usual spread of cars ranging from the lowly Miata up to a couple of Gallardos and a Spec Racer Ford, and pretty much everything in between. But there was a more interesting addition this go around: a Ferrari Enzo made an appearance.

And the best part is that the owner took it out on the track! This is pretty much the one thing that keeps me from being jealous of nice cars: they really aren’t anything special just tootling around on the street. But once you take them out on a track, well, that’s pretty cool. He wasn’t going too hard, but neither would I with something worth $1.2 million. Still, definitely pretty cool.

We’ve talked about the importance of using reference points to gauge when to make your inputs. The best reference point will of course be some object that is as close to the spot on the track where the input needs to be made. But sometimes there simply is no viable reference point anywhere near your input point. For these situations you can use a different technique, which is to basically to “feel” where the next reference point is.

Take the Left Hander at Lime Rock, for example. It is essentially in the middle of a grassy field, with fresh pavement (read “no markings of any sort on it), AND your braking and turn-in points are usually in the middle of the track, away from any reference points on along the edge of the grass. So what do you do? Probably the best thing is to get into a rhythm and when you feel the same point you know it is time to hit the brakes.

How Does This Work?
The best analogy is to think of a musician. A musician feels the beat and knows exactly when it is time to start and stop. Listen to any jazz musician improvise a solo and you will see this phenomenon in full force. Much as a musician can feel the rhythm of the music and know when to start and stop, a driver can feel their “rhythm” (if you will) through a section of track. Or for those less musically inclined, it’s basically like saying “1 mississippi, 2 mississippi…” and so on.

You Are Still Working Off of a Reference Point
This is the key to this technique: you are working off of a reference point, you just are using a rhythm to gauge how far your next input is after the reference point. Take the Left Hander at Lime Rock again: my reference point is my track out point from Big Bend. Then I feel my way from there to my braking point.

Consistency is KEY
In order for this technique to work YOU ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO BE CONSISTENT!!! ANY change in the previous corner will impact your exit speed, which of course will impact how long you are on the straight and throw off the timing considerably.

That said, you can still use rhythm to pinpoint your next input even if you mess up the previous corner. You just have to compensate for any mistakes you made in the previous section. This all goes back to knowing your line and knowing how and when to compensate for unexpected things along the way. Really its pretty simple: mistakes make you slower, meaning for the same amount of time you will be going slower and will not be as far along the track. So in essence, if you use the same rhythm when you make a mistake, you should be playing things safe for the next corner - at least in theory. (This of course assumes that the car is well balanced through that section and that you are on the correct side of the track and all that jazz). But as always, test this out SLOWLY and work your way up!

So I was up at NHMS yesterday running with Ian Prout and the SCDA. You may recall from my last day up at NHMS that I said they were doing construction through the Turn 1-2 chicane. Well, that construction is complete, and that whole section is now completely different.

Turn 1 now has a curbing on the inside that forces you to go much deeper into the corner then before. That means you need to slow WAY down before hitting 2a as that whole section is a lot tighter. The idea was probably to slow people down through that section, and sadly that seems to be the reality of the new curbing. ’tis ashame, as Corner 1 used to be one of my favorite corners around.

Look for some footage through there over the next few days…

Everyone always sets goals with whatever they do, and this is particularly true whenever they head to a racetrack. Most people picks something specific that they want to work, like “being smooth” or “finding the right line.” These are not bad goals, but I usually think much broader than that. Pretty much I say to myself, “what is the ONE thing that ABSOLUTELY want to happen today?” My answer is always the same: I want to drive home at the end of the day.

Now this might seem petty or like a given, but I would argue that picking a goal like “driving home at the end of the day” will determine pretty much everything else about your track day. The reason is that when that is the overarching consideration, other, lesser goals will inevitably be comprimsed and reshaped.

Lets say, for example, that you want perfect your line, and have chosen that as something to work on for your track day. Well, in many corners, the fastest line can often be the most risky line. The Bowl in NHMS is a good example of this. The fastest line involves using every last inch of pavement on the outside of the bowl before you turn in to maximize the radius of your turn through the Bowl. But, every inch that you use up gives you less room for error should you mess up your entry. So now you have this tension between “finding the best line” and “driving your car home.” For me, track days are about pushing the limits of my car enough to have fun, but not so much that any errors will become catastrophic. As such, I usually give myself some extra room in The Bowl, just in case. Though sometimes I don’t, but I am aware of the risk.

Now compare this with someone racing at the Nationals who has adopted Ricky Bobby’s “first or last” outlook of their raceday. To them, that wall just beyond the Bowl is completely irrelevant - all that matters is maximizing their line and speed through that turn, so that is precisely what they will do.