The reaction I typically get when someone finds out I race cars and will be driving them around is usually one of absolute terror. The image they always have is of my car screaming along at the speed of light, weaving in and out of cars, and generally driving them within an inch of their life. This image should be particularly amusing to anyone familiar with my normal street driving, as I drive particuarly cautiously on the street despite my abilities on the track.
While initially I may have been offended at these reactions - as they are, in essence, an attack on my driving abilities and judgment - that has since melted away into general amusement. I am amused because the reality is exactly the opposite of what most people think. People are MUCH safer riding with a driver who has extensive track experience, simply because such a driver actually knows what the car is capable of and what to do in an emergency situation. The basic and obvious examples are knowing cornering and braking limits, particularly how LOW they are in the rain. More advanced examples would be how to recover from understeer or oversteer. And most advanced is literally using all of the same Line analyses that are used on the track and applying it to other cars on the road.
To highlight that last point, let me briefly list a number of things that I may be thinking about at any given time while driving:
available grip of my tires
radius, camber, elevation change of a corner I am approaching
weight of my car normally, and how that would change based on the number and positioning of my passengers
is there any debris on the road? if so, how will avoiding it change my line? is there a different line I should take to keep the car on the road or to prevent hitting something?
what other cars are on the road in my lane or in the opposite lane? what kind of car is it? what is that type of car capable of? can that car likely make that turn at the speed it’s going, or will it cross the yellow line and come into my lane? do I have enough leeway in my own levels of grip to take a radically different line if necessary? what sort of line would that be - tighter radius to avoid the car on the inside, or wider to go around the car on the outside?
what is the risk of brake oversteer for this particularly corner? is my speed low enough that I can get on the brakes if needed without spinning? is there enough room to the outside of the corner that I can steer wide while getting on the brakes if needed to prevent brake oversteer?
And this is just a small list of what may be going through my mind. Obviously I don’t literally go through a checklist everytime I approach a corner, but I am familiar enough with all these concepts and more that all these considerations are taken into account when an appropriate situation presents them. And this is the essence of why I am so amused when people get scared by virtue of me being a racecar driver. I (and any racecar driver) take into account and apply concepts that most drivers have never even heard of, let alone have the ability to apply consistently and preditably in an emergency situation. For that reason, racecar drivers are better able to control most cars at felony speeds than most people can at or under the speed limit.
I can’t really say that I blame such people though. The fact of the matter is, they haven’t been taught that any of these concepts exist, and that is the fault of our driver training programs. The irony of course is that when I get in cars with someone who has no track experience, I am terrified precisely because I know how much they do not know, and that lack of knowledge is dangerous at any speed.
on August 22, 2008 at 12:01 pm Henry wrote:
Personally, I think a much bigger problem is separating the image of the street racer, from the actual track racer. When you tell somebody you race cars they immediately think you have some Supra that you do straight line drag racing in California with.
on August 24, 2008 at 2:09 pm Noah wrote:
That assumes that whoever I am conversing with has some understanding or inclination towards racing. Most people don’t know the different classifications and disciplines, nor would they differentiate me from a street racer in terms of how scared they would be to get in a car with me.