matrix

No problem - I enjoyed riding with you. Next time, we'll work on the heel and toe and that will solve that problem...

Grannyrod

What?? You mean we have to have strong feet muscles too? Aww man!

matrix

It's actually a technique of braking and blipping the throttle (while the clutch is in!) to rev match before down shifting.

There are many things to do when entering a corner and we just don't have enough appendages to do them all, so our right foot has to do 2 things at once.

Granny - you crack me up ....

mikegarrison

Next step past that is making that shift at the same time as you are braking. Welcome to the world of "heel and toe".

Fortunately, shifting is the easiest track skill to practice safely on the street. Well, that and VISION (the most important driving skill of all).

Grannyrod

So about how long does it take for this to all come together. Seems like there was a lot to think of right off the bat. Just learning the track took everything I had.

Chazmo

There were a few times where I got to watch "the pros" out there doing their thing, and I could here some of them heel-toe brake/shifting at the end of the front straight into turn 1. WHen I saw/heard that, I realized I still had a lot to learn.

Mike, the "vision" thing didn't seem that hard to me. I felt I had a good sense of where I was on the track and what was coming next. I can see, though, that in a higher traffic situation and, say, if people were really competing, that'd be a serious issue.

mikegarrison

You don't want to try and learn heel and toe on the track. Too many other things to think about. If you practice it on the street you will be extremely clutzy at it for about a month, then you will be better and better at it for about a month, and after 2-3 months you will be doing it naturally, without thinking about it. That's when you should start to use it on the track.

The tricky part is that it is actually easier to do under hard braking and high RPMs than it is on the street. If you can do it on the street, doing it at the track will be easy.

As for all the other skills, it is a similar story. Practice, practice, practice. Nobody is a born driver. Be aware, though, that this stuff can start to cost serious money very quickly. Brakes, tires, gas, track fees, instruction, hotel bills for out of town tracks, etc. And for any given driver at any given track day there is probably a 1-2% chance of a major (in terms of damage to the car) incident.

But if you love it, you love it.

mikegarrison

You might be one of the rare track novices who (through some other life experience, like being a pilot) has very good vision skills. But 98% of novices don't look in the right place. Either they look at where they are (too late for that to matter!) or they look at where they are pointed (OMG I'm heading for that wall!). You always need to be looking at where you want to be going. Sometimes that actually means looking out the side window of the car while you are going through a high speed corner.

Knowing where to look and what to look for is the single most important driving skill. On the track or on the street.

Chazmo

One thing I found astounding is that my first couple of times out I'd wave at the track workers, but promptly find them invisible for the rest of the session. HOWEVER, when a problem happened, I immediately saw them yellow flagging the track. I was worried that I was having tunnel vision, but I think they weren't trying to be seen unless there was a problem.

Through most of Monday, I was making an effort to pick them out and thus be more aware of overall conditions. A couple of times I got embarassed when I knew they were watching while I botched the hairpin and ended up on the rumble blocks of turn 11.

mikegarrison

If you were seeing thr track workers at all then you do indeed have better vision skills than most novices. Keep working on making them better. Even the pro race car drivers continuously work on vision skills.