I'd like to get in some people's heads for a sec.

Myself, I kind of go blank. I get extremely focused to the point where everyting almost goes quiet. This mostly only happens at auto-x, though. I have more time to think at HPDE's.

My biggest problem w/ auto-x is lack of mojo/cojones/*****. I can't get myself to go for broke as I'd like to. Has anyone overcome this?? (disclaimer--I've auto-xed for a season and done a phase I EVO school).

Discuss

 

I pretty much just go into a phase where I just concentrate on driving only. Nothing else matters. Its nothing I've prepared for but just happens to me. I now pretty much have no fear unless my car is so loose that I feel I can spin into objects which I've come very close to a few times. Seat time is the only thing that can help that though.

 

Most of the time in road races, I'm just flat having fun. I can think of dozens of times when I've just gotten the giggles or narrated someone else's spin or off: "Oh, dude - don't do that. Off the brakes, off the brakes - DOOH! That sucked!" I wave at people, sing, and notice odd details around the track...

It's kind of amazing how things slow down and just aren't scary. In one of my very first regionals in a POURING rainstorm at Portland, I pulled driver's right to pass a guy at the end of the stright, before the actual braking zone for the old T1. I hit a puddle and aquaplaned so badly that I was pointed almost 90* to the direction we were going. I looked out of the windshield right into his eyes as he looked out the passenger side window, and I kind of nodded at him and raised a finger off of the wheel. He got on the brakes early to get away from me and my car took a couple big wags, then pointed the right direction and I turned into the corner.

In hindsight, what kept me from spinning like a top down the straight into the weeds was that I didn't actually TRY to save it. It sounds weird but, even though I could have told you even then that common knowledge says don't lift in a front-drive car when it starts to do wacky stuff, there is NO way that I conciously made the decision to keep my foot down. It just felt like everything was going to work out and it did.

Conversely, when it is NOT going to work, you know it very early in the game. My back muscles get tight and I feel like I'll never catch up with the car.

I equate the first feeling to playing tag in the dark as a kid, when it seemed like I could run really fast and do it all night long without getting tired. The latter mental state is more like a date that is destined to crash and burn. You just can't connect your brain with your mouth (or body) and there isn't anything you can do about it.

I don't know if this is "the zone," or a "flow state," "the force," or just hormones and enzymes acting on neural transmissions, but when it's working, it's pretty cool. It happens for me when I'm having fun so I make a concious effort to get pumped - like I used to in my coaching days, when I knew I had to set a tone for the team - almost to the point of being manic. That translates to looseness that works for me, keeping me from thinking too much.

It's scary in here sometimes, huh? But you asked.

K

 

If I'm thinking about what I'm doing, I'm slow.

 

Uh, Scott, I'm beginning to see a pattern here.

Scott, who thinks even when he's not thinking...think about it...

 

I am a head case when I'm racing.

- I'm worrying about my fellow Honda Challenge drivers, looking in the mirrors to see if everyone made it through the start ok
- I'm worrying about the car. What will break next?
- I'm thinking about strategy, only way too late. I'm thinking about putting slow cars between me and a competitor. I'm looking in my mirrors at competitors and obsessing about "I have GOT to drive well or he'll get by."
- I'm thinking about what sort of fiascos await me when I come off the track (if you didn't know, I'm ECHC series director for 2003)

But this is not valuable input for you. You're not in such a position. This does however bring to light how much those behind the scenes go through.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by krshultz &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
- I'm worrying about my fellow Honda Challenge drivers, looking in the mirrors to see if everyone made it through the start ok
- I'm worrying about the car. What will break next?
- I'm thinking about strategy, only way too late. I'm thinking about putting slow cars between me and a competitor. I'm looking in my mirrors at competitors and obsessing about "I have GOT to drive well or he'll get by."
- I'm thinking about what sort of fiascos await me when I come off the track </TD></TR></TABLE>

- I'm not finishing well as a direct result of the above

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by gamby &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
My biggest problem w/ auto-x is lack of mojo/cojones/*****. I can't get myself to go for broke as I'd like to.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

I never had that problem when autocrossing, espically where most of the the places I autocross don't have anything to really hit, (were lucky in the regard) Probly why am I a good for one good (read Spectacular) spin out, I usually lay one good run down in the first or second run, then go for broke on the next runs with varying degree's of sucess. I have never scared my self autocrossing like some people have, which I find wierd.

Now when I am HPDE'ing I have all kinds of problems getting the courage for a lot of places on differnt tracks, but some of that I know is the fact that I have no extra saftey equipment in my car and I would like to drive my car home.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Solracer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I usually lay one good run down in the first or second run, then go for broke on the next runs with varying degree's of sucess</TD></TR></TABLE>

My strategy is completly oposite. I have NEVER took my first run easy. Actually about 80% or more of my events my first run is just as fast as my last unless the course gets faster as I run.

It has definately helped me as most of the time I can just hop in a car and be fast with not too much time "learning" the car as most people need to.

 

I can relate to Knestis's post. There have been many situations when I recovered from incidents (missed braking zones, puddles, and, more recently, being bumped from behind) without being able to describe afterwards how I did it. There is no conscious thinking involved. However, I'm not slower when I do think. In enduros, I sometimes have to remind myself to take every corner in the optimal way. I realized this at a Shannonville enduro when I decided it was my last lap before the driver change... "OK, let's make this an optimal lap, every turn as fast as possible". That's when I realized I hadn't been going for the optimal lap every lap (OK, when there's traffic, you can't do that, but there were only 14 cars on a 3 mile track). So something I have to work on is maintaining the instinct "thinking". which has thus far kept me out of trouble, while adding the conscious thinking, that lets me to be very analytical and go for perfect laps.

 

I'm still fairly new at the whole thing but its all about the few minutes before. I've had many a run where I wasn't ready, rushing, something was wrong, whatever and I do TERRIBLY. I make a conscious effort to get in the car 5 minutes beforehand, do the ol' zen empty mind/blank piece of paper thing and then run through the course a few times in my mind.

Oh my run I'm all about the moment, one turn at a time. Usually cursing up a storm. (My in-car video is PG13) The only things I tend to hear are cone thumps that may or may not actually be there.

 

"God, I hope I don't crash..."

Seriously...well...I only have one HPDE day under my belt. I was concentrating on braking points and observing the cars reactions. So, I was playing a little guessing game trying to go faster through the turns. Also, I was paying attention to my instructor. He kept me from overdriving the hell out of the car (as is my wont).

 

Zen like state.

Car is invisible.

 

For me it seems like a computer program. Emotionless, hitting all the marks, braking, turning, accelerating, click, click, click. It's only fun afterwards. During it, I'm just in a different place where everything is slower and my sense of "me" extends out to the corners of the car.

Gary
Sheehan Motor Racing
http://www.teamSMR.com

 

kirk's post is effin hilarious!

thinking, in and of itself, is not a bad thing to do. _negative_ thinking should be avoided at all costs. if you are worried you'll hit a cone, you'll do one of two things. hit a cone, or be so frickin far from them you couldn't hit them if you were towing a trailer.

another thing i've found that helps me is to _not_ try to run a certain time. i'm not going to drive the car any faster then it can go. if the car can't run a 54.6 for a class win, no amount of me overdriving the car is going to help. i strive for the "perfect" run, not the fastest time. usually, my "perfect" run is multiple seconds faster then any of my other runs, and the time surprises even me.

nate-hasn't been able to do this at national level events yet... i need to learn how to handle stress without loosing focus...

 

I work really hard on getting the course down in the walk, and looking ahead while I walk it.

As long as Im confident with the course in my mind, I can then "zone out" and absorb the environment as a whole. I just glaze over a litte and watch the fuzzy future coming in. I've learned to trust my "auto pilot" much more than my "details brain".

In fact, auto-x for me is mostly an exercise in switching scopes of perception from my usual neurotic ****-retentive to a relaxed b-type and back.

 

I can’t say there is one mind set that always sets in since it varies on the situation between the save the tires/brakes mind set, the just get to the finish mind set, the be really easy on the motor/tranny/curbs mind set, the hold position mind set, the catch up mind set, the go all out mind set, the qualifying on a busy track mind set, the qualifying on clear track mind set, and everything in between. I’m always 100% focused on driving, but what I concentrate on primarily is what changes, in other words I guess this is considered thinking and if so, then I’m definitely guilty of it while on the track. For example in the save tires/brakes obviously I concentrate on braking earlier and driving a tighter line. When easy on the car, make sure you shift extra slowly, don’t use all the revs and don’t clobber the curbs. When going all out, I concentrate on braking as late as I can without locking up, trying to drive the car fast enough so that it (not me) needs to use all the track, use curbs anywhere it’s beneficial to do so, go to max revs, etc. In short, I’m just about always thinking about what’s going on and listening to the radio and try to execute to the best of my ability whatever needs to be done and/or avoid or stay away from other things. Also Kirk post is good. The more you become a passenger in the car, the slower it seems time passes by!

In autox, it’s always the same thinking process – go as fast as I can on every run. This just about always results in my times dropping on every run and the more runs, the significantly better it is for me personally! Only if I’m on the last run and I’ve coned all my other runs will I consciously start to think about keeping it tighter and more controlled to get in at least a decent clean run. Also, the faster the course, the better (and more fun). I always have a harder time on tight courses.

Ok, who’s next?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Hracer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Ok, who’s next?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Oh what the heck.

In HPDE I'm kind of like Kirk. I yell at myself and/or the car when they don't do what I want ("Turn Bitch!"), and I cheer when I do something right. I think I amuse my instructors.

Autox is 30-60 seconds of !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! At least I'm getting better about looking ahead.

 

Don't "Think". Just concentrate. Concentrate on what your body is autonomously doing. If you think, you will only distract yourself from concentrating.

 

&lt;--- when on track thinks "Yeeeeeee Haaaaaa!!!! what fun!!"

 

no left brain involved. all right brain. from the moment i strap in the car until the moment i get out of the car i am not actively thinking. i have found when i actively think about what i'm doing on course my movements become choppy and i'm no longer smooth (if you could call an autoXer smooth lol)

wait for the grid worker to tell me to pull to the line, and from that moment forward it's all cruise control.

like EeePee said, zen like state.

i've found if i'm thinking "whoa, i was close to that cone, did I hit it?" and other stuff, that I'm just going to slow. in autocross you really don't have much time to think. for instance, i usually don't shift until I've hit the limiter, unless i'm at a spot where i can quickly peek at the tach, which is never. shift lites are my friend.

 

Off the track:



On the track:

 

there was a link posted some time ago (can't find it now) that I had read. The author talked a lot about the left brain/right brain way of driving. If memory serves, the gist of his article was that the driving should all be right brain (automatic, cruise control), while strategy, accident avoidance, etc. could be left to left brain. He talked a lot about being able to switch back and forth between the two modes very fast while going around the course. Interesting article.

found the thread - not sure the link still works...
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=471554

 

read anything by Ross Bentley. though i'm sure there are others that have touched on this aspect of racing.

nate-reads "Speed Secrets" to improve his basketball game. the brain is the same, it's just a different game.

 

Interesting, but maybe term racing as used in the original topic has many definitions, but I'll take it for what I think it means.

So for all you non-thinkers out there what do you guys do differently (if anything) when either: your oil pressure gauge shows a drop in pressure, your water temp rises to ~15F+ than it’s usual temp, you see a yellow flag, you are shown a blue flag, you are leading a race by 20+ seconds, you are loosing a race by 20+ seconds, you have a car for position right on your bumper, the car you need to catch is 5 seconds ahead, your brakes are going away, the car is developing a bad push, the car is developing too much oversteer. IMO, I just can’t see how not taking such things into account and adjusting for them accordingly can be accomplished by not thinking when behind the wheel. And no, the “force” will not just raise your oil pressure, lower your water temp, freshen your brakes, hide a yellow, or suddenly drop your lap times by 20 seconds to catch up to the guy you are chasing.