What we've learned on the track

[wconley]

Amen to what PBanders and Quickurt said about driving aggressively on the street. If you do you will eventually hurt yourself, your car, or someone else. At the least, you cement in the minds of the public that only remembers that there was another Porsche, BMW, etc. driving like a jackass. If you need the adreneline rush, get it on the track and use your newfound skill to be a safer driver.

On the subject of mirrors I'll take a stab as this is a pet peave of mine over 15 years of teaching for BMW, Porsche, Corvette and racing schools. I'll go out on a limb and say that there is very little if any "blind spot" in most cars, including Boxsters if you set your mirrors correctly. Primarily, the first principle is that if you can see the same object, car or motorcycle in more than one mirror, you've got them set up incorrectly. This set up is best done at rest, in a parking lot or stopped in traffic with cars around you and behind you in both lanes to each side.

1) The rear view mirror is the easy one to set up and I'll presume I don't have to say anything hear other than to center it for the lane behind you in your normal driving position. Look at the rear view mirror and take note of the last thing you can see at the very left and right sides.

2) Adjust the driver's door mirror so that the inside edge of the mirror picks up where your rear view mirror left off. If you can see just the right half the front of a car in the rear view mirror (a car behind and in the lane to the left of your car), you should see only the left half of the same vehicle in your driver's door mirror.

3) Now adjust the passenger's door mirror in the same fashion. If you can see the left front half of a car in the lane to the right and behind your car in your rear view mirror, adjust the passenger mirror to just see the right half of the same car.

Now in the big picture, with your head facing forward, your eyes can take in everything in front of you, scan to the rear view mirror for what is directly behind you and behind to the left and right. As a car is passing you on the left, it moves across to the left in your rearview mirror until it begins to appear in your driver's door mirror. As it continues to pass, it moves across the door mirror from right to left until it can be seen in your peripherial vision out your door window. Short cars, smart cars and motorcycles may not be quite long enough but if you are as observant of the traffic around you as you should be, you will already know this. A car passing on the right will move across your mirrors into your peripheral vision in a similar fashion. I hope this description makes sense as you read it.

If you don't already have your mirrors adjusted like this, it will seem very odd at first when you look into one of the door mirrors and see nothing but guard rail or the side of the road when nothing is there. Even uncomfortable but that's the point - that you don't see anything in these mirrors unless there is something beside you. But if you give yourself a couple weeks to get used to this and the extra "vision" it gives you, I guarantee you will not go back. Where it really shows it's value is in an emergency situation when you can quickly scan your mirrors for a way around an accident while keeping your head and eyes pointed forward. You can scan with your eyes much quicker than you can ever turn your head.

[Quickurt]

Walt Conley, HATS OFF!!!

Excellent description.
I Will keep harping on this, until someone will start beating me to it!, but you now have your mirrors adjusted correctly and it's time to start working on keeping your brain "aware" of them in your vision scene. Once you perfect this, and believe me, it took a lot of time for me, but you will be amazed that no one wille ver again "sneak into your blindspot."

[Frodo]

I think I pretty much agree with what’s been said. And reading this thread, I’ve definitely learned a few things that I didn’t know before. I do, however, admit that (generally speaking) I tend to be a one-hand driver, always have been. For one thing, driving a manual transmission requires this much of the time. Secondly, I am more relaxed one-handed, and (as was stated in another thread recently) a relaxed driver responds more quickly and in a more appropriate manner to a sudden change of circumstances. As I say that, I admit I have never tracked the Boxster (or any other vehicle). Under those circumstances I am sure I’d have both paws on the wheel whenever possible. That applies equally to street driving when something out of the ordinary is happening (or can reasonably be expected to happen momentarily). But I just find it tiresome having both hands at 9:00 and 3:00 (or anywhere else) on the wheel all the time. For me, it's too much like being on High Alert continuously---it would just wear me out and make me less ready to react than I would otherwise be.

I’ve driven like this since the early ‘70s and this is a technique that has worked well for me. And believe me, in 36 years behind the wheel I have had m a n y circumstances where I’ve had to react quickly.

Maybe subconsciously I fashion my driving on Harrison Ford in American Graffiti. A distinct possibility…

AND…I DON’T need to be reminded that HE was the one who crashed his car! (His problem there: He was showin’ off for the babe.)

Which brings up another interesting, semi-related topic: I find that I am not as good a driver when my wife (who, unfortunately, is not a huge fan of riding in the Boxster) is riding shotgun. It’s weird, because I actually slow down and drive more conservatively when she’s in the car. I think it has to do with the fact that she drives a Toyota Sienna and seems to think (maybe subconsciously?) that it’s dangerous to push any vehicle beyond the level that she pushes the minivan (which ain’t much). So I find myself driving the Boxster more like a miniature school bus when she’s in the car, and that’s TOTALLY unnatural. A maneuver that is in the least spirited or aggressive (I sort of hate to use that word, since I don’t inconvenience---let alone endanger---other drivers in the process of doing what I am talking about) gets her into the hyperventilation mode, sometimes even making those scary noises that passengers sometimes make when there’s real, honest-to-goodness close-call taking place. And THAT makes things even worse, because for that millisecond I’m under the terrifying impression I’m about to be blindsided by some vehicle I hadn’t yet seen (because, as it turns out, it doesn’t exist!). It's just exhausting driving the Box when she's a passenger. Fortunately (for both of us) that doesn't happen all that often!

Anyone else a victim of this phenomenon??

[Quickurt]

Maybe not to the extreme you described.... , but yes, my wife can sometimes do the same. She likes to "nap" if we're out on a trip (like, she's asleep before we get out of the driveway...) and then if she awakes with a start, for some reason like hitting a reflector when changing lanes, she jumps nearly out of her seat and screams "what's wrong!!!??" After getting my skin stretched back over my body and my heart back down out of my throat, I fight off the urge to back-hand her.
I do try to not hit reflectors on lane changes, just as an old game from my father. It does help to keep you alert on those long stretches behind the wheel.
The one hand/two hand argument is like arguing over abortion - there is no answer that will satisfy both sides. I drive, while cruising with my left hand on the wheel, relaxed, in the 9:00 position and my right hand laying in my lap, or, maybe scratching...... just under the wheel. My right hand is in a position that's miliseconds from the 3:00 position. Well, okay, miliseconds when I was young. If spirited driving, both hands where they belong.
I had a hard time at the Brumos school and had an interesting talk with Hurley about it, but I'm used to not moving my hands on the steering wheel. A formula car, which is how I relate to high performance driving, has a very high ratio steering system. Believe me, if you have your hands crossed up in a formula car, you should've locked the tires about two seconds ago, because you're screwed. So, I was therefore not used to turning the steering wheel more than 90 degrees, and have never had to shuffle the wheel around in my hands. I'm afraid I did not get used to it at the school, and got yelled at several times.
Getting yelled at by an old friend, who is a multiple winner of Lemans, Daytona and Sebring, all in Porsches, is NOT good for a racer's ego! (no matter how old he now is)
I have practiced it incessantly, since, and have become quite proficient at the skill.

[Quickurt]

Oh, oh, speaking of wives in the car with you.......my wifey has this threshold for putting up with my driving: as long as there is no tire squealing, she doesn't say anything. Okay, so I haven't explained the Pilot Sports to her.........
So we go to Barber Motorsports Park over Labor Day weekend with an old Formula Ford buddy. Alabama 25, coming into Leeds, AL from the south is GREAT! It would fit right into the TOD. Up one side of a pretty good mountain, over the top and back down the other side. Almost no traffic and I only get about two warnings from wifey about who else is in the car with me and one warning about breakfast coming loose on my leather seat.
We get to the track and talking with Steve and Mona when wifey brings up the neat road and says, "well as long as he didn't make the tires squeal, I didn't yell at him." You guessed it. My buddy takes one look at the Pilot Sports on the Box and says, "I don't think you can make those squeal, can you?"
Some friend.

[944boy]

There are big discrepancies about shuffle steering. PCASDR teaches shuffle steering and to NEVER cross your arms. This is of course assuming a stock car in auto-x and DE. Some schools such as Skip Barber (I believe) teaches crossing arms and to never shuffle steer. I believe you hit the point that it depends on the car, but also the track.

On really small track you have to turn A LOT. On larger tracks such as Watkins Glen, I got smacked for shuffling. In a 944 race car the steering was quick enough for such a large track that I was smoother by not shuffling.

[Topless]

All good stuff so far.

In addition to knowing where the cars are around you, pay attention to who is around you. Whether on the street or track I want to know if there are consistent, attentive drivers around me or are they driving erratically, talking on the phone, weaving, inconsistent speeds, eating a Philly cheese-steak sandwich etc. Create some space between you and erratic or potentially dangerous drivers.

The scuttlebutt in the pits often goes " Give some room to that triple black Box S in yellow group. He moves pretty well through sector one but overcooks turn 6 and is often out of control."

On the street we all know to look out for drunks but someone munching on a Big Mac or falling asleep can be just as dangerous.

[renzop]

The funny thing about technique is that there is no one right way to do anything. Its all really opinion, style and a lot of copy-catting the fast guys. Do what is comfortable to you but listen to what others have to say, you may learn something.

I know two professional tin-top race drivers that have always driven one handed. Jeff Altenberg and Neal Sapp. They grew up near eachother and developed their techniques together while autocrossing. The left hand is at the top center of the wheel. The right hand is free to shift or to help brace the body.

I saw coverage of a Speed Channel Touring Car race at Road Atlanta that had in car camera footage of Neal Sapp's BMW. When they went in car he had one hand on the wheel and the commentator (Calvin Fish I think) said, "ouhhh oh, Sapp must be having a problem, he only has one hand on the wheel." I yelled at the TV screen, "no, that's the way he drives." While I don't think Calvin heard me, after several laps of Sapp's one-handed driving on camera Fish admitted that the car seemed fine.

Regards,
Alan

[larryshomework]

Originally Posted by Quickurt

So we go to Barber Motorsports Park over Labor Day weekend with an old Formula Ford buddy. Alabama 25, coming into Leeds, AL from the south is GREAT! It would fit right into the TOD. Up one side of a pretty good mountain, over the top and back down the other side.

QK - I live in Birmingham so I drive 25 frequently. There's a great section just south of Leeds well before you go up over the mountain. The hairpin on the top of the mountain is pretty fun and the flats south of the mountain are not bad either.

I don't know if you stopped at 29 Dreams but it's a motorcycle resort at the bottom of the mountain on the south side. Interesting place and worth a drop in if you're cruising through.


To keep this on topic, there are some great tips here. I did the BMW one day M-school and learned quite a bit in one day. Amazing how much more there is to learn. The looking ahead thing is one of the most valuable things I learned - that and proper braking. Now if I could get the heel/toe thing down...

[Quickurt]

Originally Posted by larryshomework

QK - I live in Birmingham so I drive 25 frequently. There's a great section just south of Leeds well before you go up over the mountain. The hairpin on the top of the mountain is pretty fun and the flats south of the mountain are not bad either.

I don't know if you stopped at 29 Dreams but it's a motorcycle resort at the bottom of the mountain on the south side. Interesting place and worth a drop in if you're cruising through.


To keep this on topic, there are some great tips here. I did the BMW one day M-school and learned quite a bit in one day. Amazing how much more there is to learn. The looking ahead thing is one of the most valuable things I learned - that and proper braking. Now if I could get the heel/toe thing down...

The heel/toe thing is VERY dependent on your pedal set up. The Box pedals seem perfect for either method, depending on the size of your feet. Smaller feet are usually attached to smaller legs, so, use the ball of your foot on the brake, pivot your leg to put your heel on the throttle and practice the amount of throttle needed to bring the rpm up to make downshifts silky smooth. You should be able to release the clutch as fast as you do upshifting without jerking the car around because of miss-matched engine speed.
For those with feet the size of mine (they go with my bear paw hands, but I didn't get the matching pleasure that sometimes accompanies these two ) use the ball of your foot on the brake pedal and the right side of the bottom of your "wide foot" on the throttle.

[Porscheburn]

Originally Posted by wconley

The rear view mirror is the easy one to set up and I'll presume I don't have to say anything hear other than to center it for the lane behind you in your normal driving position. Look at the rear view mirror and take note of the last thing you can see at the very left and right sides.

I would add that the setup for the RVM should be done with your head at the angle (or no angle if you choose to move your eyes only) that you will be positioned when using the RVM. The same would be true for the pax and driver's side mirrors.

If you wear sunglasses, pick one set and make your adjustments with your choice of sunglasses properly seated on your head. Same with vision-adjusting glasses.

Since most people wear sunglasses (or should), picking the right pair for driving should be the first consideration. Not boating or aviation, a second set for these specific activities (different colors, reading adjustment glasses, etc).

Originally Posted by wconley

Where it really shows it's value is in an emergency situation when you can quickly scan your mirrors for a way around an accident while keeping your head and eyes pointed forward. You can scan with your eyes much quicker than you can ever turn your head.

Not only more quickly, but with practice, more accurately. Like an outfielder chasing down a fly ball, head still = locked in vision. Head movement disrupts the eye causing the inevitable momentary blurring. The momentum of the head forces the eye to move even ever so slightly in the socket.