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+--- Thread: Darren Law advanced seminar (/showthread.php?tid=1054)
- Mark Fox - 03-04-2008
Since I had to work 2 Saturday's ago I missed the Levitas seminar. Maybe someong can provide a brief summary of what he covered.
I did however attend a Darren Law ( you may know the name from driving with David Donahue in the Brumos porsche) Advanced Drivers Seminar on that Sunday and thought I would provide a summary of what he covered or as much as I can recall. Much of this will be old news for many.
First of all Darren is a very down to earth and approachable person. He began karting at age 11 and after several championships jumped to full-race cars. His first experience with race cars was in the formula category in Europe. He has competed in a wide range of vehicles and race series during his career and accumulated numerous top 10 & top 5 finishes, as well as 3 separate driving championships. He has a unique drivers perspective, running in the Rolex, ALMS and KONI challenge series as being the fast guy and the slow guy. He is known for being race savey, his car control and technical feedback he provides his engineers. His seminar was low key with driving points, Q & A, film, personal experiences and data analysis spread throughout the 2.5 hours.
Having taught (I believe at Barber) at driving/race schools for several years he started off with driver position. He suggested a good bend in both the arm and leg to avoid fatigue. A self check is the ability to be belted in and let your arms drape over the steering wheel at the wrist and the ability to depress the clutch with your right foot. He then spoke about vision and said most drivers tend to not look a step ahead of the car. It is important to see your brake zone well in advance, as approaching the brake zone find your apex, as approaching apex find track out and so on staying ahead of the car.
Next he went into car set up.
Modern race cars have everything sensored providing data for the engineers. So a driver can't any longer lie about what they were doing. " I don't know why I lost time in that section, I was back to the gas early and flat" On the flight to the track he can get a composite of the drivers and look at brake, shift points and times to assist in set up.
Before the data age he kept track logs with notes and would review this before the race. With the little time we spend doing track events compared to the pro's, a book with track notes like hard references, shift points, brake points, trail braking, apex points ect will help maximize the productivity and fun of the weekend. He said with the data they have accumulated they are almost dialed in out of the box for the up coming race. They are usually within 200 lbs per spring rate per track/conditions/alignment/ride height which is then driver tuned for the race.
He mentioned it is important to assess what the car is doing through the corner. We should be aware of our car's specific handling through the corner. We should break it down to corner entry and exit. The engineers/drivers break it down at 5 points through the corner. He like his car set up neutral at entry and and loose at exit giving him the ability to catch it with the throttle. He said if your car feels good through the corner (assuming no mechanical/driver problems) you are not driving it hard enough.
He suggested assessing what your car is doing as to under steer or over steer and why this is occurring. Many factors come into play here. If it's under-steering is it do to tire temps? Too much air in the front causing a push? If it is very bad push, pull in and check temps you may need to drop them. Make sure to check tire temps when coming off the track as this will rule out a potential cause.
Driver induced problems:
Are you causing the push by braking incorrectly, turning in too abruptly or jumping on the throttle. He talked about braking and how you want to smoothly but firmly get into the brakes and smoothly release them getting back to the throttle. Coasting is a time killer in a race and is often very unsettling if done through a corner and should be avoided.
Interestingly, he is not a trail braker. There is a time, place, and condition that he will do it, but does not drive the RSR that way, which surprised many a 911 driver in the room.
I asked him about left foot braking having done it from kart days long ago and needing to do it all last summer do to the broken right ankle. He just switched over last year and feels it is smoother, allows the car to be set up one way as compared to a compromise between David (since he left foots brakes) and himself prior to left footing, but doesn't think it is much quicker. But he agreed it allows a new element of being smooth. In racing and with a H gear box, there are only a handful of turns where this applies. It is good for scrubbing off 20-30 mph, covering the brake while staying in the throttle while approaching slower cars of or balancing the car in example through the keyhole at Mid-Ohio. It was suggested it should be practiced many months on the street to learn the smooth modulation and control required.
Next we looked at data overlay between the drivers and he is has minimal coast, in comparison. His heel/toe dropping 3 gears is very very quick per data. Interestingly he sequentially drops gears in an H pattern box. This is opposite of what Derrick Bell recommends do to clutch longevity, but there is more than one way to skin a cat. Again he prefaced the importance of being smooth, (brakes, throttle, turn in) which translates into being in control, which translates in to being quick.
Another cause of the car mishandling from a mechanical issue is the sway bar setting. If the other issues check out, maybe the push is caused by a lack of sufficient front bar. Interestingly for you RSR jockey's they correct a push by cranking down the rear bar, which brings it into better alignment. "Don't ask why..... I am just the messenger" I suspect crank it down and throttle steer on corner exit like jack's and Tom's cars.
Physical fitness was the next area he spoke about. He said the DP car is usually 120 degrees inside. The more oxygen he can keep to his brain the sharper he will think and respond. He has a trainer who was affiliated with Lance Armstrong's workout regiment and works out everyday that he is home. His workouts are comprised of cycling, running and some lite weights. He drinks ample amounts of fluids and eat a low a low fat diet. He mentioned drivers new to DE don't often appreciate how physically and mentally demanding driving can be, especially when the weather get Hot.
He next spoke about Sebring. The good news is they reprogrammed the ECU and found a second in lap times. The bad news is...... that puts them even with the Ferrari from last year. He was not optimistic about Porsche's chances other than with the help of the Ferrari's crashing out or breaking.
- ccm911 - 03-04-2008
Utterly amazing. All of your points are covered in the RTR DE classroom sessions.
Chalk one up for the excellent training put on by RTR!
- Mark Fox - 03-04-2008
Chris Writes:
Quote:Utterly amazing. All of your points are covered in the RTR DE classroom sessions.
Chalk one up for the excellent training put on by RTR!
Training at a higher level regardless of the application is usually similar in context.
The quality of the instruction in the RTR DE program speaks for itself. There is a level of consistency per driver in their respective group, which is not found in other regions. I don't make that statement because of being a RTR member, but from my perspective having run with 6 different regions and NASA for the last three years.
