10 Biggest Mistakes On Track

[ninjabones]

Darren wrote:

Early apexing isn't so bad when you realize it immediately when you turn in. I wish someone had told me, before I figured it out, that you could just apex in tighter to correct an early turn-in...

Think about it -- say T3 at Summit Point. You turn in early and realize it, well heck, just apex up the curbing a couple of feet -- same apex but draw a parallel line and hit it in tighter.

Good point... except if you're 20 yards early, as was the case with my rookie move at the Glen early last season:? It wasn't just the early turn in... it was the magnitude of the mistake and the inability to recognize it early enough to fix it. Bot were reflections of my lack of seat time.

We all make mistakes (even Derek Jeter made a few errors in the post-season). The truly great drivers make smaller mistakes, recognize them instantaneously, and instinctually know how to correct them. They also prepare themselves for mishaps and mistakes... driving off-line, inspecting curbing, analyzing the run-off areas, and planning what to do in the case of an off.

I learned this trick from Bob (which I think he learned from Chris Cervelli): basically at every opportunity (cool down laps, etc), I'll run the entire length of the track at one edge of the road surface, examine for off-line camber changes, curbing, run-off areas, passing opportunities, marbles, different levels of grip, road patches, concrete, etc. Really helps imprint in your mind what to do if you find yourself at one of these unexpected positions.

I can say that I've driven over just about every each inch of pavement (and curbing) at Thunderbolt this season (having done about 1,000 laps). Only now do I feel like I have even a basic understanding of what to do at almost every corner in case of a mistake.

This is one of the reason's I'm nervous about racing at a few new tracks next season)... however, the reality is that I won't have the opportunity to get 1,000 practice laps at Sebring or Limerock before the next club race.