Technique Talk #5: Consistency

[rslonaker]

Tips for Improving

Speed vs. consistency. Try making a new measure of your improvement with consistency instead of fast lap. It seems too many drivers consider it to be the end all measure of your progress. “Well so and so did a 102.3 last week”. Next time ask how many so and so did.

On your next lapping day or Drivers Ed. If you are bothering to time yourself (I know some clubs frown on this, but in the way I am presenting it, it is a very valuable tool for improving your skill) look at consistency instead of fastest lap. Pick a time that you know you can do comfortably and see how many of them you can do in row. Try to be within just a few tenths of each other. By applying this kind of discipline to your driving it will make you focus on being precise and accurate. Hitting the same marks and same line, lap after lap requires real concentration especially on a crowded DE day. What you will discover is that this can be as exciting and rewarding as trying for fastest lap. Watching the lap timer each lap to see how close you will be to the lap before really focuses your attention on being precise. After a while you will begin to know how much the mistake you just made in the left-hander is going to cost you or how much that slow non-point-byer held you up. Next thing you know you will be doing your time for the whole session and it will be easy. Then when you decide to go just a little quicker it won’t be a big reach beyond your current skill level. In fact you may realize that all you need is just a little time in one corner. This will also put much of your lap plan on a subconscious level of driving and will free up mental space for focusing on new skills of techniques.

You will also start to notice things about your car and how it changes over the course of the day. That .5 sec you lost from the morning session may be the track and not you. You may also start to notice things in your car you want to change other than HP or stickier tires. When you can go to a DE or lapping day and have all your times over the course of the day vary no more than .5 second, then you have really accomplished something. Give it a try.

Next - Technique Talk #6 - Experimentation