For any drivers racing this weekend at Homestead, I wanted to send you a few shortcuts to a few YouTube videos.
The first three videos below are parts 1, 2, and 3 of fast guy Nick Andries when he competed in the Skip Barber National Championship at Homestead. Although the cars are running on BFG slicks (DOT competition tires), the lines are very similar to what you'll use this weekend. More importantly, you can see how the draft plays a rather large role in how the races evolve.
The fourth video is Angelo Dinkov in the Mazdaspeed Challenge race a few years ago. You might want to fast forward to minute 3:30 to watch video without the overlaid music track. You'll be able to hear throttle, etc.
Driving alone is a different beast from racing in traffic. Alone you'll be working on getting the entry speed into Turn 1 and 2 without losing the balance (smooth brake release helps a lot). You'll also try to use a shorter distance line in Turn 3, and look for lots of entry speed into Turn 4 (the most blatantly overslowed entry in racing by most drivers, according to years of Computer Car data). Turn 6 and Turn 8 are mostly about heavy and late initial brake, with controlled release. Once you are racing, you'll see from Nick's video that the draft is something of an art form, learning where and when to place your car around others so you are where you want to be at the finish. We've seen many four-wide finishes over the years, many times with the fourth place car jumping to the front for the win by 0.01 second or so.
Drive alone to master the technical bits, then practice in traffic to learn and make mistakes with the draft. Your first race will teach you much to improve your second race.
Any questions, feel free to post them here, and I'll try to get a reply in as time allows.
Cheers!
Nick Andries - Skip Barber National Championship - Part 1
Nick Andries - Skip Barber National Championship - Part 2
Nick Andries - Skip Barber National Championship - Part 3
Angelo Dinkov - Skip Barber Mazdaspeed Challenge (recommend beginning at minute 3:30 to avoid overlaid music)