Quote:
Originally Posted by adouglas
FWIW Ken Condon said to me during one-on-one instruction that you should develop a "relationship" with the track. Get to know it in detail. That means choosing marks and hitting them every time... and slowing down until you can do that.
If you can't hit your marks, why not? Either you're not focusing on them, or you're riding in such a way that you can't get there. No matter which it is, the answer is to slow down and focus.
Consistency is where it's at.
It's the same conversation we've had before. Speed will come by itself. Get the basics right first.
Vision -- identify your marks and consciously look for them.
Consistency -- have a plan, but be adaptable if it doesn't go right.
Think ahead... Chris has said, IIRC, that he tries to think one or two corners ahead. At Palmer, that means he's thinking about turn 6 while he's in the middle of the 4/5 esses.
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Andrew,
Thank you for this input! I have been thinking about this very thing a lot lately and think I have a plan to work on this very issue of "Learning the Track". I have noticed that the new assistant I have at work gets lost often in the buildings where we work. We rarely work in the same building for more than 2 days and there may be several rooms we are working in and he often does not remember the way back to rooms we worked in earlier in the day or even the entrance. I don't have this issue and why should that be? We both spend the same amount of time traveling the same route yet I remember and he gets lost. Apart from any possible learning disability, which I am fairly sure he does not have, the main difference is that he is new to this type of work and I have done this for over 15 years. Why is this important? What the He!! does this have to do with the race track???
I have realized that his mind is busy thinking about the job and what he might need to do and other aspects while I am comfortable knowing my job and have the extra "broadband" in my mind to remember the route to and from the exit or rooms. This is definitely part of my issue on the track. While trying to lap at 80% of my possible pace, I have no additional mind capacity to think 2-3 turns ahead. I am familiar with the track but with braking, shifting, entry speed, lean angle and the proper line in the front of my mind there is no space for this processing. The only way to assure I can keep my mind focused on what I should be thinking about (where I should be headed and my line/reference points) and not what I am forced to think about (entry speed, shifting, braking and correcting mistakes) I need to slow down to the point where I can do all the other tasks automatically and devote my mind to following the correct line thru my reference points!
I have spent hours over the last few months working this out and the answer is to simply slow down and smooth out my riding so I can shift less and brake less and hit my marks more. I know it sounds simple but when you are out on the track there is always the temptation to "go fast". Going fast is relative to your skill level and your lack of skill can make you feel like you are going fast when your lap times show the opposite!
The closer I get to 100% of what my skill will allow, the faster a turn may come up but the speed may just be 1-5 MPH faster than last time. The major difference is that I have less time to do the things I need to do just to not crash--not the things I should be doing to be smooth or set up the next turn. Rushing up to a turn requires me to rush my shifting, brake less smoothly and possibly (no matter how slightly) overshoot my entry/turn in point. Once speed reaches past the point where you can continue to be smooth and accurate with your inputs and controls, mistakes are made and correcting mistakes just takes more of the available "broadband" from your mind. I can see no other way to work up to "fast" other than to slow down and work on getting everything done correctly at that level then slowly add more speed and repeat until other people tell you that you are "fast"! I cant say for sure because I have not yet been there but I think that once you are fast it does not really feel that way because things are still happening at the level you can process!