richard nichols wrote:
> Both Rocky here, and Joshua Hadler in his message, dinged me on this
> one. I'm sure I deserved it :] but I was simply repeating what I
> was told. But -- I will have to say that, as soon as I stopped
> worrying about emulating what I'd heard about "great" drivers by
> trying to be smooth, I went faster.
There's an important lesson to be learned here.
When an instructor says something to *you*, that doesn't mean it applies
to everyone. It may be that your instructor felt that *your* weakness
was that you placed too much emphasis on smoothness, at the expense of
aggressiveness. So he told you to lay off the smoothness. That doesn't
mean everyone should.
As an example, at the McKamey Phase II school I took earlier this year,
John Thomas suggested that I should "try driving at 9/10ths." That
doesn't mean everyone should; he just felt that my definition of
10/10ths wasn't accurate. I used exactly the same statement for a
student of mine at our novice school later this year, and it worked
great, because he had the same vice that I did.
Summary: Just because an instructor said it to you, and it worked,
doesn't mean that it's the right thing to say to everyone. Part of
being a good instructor is saying the right things to each individual
student, in language that works for them, rather than spouting standard
curriculum.
That said, I no longer teach smoothness as a technique on its own at
my novice schools. Rather, I think smoothness is an effect, a product
of other good habits. If you look ahead, if you slow down your inputs,
and if you understand lines and weight transfer, then smoothness comes
naturally -- it's no longer something to devote precious attention
span to.
We're getting somewhat off of Mari's original question...
Mark
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