I (used to??) have this problem, as I'm sure many others do. The answer,
once again, was looking ahead. In this case, you're probably fixing on
cones (apexes, chicanes, whatever) that are too close to do anything about.
You get in the wrong place/direction initially, then try to avoid or get
back on line to a cone that is within 30 feet of your car. At 40mph =
60ft/sec, that ain't gonna happen in a half second. You have time to jerk
the wheel, but the car won't respond quickly enough. When it eventually
does, you're already past (or through) that obstacle, and the car is now
busy doing what you told it to half a second ago, which is unlikely to help
at your current point on the course.
A couple of suggestions:
I use the phrase "behind the car" to denote the situation where the driver's
responses aren't quick enough (not *fast*, they may be TOO fast, but they
OCCUR too late) to control the car. Classic case that has happened to
everyone is overcorrecting for a rear-end slide and having the car wag its
tail twice and finally spin.
"Behind the course" means that while the inputs are controlling the car
adequately, they are coming too late to properly negotiate the particular
course element. Braking too late, turning in too late, on the gas too late.
Note that being "behind the course" can quickly result in getting "behind
the car"! My friends and I will often say to each other "Looks like you
should move everything back five (ten, twenty) feet."
It's hard to tell without seeing you run, but I suspect that your primary
problem is being "behind the course", though what you're perceiving is the
result - cones popping up in front of you, the car getting out of shape, and
ultimately getting "behind the car".
One place to start is that, within reason, braking too early can't really
hurt you very much, and braking too late can really hurt you a lot. Pick
one significant turn on the course and tell yourself "I'm going to brake 30
feet (two carlengths) too soon for that particular turn." Then see what
happens in terms of your corner entry, exit, and how you are set up for the
NEXT turn. Hopefully doing one thing a bit wrong (braking too early) will
pay enough dividends in helping with all the other problems that it improves
your time and simplifies the situation quite a bit. It's always easy to go
back and start moving your braking back up to the corner.
Anyway, that's my $.02!
KeS
> The other thing, all the good drivers locally have been
> telling me I've been getting "choppier" as the season progresses
> that I'm "sawing the wheel" how does a driver slow down his steering
inputs?
> what method do you guys use?
>
> I have been to 2 local schools and McKamey this year and
> neither mentioned this as my problem but it obviously is...
> with the stiffer suspension it is really killing me because I upset the
car
> and it just gets out of shape and I'm wasting alot of time trying to get
her
> back together.
>
> so once again how does a driver "slow down" his inputs
>
> Thanks
> Jeff Lloyd
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