--On Thursday, May 13, 2004 8:26 PM -0600 Paul <pleonard@miraclemethod.com>
wrote:
> I'd like to get some feedback from you on how you find it to be most
> useful, such as;
> - do you use mostly the accel chart?
> - or the usage plot?
> - can you get good data looking at one of your runs compared to another?
> (it's probably best comparing your own run to an expert's run, as in
> the attached pic, but I won't usually have that luxury)
> - any advice for me to get the most out of it?
Here's my usual advice:
Don't limit yourself to one tool. Sometimes the acceleration/brake colors
show the most useful information, sometimes it's usage. Sometimes it's the
friction circle. Sometimes it's the strip charts. Depends on your
personal issues. I personally focus most on the accel/decel colors and the
Accel strip chart.
Comparing one run to another -- useful, but in context. That run happened
already. The big benefit comes from doing this time after time after time,
and seeing what behaviors and mistakes seem common. That tells you what to
focus on.
For example, if I look at your pic... The runs are similar, and it's tough
without the software to play with, but it looks to me like you had some
serious understeer coming out of the big right-hander in the middle of the
map. Was that because you were too fast due to the quick blip of throttle
entering the corner? It's useful to put a range of grey between the red
and green for "coasting"... Perhaps that's not really a blip of throttle,
just a brief respite from the brakes. Again, having the actual runs rather
than just these screen shots could tell us a lot more.
The "expert driver" got on the throttle MUCH earlier than you did exiting
that corner. It's possible (and verifiable with Geez!) that you lost the
bulk of your time right there. If you did -- was that a one-time mistake,
or a trend? Do you often get on the throttle late coming out of similar
turns? Without evaluating lots of courses similarly, it's hard to know.
In the big left-hander following that and the right hander after that, two
very different approaches are seen. It's easy to tell with Geez!, but hard
to tell from the screen shots, which approach was faster. If his approach
was faster than yours, then is this something you can experiment with in
the future?
The best results, IMHO, come from comparing your runs to those of your
co-driver, time and time again. In my case, we found that I generally
brake much earlier and softer than he does, and get on the throttle much
earlier than he does too. I'm also usually faster, but not always. You
can't learn that kind of thing looking at just one course.
> Should I limit further related emails to the Geez list?
The Geez! list is a good place for feedback like this.
Mark
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