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Race
Driving Fundamentals Chapter 12 Passing and Being Passed Many people call the 60's the Golden Age of racing. In the area of passing or being passed, the late 60s, during the legendary Le Mans 24-hour races, the passing game was never more dangerous! Imagine a 1000 cc Abarth with a top speed of 110 mph being passed by a 5000 cc Porsche 917! The 917 had a top speed down Le Mans three mile straight-away of over 210 mph. The drivers of both of these racecars had to ply their driving skills to the fullest. Bobby Rahal was quoted as saying that racecar driving “requires a very high level of precise depth perception”. Maybe this is the reason that many race drivers are outstanding golfers. Depth perception entails measuring distances between objects and calculating how much force is needed to get one object to the other object that is the target. Golf and basketball are good examples. Auto racing is the same but with an added dimension. That is, one or more of the objects are moving! We have all had the annoyance of traveling down a highway at a steady rate of speed, then someone passes you and reduces the speed we were traveling. Also, there is the opposite, when you pass someone and the car behind you speeds up. During actual racing conditions, the cars on the track will be going at their maximum speed as related to grip to the road surface. The practice this chapter involves three areas. Please proceed in the order as given. They are: number one, vision control, number two, being passed and three, you passing others. In a preceding chapter it was explained, the importance to practice the exercises with the rear view mirror. Review that section before proceeding here. So you are comfortable using your mirrors and you have developed your use of your overall vision. Now while driving at a steady speed spot a car in your rear view mirror and guess how many seconds it will take them to get to your door handle with their door handle. The instant you have come up with a number start counting, one one thousand, two one thousand, etc. Then concentrate on using your peripheral vision and avoiding looking back to track the car’s progress. Looking straight ahead spot the car when it is door handle to door handle with you. Then compare to your estimate. Do this at least five times. Write in your logbook how you did. This is your base line target to monitor your progress. We have all heard as humans that we only use 10% of our brain's power. That is because to use more requires exercise. Just like building muscle physically. The late great Mark Donahue - who raced go-carts to Indy cars - did not win his first race he entered. In fact he was not endowed with very much natural talent. But, he had determination to develop those common attributes we all possess. Next while driving on the highway pick out a car ahead of you who is traveling at a steady rate of speed. Estimate how many seconds it will take you to get door handle to door handle, if you floor your gas pedal. Do this at least 5 times. Again record the base line figure in your logbook. Once you feel confident, add some pressure by having a passenger time you with a stopwatch. Practice these exercises in your everyday driving. Let us say that you determine twenty seconds before a red Porsche in handle to handle, just say red Porsche at twenty. The word twenty is to push the start between on the stopwatch time. He more pressure you can create for your practice times, the better. A loud radio is good, and a lack of sleep is even better! Next let’s practice passing. Begin by passing. Begin by finding a busy 2 or more lane highway or freeway. Then pick out a blank spot in a stream of cars. Make sure that the cars are traveling at a steady rate of speed and they are not erratic in any way. Accelerate your car to a faster speed than they are traveling and just change lanes abruptly and swerve into the blank spot. Once you are in, it should be necessary to brake a little to slow your speed to their peed. The entire lane change is made with the brake pedal and steering wheel while maintaining a steady rate of speed with the gas pedal. If you do not carry enough speed to run the danger of going to slow and the car in the back of you will hit you. Do not worry about the car in front they will not even know you are there, but the one in back of you will. Start out nipping into blank spots with large distances between cars first, then work your way up to smaller spots. What you are learning here is car control and how to read other drivers. In actual racing conditions you would be making split second decisions on whether to attempt a pass or not. Watching the good old boys of stock car racing is like watching a ballet at 200 mph. Those guys comfort level in such circumstances is remarkable. Dale Earnhart commented once that he felt more at ease at 200 mph than he did doing the personal interview he was in at the time. Once your comfort level is high enough where you do not feel so reckless about changing lanes in close quarters but, you feel in control of yourself and your machine to make passes in turns. The same thing applies here, give yourself plenty of room! Then work your way to close quarters. Here you will contend with centrifugal force and the scrubbing off of speed in a corner. Again you should not be practicing this unless you have practiced all of the proceeding chapters first. Race driving is like pole vaulting. You must learn the fundamentals first and then apply them systematically. It is important to carry a bit of extra speed when passing in corners because of the speed scrub off I mentioned earlier. It is better to carry too much than not enough. Just keep the gas pedal steady and then control your speed with the brake pedal. There is a lot to contend with when passing, especially in turns, so always keep practices as simple as possible. Also practice builds habits that become second nature under circumstances of very high physical and mental stress and fatigue. Picture this situation: you have driven 500 miles to get to a race meet. You get about four hours of sleep on Friday night. You practice on Saturday and the racecar’s ill handling is causing your fear level to go up (nothing like a car ready to crash at any time just trying to keep up with everyone else). Late Saturday night you notice a
major problem with your engine which necessitates an all-nighter to correct it. Sunday
comes and it is 100 degrees with high humidity. You put on your Nomex underwear, driving
suit, head cover, gloves and finally your five pound, suffocating helmet! As you can see
developing good habits is essential.
Motor Meister Inc. 12262 Woodruff Avenue Downey, California 90241 Motor Meister is not
affiliated with Porsche Cars North America or Dr. Ing. h.c.F. Porsche AG. |
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