Race Driving Fundamentals
by Lee Marks

Chapter 4

Practice Car and Equipment              

Your practice can be any car or light track but must have the following equipment: manual transmission, tachometer, H or R or higher rated tires less than one year old ( old rubber becomes hard and does not grip well or respond to pressure changes correctly ). Also the brakes, suspension bushing, steering box and shocks, not overload types or air shocks, should be in excellent condition. They do not have to be the high performance type.

New cars are so quiet that it would be an advantage to put on a louder muffler and either completely remove the air column element or install a very low restriction one. This will give you intake and exhaust noise to train your hearing. Plus you can practice knowing the RPM without looking at the tachometer.

One note, if you use a pickup truck, secure at least 200 lbs. of sand at the tail end of the bed. You do not want the back to get light and skip around. As far as horsepower is concerned, if you are not very experiences in high HP cars and are not planning on racing one in the near future then you should stay away from them.

You will benefit from an under powered car that will require more finesse to get around a racecourse quickly. The overabundance of power will merely spoil you and undermine your progress in your racecar. On the other hand if you are experienced in some type of racing or are planning to race circle track or big engine cars, your best bet is to use a muscle car. Also, unless you plan to race one I would avoid rear engine cars.

I remember back in the late sixties that many professional race drivers would use rental cars as practice cars for road racecourses that they were unfamiliar with. This way they could get their racing lines and apexes “down a pat”. Also they could go out on the track during the times that their mechanics were working on the racecar. Yes, street car practice is applicable to racecar performance.

You will need to do the following prepping to your practice car: Install a second return spring on the accelerator linkage. Secure anything loose in the trunk, etc. Install a footrest for your left foot, this will help you to brace yourself in turns and help your “heel and toe”. Just a simple block of wood or aluminum with two screws or bolts holding it will do the trick. Next you will want to adjust or block up either the brake or gas pedal to make “hell and toeing” easier. Your goal is for when you apply your brakes and are downshifting the brake pedal is higher than the gas pedal.