{"id":35681,"date":"2021-03-08T04:00:32","date_gmt":"2021-03-08T12:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/?p=35681"},"modified":"2021-02-28T15:44:03","modified_gmt":"2021-02-28T23:44:03","slug":"q-how-do-i-test-the-limits-to-know-if-im-driving-my-car-as-fast-as-possible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/q-how-do-i-test-the-limits-to-know-if-im-driving-my-car-as-fast-as-possible\/","title":{"rendered":"Q: How do I test the limits to know if I\u2019m driving my car as fast as possible?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Q<\/strong>: \u201cHow do you “test” if a corner can be taken flat? How do you build up, mentally and input-wise, to go faster through a corner than you ever have? How do you prepare for it not working out?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

A<\/strong>: Let me answer your last question first: How do you prepare for it not working out? Mentally. But here\u2019s the thing. If you spend a lot of time imagining things not working out, you\u2019re increasing your chances of them not working out! So, be careful. You do want to be mentally prepared for what could go wrong, but not spend so much time that you actually make the \u201cwrong\u201d happen.<\/p>\n

I do believe that it\u2019s important that you run though a number of scenarios in your mind for how you would react if you pushed too far and started to spin, run off the edge of the track, or locked up the brakes. For example, if you\u2019re planning to test whether you can brake later for Turn 1, then think through what would happen if you locked up the brakes. Then imagine yourself sensing the lock up immediately, and how you\u2019d ease up a bit on the brake pedal until the locked tire(s) started turning again. Think through how if you ran too deep into the corner (if you have ABS, perhaps), how you\u2019d ease up on the brakes just a little to give some cornering grip to the tires, then turn in, and maybe even run a little wide of the apex \u2013 that\u2019s okay, you learned how late you can brake for that corner. By running a few scenarios of things not working out through in your mind, you\u2019re mentally preparing yourself. Again, don\u2019t do this too much, but just enough that you feel like you know what you\u2019d do if things didn\u2019t work out the way you wanted.<\/p>\n

Now, to your first question about \u201ctesting\u201d the limits.<\/p>\n

For sure, it\u2019s easy to not ask enough of the tires, not test and push the limits. What do I mean by \u201casking enough of the tires\u201d? Mostly, turn the steering wheel more. But it could be braking harder, and applying the throttle earlier and more aggressively.<\/p>\n

Who hasn\u2019t been told that smooth is fast? It\u2019s doubtful that anyone reading this hasn\u2019t heard that at least a hundred times (because I\u2019ve probably said it at least 90 times). And that can sometimes lead to a driver not using the tires, not asking enough of them.<\/p>\n

Every now and then I have a driver ask me to look at their in-car video, and ask me to give them feedback on how well they\u2019re driving. More often than not, I\u2019ll watch the video and report back, \u201cYour line looks great \u2013 no suggestions there. But it looks to me like you\u2019re just not pushing the car hard enough \u2013 you\u2019re not asking enough of the tires.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is it that tips me off and leads me to this response? Usually, it\u2019s steering movement that is too smooth. Yup, I\u2019m the guy who wrote in a book that \u201csmooth is fast.\u201d But if you want to be fast, you can be too smooth. If I notice that a driver turns into a corner, and the steering wheel barely moves from the initial rotation until it\u2019s begun to be straightened (and even then, it\u2019s a perfectly smooth unwinding of the wheel), I know that the tires have more to give.<\/p>\n

I know that not all drivers want to drive at the very limit of their tires and car. Some want to give themselves a margin for error, a cushion. That might be a conscious decision, due to a lack of experience, some level of self-preservation, and\/or a misinterpretation of what driving smoothly and at the limit means.<\/p>\n

While driving through a corner, have you ever deliberately turned the steering wheel more? You know, just give the wheel a solid but smooth crank of rotation, and then bring it back to where you had it? If your car responds immediately and changes direction when you do this, you haven\u2019t been asking enough of the tires, and you could drive faster. If, when you do this, there is little to no change in direction of the car, then you can be fairly certain that you\u2019re close to or at the limit.<\/p>\n

Now, I\u2019m not suggesting that in every corner that you just give the steering wheel a snap of more input. What I am saying is that you should test the limits every now and then. Pick the best places to do this, and I\u2019d suggest starting this process in longer corners where you have more time; in corners with more runoff room, in case you need it to correct your direction.<\/p>\n

In most cases, if you test your tire grip level in one corner, you\u2019ll learn what they have to give, and be able to use that in every other corner, too. Obviously, that doesn\u2019t necessarily apply if you test it in a corner that has a large concrete patch in it, as that surface will likely have a different level of grip from the rest of the track.<\/p>\n

Even if you want to give yourself a cushion, and not drive at the very limit, this is a worthwhile exercise. By testing the grip level in a safe place, by asking more of the tires, you\u2019ll have a better understanding of where the limit is, helping you stay below it. If you don\u2019t know where the limit is, how can you ever consistently know you\u2019re driving under it?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m also not suggesting that you just wiggle the steering wheel back and forth. I see drivers do that, saying that they\u2019re \u201cfeeling the tires.\u201d I don\u2019t buy that. It\u2019s simply wiggling the steering around, and actually reducing the grip level. If you\u2019re going to test the tires\u2019 limit, you need to turn the wheel more than little wiggles of the wheel.<\/p>\n

Give it a try. Smoothly, deliberately, and using discretion, ask more of your tires\u2019 grip level.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Q: \u201cHow do you “test” if a corner can be taken flat? How do you build up, mentally and input-wise, to go faster through a corner than you ever have? How do you prepare for it not working out?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ask-ross"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35681"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35681\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35682,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35681\/revisions\/35682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}