Going Faster! Mastering the Art of Race Driving — The Skip Barber Racing School
Going Faster! has been called the race-driving bible for racers, racers-to-be, and auto-racing fans eager to learn what really makes the difference between crossing the finish line in first and second place.
Capturing the wisdom of world-renowned Skip Barber Racing School, Going Faster! includes invaluable driver insights, diagrams and techniques for race data analysis.
This book will teach you the fundamentals of the racing line, corner-exit speed, braking and more. Plus in-depth analysis of physical skills such as pedal modulation, shifting gears, steering input, etc.
Book Excerpt: Going Faster! Mastering the Art of Race Driving
INTRODUCTION
THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU
All of us in the sport of auto racing started out as car-nuts first, then took our enthusiasm and applied it to competition. Some of us started out as kids, fiddling around with coasters, Karts, mini-bikes, ATVs, anything with wheels. Others were late bloomers: drivers who once thought of cars as transportation appliances but have suddenly experienced an automotive awakening.
They start to nibble at the edges of the car-nut world and the more they try the more they like. Before they know it, they're hooked.
And once you meet others of like mind any chance of escape from the addiction is gone. Dinner conversations drift toward cars. Trips get planned because a long drive is involved. Budgets get stretched to acquire cars that provide high performance and eye-pleasing design. Driving becomes enjoyable, a skill that involves serious thought, a skill in which you take pride.
If you feel this way about cars and driving, regardless of how and when your interest in cars started, this book is for you.
THE THREE BASICS
EXIT SPEED | CLOSE TO THE EDGE
Once you're confident of your ability to put the car on the line, you can more safely move up toward the car's cornering limit with less fear that you're making a commitment to the corner that the car can't keep.
In the earlier Turn 7 example, you started out looking for the line by driving through the corner in the 40 mph range. This is 14 to 17 mph slower than the speed you can expect to reach at the limit. Being this conservative on speed means that the tires only need to use 55% of their cornering traction to negotiate the proper line.
To maximize the speed at the corner track-out, you'll eventually have to use everything the car has got. To do this, you have to develop some familiarity with how the car behaves and how you can affect its behavior when it's being driven nearits limit using a combination of throttle and sttering.
SHIFTING
If race cars operated in a very narrow speed range, there would be no need for a gearbox. If the speed varied very little, it would be easy to choose the overall gearing of the car so that at racing speed the engine would always be operating in the RPM range where it makes its best horsepower: what we call its "powerband." In road racing, cornering speeds may vary from 30 mph to 170 mph, and the gearbox is the device that allows you to operate the motor in its powerband at widely different speeds.
In out experience of teaching over fifteen hundred Three-Day Racing schools over the last 20 years, we have found that the single most frustrating skill for a fledgling racer to learn is proper downshifting.
The main difficulty is that, in racing, the downshift comes at a time when the car (and driver) is busy slowing for an upcoming corner. It's easy for one activity to impose on the level of concentration required for another.
TABLE of CONTENTS:
Foreword by Danny Sullivan
Preface by Skip Barber
The Fundamentals: A Plan of Attack | The Three Basics... Line, Corner Exit Speed, Braking
Developing the Basics: The Real-World Line | Mastering Car Control | Braking and Entering | Shifting
Honing Your Skills and Strategies: Working Up a Track, From Maps to Laps | Finding Lap Time | Passing | The Reality of Racing | Accidents | Racing in the Rain
The Role of Hardware: Tires | Chassis Adjustments
Becoming a Race Driver: Comparing Cars | Inside the World of Racing | Racing Resources | Bibliography | Glossary | About the Authro | About the Skip Barber Racing School
