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Race Craft and Accident Avoidance
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By Bryan Dobyns
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It is my opinion that no accident should happen ever if the driver from behind pays
close attention or the driver in front stays predictable. When following a car,
try to focus on the front tire of its car or the steering wheel if possible. If
you can get in this habit, the following driver can actually realize a mistake that
the driver in front is about to make, before the driver in front realizes his mistake.
For example fixating on the front tire you can see if the car is pushing through
a turn allowing you to know which side to be on as you get on the gas sooner than
your opponent. This fraction of a second can make a pass very easy. Also by fixating
on the front tire, you are in fact keeping your car along side the car in front,
which through a turn is the place to be as it can be unnerving to the driver in
front further causing a mistake or opportunity to pass. Ever notice how hard it
is to be in first place with everything to loose and nothing to gain? If you are
in a very competitive environment like pro Miata, don’t put yourself in first place
(if you can help it) until the last lap. If you are lucky enough to split off so
that first and second are by themselves, I personally will actually let the guy
go in front early in the race so that I can constantly mess with his mind from behind
in every turn. Also you can draft more and take it easier on your tires and brakes
so that you may spurt by the opponent for the win.
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Back to accident avoidance for the following driver; the following car should never
get into an accident because he or she has the privilege to “see things before they
happen” if he is paying enough attention. Even if there is a multi car smash fest,
slow down and take your car straight off track and mow some grass (something that
NASCAR drivers don’t get to do as surrounded by walls always and having a car that
does not transition from left to right well). Tracks like Limerock, Watkins Glen,
and Shenandoah have walls close to the track with little grass or no grass before
the wall. These tracks should make the following driver keep an extra millisecond
off the bumper of the car in front to further keep him from hitting that car in
case of an accident. Also when going off into grass with a close wall to avoid a
wreck, before the last front tire goes into the grass, violently flick the wheel
towards the track so that your car may simply graze the wall or so that you do not
get sucked into the wall. The only time I have ever hit a wall in 13 years of track
time, was when the engine had blown up and I simply needed to get the car off the
track so when going about 25 mph and slowly turning into the grass, the slicks got
grass on them and just lid into the wall (very little damage occurred, but now technically
I cannot say “I have never hit a wall”.
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Back to accident avoidance for the driver in front; if the drivers behind you are
doing their job, no matter how much you mess up, you should never get hit by a car
if you are predictable. Being predictable is the most important thing on the race
track. The only time I have hit a car that caused me to not cross the finish line
was when two guys spun their cars right in front (no big deal, had lots of room
and grass) but one of the drivers did not lockup his brakes and rolled right where
me and another guy had gone to avoid the wreck, now causing a four car incident.
We have all been taught to lockup the brakes when going into a spin so do it!!!
If you come around turn 10 at Summit Point and lose it, lockup your brakes and park
the car on the track (and obviously look for an opportunity to quickly move your
car). If you let the car slowly roll across the track, you will get smashed. It
is better to be a predictable sitting duck on the racetrack while depending on the
corner workers and race car driver attention than it is to be an unpredictable rolling
chicane. Please lock up the brakes when spinning!
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If you are a slower class of car in a race group with faster cars coming by you,
don’t move out of the way as this is unpredictable and causes accidents (this might
be the leading cause for accidents). The faster class driver should wait until it
a safe pass can be made or even an unsafe pass will be more than fine so long as
no contact is made, but contact will be made if the car in front goes off line or
“tries to get out of the way”. The next bit of info may be controversial at best:
If you are the poor guy in first place and the only cars around you are your competitors
and it is the last lap, be unpredictable! Now I am not saying to get into a wreck
or zig zag down the straights, but ever so gently make you inputs to the wheel a
little vague. Take the inside line through turns or give your car a little oversteer
wiggle when the opponent tries to make a move. When on the last lap, the second
and maybe third place drivers don’t have as much of the “I have nothing to lose
and everything to gain” attitude because their conscience is telling them “I at
least have a podium finish”. Use this to your first place advantage to unnerve the
following drivers.
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Tuning a car to your liking: People ask me what a good setup is for a certain race
car and I usually say “the one that the driver is most comfortable with”. This is
not a very helpful answer but it is the truth. Couple rules of thumb would be to
soften the springs and sway bars of the corner that is slipping. If the car pushes,
soften the front or stiffen the rear. If the car is way out of whack, you might
have to stiffen the corner that is slipping, but you will only know this if you
first soften the corner that slips. For shocks, the compression adjustment can be
thought of as springs and swaybars (that is to soften to add traction). But rebound
is the opposite rule of thumb, which is to stiffen the corners that are slipping.
Since most of the club racers only have rebound adjustments on the shocks (chances
are that if there is only one adjustment on your shocks, it is a rebound adjustment)
I will give some rules of thumb that I have learned. If the car oversteers at the
end of turns, loosen the rear rebound. If the car oversteers as you enter the corner,
stiffen the rear rebound. If the car pushes as soon as you enter the corner, stiffen
the front rebound. If the car pushes as you exit the turn, loosen the front rebound.
If you have compression adjustments, do the opposite of the above, but really I
have found that the rebound adjustments are the ones that give the best result for
a change to the car. If the compression has not been set by a shock dyno and spring
rates and starting from scratch, try the following during an entire test day with
somebody to adjust car while driver still sitting in car. Loosen the shocks all
the way and drive car. Slowly increase compression in small increments without touching
rebound until you can feel car skipping across bumps in the track like the concrete
changes at Summit Point. Once this is set to the skipping off bumps, back off the
adjustment one click and work on increasing the rebound adjustments slowly one axle
at a time.
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The goal is to get the car to the drivers liking as he may lift off throttle differently
than another driver or whatever. If you can get a good basic setup with your springs
and swaybars, you can alter the cars handling for different tracks or track conditions
by simply changing the shocks. Spending an entire test day working on NOTHING but
shock adjustments with the driver not leaving the car will teach the driver what
the car and shocks will need. Not leaving the car means doing two laps and coming
in for a quick adjustment and going back out again before the tires cool down.
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Politics: If you are lucky enough to get involved in a pro enduro deal with multiple
drivers that are all working together, then you are lucky times two (once for getting
there in the first place and second for everyone getting along and working together).
Try not to be much faster than the owner of the car until it really matters towards
the end of the race or qualifying because this may hurt the ego of the owner (probably
even if he does not realize it) and the owners conscience may want to get rid of
you. Just don’t be freaky faster all the time during practice, instead be the one
that is slightly faster but never wears the tires which is good because you will
practice the enduro pace. Also if you are involved with a team that is new or not
getting along, be the first to complain. This is a crappy thing to say but I have
seen this more than once while the fastest driver on the team gets booted only because
he was made out to be the bad guy and at the same time how long the slower crasher
will stay on the team only because he complains. Of course don’t overdo it. On the
other hand if you stay quiet and be yourself and still get booted, at least you
have a clear conscience.
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Whenever there is an incident when your car touches another, be the first to apologize
to the opponent car whether you feel it was your fault or not. Right after the race
is the best time to do this even though he or she may be really angry and have more
to say at this moment. Just say “I am sorry we got together on the race track” and
keep repeating it no matter how many names you get called, but don’t say much more
than that until hours or days latter. Keep a cool head and no matter whether it
was your fault or not, it will be your opponent that will feel bad for weeks to
come if he or she goes off.
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For me, I have been as quiet and laid back as possible for the 11 years of racing
that I have done and I have gone many places and seen lots of stuff while being
true to myself. I have found that it is more important to have a clear conscience
and trust myself while on the track. If you ever get called a cheater and you don’t
cheat, take that as the highest compliment you can get and don’t get upset about
it like I have done in the past. Most important thing is to have fun!
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