February Fastrack

Andy Bettencourt said:
But you are missing the point. Unless you have a GREAT development program, travelling to many different tracks that you haven't run before will probably maximize FUN at the expense of DEVELOPMENT. You need to be at a track that you can run consistantly before you can even think about finding the last X% (you determine your goals) of your driving and/or finding the last X% of your suspension program.

Development is what we are talking about here.
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the dowenside to the 1-track developement program is when you box yoursefl into a one track suspension. down here in the SE, if you tuned at sebring, you might find the car misbehaves at roebling. vice versa, and the car would be a nighmare over the bumps at sebring.

there's a happy 95% point somehwere in there that works well for most places that you'll never find if you tune everything to the best advantage at one track.

aside from that, different tracks force the driver to think differently, see the line differently, and often this can be backwards applied to places you already "know". so a driver that is at least competent should be able to learn a lot from traveling.

this doesn't mean that staying "at home" and refining your skills is wrong, only that it isn't the only "right" answer.
 
I think its so much about the driver. I know when I've trained and prepared the DRIVER (me) in the off season I will be so much faster. Physical conditionining and lots of time on the go-kart makes for a much better start to the season. Last year I didn't focus on the driver prep and was slow to get up on the wheel in most of my races until the end of the season. This year I'm doing a lot of conditioning, indoor kart practice and plan on lots of outdoor kart practice when it warms up. Plus I spent a fortune on the dyno getting the last out of the motor and got damn near to the IT power estimates for the car. But the cost.....brutal. Now it's all driver...
 
Chip42 said:
the dowenside to the 1-track developement program is when you box yoursefl into a one track suspension. down here in the SE, if you tuned at sebring, you might find the car misbehaves at roebling. vice versa, and the car would be a nighmare over the bumps at sebring.

there's a happy 95% point somehwere in there that works well for most places that you'll never find if you tune everything to the best advantage at one track.

aside from that, different tracks force the driver to think differently, see the line differently, and often this can be backwards applied to places you already "know". so a driver that is at least competent should be able to learn a lot from traveling.

this doesn't mean that staying "at home" and refining your skills is wrong, only that it isn't the only "right" answer.
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What Andy meant when he used me as an example is that I did a concentrated effort on one track, my weakest, and made huge gains. I went to four tracks and podiumed at every one. What he is saying is that our level it's not all about having THE car in the class. It's about taking a good hard look at your abilities as a driver and about your program. Have you REALLY done everything to your car to make it the fastest it can be? Is it REALLY 10/10ths? Are you REALLY fully developed as a driver? If you're going to different tracks with the same set-up, you'r not getting the most out of your car. Do you do multiple test days in a season, is being off a 1/2 psi in tire pressure "good enough", do you do a complete nut and bolt after every weekend, do you replace parts before they break, do you have a data aquisition system, do you spend hours going over the data, do you review hours of video, are you continuously make small tweaks to the set-up, have you spent hours on a dyno tuning?

If you say "no" to any of these then you really shouldn't be expecting to run at the pointy end of the field. It's all about taking a hard look at yourself and your program.....


.
 
JLawton said:
If you say "no" to any of these then you really shouldn't be expecting to run at the pointy end of the field. It's all about taking a hard look at yourself and your program.....
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no disagreement. I was just pointing out that a developement program on a single track isn't always the best method, particularly for the car. your nearby tracks may be more/less varied and thus this may be more/less true.

Andy knows what he's doing. I'm not trying to say otherwise.
 
I said no to multiple of those Jeff. LOL Then again, I guess Summit, LRP, and the Glen are all close enough for set-ups. Hopefully this year I'll finally learn how to use my data acq system.
 
gran racing said:
I said no to multiple of those Jeff. LOL Then again, I guess Summit, LRP, and the Glen are all close enough for set-ups. Hopefully this year I'll finally learn how to use Hook up my data acq system and get the pretty lights to flash!.
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Says the guy who...shifts by ear.

So, Dave, just out of curiosity..... (And I say this knowing that I am far from a chassis guru, and that I'd kill for an engineer guy to hang with me at the track to provide car tweaking input)....when was the last time you changed a damper setting? (non rain day)
;)

Point being, that at our level, most of us have vast areas of gains to be made, BOTH in the car and the driver. Often, working on one results in improvements in the other.
The key is identifying where the greatest gains to be made are, then working on those. Usually, the cheapest and most effective way is to fix the driver. But, once the driver is very far along, the car can be holding him back. I try to be pretty self critical. But I know the car could be faster, even with me at the level I'm at. It's a balancing game, none of us has penske level budgets.
 
when was the last time you changed a damper setting?
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Actually at the Glen, Summit, and LRP - for dry settings. I only adjusted the rear and they were not major changes, but I could feel the difference.

Oh, for the record, I shift by feel and not so much by ear. ;) I absolutely know there could be tons of improvements on both the driver and car for me, and that excites me. For example, I know that I should be in the 1:02s at LRP. Then again, ITR cars should be well under a min. Guess it'll take two ITB guys to show them how it's really done. <stirring the pot> :)
 
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Chip42 said:
no disagreement. I was just pointing out that a developement program on a single track isn't always the best method, particularly for the car. your nearby tracks may be more/less varied and thus this may be more/less true.

Andy knows what he's doing. I'm not trying to say otherwise.
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Yes, if I made it seem like a one-track thing, then that is my bad. What I meant is 'tracks you are intimately familiar with' where you can run consistantly. Adding a track learning curve to a 'development program' - either driver or car, nets you little IMHO.

And Jeff's post is spot on what my thoughts are. He was the driver in 2010 up here I was most impressed with by far.
 
Jeff's recent thing has been about confidence, not talent. Which again is a major part of racing results.
Btw, Kai and I want the royalty rights for each time his pic there is posted Andy.
 
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gran racing said:
Jeff's recent thing has been about confidence, not talent. Which again is a major part of racing results.
Btw, Kai and I want the royalty rights for each time his pic there is posted Andy.
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Uh, are you saying I have no talent?? :p


Yes, confidence was a big piece but you have to have confidence in the car before you have confidence in yourself........

And Dave, it is scary how good you would be if you could put it all together.....


The bottom line is it's not JUST about talent, it's not JUST about having the right car. it's the whole package. And don't sell "luck" short either. That's a big part...... But as they say, the harder you work, the luckier you get..........

And yes, Dave needs to get credit for the checkered flag pic!! :023:
 
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