 |
| |
|
|
|
| |
Establishing a Driving Rhythm
Before the driver leaves the Pit Lane he should have an objective for this session of driving. That objective, especially in the early stages, should not be to set a very quick lap time.
The opening laps of the training exercise should be used to warm up the car and driver, and let the driver to be familiarized with the racing line. In this stage the Instructor will specify a control rev limit which will allow the novice driver additional thinking and preparation time when approaching corners, compared with travelling at racing speeds.
The Speeding factors
The driver must focus on improving three principle areas of his driving - smoothness, accuracy and consistency - which are the component elements of speed. Concentrating on these elements will enable the driver to drive quickly whereas consciously trying to drive fast can lead to ;overdriving ; and errors of technique arising from lack of experience.
Weight Transfer & Optimum Balance
The driver should develop an understanding of basic vehicle dynamics in order to exploit the car's potential. This involves an appreciation of the difference in handling characteristics caused by weight transfer fore and aft and side to side. As a rule the driver should strive to keep the car as ;flat ; as possible, sharing the weight evenly over the four tyres and reducing the likelihood of one tyre being overloaded and causing a skid.
Understeer , Oversteer and wheelspin
Not before long a novice driver will experience understeer and oversteer on the track at some stage. How quickly they can recognise the problem and take appropriate corrective action determines how quickly they will be able to lap the track.
If the car understeers - The driver would found when driving around a corner he/she can not control the direction of the car with the steering wheel, instead the car would just go straight and run out of the track. Understeer is generally induced by entering a corner too quickly, with the car unbalanced, with the brakes on, with too much steering lock or an excess of power, or a combination of these faults.
The characteristic experienced by the driver is sometimes called ;front end wash out ; and the correction is to take away the factors causing the understeer, i.e. take off power, reduce brakes, reduce steering lock. Understeer is a very common condition, especially in front wheel drive cars.
If the car oversteers - A condition where the real wheels of the car is turning into a corner before the front wheels and resulting the back of the car sliding.
Oversteer should be corrected by applying opposite lock, turning into the direction of the slide. In a rear wheel drive car, throttle should be eased back (if the slide was caused by excessive throttle) or steadily increased (if the slide was caused by backing off throttle).
In a front wheel drive car oversteer is rare and is usually caused by lifting off the throttle in mid corner resulting in a sudden weight transfer off the back wheels causing them to lose grip. Correction requires swift application of power and simultaneous application of opposite lock.
Wheelspin - occurs when excess power is applied and can provoke understeer or oversteer depending on whether the car is front or rear wheel drive. On a straight, for example when making a racing start, wheelspin can result in a reduced rate of acceleration and possible loss of directional control. |
| | |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
This work is licenced under a Creative
Commons Licence |
|
|
|
