Practising Between Races

[RobM77]

I've been racing about 9 years now and due to limited funds always just done about 4 or 5 races and a few tests each year. I'm quite happy with this arrangement, but I'm beginning to wonder if it would improve my race performance if I got more practise in between events. I've also just had a year out of racing, and a track day on Wednesday made me realise how much my confidence had dropped!

Three questions for you all:

1) Karting: I was considering doing some karting, but the arrive and drive setups that I've been to over the years, whilst enormous fun, have all been rather slow woolly things. Club 100 looks good, but test days are fairly limited and I need to drive to Rye House, which is do-able but a bit of a trek. Does anyone know of anything similar to Club 100 in the south? Would karting be good preparation for the single seater racing that I do? F1 drivers seem to think so, so I'm guessing it would be.

2) Track Days: I was thinking about buying an old Clio 172, Golf GTi or similar and attending some track days. This is obviously a more expensive option, but I can get a track prepped car and a whole year's trackdays for the price of one race weekend in single seaters, so it's still a real option for me, although obviously the downside is the insurance, repairs, tax, MoT etc. Would a FWD hot hatch prepare me for driving a slicks and wings single seater?!

3) Does anyone else here do a similar thing? Has it improved their track driving?

I'd welcome any of your thoughts.

Edited by RobM77 on Saturday 6th November 08:47

[wildman0609]

i tend to only do about 6 races throughout the year and find when i come to race and i've not been in the car for a month or so it takes me half a session to get up to speed.

I dont think practicing in a car or kart that is different to your race car would help that much when it come to achieving a good fast lap in quali. but competitive karting will improve your race craft. and track daying a fwd would refresh you on circuits. what i'm saying is anything is better than nothing but i don't reckon the expense of buying a track car and doing track days would be worth it for the extra speed you will gain (it's just a good excuse to get on circuit).

just paying to go testing in your regular race car would be the best practice. a couple extra test days a year would be far cheaper than buying a track day car. everyone else just goes testing to improve so it must be the best way of getting better.

[Trev450]

There's no substitute for seat time. I too find myself taking half the season to get on the pace, whereas others who do more events/testing than me seem to be quick out of the box. I competed in single seaters up until about 2 years ago and found the best preparation was to get behind the wheel of it as much as possible.

[RobM77]

I'm actually normally equalling my best laps quite quickly after a break, but that's like an actor remembering his lines I think, I'd like to make those best laps even quicker Seat time in the single seater is too expensive, thus the question.

[deviant]

How about hiring something like a Caterfield for the odd trackday? Cheaper than the single seater, someone elses car so no worries on running the thing and I would think although nothing like a slicks n wings car they are sufficiently race like to keep your eye in?

[RobM77]

deviant said:

How about hiring something like a Caterfield for the odd trackday? Cheaper than the single seater, someone elses car so no worries on running the thing and I would think although nothing like a slicks n wings car they are sufficiently race like to keep your eye in?

Good suggestion However, I've looked into that (and did it at the ring last year actually), but it's actually only a little cheaper than my testing fee in the single seater...

Edited by RobM77 on Saturday 6th November 14:43

[andy rob]

Test days are normally quite expensive & track days are not, for that reason I do open pit lane- el cheapo- sometimes midweek/nights track days, no more than £99 in my race car & been open pit lane most non race cars go out for the 1st hour until then have cooked there brakes, then leaveing the rest of time with quite an open track, giving you lots of cheap time in the car

[Jerry Can]

it depends how long you want to race single seaters for. I suspect that after enough track time/few seasons, driving the cars will become second nature, so that you could be out of the seat for a while and get back on it inside three laps.

all seat time is helpful, but maybe focus one season to do races at only one track with your normal amount of testing to match. at the end of that season i suspect you would achieve what you appear to want to do at least at that track.

with my racing it can be long gaps between test/race days as well. but i've been racing front drive saloons that long that it only takes me half a lap to get right on it these days.

[NJH]

Jerry Can said:

all seat time is helpful, but maybe focus one season to do races at only one track with your normal amount of testing to match. at the end of that season i suspect you would achieve what you appear to want to do at least at that track.

Very much what I have decided to do for next season. Similar to a lot of ppl I can only afford to do maybe 1/2 dozen races and a couple of track/test days so instead I will do only maybe 2 or 3 races but for the rest of the year concentrate on getting myself and the car right on those 2 or 3 tracks. Also helps that one of those tracks is local to me (Combe) and the other one is local to my parents (Silverstone).

[thunderbelmont]

Have to agree with most comments. There's no substitute for seat time.
My own "woe is me" tales have led to me only doing something like 20-30 laps in the last two years!! I have two other cars, neither are ready for track use at the moment, but I keep looking at them thing I should get them sorted asap.

When I was instructing, I found it much easier to jump in and go. These days I have to jump in, go, and remember!!! I like to feel my way back in, sometimes takes a few laps to get back on it. I find the red lights going out helps focus the attention!

[RobM77]

Thanks for all the posts so far. Does anyone have any recommendations though? Single Seater seat time is not possible for me, so shall I go karting or buy an old hot hatch and burn rubber at some track days?

[TVRleigh_BBWR]

Another option mainly to help learning tracks, is using a simulator, the better ones with the right kit, can be quite good, and not that expensive.
may not help too much, but can save some practice time for fine tuning instead of having to learn the track from scratch.
Another totally different option would be to sell the single seater and do a cheaper form of racing so you can take part more often, not sure if this would be too tame after single seater's though

[wadsapple]

TVRleigh_BBWR said:

Another totally different option would be to sell the single seater and do a cheaper form of racing so you can take part more often, not sure if this would be too tame after single seater's though

If you take that route, I,d surgest you look at the European TVR Tuscan Challenge Championship.Blooming brilliant

[Graham]

TVRleigh_BBWR said:

Another option mainly to help learning tracks, is using a simulator, the better ones with the right kit, can be quite good, and not that expensive.

I found that helped a lot when i went to Spa, jumping in a car I'd never been in before, at least I knew which way all the corners went...

[RobM77]

Thanks for the suggestions so far. Regarding switching to racing something slower, I've considered it but definitely want to stick with slicks and wings single seaters; slower cars are fun but just don't interest me as much from a driving point of view, and besides, single seaters ate actually cheaper, I pay less to race in F4 than I would in the MX5 Cup.... I don't actually own a car, I do arrive and drive. I spent 8 years running my own car and that's not for me either, especially now that I live in a house with a tiny single garage!

My next step is to try a Club 100 kart

[teamHOLDENracing]

I reckon you just need to sort out the throttle delay Rob and you'll slash your lap times

More seriously, you're asking the impossible. Assuming you won't benefit from general driving tuition, you need track time in a slicks and wings single seater to go quicker in said car.

[deviant]

Gearbox karts? From what I have read they are properly scary and no doubt you need to be good to get times from them.

[The Wookie]

IMHO you'll go slower if you keep attending track days.

Have you looked at cheaper single seaters? Perhaps a Jedi or something? You might be able to get a team (or even just a specific race mechanic) to store it for you and bring it to the odd test day for a fraction of the cost of a race weekend

[superkartracer]

RobM77 said:

I'd welcome any of your thoughts.

I'm racing Single seaters next year, this is what i'm doing -

Few test days ( in single seater )
Karting, both non and geared karts ( icc )
Sim racing ( iracing ) Skip and Star Mazda using proper race setup ( £1000 pedals, G27, race seat ) etc.
^^ with decent setup this is the same as driving a car without the forces, hence used by lots of other *real* drivers

fitness -

Gym 4 days a week
Fell running once a week ( running up hills )
MTB in week off road
Indoor karting ( hour on track flat out )

[RobM77]

superkartracer said:

RobM77 said:

I'd welcome any of your thoughts.

I'm racing Single seaters next year, this is what i'm doing -

Few test days ( in single seater )
Karting, both non and geared karts ( icc )
Sim racing ( iracing ) Skip and Star Mazda using proper race setup ( £1000 pedals, G27, race seat ) etc.
^^ with decent setup this is the same as driving a car without the forces, hence used by lots of other *real* drivers

fitness -

Gym 4 days a week
Fell running once a week ( running up hills )
MTB in week off road
Indoor karting ( hour on track flat out )

What championship are you racing in?

I've just been trying NetKar. I tried it a a friend's house last night with a G27 wheel and thought it was the most realistic sim I'd tried. I'm still trying to get it working with my ageing setup!! I'm trying to find a G27 for a reasonable price now How do you find iRacer?