Ultimate Speed Secrets

by Ross Bentley

  The race car seat, and your position in it, is more important than most racers ever think, especially when first starting their racing career. Many drivers are so wrapped up in getting prepared for their first few races, and in making the car fast, they forget to pay attention to making the seat fit properly.

  You receive much of the feedback from the car through the seat. When you are sitting properly in a well-built seat you will be more sensitive to the various vibrations and g-forces you need to interpret what the car is doing. Think about it. Your body has only three contact points with the car: the seat, the steering wheel, and the pedals.

  You should use a seating position that puts as much of your body in contact with the car as possible. You want to sit in the seat, not on it, with as much lateral support as possible, the limiting factor being the ability to move your arms freely.

  You should sit as upright as possible, with your shoulders back (not hunched forward) and your chin up. Of course, the lower you sit in the car the better. This is the most efficient way of driving a race car. It’s where you are the strongest and most sensitive to the car. It’s also the safest.

  This seating position should allow you to turn the steering wheel 180 degrees without any interference or moving of your hands on or from the wheel. To do this, you should be able to place your hand at the top of the steering wheel (at the 12 o’clock position) and still have a bend at the elbow without pulling your shoulder off the seat back. Check this with the seat belts/safety harness done up tight. Many drivers sit too far away from the steering wheel with their arms totally straight. This doesn’t allow you the leverage to turn the steering wheel properly. It’s also very tiring to drive in this position.

  While seated, check to see if you can reach the shifter comfortably. You may have to modify or adjust the shifter to suit.

  You should also be able to fully depress the pedals and still have a slight bend in the legs. This is not only the least tiring, but allows for ideal modulation of the pedals as you will be able to depress them by pivoting your foot at the ankle, not moving your entire leg in midair.

  Whenever possible, I highly recommend that you have a custom-fitted seat built for you. The best way is to have someone who specializes in custom seat building make one. With a little thought and preparation, however, you can mold a seat yourself using expandable foam. This is a simple operation, which can greatly improve your driving performance. Use a two-part foam (available at fiberglass shops), which forms up like a solid Styrofoam-type material. It is poured into a plastic bag between your body and the seat shell or monocoque tub. Before pouring, be sure to cover everything—and I mean everything!—with plastic garbage bags, as the foam is practically impossible to remove after it’s set onto something. Upon removing the plastic bags, you can trim off the excess and cover it with tape or material (preferably fire retardant), or it can then be used as a mold to make a carbon-fiber or fiberglass seat.

  Any time you build, modify, or adjust your seat or seating position in the race car shop, you have to realize you will know for sure how it feels only on the track. Every time I’ve had a perfect fitting car in the shop, it’s needed modifications after being driven on the track. Consider this before spending a lot of time and money on covering the seat. Wait until it’s been track-proven.

  Speaking of covering seats, don’t bother with a lot of soft padding. It will only crush and distort with the g-forces of your body against it, and result in a loose-fitting seat. Besides, you need to feel the vibrations and forces from the car. Thick padding will only reduce your sensitivity. If you do use padding, use only a thin layer of high-density foam rubber.

  Part of the seat’s job is to provide support so your feet can do their part, working the pedals accurately and deliberately. The dance your feet do on the pedal is what allows you to dance with the car at the limit, on the edge, at speed.

  You want to use the balls of your feet on the pedals. They are strongest part of the foot, as well as being the most sensitive. When you are not using the clutch, the left foot should be on the dead pedal (the rest pad area to the left of the clutch pedal), not hovering above the clutch pedal. This will help support your body under the heavy braking and cornering forces you will experience. However, there are some single-seater race cars that are so narrow in the pedal area that it is almost impossible to have a dead pedal. Do everything you can to make even a very small one. But if you can’t, it’s even more important to have a well-built seat. Ensure there is good support in front of your buttocks to stop your body from sliding forward under heavy braking.

  Before getting into your car and heading out onto the track, make sure that both the pedals and the bottom of your shoes are dry and clean. Many drivers have crashed because their feet slipped off the brake pedal approaching a corner. Have a crew member wipe your shoes with a clean rag before getting into the car.

  Ensure that every part of the roll cage is covered with the type of padding specifically designed to protect you in the event of a crash, no matter how unlikely you think you would hit it during an accident. Unfortunately, you’ll be surprised by how far your body can stretch—and what it can hit—with a heavy impact. Shutterstock

  The first time I watched a Formula One Grand Prix was in Montreal, and it rained a lot that weekend. One thing I remember most was watching the drivers being taken to their cars on a cart and then being lifted straight from the cart to the cockpit of the car so that their feet wouldn’t get wet. I also saw other drivers wearing plastic bags over their shoes.

  The safety harnesses in a race car are not only there in case of a crash, but also to help support your body. Only use the best seat belts in your car, and then take good care of them. Keep them clean and inspect them often for wear and damage. Adjust them so they hold your body firmly and comfortably. And remember, they will stretch and loosen throughout the course of a race, particularly the shoulder harnesses, so make sure you can reach down and tighten them while driving. Also make sure you have some form of head restraint behind your helmet.

  Ensure any part of the roll cage or cockpit that you could come in contact with during a crash is covered with a high-density foam rubber. Many drivers have been seriously injured just by impacting the roll cage. You might be amazed at how much a driver moves in the cockpit during a crash, even when tightly belted in. Some drivers’ heads have actually made impact with the steering wheel.

  And finally, do everything possible to help keep the cockpit cool. Have air ducts installed to direct air at you. The cockpit of a race car can get extremely hot, which will negatively affect your stamina, and therefore, your performance.

  A race driver has a number of controls to help achieve the desired goal of driving at the limit: the steering wheel, shifter, gauges, clutch pedal, brake pedal, throttle, and mirrors. Everything you do with these controls should be done smoothly, gently, and with finesse.

  I often see racers, particularly at the back of the pack in amateur races, trying to go fast, with their arms flailing around, banging off shifts, jerking the steering into a turn with feet stabbing at the pedals, the car usually in massive slides through the turns. It may feel fast, and even look fast, but I’ll guarantee it’s not. In reality, the car will be unbalanced, and therefore, losing traction and actually going slower. If the driver would only slow down, the car would actually go faster. It reminds me of the saying, “Never confuse movement for action.”

  Steer, shift, and use the pedals smoothly, and with finesse—not with blinding speed and brute force.

  SPEED SECRET

  The less you do with the controls, the less chance for error.

  GAUGES

  A typical race car has four main gauges to which you need to pay attention if you want to drive reliably at the limit. They are tachometer, oil pressure, oil temperature, and water temperature, the four most important ones. The tachometer helps you go fast; the others help you ensure the car keeps running. You may also have to deal with other gauges such as
fuel pressure, ammeter, turbo-boost pressure, exhaust temperature, and so on.

  It’s important that the gauges are mounted so that you can see them easily and read them at a glance. Normally, you should only have to take a quick glance at the gauges, checking more for a change of position of a needle, rather than the absolute number it is pointing at.

  The amount of information presented to you in some race cars can be overwhelming. Make sure you practice being able to read it so you can take everything in with just a glance. Shutterstock

  Often, it is best to mount the tachometer and other gauges so the range that you must see is in good view; the redline or ideal needle position should be at 12 o’clock. This way, with a quick glance, you know when to shift or if the temperatures or pressures are okay. Also, make sure the gauges don’t reflect the sunlight into your eyes or have so much glare that you can’t read them.

  I like to use the tach at the exit of most corners to judge how well I did in that particular corner. It’s my “report card.” I pick a spot on the track and check how many revs the engine is at. If I’m pulling 50 more revs than the previous lap, I know that what I did differently worked on that lap. Also, I try to glance at my gauges at least once a lap on the straightaway. Otherwise, I depend on the warning lights to advise me of any problems.

  Warning or “idiot” lights can prove extremely valuable. These are usually set to only come on if one of the critical engine functions reaches an unacceptable level, such as if the oil pressure drops below 40 psi or the water temperature reaches 240 degrees. Using these lights allows a driver to only have to check the gauges when it’s convenient, such as on the straightaway. They warn the driver only if there is a major problem.

  A simple dashboard layout is best, with as few gauges as possible. More and more race cars are now using computerized dashes that are linked to data acquisition systems. These are useful as they can tell you your lap time, your minimum or maximum speed at various points on the track, and other information that you can use to help determine where you may be able to improve. However, don’t let yourself get so caught up in reading all the information that it takes away from your driving.

  BRAKE PEDAL

  When braking, think of “squeezing” the brake pedal down and easing off it. The smoother you are with the brakes, the better balanced the car will be, enabling you to drive at the limit. Three-time World Driving Champion Jackie Stewart claims the reason he won so many Grand Prix was because he eased off the brakes more smoothly than any of his competitors. Hard to imagine how that could affect the outcome of a race that much, isn’t it? But it allowed him to enter corners a fraction of a mile faster because the car was better balanced. Obviously, this squeezing on and easing off the brake pedal must be done quickly—and it can be done very quickly with practice—but always emphasize smoothness.

  This is one technique you can safely and easily practice every day on the street. Every time your foot goes onto the brake pedal, think of the word “squeeze,” then think of the word “ease” when releasing the brakes. Practice it so that quickly squeezing and easing becomes second nature or habit.

  Because how you use the brakes is so critical, you’ll find that I come back to talk about braking technique many times throughout this book. Did I mention that how you use the brakes is critical to being a successful racer?

  THROTTLE

  Always use the throttle (gas pedal) gently. As with the brakes, progressively squeeze on more throttle as you accelerate and quickly ease off as you slow down. Anytime you pounce on the gas pedal or abruptly lift off, it unsettles the car, which reduces traction. The smoother you are with the throttle, the better balanced the car will be, and ultimately the more traction and speed you will have.

  SPEED SECRET

  The throttle is not an on-off switch.

  If you find yourself having to back off the throttle after you begin accelerating in a corner, you must have applied the gas too soon or too hard in the beginning. Ease on the throttle. It takes time and practice to develop a feel for how quickly and how much throttle you can squeeze on.

  When you are moving your foot from the throttle to the brake pedal, or vice versa, it must be done as quickly as possible. Your right foot should always be either on the throttle (even if it’s a light, steady throttle) or the brakes. Don’t waste time doing nothing, with your foot in between the two. You should never be coasting.

  STEERING WHEEL

  Use a firm, but relaxed, grip on the steering wheel, with your hands in the 9 and 3 o’clock positions. Lightly hook your thumbs over the spokes of the wheel if that’s comfortable. By always holding the wheel in the same position, you’ll always know how much you’ve turned it and where straight ahead is. You will see how important this is when the car begins to spin and you don’t which way is straight ahead.

  The proper hand placement on the steering wheel, at the 9 and 3 o’clock position.

  With the 9 and 3 grip you should be able to steer through almost every corner without moving your hands from this position. This will result in smoother, more controlled steering. Perhaps, in some large, production-based racing sedans, you may not be able to turn sharply enough for some tight hairpin corners with this grip. In that case, reposition your hands slightly before the corner (e.g., to the 8 and 2 position for a right-hand corner), to allow you to make one steering action without sliding the hands around the wheel.

  When turning the steering wheel, allow both hands to do an equal amount of work. While one hand pulls down on the wheel, the other pushes up smoothly. Keep both hands on the wheel at all times (except when shifting, obviously, but even then, get your hand back on the wheel between gear changes). Make small steering corrections with the wrist, not the arms. Every movement with the wheel must be made smoothly and progressively, never jerking the steering into a turn. Feed in the required steering input to generate a gentle, smooth arc through the corner.

  Think about it. Every time the front tires are at an angle to the road they are scrubbing off speed. Pretty obvious, right? But what does this really mean? How can you get around a corner without turning the steering wheel? Look and think farther ahead, planning your path or line through a corner, so that you will be able to turn the steering as little as possible, straightening the corner out as much as possible. If you feel or hear the front tires scrubbing or squealing through a turn, try to unwind your steering input (straighten it out).

  SPEED SECRET

  The less you turn the steering wheel, the faster you will go.

  Once you’ve turned into a corner, try to unwind the steering as soon as possible. Of course, this means you have to use up all the road available. You can even practice this on the street (within limits of the law), steering smoothly into and out of corners, keeping the front wheels pointed as straight as you can.

  MIRRORS

  Mirrors play a critical role in the race driver’s job, and you must be comfortable using them. In racing, it is just as important to know what’s behind and beside you as it is to know what’s in front. You should use your mirrors enough to always know who’s around you, and exactly where they are. A competitor should never take you by surprise by being somewhere you didn’t expect (like to the inside of you on the approach to a corner). Take time to adjust all your mirrors properly, and make sure they don’t vibrate so much that you can’t see out of them.

  The lower you sit in your car, the better, because doing so lowers the overall center of gravity of the car. The limiting factors are your visibility—to the front, to the sides, and in the mirrors—and your comfort. Shutterstock

  Don’t constantly look in the mirrors while driving, however. Some drivers have caused more problems doing that than they would have if they never looked in the mirrors. I’ve seen drivers veer off the track while looking in the mirrors.

  I take a quick glance in the mirrors each time I come onto a straightaway of any decent length. If I adjust them properly (aimed a little to the sides so that I can see
to either side), I don’t actually have to turn my head to look in the mirrors to see other cars. I automatically notice them with my peripheral vision, which minimizes the chances of being surprised by a faster overtaking car.

  The mirrors on some modern formula cars have gotten smaller over the years. Fortunately, I think they’ve gotten as small as they will ever get. If you are using a small mirror, make sure it is convex to help increase your vision to the rear and sides.

  SPEED SECRET

  Check your mirrors as often as it takes to always know where everyone else is around you.

  Proper shifting technique is an often overlooked racing skill. Many drivers feel they have to bang off their shifts as fast as possible to go quickly. Wrong! In fact, the amount of time you can save is minimal, especially compared to the time you can lose if you miss one single shift. A shift should be made gently and with finesse.