Ultimate Speed Secrets

by Ross Bentley

  ILLUSTRATION 33-2 Use this debrief form to coach yourself by raising your awareness level. After each on-track session, sit down and rate how close you drove the car to its limit in each section of the track.

  SPEED SECRET

  Increase your awareness by debriefing, even with yourself.

  Obviously you can debrief yourself without a form like this, but I’ve definitely experienced that a driver who actually writes this information down gains more from this strategy. The physical act of writing something seems to increase your awareness level, as well as being more accurate. You will be more honest with yourself when you write the rating numbers down on paper.

  In addition to using the debrief form, I recommend asking yourself a number of questions after each session. I’ve listed a number of example questions in Appendix C, ones you should ask after each session and ones to ask yourself before you even get to the track. If you answer them, even if you go through the process of digging deep in the attempt to answer them, you will coach yourself to a much higher level of performance behind the wheel of a race car. The overall objective of these questions is to help you become more aware of exactly what you are doing. If you are aware of what you are doing, and you know what you want to be doing, you will quickly and naturally make the necessary improvements.

  LEARNING STYLES

  Every person on this Earth who learns anything (and that includes race drivers!), learns in a different way. We all have our own preferred or dominant learning style. Some drivers learn better when things are presented or approached visually, others learn best auditorially, and others still learn best when they experience things, a kinesthetic style.

  The main point I want you to understand is if your driver’s preferred learning style is kinesthetic, and you proceed to tell him how to do something, don’t blame him if he doesn’t get it. If his preferred learning style is auditory, and you use a picture to illustrate something to him, you are the one to blame for him not understanding it.

  If you want someone to learn something, present it to him or her using that driver’s preferred learning style. If not, the driver may have a difficult time learning it.

  So how do you know what your driver’s preferred learning style is? Often you can simply observe when the driver has really learned something quickly and effectively, and relate that to how it was presented to him or her. But the easiest way is to ask the driver. And if your driver doesn’t know? Ask him or her to think back to when he or she learned something in life quickly and easily. How was it presented? Was it told to the driver (auditory)? Was it shown to him or her (visual)? Or was it not until he or she actually did it or experienced it that the driver learned it (kinesthetic)? Armed with that information, you can begin to experiment with the different styles to see which is most effective.

  Having said that, the most effective way of learning is to actually combine all three learning styles. Use the driver’s preferred style, and back it up with the other two. To have your driver truly learn where the apex of Turn 2 is, tell the driver where other drivers are apexing, draw a picture of where it is, and physically drive or walk the driver through the corner. But, make sure you use, and probably start with, the driver’s preferred learning style.

  ILLUSTRATION 33-3 Continually ask yourself positive questions—self-coaching questions—to raise your awareness level.

  LEARNING STAGES

  Whether it is learning to walk, throw a ball, or drive a race car, all human beings go through four stages:

  • Unconscious incompetence

  • Conscious incompetence

  • Conscious competence

  • Unconscious competence

  It may be easiest to relate these four stages to a baby learning to walk. In the beginning, a baby is at the unconscious incompetence stage. The baby hasn’t yet discovered that people can walk. In other words, the baby doesn’t know what he or she doesn’t know how to do.

  At the conscious incompetence stage, the baby has now seen his or her parents walking, and wants to, but can’t. The baby knows what the baby doesn’t know how to do.

  The next stage, the conscious competence, is where the child who is first learning to walk has to think about each step. The child knows what he or she knows how to do but is having to do it at the conscious level.

  Finally, at the unconscious competence stage, the toddler no longer has to think about walking; it now happens automatically. The child just does it. He or she doesn’t think about what he or she knows. The child knows and does and doesn’t have to think about it.

  ILLUSTRATION 33-4 With every skill and technique a driver learns, he or she goes through these learning stages. The conscious competence stage is where the driver is having to consciously think about everything; the unconscious competence stage is where the driver is doing it without thinking, driving at the autopilot or subconscious level. But without the fifth stage, without conscious awareness, the likelihood of the driver improving is low. Driving at the subconscious level while being aware at the conscious level (unconscious competence with conscious awareness) is practically the definition of being “in the zone.”

  Every driver goes through each of these four stages with every technique the driver learns. As an example, blipping the throttle while downshifting. At one point, your driver didn’t know the technique existed, knew nothing about it, and knew nothing about why a driver does it. Stage 1: unconscious incompetence.

  Then, the driver became aware of the technique, but didn’t know how to do it. Stage 2: conscious incompetence.

  As the driver began to practice it, he or she had to think through each detail of it. Stage 3: conscious competence.

  Finally, after practicing it over and over, it became automatic, a habit, and the driver no longer had to think about, he or she just did it. Stage 4: unconscious competence. Obviously, to drive a race car quickly, your driver must reach this stage. This is driving at the subconscious level.

  These stages of learning can be found in most textbooks on learning strategies. I would, however, like to add a fifth stage that is not included in the textbooks, but that I have witnessed and experienced at the racetrack. At least when it comes to driving race cars, and I believe with most everything else, there should be an unconscious competence with conscious awareness stage.

  The unconscious competence stage is much like the experience of driving somewhere, only to get there and not remember actually driving there. I’m sure you have experienced that at least once in your life. You are driving completely on autopilot; your mental programming is handling the chore, while your conscious mind is off in another world.

  Yes, at this level you are operating about as efficiently as possible, but you are unaware. Think of it this way: You’ve been driving the same route to work for years. You drive to work but don’t remember doing it. You are certainly competent at it, so much so that you didn’t even have to consciously think about it. However, while your conscious mind was off in another world, the highway construction crew built a new road, a shortcut, that would cut your commute time in half. Because your conscious mind was unaware, though, you never noticed.

  ILLUSTRATION 33-5 Have you ever driven from your home to work, and upon arriving, realized you don’t remember driving there? Most people have. That’s illustrated by Route 1 above, and it’s what happens when you operate only at the unconscious competence stage. You’re doing it well, but the chances of doing it better are slim. Without conscious awareness you are likely to be unaware of a new super-highway, Route 2, having been built. It’s when you’re at the unconscious competence with conscious awareness stage that you perform at your peak and continue to improve.

  Unless your conscious mind is aware, you will never make any improvements. Yes, you will continue to drive well at the subconscious, programmed level, but you will never upgrade the performance of that programming. Many times, this is the reason for a plateau on the learning curve, a complete unawareness of what could or should be improve
d.

  The ultimate goal for any race driver is to drive at the subconscious level, relying and trusting his or her programming, while using his or her conscious mind to observe and be aware of any ways to improve the programming. It should be as if the conscious mind is looking over the driver’s shoulder, much like an in-car camera would see it, watching for opportunities to upgrade the software.

  LEARNING FROM THE INSIDE OUT

  Drivers, and everyone else in the world, learn in one of two ways: from the inside out or from the outside in.

  Learning from the outside in is what most people typically think of as learning. This is how we were taught in school. Learning from the outside in is what happens when you “teach” your driver something. It is the definition of you telling the driver what to do or of giving the driver information. It is the information or knowledge coming from the outside (from you) and getting in the driver.

  Actually, the getting in is not much of a problem; it is the staying in that is the challenge. And, without staying in, the driver really hasn’t learned it.

  On the other hand, learning from the inside out is what coaching and driver engineering is all about. Learning from the inside out is when drivers discover or learn something for themselves—often through your guidance or stimulation—rather than just being told what to do.

  As an example, in the past I have spent countless hours teaching drivers about the line through various corners. I have talked to them about the turn-in point, the apex, the exit, and why it all matters. I’ve discussed the reasoning behind the line until I’m blue in the face. And yet, many times the drivers I’m talking to do not drive the line consistently (if at all).

  Of course, what I’ve been doing is attempting to have them learn from the outside in. It has only been in the past few years that I’ve learned myself just how effective and efficient learning from the inside out really is. Recently, when trying to get a driver to understand why one specific line through the corner is more effective than another (or no line at all!), I took an entirely different and unique approach. Instead of telling him where he needed to drive, I used a tool (I’ll share that with you soon) that helped him become aware of what the car needed, and let him discover (learn) for himself where the line is. His comment after using this tool was, “Oh, that’s why you wanted me to drive that line!”

  This type of learning is so much faster, efficient, and long-lasting. In fact, once drivers learn from the inside out where the line is, they will know it forever. They will also be able to apply it in other corners, at other tracks, and with other techniques.

  If you have ever wondered why some drivers seem to have a knack for knowing “instinctively” where the line is for a corner, while others struggle with it, or need to be told by someone, this is the reason. Once drivers truly understand why the car needs to be driven on a certain line through a corner, they will have learned the feel for it and will be able to apply that to each corner they face.

  Of course, this approach works equally well for all aspects of driving, not just learning the cornering line. You can tell your driver to carry more speed through a corner, be smoother with his or her downshifts, or turn the steering wheel more progressively, but as long as you are telling the driver how or what to do, he or she will not fully learn it.

  TRIAL AND ERROR

  Is there anything wrong with making an error? I know, I know, it depends on how much the error costs and who’s paying for it. But if you want to improve, or even just to perform at your very best right now, you must be willing to make a few errors. Why? Because, looked at and used in the right manner, errors are a valuable learning experience.

  If you think about it, when we were young, trial and error was our most common and effective learning technique. Take the act of learning to walk, for example. Imagine if, after falling down the first few times you tried to walk, your parents said, “We don’t want you trying that anymore; you always seem to fall down.” Or you, yourself, thinking, “I can’t seem to get this right, so I think I won’t bother trying anymore.”

  Pretty absurd, right? And yet, we do this as race drivers all the time. The second we make a mistake, we tell ourselves (sometimes subtle, sometimes not so subtle) to never make that error again. How often does that help? Not very often!

  Of course, crashing a race car is much more expensive than the damage caused when you fell down while learning to walk. The point is, though, the more you resist errors, the more likely it is you’ll make more.

  One of the biggest differences between great drivers and not-so-great drivers is not that the former makes less errors. In fact, they both make about the same amount of mistakes. The difference is that the great drivers recover from, learn from, and know how to minimize the consequences of most errors. That only occurs when there is an atmosphere that allows errors and learning from them.

  Errors are simply a form of feedback that helps you home in on the desired goal. They are error signals that help you continue to improve.

  LEARNING THROUGH OSMOSIS

  Why do you think second-generation drivers like Michael Andretti and Al Unser Jr. were so good (and their third-generation sons)? Is it because of their genes, what they inherited from their fathers? While I won’t say their fathers had nothing to do with their abilities behind the wheel, I don’t believe it had much, if anything, to do with their DNA. But I do think they acquired most of their “natural talent” from their fathers prior to ever getting in a race car.

  Michael Andretti and Al Unser Jr. acquired much of their talent by keenly observing their fathers, by absorbing everything they were exposed to as children. And, in both of these cases, that was a lot to absorb. They learned through osmosis.

  All race drivers learn through osmosis. The more they are exposed to, the more they learn.

  Tennis coaches in England have noticed for years a direct correlation between their students’ abilities and the television coverage of Wimbledon. For a couple of weeks immediately following the tournament, tennis players’ performances improve significantly. Did they practice more, change their swing, or buy a new tennis racket? No. They simply learned by watching.

  You can learn a lot by watching other drivers. Of course, it makes sense that you should observe and learn from the best you possibly can. You will not learn as much from watching drivers who are not as good as you, although it is still possible to get something from that experience.

  LEARNING PROGRESSION

  Every driver, no matter how much natural talent you think the driver has or doesn’t have, will continue to improve throughout their career. Even drivers reaching the ends of their professional careers are still improving in some areas (which, unfortunately, are often overcome by other factors, such as lack of motivation or desire or a deterioration of physiological functions). How quickly, and how consistently, you’ll improve all depends on you and the environment you’re operating in.

  One thing is clear, though. No two drivers have ever—or ever will—progress at the same rate. Some drivers’ learning curve is mostly a steady upward incline, while others are full of steps of all shapes and sizes.

  What is common is the plateau. Often, you and the people working with you become frustrated with the lack of progress, and the plateau lasts longer. In my experience, most of the time plateaus are followed by a sharp incline in progress, if you control the frustration and focus on improving the your awareness.

  Many times the plateaus appear to even be steps backward. It is like one step back, two or three forward, one step back, two or three forward, and so on. I like to compare them to the calm before the storm. In this case the calm is the apparent lack of progress, and the storm is the whirlwind of learning.

  If you think back to the learning stages, you’ll understand why. Most often, for you to progress, you must go back to the conscious competence stage, where you’re thinking through each step in a mechanical manner. This results in too much conscious thought and an apparent step backward. If you
don’t become frustrated by this, and with a little patience, this new technique, skill, or mental approach becomes part of your programming. You then progress to the unconscious competence stage, where it becomes something that you seem to do naturally. At this point, there is a significant step up in the learning process.

  LEARNING CURVE

  Watching children learn just about anything is an educational experience in itself. One thing I’ve learned from close observation of my daughter is the steps a child takes in the learning process. Just when there seems to be no progress whatsoever, bam, she masters it. It certainly is not a steady progression. No, the learning curve is more like learning steps.

  Excuse me for a moment while I use my daughter as an example. When she was four years old, I decided that it was time she learned to ride her bicycle without training wheels. Notice I said, “I decided.” So I went ahead and took off the training wheels, and then spent the next few hours trying to get her to learn how to keep her balance. It was certainly good exercise for me. The bottom line was, she was neither willing nor ready to take this next step. The training wheels went back on.

  ILLUSTRATION 33-6 Rarely, if ever, does someone’s learning truly follow a curve. Instead, it happens in steps, what I call learning steps (the solid green line) as opposed to the commonly thought learning curve. There’s an all-too-common variation: the frustration steps (dashed blue line). This is where a driver gets frustrated by the lack of improvement, a plateau, and begins to try real hard and actually gets worse. It’s only when the driver “gives up” and relaxes that the driver begins to improve again.