Ultimate Speed Secrets

by Ross Bentley

  While I agree with this in most cases where one driver’s lap is compared to that driver’s own previous laps, I want to warn you about going too far with it. It is possible to be at full throttle for a greater percentage of a lap and still be slower. How? By also spending much more time at no throttle, with no throttle applied whatsoever, perhaps even while braking.

  When you compare the percentage of lap spent at full throttle, also compare how much of the lap is spent with no throttle applied. A 1 percent increase in the amount of lap spent at full throttle will not result in a faster lap time if the driver also spends 5 percent more time completely off the throttle.

  Also, if you are comparing more than one driver using the throttle histogram, understand that driving style is a big factor. Some drivers are either on or off the throttle; while others spend less overall time at full throttle, and are still quicker, since they spend more time squeezing the throttle down in the midrange.

  I once compared my throttle histogram with another driver’s who was driving a similar car at Road Atlanta. He was at full throttle almost 10 percent more of the lap than I was, and yet our lap times were identical. The difference was I spent more time at part-throttle balancing the car, whereas his style was more of an on-off, point-and-shoot style of driving.

  The best way to use the throttle histogram is to compare the average percent throttle. In this case, more is always better, since you are comparing the total amount of time your driver is on the throttle.

  Theoretical Fastest Lap

  Most quality data-acquisition systems have the capability to produce a report after a session that predicts your theoretical fastest lap. It does this by adding up the fastest times from each segment of the track throughout the session.

  Although the lap time the system predicts can sometimes be a bit unrealistic, with enough laps to pick and choose from, it is a great way to evaluate how consistent you are. If the spread between your best lap time from the session and the theoretical fastest lap is less than 1 percent, that’s a sign that you can consistently get the most out of the car (unless you’re just plain slow, in which case you’re just not using the full limits of the car). If it is much more than that, there must be some reason for the inconsistency: Either you’re experimenting with your driving technique, you’re not confident in what the car is doing and telling you, or you made an error on one or more laps which have skewed the data.

  When you are out on the track, whether in practice, qualifying, or the race itself, it’s important to know things like your lap time, position in the race or in qualifying, how far ahead or behind you are from your nearest competitors, time left in the qualifying session, and how many laps are left in the race. Usually that information is relayed to you via a radio or sometimes by a pit board.

  It’s important that both you and your crew member working the pit board know what each signal means. It’s critical for the board man to know what information you are going to want at various times. Discuss this beforehand.

  During the race, I really don’t care about my lap times. All I want to know is my position, the plus or minus on the cars behind and in front of me, when to pit, and what lap I’m on. Of course, in qualifying, all I care about is my lap time and how much time left in the session. Personally, I like to have the board shown or some radio communication every lap, whether I have time to acknowledge it or not. I feel more in control knowing what’s going on. I spend a lot of time before going out on the track making sure the guy with the pitboard or on the radio knows exactly what I want.

  There are times where I’ve purposely not had my lap times shown or told to me during a qualifying session. It’s easy to focus too much on the time. For me, that sometimes led to either trying to go faster or believing a certain time was some sort of barrier. You may want to try a qualifying session without knowing your lap times. See if it works for you.

  A two-way radio is probably the best way of relaying information, as the driver can give input as well. There is often a lot of interference on the radio, however, so you can’t always count on it. For that reason, many teams rely on the pit board, only using the radio as a backup for the basic information. The radio’s most important use is for more detailed information such as when there is a problem with the car, when to pit, or when the green flag is dropped.

  It’s also a good idea to have a couple of basic hand signals that your crew will understand for problems like a tire losing air, engine problem, low on fuel, and especially, a nonfunctioning radio.

  RECORDS AND NOTES

  A driver should keep a record or log book with the details of each race, practice, test, or qualifying session. Use these records to learn from, looking back at them when returning to the same track again, or when you are having a problem with a specific area of your driving.

  I like to write down the objectives for each session, what driving techniques or plans I need to use to achieve them, before each session. Then, after each session, I make comments on the track and conditions, what changes were made and need to be made to the car, and what the results of the session were.

  How effective is a car engineer who does not keep any notes of the changes he makes to the car? Not very, right? The same thing applies to you. One of your key objectives should be to ensure you never make the same mistake twice or have to learn the same thing twice.

  Therefore, you should keep extensive notes in a journal of some type. I recommend that at each track you go to, you draw your own track map. Why is that better than just using a printed track map that is supplied by either the track itself or the data-acquisition system? It’s because it is important for you to draw the track as you see it, not necessarily as it really is. To back up your drawn map, you may also want to keep a copy of a printed track for extra reference and comparison.

  You should make notes on the map that relate to how you drive it, such as the gears used in each turn, specific reference points (“turn in at the crack in pavement,” “apex at the end of the curbing,” and so on), elevation and surface changes, and good places to pass. You should make note of any particularly challenging piece of track and why. You will also want to record the date, the car, your best lap time, the fastest car’s lap time, and weather conditions. This information becomes invaluable the next time you race at this track, whether you’re driving the same car or not.

  ILLUSTRATION 47-1 One of the most important tools for raising your awareness—and to improve your feedback on the car—is to make notes on a track map. These notes should include every little detail about what you see, feel, and hear—lots of references—how the car is handling, and what you’re doing to the car.

  You should make notes of all the things you have learned each day at the track. If that isn’t a pretty extensive list, you are not doing your job. I don’t care how much experience you have, you will always be learning something new, if you are aware. Obviously, writing down what you have learned will reduce the chances of you forgetting and having to learn the lesson all over again (at great expense, in most cases).

  Finally, you should rate your own performance on a scale of 1 to 10 for each session on a race weekend (or the day for a test day) and make note of how you felt and what you did leading up to it. That way, over a period of time, a pattern will begin to emerge, one that spells out a routine that will lead to consistently great performances. For example, if you notice that whenever you do some type of physical warm-up prior to driving, or that a certain phrase used by you or another team member seems to lead to “9” performances, you know what must continue to be done in the future.

  If you make note of your state of mind, your level of energy and intensity, what you have eaten over the past day or two, who has been around you and what they have said, how confident or nervous you felt, then it becomes much easier to develop a pre-race ritual that will lead to a great performance. Without writing it down, it is easy to miss the pattern.

  Racing is dangerous, there’s no doubt about it. But th
e danger can and should be controlled. Most drivers, myself included, have the attitude toward injury that it “may happen to others, but never to me.” I think you need to have this attitude to a certain extent. If you didn’t, you would probably have too much fear to drive fast.

  However, that’s no excuse for not taking safety seriously. Over the course of a career in racing, you are bound to have at least a crash or two. How you fare in these crashes may be a matter of how much emphasis you place on the various safety equipment and systems you use.

  Being safety conscious does not mean you are a wimp. It only means you are a smart, professional-acting driver. The more emphasis you put on your safety, the longer and more successful your racing career will be.

  Take a good look at how serious the drivers in Indy car and Formula One are about safety. Just because you’re driving a slower car does not mean it is any safer. In fact, it’s often the opposite. The safety built into Indy and Formula One cars and the safety personnel at that level are superior. So if anyone has to take safety seriously, it’s a driver at the beginning of his or her career.

  SAFETY EQUIPMENT

  As I said, if you race for some time, the odds are you are going to be involved in some incident where you may get injured, either slightly or seriously. That is why you must pay attention to all safety equipment, yours and the car’s.

  SPEED SECRET

  Buy the best safety equipment you can.

  A bargain-priced driving suit doesn’t look like such a good deal when you’re lying in a hospital badly burnt. The same thing applies to helmets. Buying a cheap helmet really is false economy. I like the saying, “If you have a cheap head, buy a cheap helmet.”

  SPEED SECRET

  If you can’t afford good safety equipment, you can’t afford to go racing.

  After you buy the best equipment you can, take care of it. Don’t drop or let your helmet sit upside down on the ground. Keep your driving suit clean; it won’t be fire resistant if it’s covered in grease and dirt.

  Not only will having the best equipment and taking care of it help save your life, but it is also a reflection of your attitude. If you look and act professional, you may have a better chance of acquiring sponsorship or being noticed by a professional team. Plus, you owe it to your family and friends to minimize the chances of injury.

  Remove all jewelry before driving. Imagine what would happen if you were in a fire with a metal chain around your neck, metal watchband on your arm, or rings on your fingers. As the metal heats up, I don’t need to tell you how much worse you will be burned, not to mention the complications it causes the medical staff.

  Check current regulations to ensure your equipment is up to standards. I am not going to quote the standards since they change frequently, fortunately, as they are constantly being upgraded.

  Make sure you have spares of all your equipment. You spend too much on your racing to have a safety equipment failure or loss to keep you out of action. It seems rather silly to spend tens of thousands of dollars on your race program, and then not be able to race because you lost a glove or the visor on your helmet broke.

  HELMET

  Helmets are meant to be used once, when your head is in it. If you drop it or bang it against something, it has now been used. Helmets are designed to absorb the energy of the impact by deforming and thereby destroying its structural strength. And even though the damage may not be visible, it should be checked by the manufacturer or replaced after an impact.

  Many drivers, for emotional or superstitious reasons, become attached to their helmets and don’t ever want to give them up. Not a good idea. Replace your helmet every couple of years whether it has been “used” or not. They also fatigue with age, especially the inner liner.

  Helmets are made of fiberglass, Kevlar, carbon-fiber, or a combination. The Kevlar or carbon-fiber ones are much lighter and a little more expensive. The extra cost is worth it. It’s not only easier on your neck over the course of a long race, but it also puts less strain on your neck in a crash.

  I’ve had many drivers tell me that because they were driving a relatively slow car, perhaps a showroom stock car, they didn’t need to spend the extra on a Kevlar or carbon-fiber helmet. It doesn’t matter how slow the car is; in a crash the g-forces are going to be high. The heavier the helmet, the more force on your neck. That may make the difference between being injured or not.

  Take the time to ensure that your helmet fits perfectly. It should fit snugly but not too tight. You should not be able to rotate it on your head, side to side or forward-backwards, with the strap undone. There should also not be any pressure points causing discomfort.

  Do not paint a helmet without knowing what you’re doing. Consult the helmet manufacturer. Many a helmet has been weakened by the type of paint a driver used to make it look cool.

  I believe a driver should only wear a full-face helmet, even in a closed car. They offer much more protection than an open-face helmet. However, if you choose an open-face, always wear eye protection. The bubble goggles are probably the best.

  Helmets are tested and rated by the Snell or S.F.I. Foundations. The standards are upgraded every few years. The only helmets legal for use in racing are ones who have passed these tests. Check the rulebook to find out the latest standard a helmet must meet before buying one. You’ll get a great deal on an out-dated helmet, but it’s not much good for anything but planting flowers in.

  HEAD AND NECK SUPPORT

  This section is titled Head and Neck Support for a good reason. As far as I’m concerned, there is only one system that I would trust with my life, and that’s the HANS (which stands for Head and Neck Support) device. If your race series doesn’t mandate the use of a HANS device, it should. And you shouldn’t wait to be told to use the latest equipment that can save your life.

  I know of at least half a dozen drivers, friends, who I’m not sure would be alive if they weren’t wearing a HANS device. Don’t be stupid; use one.

  DRIVER’S SUIT

  First of all, a driver’s suit is not fireproof. It is fire retardant. It is designed to resist and protect you from the heat of a fire long enough to either allow you to get away from the fire or the fire to be put out. Speaking from experience, good suits do this. I’m not so sure cheap ones do (and I’m never going to find out).

  Before buying a suit, make sure it fits properly. A custom-fitted suit is best. Have your measurements taken carefully, using the chart supplied by the suit manufacturer. If it doesn’t fit right, send it back to have it altered. A poor fitting suit will be uncomfortable and perhaps even dangerous.

  Check the rating of the suit. The S.F.I. Foundation certifies and rates driving suits, as does the F.I.A. An SFI 3.2A-1 rating theoretically gives you approximately 2 seconds of protection; a SFI 3.2A-5 gives you approximately 10 seconds; SFI 3.2A-10 about 20 seconds (double the last number of the rating spec to give you an approximation of the number of seconds before you will be burnt). Remember, this is only a guideline, no guarantees. And if a suit is not rated by S.F.I. or F.I.A., do you really want to buy it? How do you know how good it is? It may be a great price, but what price do you put on your body?

  Once you have a properly fitted, good quality suit, take care of it. Make a habit of getting changed before working on your car. A driver’s suit is not meant to be work coveralls. There is nothing worse than getting a fire-retardant suit covered in oil, grease, and fuel.

  During practice for the Indianapolis 500 in 1993, a fuel regulator cracked while I was driving through Turn 4 at more than 200 miles per hour. The fuel sprayed forward into the cockpit and ignited. All of a sudden I was engulfed in a 2,200-degree methanol fire. Fortunately, I got the car stopped on the front straight and bailed out, while some crew members started putting the fire out. I was in this fire for close to 40 seconds, and yet the suit protected me perfectly.

  My face was burnt from the heat that radiated through the visor, and from when I tried to open the visor for a second to ge
t some air. My neck was burnt where the fire got between where I had my balaclava tucked into my underwear. And my hands were burnt pretty badly for two reasons. First, because my gloves were so soaked with sweat; my hands were steam-burnt. And second, the gloves I was wearing didn’t have a Nomex layer on the palms; it was just leather.

  If I hadn’t been wearing such good equipment, though, I probably wouldn’t be writing this now. Most of my suit was charred through to the inside layer. Even parts of my Nomex underwear were charred. But it never got all the way through to my skin.

  I did learn some good lessons from that experience. I now make sure I always put on dry gloves that have a Nomex lining in them and wear a double layer balaclava that I make sure is tucked properly into my suit.

  MISCELLANEOUS DRIVERS EQUIPMENT

  In addition to your helmet and driver’s suit, you require other equipment: driving shoes, fire-retardant gloves, balaclava, underwear, and socks. Again, the same rule applies: Buy the best, and then take care of it.

  Wearing fire-retardant underwear under your suit is absolutely critical as far as I’m concerned. A two-layer suit with underwear provides better protection than a three-layer suit without underwear. I know it’s tempting to not wear it on hot days, but once you’re in the car and driving, you’ll never know if it’s hotter or not. It’s also more comfortable wearing underwear between you and the suit; it helps absorb the sweat better. A two-layer, rather than single-layer, balaclava is required by most rulebooks.

  Only wear gloves with a full lining of fire-retardant material between your hands and the leather palm surface. Many gloves don’t have this; they only have leather on the palms. Turn them inside out to be sure. Some race-sanctioning groups require the lining, while others don’t. Again, check the rulebook. Or better yet, only buy the good ones with a fire-retardant lining.