ait yall, need some help. im currently starting to seriously map and plot this road near my house in VA, and i need some terminology help....ie: whats a sweeper? off-camber? stuff like that so i can classify and study this road. can yall help me with this?? those that know me can call...otherwise PM.

Mahalo,
Tom aka The Haole

 

sweeper is a long-turn- think of when you hold a broom and make a long sweeping motion in an arc around you...

off camber is when you have a left turn, but it's banked to the right or a right turn, and it's banked left...the angle of the bank is opposite of the direction you're turning...think of those left-turn banked oval tracks- but instead of banking with the turn to the left, they bank in the opposite way like how a plane would bank to turn right...off-camber turns are set up to try and "throw you" off the track...

chicane- a series of quick left-right (or right-left) turns...

elevation change- duh...some are mild, like at HRP and some are massive, like the corkscrew at laguna seca...

constant radius turn is when the arc of the turn doesnt change- you hold the same steering angle throughout the turn...

increasing radius turn starts out as a sharp turn, but starts to widen out and have less of an angle...

decreasing radius turn starts out open, but will suddenly become sharper in angle...these are one of the more tricky turns to manuver, since your entry speed will be higher because of the illusion that the turn is more "open" but you will need to slow down in order to make it...

hairpin- a "U" shaped turn...

apex is the imaginary center point of a turn...in a U-turn, the apex is right at the center of the inner part of the "U"...

early apex is when one cuts the corner too early...

late apex is when you brake later and shift the apex towards the latter part of the turn...this allows for a more straight exit out of the turn and allows for faster exit speed...

red mist is what you get when all you see and are concerned about is the car ahead of you and you neglect to concentrate about other things while you're on the track- i.e. your temp gauge, your racing line, your tranny making funny noises as the other RS and M3 are close by

withdrawal- is when you have no track to race on and all you can do is post up racing terms on a car forum, especially on a forum whose brand of car you dont even own...

 

wow...great info...thanks alot. you got rid of the suby? when did this happen?

Tom

 

[philosophical enlightenment begin]

hey tom, go to borders or barnes and noble... go buy a book on solo I/II or even a F1 book... yeah i know books aren't gonna make you a better driver-
but hey why not right? plus the illustrations definitely help-

here's some titles "How to Make your car handle" by Fred Puhn
another one i have, "Professional Race Driving Techniques" by Ross Bentley

i assume you don't have a wealth of "mentors" out there so a little book might do you some good.

nothing beats sitting in a car with someone who knows what they are doing... and even having a great teacher... and more so having them critique you!

if you are going to start driving seriously like that (e.g. mapping your backroads) i would personally get a cheaper car to start building your skills-

i'm sure there is a lot more brass on here that have more intuitive info to pass on... but you've been on the road with me-

one philosophy i adapted... "you pay to play" ( being okay with crashing your car a possibility) as soon as i made peace with that statement my confidence soared... stupity? who knows, insanity and stupity sometimes get confused-

[end of philosophical enlightenment]

btw, did you ever figure that problem we talked about the other day?



aloha from the summit of *-^-mauna kea-^-*

 

I just finished reading Bentley's book. Good stuff. Kinda reinforces the stuff I' ve learned in previous driving schools (most recently in May of this year).

I've driven FF, FR and AWD cars with each one requiring a slightly different driving style.

However, the principles of quick driving are pretty much the same.

 

hehehehheheh...i'm an i-club OG, but i never had a suby...

 

greg: no i didnt....im gonna calm down for a while and pay some closer attention to her. thanks for the help yall...and greg, you were right on the money about waht you said ^^...