Best ways to improve driving skills
 

I was wondering what everyone's thouhts were on the best things to focus on to improve driving skills and race times?

I appreciate that practise and tons of it are good (for any activity) but I wondered what I should try to achieve / work on whilst racing - I race on astro so its not like just driving on the lawn in th garden surely?

Any tips welcomed.

Thanks

Well, try different settings on the car, take a notebook, make notes of what change you make and what it did, don't under-power the car, it hides a multitude of sins.

As well as the settings bit, I would not over-power the car. A really fast car hides a multitude of driving sins as every straight is a chance to catch back time when you get the entry and exit right to the straight, but miss a few apexes in the infield.

I'd suggest a lower-powered car because line and speed, and carrying corner speed, show up more on the clock than with a fast car. Once you have that off pat, put the same car on a slippery surface and try again - that will teach car control. When you can do that with your eyes shut, up the power and try again. It's about gaining the mental capacity to work with the car, to make the time to see what is going on and be able to plan and adjust in a race.

Just my thoughts. Have fun whatever you choose to do. :)

I was told by a very wise man to drive a corner adead ready to be setup for the next corner, try to change something each race and relise the difference and remember that you are in control of your car and will only go where you tell it too
(although I say this I'm still trying to do it)

The best advice i can give is this

1. Slow down a touch
2. Get your lines right
3. Stay calm
4. Let quicker drivers through and tag on
5. Watch what the quick guys are doing in practice

Often trying to hard to go quickly is what makes us slower, the best runs i ever have i often come down off the rostrum thinking i was slow.
Don't get me wrong car setup is important and adjusting the car for how you drive does matter but more time is lost through pushing to hard and then the time spent waiting for a marshall costs more than going a fraction slower but keeping the run clean.
I'm not quick or that slow but on good run i can get my average lap within 0.5 second of my fastest lap.

Hope thats some help

On another note i don't get to practice or race enough so to help my hand eye coordination i clock up a few hours on the ps3 to sharpen up my reactions.
The best for this for me is playing COD or Battlfield online

Another one for going slow.

Im also relatively new to racing and was given the go slow advice, and that if you see a jump just roll over it. Its more about getting your average laptime low rather than one seriously quick lucky lap try and keep it consistent.

Chances are as a newbie changing much on the car wont do much if your crashing all the time making mistakes.

Find a nice *normal/neutral* set up, and then stop fiddling. You've just as much chance of making it worse than you have of making it better.

Then try and get on the track when its clear and no one else is there and just drive. A couple of hours on an empty track will do wonders for your line choice.

Then mix it up by driving with others.

Then you can start looking at set up changes, keep it simple to start with.

I'm not the best to give advice but I find, 10.5 is the general all rounder for 2wd short course, turn it down to about 80% and don't get a massively fast servo, take it steady, make the right tyre choice and take corners steady

Good advice Will :thumbsup:

practice and staying calm/concentrating when racing are the only keys to this hobby.

Decent equipment and lots of car maintainence is recommended too for reliability

Some good advice above. Personally speaking i think you`re best to make the car slow enough for you to enable you to drive it for five full minutes without crashing. Concentrate on clean lines. As has already been said consistency is key.

If you are in a lower heat, the chances are that the majority of your competitors will be crashing. Even if you are slower over a lap you will still win your heat if you stay clean.

Setup isnt as important until you need to improve lap times. Just make sure that the car is mechanically sound and you are on the right tyres for the track and conditions. Thats 90% of getting it right. The right tyres !

rule number 1 = practice
rule number 2 = practice more often
rule number 3 = don't miss a chance to practice
rule number 4 = watch the quick guys learn there line o and did i mention PRACTICE

my first A final win at club was using a 16x3 and a GTX! this was in 2010 too lol. My brushless setup had popped and was away on warranty so the 16x3 was the only option. My clean lines and lack of mistakes/crashes brought the car home. The slower car speed meant I could pick my lines easily and position the car to achieve good lap times. I didn't TQ, but I did take the win in the end. I did the same thing with a 10.5 there. the car was very docile which ultimately became a bore to drive, but it taught me a lot.

My next year I ran a 7.5 and did well. Now this year I've put in a 6.5 and I'm doing well - I think so anyway lol. The 7.5 is a good motor which I still run in the 2wd. In the 4wd it was pretty good on the smaller tracks like Kidderminster and Stotfold, but I felt I needed the 6.5 for the longer straights like Coventry astro, etc.

A lot of my fellow club racers ONLY race at club and have no interest in setups or venturing to other tracks to race. Some of them purely race indoors running the same car, same tyres, same setup week in week out. About half the members do run 2wd outdoors though. I feel my experience on alternative surfaces, racing a lot of different racers has given me a great insight into improving my ability. I've known some people buy a car and run it. Not got on with it straight away and sold it on for something else. No changes were made to the car. If it didn't work it went. :(

I second that....important in my profession!

My tuning tool of the month is Vanquish...pure destruction!

All the advice is good...but slow or fast etc..the main thing is that you don't get bogged down by all the intricacies (unless you intend to be profession) but enjoy!

I have one word for you, UNDERSTEER. Especially outdoors on astro.

If you can set the car up to have understeer and do a race you will have to learn to control the throttle and brakes accordingly to manouvre round corners.

This will help your lines and keep the car safe for 5 minutes whilst you learn this.

Then gradually increase the amount of steering you have until you feel that you can still drive the car for 5 minutes without crashing but can corner faster.

I find it a bit odd everyone saying go slow I agree with dcm you need a quick car and learn to control the speed on Sunday I opted to run a 6.5t in every heat my fastest lap where all within 0.05 the problem was i was a full second and a bit of the top drivers this I could have gained with a 5.5t best thing to do is have a look what the A finalists or running :)

I'm relatively new in the racing scene. My nearest track is is some 140km away and I need to travel by public transport. In short, I can't just go the track and practice a bit.

What I do is go to as many races as possible. It's more fun than practicing on your own (imo), you have other people as a reference point, both for setup and trying to keep up.

Also, decide what you you exactly want to improve and focus on. You can focus on your driving skill and setting up the car, but it's a lot to do at once.

I for example often just find a setup that kind of works (because with my *cough cough* refined driving I get such faster lap times with the smallest of setup changes/improvement) :) Then I drive the car as much as possible when I'm at an event. For me, driving skill is not just being able to go fast consistently, it's also being able to adapt to your car and maximize your performance when the setup is not the way you'd like. After all even with experience in setting up your car you'll sometimes hit problems finding the right setup. This is where other racers might be able to help you (quickly), however for your actual driving skills, there's no way to tweak that at one event :lol:

The terms of getting your set up right are very true but you need to understand what each change you make is going to do to your car.

Also look at full size cars and make sure you understand the apex of corners or double apex.

Walk the track, it's surprising how different a corner looks from the rostrum, it doesn't matter if no one else is doing it, you'll feel a bit conscious doing it the first time but it really helps !

Guys - many thanks.

Certainly food for thought.

I did notice at last weeks race when I was going a little slower the confidence built and I didn't go off so many times and my average lap time was 2 secs faster than the week before.

A fellow racer helped me with some geometry changes and the car handled much much better so I'm going for the consistent, mehtodical practice and improvement root with stuffing it.

I think I'll "let sleeping dogs lie" and not change the set up for now and get used to getting round without going off and I'll certainly walk the track.

Let's see if I can do any better tonight assuming the weather holds :fingerscrossed:

Cheers

I agree with the theory of 'slower is quicker' for when you are a beginner.... I've seen so many new club members turn up on their first week with a reasonable RTR car with suitable mild performance... after a couple of weeks of running in the bottom heat/final (but gradually improving) Suddenly they turn up with the latest car & the quickest motor & expect to win the A - unfortunately all they do is crash quicker/break the car & loose interest in the hobby... the next thing is all their gear is advertised on ebay.

With brushless power its so easy to buy more power than we actually need - I've been racing for over 20 years & still struggle to handle a car that is 'overpowered' - In 2wd I've not come across any track yet that would require anything more than a 6.5.

Alot of patience I think is very key, this hobby is very complex with alot to learn (its what makes it so appealing & makes racing so addictive) developing your own skills as a driver & combining this with the mechanical element of running/maintaining/improving your car - unfortunately doesn't happen over night... when you go to any club the guys in the A final have all probably been racing for many years - decades even - to get up to their pace will equally take many years.

As with everything its best to start young - kids seem to pick it up quicker & can develop a natural ability for R/C racing, which is so much harder when you start as an Adult. I can remember a young Elliott Harper turning up at our club bursting with enthusiasm - when he started his odd mistakes meant that we could sometimes keep with him, but he quickly became almost unbeatable & moved on to bigger & greater things (i.e 3rd at the last T.C worlds!) - Its obvious that some people do have a natural ability/gift for R/C, but i'm a firm believer that almost anyone with the will & enough practice can become successfull at some level at least.

When I was a kid & first started racing I can remember my dad setting out flower pots onto the back lawn for me to drive around - effectively making a little track - although it was on grass which was a different surface to the carpet/polished floor of the indoor track where I raced, it really helped sharpen my reactions & make driving an R/C car 2nd nature.

here's an odd suggestion - get fit (if you're not already!).

I've found that my ability to concentrate has improved beyond any level I can remember since taking up crossfit & following a paleo diet regime. it's like my brain is finally working like it should be, and I'm feeling totally chilled when I'm racing. everything feels slow.

it hasn't turned me into an rc god as I simply don't get the time to race ad much as I'd like to. but it certainly helps!

1. get a normal, neutral setup (either from the manual or from someone who knows what he's doing and who knows you are a beginner) and a normal not too fast motor!
2. practise with that untill you can run at least 5 minutes without mistakes. Doesn't matter if your laptimes are slow. Practise on your own can help if you have to run down the rostrum each time you make an error, you'll learn quickly to stay on your wheels :)
3. go to clubraces and then try to race for 5 minutes without mistakes :) You'll notice it won't be so easy as in practise :)
4. watch the fast guys drive, go stand on different sides of the track and look at their lines. But especially, listen to the sound of their motor and be amazed how easy they go on the throttle (especially on clay)
5. try to copy this driving style---->practise again!

When you can race for 5 minutes without mistakes, then go talk to other people trying to change your setup. 1 change at a time! If you don't feel the change, or you are not sure it is better: put it back the way it was and try something else. Write it all down each time you change something, and also make a note about how much effect it had. In the end, you will know which settings have a drastic effect, and which are only minor changes, finetuning.

At a race, don't just look at your fastest lap. Take a look at you best 3 or 5 laps, count how many laps you have in the same second as your fastest lap etc... If a setup change only changed your fastest lap, but you ended up on your roof 5 times, change it back...

Slow=fast. That doesn't mean you need a slow motor, it means you need to go slow into a corner, and fast coming out of it. If you carry more corner speed, in other words your car doesn't lose all the speed at one point in the corner, you don't need to accelerate that hard getting out of it, and your car will look more stable. Usually you never need to brake very fast and hard, or accelerate very fast. When coming out of a corner, accelerate gradually, steer gradually etc...

This is an onboard video of some decent laps at kampenhout in Belgium:
http://youtu.be/Js-i8SgnAuM?hd=1&t=4s

Listen to the motor and brake sounds, take a look at the servo link, it's all relatively 'smooth'.

If you are comfortable with your car, and you know a bit how to set it up, what I found that helps a lot is driving with a laptime beep on your transmitter. This beep goes off every x seconds, so for example if your fast lap is around 25.0, set the laptime beep to every 25.5 seconds. Start the timer in your practise run for example right after a jump, then sart driving and try to be right after that jump again next time the beep goes. If your further on track, you are running faster laps, if you are behind on track, you are running slower. The goal is to do lots of laps and traying to stay ahead or at the same point as the laptime beep. This helps a lot in trying to be fast and consistent at the same time. Plus, you immediatly now when you had a very good lap if you gained on your beeper, and you usually know what you did well or bad in that last lap.

Just wanted to thank everyone for their advice and support - went tot he circuit last night and it was a practise session so I was out as much as I possibly could.

I heeded the advice of going slowly and smoothly, especially as the track was moist to say the least and bsically just tried to put in as many consistent laps as I could. Having very little marshalling / track assistance forced this as well as errors often meant getting off the rostrum to go over and get the car back on track.

I was really pleased with the progress I made - the practise, practise practise attitude helped, as did thinking of the next corner. The car really felt like it came to me and I look forward to getting more track time.

Cheers guys

Not sure if anyone is really interested but I just thought I'd post up - at SHRCCC yesterday it was a small meet with 2 rounds and I was pretty competitive for a newbie and ended up winning the 3rd B final.

Admittedly there were only 5 drivers in the A final and 4 in the B but I am very pleased with my win.

Thanks once again

The best advice i can give is this :thumbsup:

1. Slow down a touch
2. Jump strait
2. Get your lines right
3. Stay calm
4. Let quicker drivers through and tag on
5. Watch what the quiker drives us ass tires and springs
6. Dont be affraid of asking pro drives there set up to.

Doo this and dont forget that this is just a toy car have fun. :D

Den.

Nice one!!:thumbsup:

Main thing is to enjoy what you are doing at whatever level;)

I'd second that, and also try to eat/drink regularly on race days. I didn't do this on Sunday and after 3 heats where I was gradually improving, in the 4th heat I forgot to put my transponder in and crashed at least once on every lap.

I suddenly realised that despite bringing a litre of orange juice with me it was 3pm and I hadn't drunk any of it. I drank about a third of the carton straight away and had some bananas and in the 1st leg of my final 40 minutes later I was back on the pace. Although the car does all the hard work you still need to look after yourself...

drive a 2wd 1/10 buggy on a hardpacked outdoor dirt track.
when you are able to drive this buggy fast, you are good with any other car.