best way to improve you driving?

[break down sam]

as title please help

[gainsy]

Slow down & listen to the advice of the guys driving fast with the same car

[Disco-Panda]

Practise Practise Practise

its what the top guys would say

[bondy]

I know its on road " for now " but get on VRC game and get your transmitter hooked up and keep playing. Hands on transmitter practise..

[footey]

ive always been told SLOWER is FASTER so i went slower motr and it helped

[sosidge]

If I could say one thing...

Slow down and concentrate on hitting those apexes.

A missed apex will cost you far more time than the big blast of throttle down the previous straight gained you.

[daz]

Dont but Captainlips tackytape. Unless you own a wig.

[c0sie]

Practise lots, but understand what you are doing and what the car is doing. Be able to react to a mistake and then not make that mistake again.

If you are a crap driver and you race 3 times a week with no understanding of why you are crap or why your car handles crap you will probably remain crap...

If you get a car with a decent starting setup on, understand the options available to you on your transmittor and then develop your driving you'll go far.

[AfroP]

dont worry about how fast your car is. Concentrate more on getting around the track consistently without crashing. Make sure that you have your toe in/out set correctly on your front wheels and the camber on the rear and make sure you have the correct tires for the place your racing at

This setup guide will help you understand any setup advice and terminology.
http://users.telenet.be/elvo/

[jcb]

Practice is the main thing in my view, if you can't practice on a track, get hold of some small cones or fill some drink bottles with sand and mark out a rough track on the local playing field. If nothing else it assists with hand eye co-ordination.

Get a decent set-up from a local or top driver.

Make sure your car is always prepared well, ie everything moves freely, shocks are working properly, electronics are all working efficiently and thats it's clean and tidy.

Don't change to many things on your car at once.

Concentrate on not crashing for a race duration and watch the faster guys to see where there racing lines are.

[MrMagoo]

Practice, get to know your car and talk to the fast guys and understand what they are doing that you are not. Even watching YouTube videos can help you understand where they are making time.

Learn to stay calm, hit your lines and keep the car on it's wheels. You aren't going anywahere upside down waiting for a marshal.

Now, if I could do all of the above I'd be laughing!

[SlowOne]

Three things make you good - practice, practice, practice. Every run change something on the car, however small. Learn what does what, so each practice run is meaningful.

If you were hoping that someone would give a lot of detail about how to drive, that's the one thing you won't get. Everyone drives slightly differently, making the most of how they drive. And the more talented the driver, the less able they are to tell you the details of how they drive. Just practice hard and make every run count as a learning experience.

Someone once told Gary Player he was a lucky golfer. Player replied "The more I practice, the luckier I get." That's why we've all said pretty much the same thing! Good luck and good racing.

[danDanEFC]

After I have practised I stay on the rostrum and watch the lines the faster guys take.

I also always finish my practise with 3 clean laps, which was something one of the fancy yanks said.

I am not a good driver but I feel both of these points have helped me get better this year.

[Southwell]

Practice and setup, no point in practicing and driving around a cars issues, learn how to make a good setup and u'll find yourself pushing no harder, but going a lot quicker. I also think just enjoying it plays a big part.

[racingben]

I spend my days teaching racing drivers in real cars how to go faster - see www.race-instructor.co.uk

I was fairly handy with a touring car in the late 90's and having gently started off roading again am getting some good club results with a mad monkey.

I can't help but observe other drivers and try to relate to my day job.

These have been indoors on carpet and outdoors on astro with off road cars.

In real cars most drivers are able to pick up getting the car from the apex to the exit very well. The hard bit to drive and the area where time is made is the point from braking to apex. Model cars are largely the same.

Areas where I see a lot of mistakes:

Braking - it's not an on/off switch. In areas that require brakes for 4wd should be firm initially and then eased off as the corner approaches. 2wd requires a slightly softer initial brake pressure to cope with the rear wheels unloading.

Steering - again steering input must vary with speed. As a basis the faster the speed the slower the steering movement. Remember that as the car slows down entering the corner the lock can increase.

Steering lock - I see a lot of cars where the turning circle is set for the larger corners to make the car easy to drive. When the car arrives at a hairpin it can't turn tight enough to get the best line. Set your steering to get the best in the tight bends and then don't use full lock in the faster corners.

Power - don't get on it too soon - again more of an issue in slow corners. If you apply 25% power at the apex but then are only at 50% at corner exit, that wont be as fast as the car with 0 throttle at the apex but 100% just after.

Vision - again a major strength in racers of big cars and little ones. When practicing make sure you look at the car with your eyes focussed ahead and turn your head to look at the car. If you start moving your eyes about you lose your best focus and peripheral vision.

In recent races I've been trying to analyse my own driving to figure out where I'm looking relative to the car and the track. I believe that I'm focussed on the car at all times but am looking for my next reference point in my central peripheral vision. This way I can judge the cars speed and heading relative to the apex of the corner.

Watch a novice / new racer and generally they react to the corner as the car arrives at it. Try to look at the car and spot the next corner in your peripheral vision. As mentioned in an earlier post a slower moving car generally crashes less. Just as in big cars when the car is faster your vision needs to move faster with it.

Hope that makes sense and is of some use!

[Neil Skull]

Originally Posted by racingben

I spend my days teaching racing drivers in real cars how to go faster - see www.race-instructor.co.uk

I was fairly handy with a touring car in the late 90's and having gently started off roading again am getting some good club results with a mad monkey.

I can't help but observe other drivers and try to relate to my day job.

These have been indoors on carpet and outdoors on astro with off road cars.

In real cars most drivers are able to pick up getting the car from the apex to the exit very well. The hard bit to drive and the area where time is made is the point from braking to apex. Model cars are largely the same.

Areas where I see a lot of mistakes:

Braking - it's not an on/off switch. In areas that require brakes for 4wd should be firm initially and then eased off as the corner approaches. 2wd requires a slightly softer initial brake pressure to cope with the rear wheels unloading.

Steering - again steering input must vary with speed. As a basis the faster the speed the slower the steering movement. Remember that as the car slows down entering the corner the lock can increase.

Steering lock - I see a lot of cars where the turning circle is set for the larger corners to make the car easy to drive. When the car arrives at a hairpin it can't turn tight enough to get the best line. Set your steering to get the best in the tight bends and then don't use full lock in the faster corners.

Power - don't get on it too soon - again more of an issue in slow corners. If you apply 25% power at the apex but then are only at 50% at corner exit, that wont be as fast as the car with 0 throttle at the apex but 100% just after.

Vision - again a major strength in racers of big cars and little ones. When practicing make sure you look at the car with your eyes focussed ahead and turn your head to look at the car. If you start moving your eyes about you lose your best focus and peripheral vision.

In recent races I've been trying to analyse my own driving to figure out where I'm looking relative to the car and the track. I believe that I'm focussed on the car at all times but am looking for my next reference point in my central peripheral vision. This way I can judge the cars speed and heading relative to the apex of the corner.

Watch a novice / new racer and generally they react to the corner as the car arrives at it. Try to look at the car and spot the next corner in your peripheral vision. As mentioned in an earlier post a slower moving car generally crashes less. Just as in big cars when the car is faster your vision needs to move faster with it.

Hope that makes sense and is of some use!

Wise words indeed.

[ryanlownie]

Go slower first, then you will start to go faster

[SamRCRacing]

ive done about 9 meeting and have been getting fast laps but not consistant so should i slow down a bit and get into a rhythem and then try a bit faster?

[Mr Eccleston]

If you have automatic lap counting available, compare your best lap to your average lap, see how close you can get. It's no good being fast for one lap and all over the place the rest. Look at the fast guys at a meeting and see how consistent their laps are and see if you can do something close.

[racingben]

Sam,

Follow my advice as above. Work on planning what the car is going to do next. Start at a lower speed so you are consistent. Speed up until you become inconsistent, drop speed a little and focus on vision and technique whilst building speed back up.

Repeat the above until winning a final

As a general rule novices try to go too fast in the slow corners and don't go fast enough in the quicker ones.