Video analysis from Brands Hatch last week, looking for improvements!

Shad

Shad

Shad

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What I wanted to do was look at two of my quickest laps and compare them because of how differently I drove each lap. One was quite measured and restrained (the kind of lap I can do consistently), the other was trying a bit harder. But they both were basically the same time in the end. The question I wanted to answer is how can I go faster next time...

Split screen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fs4Fd5Jrlyg&hd=1

Lap 1 in full: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJI1-IxgWWg&hd=1
Lap 2 in full: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti7sTuwnTJM&hd=1

It's all a bit of fun really but so far the feedback has been later and harder braking, trail braking especially at Paddock and Druids, harder and earlier on the throttle, and some slightly different lines in places. I think some of my issue with the braking is a psychological one because I'm still thinking "I need to drive this thing home, if I go off it's going to cost me". In reality though the car is quite forgiving on the brakes so I just need to get my head straight. The setup of the car is pretty good and I don't think I've found its limit yet anyway. It will do a 53 second lap in the right hands (hopefully mine eventually!) so I've got 2 seconds to find :)

Check it out, see if any of you guys have some pearls of wisdom to add ;)
 
They're not bad laps.

I'd stick with the smoother style in lap 1. Although they were similar laptimes overall, the smooth lap gives you something to build upon where being more aggressive may have short term gains but will slow your rate of improvement.

More laptime will come more mainly from getting on the power earler (not necessarily harder though as that will unsettle the car).

As an example the wobble at the end of lap 2 lost you a lot of time down the start finish straight. Its worth remembering that you spend relatively little time in a braking zone - but a lot of time down a straight, so even 1mph carried onto the straight will = a lot of laptime.

You may be able to brake later - but again it's not where the majority of laptime will come from so I wouldn't focus on that specifically. It will come with time if you build up to it gradually. Generally I see drivers trying to brake later and losing laptime overall as they unsettle the car and can't get back on the power early enough.

For advice on lines around brands you really want to take advice only from someone quick there who knows the place like the back of their hand. It's a tricky circuit and with all the elevation changes etc subtle differences in the line there can be quite rewarding.

Do you only do track days or do you intend to race? You can't beat being out on track racing with other drivers to help you work out exactly where and how you are losing time.
 
I've mailed Maxx (member here) and asked him to add his comments to this thread as he is an ARDS instructor and is well respected by me and many of my mates and very good with the telemetry/video stuff. I'd suggest you get someone like Maxx to sit with you who knows the circuit well and can provide guidance in car during the session. Money well spent if you want to optimise your lap times. I've not studied the vids yet but I'm sure the advice you've been given above is sound.
 
Housey said:
I've mailed Maxx (member here) and asked him to add his comments to this thread as he is an ARDS instructor and is well respected by me and many of my mates and very good with the telemetry/video stuff. I'd suggest you get someone like Maxx to sit with you who knows the circuit well and can provide guidance in car during the session. Money well spent if you want to optimise your lap times. I've not studied the vids yet but I'm sure the advice you've been given above is sound.
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I completely agree with Housey. It's likely to be money well spent to get a decent instructor to help you out if you are hovering around 2secs off the optimum pace for your car.
No one can give you anything more than very generic feedback from just a couple of laps of video footage. They need to see the bad as well as the good :)
 
Steve linked this post to me but am only able to look at it on iPhone at the moment. Great video! Must have taken a lot of work, with that level of work ethic I can see you making big inroads into those 2 secs.

I'm at Donington tomorrow so probably won't get chance to view and reply properly until Thursday but I did read and have a quick look.

One comment that might give you some insight is that as you thought, there are some times to be 'aggressive' (although not the word I use) essentially late braking, hustling the car, and other times to be more measured/patient.

It's not even just a question of corner type .. We all accept that exit speed is the most important thing but the ways of achieving that often have a different 'approach' - in terms of hard/late braking AND even trail-braking are only really relevant (in terms of optimum lap times) on corners > 90 deg. A measured/smooth approach won't make much/any difference to the exit speed.

I think most would agree that to get a good exit from paddock you need to carry good speed in with the car perfectly balanced. So late/hard braking generally doesn't work (you may get a fluke).

No need to carry big speed into Druids ... As from the moment you lift off the gas the priority is to get going in the OPPOSITE direction ASAP.

So, late-hard braking would help with that with no real detriment to exit speed.

We don't want to 'outbrake' ourselves but we do want to be braking as hard and as late as possible.

So, "generally" you'd only hard/late brake for Druids and Clearways. For the rest it is better to brake a little earlier and softer so you have the car balanced in entry and can carry the optimum speed into through and out of the corner.

That's not the whole story .. We've not considered the 'middle' of the > 90 deg corner. Most driver want to drive as fast as the can EVERYWHERE (or should I say as HARD). Have already said the entry to 90+ corners are 'aggressive' but the middle should be the exact opposite.

Then there's the early on the power myth. If we are half way round Druids having slowed the car down to get to the middle of the corner why on earth would we get on the power when it will simply try and accelerate the car off the circuit? (the rear tyres only ever point in the direction the car is facing)

So ... We wait ... Until adding the power "predominantly pushes us in the direction we want to go"

Adding power moves weight rearward, so comes off the front, AI lessens steering grip. If you are exiting and powering early you are generally driving hard but going slow.

Then consider that corners > 90 deg are generally slow. Let's use 40mph as an example (prob right for a road tyres car in Druids)

At 40mph travelling 2 mtrs less = 0.10 saved .. You already take a fairly shallow line into Druids, unlike many trackday drivers, but there is a bit more you can trim.

So, take a shallower, more diagonal line straight into the Druids curb, braking HARD all the way in and even carry the last little bit if braking as you start to hug the curb (easing back on brake pressure). Don't add any significant power until 3/4 of way round EVEN if it FEELS slow.

Loads more to it .. Even just for Druids but take that idea, as well as the open corners approach and apply it to the whole lap and you'll be a bit wiser as to drive the whole lap.

Maxx
 
one thing ive always been told is "slow in, fast out". Its partially true, especially for Paddock hill, and clearways. Trying to carry too much speed through them could make you have to wait longer till you can get back on the gas.

I cant comment too much as we have totally different setups. FWD its easier to be fast, but RWD will be far more fun, harder work to be faster but worth it. 4-5seconds faster than me, so thumbs up there.

How much experience do you have?
 
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Guys, thank you - there's some really great advice here :)

I'll try and comment on things as best I can...

pcoltrane said:
Do you only do track days or do you intend to race? You can't beat being out on track racing with other drivers to help you work out exactly where and how you are losing time.
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Ultimately I won't be happy until I'm racing, but I have to be realistic and it's going to be track days and test days for the foreseeable. Every time I'm chasing someone slightly faster I find myself pushing a bit harder and learning from their lines and braking points so you're definitely right (see this video from the GP circuit earlier in the year. I spent a lot of that session chasing the black R300, but I was holding back in the braking zones because frankly I didn't want to c*ck up and run into the back of him!!).

Housey said:
I'd suggest you get someone like Maxx to sit with you who knows the circuit well and can provide guidance in car during the session.
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This is going to be part of my next move, without a doubt. I took tuition in my early days and it helped a lot. There is a slight question mark on this which I'll come to at the end.

pcoltrane said:
...if you are hovering around 2secs off the optimum pace for your car.
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Agreed, I found myself a similar margin off the pace at Silverstone on the new Intl. circuit earlier in the year. Suffered from the same lack of confidence on the brakes especially at Stowe.

MaxxUK said:
many many great words!
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Do you have any contact details with regards to coaching? I'm looking at a few options at the moment, just trying to understand what will work best. Thank you so much for your input so far!

Overlag said:
How much experience do you have?
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I've been doing track days since January 2006, starting in a near race-spec Honda CRX and moving to the Caterham in November 2007 (which was fairly standard to begin with).

Next move:

I definitely want to invest in some coaching and now's a good time for me to do it. However, as it stands the car is not race ready - it lacks an extinguisher and electrical cut-off and I lack a National B, so this prevents me from attending test days and officially doing timing and data logging. Some coaches are happy to attend track days and others prefer test days, from what I can see so far. It's possible to get away with timing on a track day if you're quiet about it but there is still the variety of traffic on the circuit to deal with (at Brands I got about 10 clear laps from an hour of lapping). Do we think at this stage that it's worth me spending money on the car and myself to be eligible for test/race days before looking at coaching?

I'm also going to have the corner weighting sorted and the setup checked over by either Spy or DPR (Caterham race teams near me) to make sure it will be me with any deficiencies and not the car ;)

Thanks again everyone for the positivity. I can't wait to get back and try some of this advice because I just know I will go faster :D
 
It's been a while, but pretty sure you don't need to lift at the end of Cooper going in to Surtees.

It is one of those corners that takes a good line and commitment to get through it fastest.
 
Shad said:
Next move:

I definitely want to invest in some coaching and now's a good time for me to do it. However, as it stands the car is not race ready - it lacks an extinguisher and electrical cut-off and I lack a National B, so this prevents me from attending test days and officially doing timing and data logging. Some coaches are happy to attend track days and others prefer test days, from what I can see so far. It's possible to get away with timing on a track day if you're quiet about it but there is still the variety of traffic on the circuit to deal with (at Brands I got about 10 clear laps from an hour of lapping). Do we think at this stage that it's worth me spending money on the car and myself to be eligible for test/race days before looking at coaching?

I'm also going to have the corner weighting sorted and the setup checked over by either Spy or DPR (Caterham race teams near me) to make sure it will be me with any deficiencies and not the car ;)
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What series can you race your car in?

The National B won't be an issue, you are well beyond the standard they expect in an ARDS test. I imagine you might be able to combine a days tuition with an ARDS at the end of the day with an accredited instructor like Maxx.
Once you've got your race license it's only something like £42 to renew each year so there's no harm in getting it now even if you don't expect to race just yet. At least you'll be ready to go if you decide to enter a race and have the option to attend test days.

I keep intending to make a thread on the racing I am doing at the moment but haven't got around to it. Feel free to drop me a mail in trust - I'm happy to share my experiences - its not long ago that I moved from karts to cars. I also have a few videos on my youtube channel.
 
Dr Who said:
It's been a while, but pretty sure you don't need to lift at the end of Cooper going in to Surtees.

It is one of those corners that takes a good line and commitment to get through it fastest.
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I used to take it flat in my Honda but that had a better front end on it, much more pointy. The Caterham has a tendency to power-understeer unless you have some weight over the front wheels when you turn in. I did try without braking but had to get out of it when I sailed past the apex towards the grass :o

pcoltrane said:
What series can you race your car in?

The National B won't be an issue, you are well beyond the standard they expect in an ARDS test. I imagine you might be able to combine a days tuition with an ARDS at the end of the day with an accredited instructor like Maxx.
Once you've got your race license it's only something like £42 to renew each year so there's no harm in getting it now even if you don't expect to race just yet. At least you'll be ready to go if you decide to enter a race and have the option to attend test days.
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Combined tuition and ARDS is a good call. To race in any of the official Caterham series I'd have to significantly downgrade or upgrade the car, but I think Mag 7s is suitable. I'd be more likely to buy an Academy car/kit and start from the bottom. I'll drop you a PM :)
 
I wouldn't stress to much about the ARDS, I turned up and did it without coaching and passed with no problem, based on your driving in these videos it should be the same, but speak with Maxx (Malcolm) and he can give you some good advice on how to go about this and I would also set up a session with him too, money and time well spent.
 
pcoltrane said:
[...] its not long ago that I moved from karts to cars. I also have a few videos on my youtube channel.
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What kart series were you racing in Mr. Coltrane? A friend of mine races in the BSA National 125 Open Championship. The div 1 250s are even more mental though.

As a slight aside it would be interesting to hear the cost difference between the superkarts and the cars.
 
Griffo said:
What kart series were you racing in Mr. Coltrane? A friend of mine races in the BSA National 125 Open Championship. The div 1 250s are even more mental though.

As a slight aside it would be interesting to hear the cost difference between the superkarts and the cars.
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The last series I raced in was Easykart. 125cc but direct drive/short circuit rather than gearbox/long circuit.

Costs are a difficult thing to compare - it depends what your friend is spending!

Certainly with Easykart some drivers were spending significantly more than I'd need to do a season in the car. However I was racing the kart on a tiny budget comparatively (less than a tenth of what some were spending).
As a result the car costs me approximately twice what the kart did per round (so I do half the races!)
 
How are the tuition/ADRS/race license plan coming along?
I was half expecting to come back to the thread to find out you'd shaved a second off your laptimes already :)

Did the email get through to you ok too?
 
Sorry mate, I keep meaning to make time and reply properly but have had other things going on. I might re-visit this in September but honestly, haven't had the desire to drive the car much lately. Not sure why, hoping it won't last long! Haven't touched it since I got back from Brands, really need to clean the insects off it at least :(
 
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