Lap Times Must Keep Getting Faster

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There seems to be a general feeling that lap times must keep getting faster. When you stop making progress as a driver, you start looking to modify your car to gain more time. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. I just think it’s one of many ways to enjoy motorsports. At the same … Read more

The More I Learn, the Less I Know

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I sometimes wonder if there’s anyone who truly understands everything about cars. Cars are incredibly complicated. Just understanding the materials they’re made of is a huge challenge. Then those materials become individual components, and those components come together to form a complete vehicle. Trying to understand every mechanism at work in that finished product is … Read more

Understanding Circuit Simulation

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Have you ever heard of circuit simulation? It is a way of calculating how fast a car can theoretically lap a circuit, based on the car’s performance and the racing line. The circuit simulation I’m introducing here was created by Tatsu. According to him, it was “based on the F-1 Circuit Simulation published in the … Read more

How Is the Roll Center Determined?

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I was just wondering: when did the term “roll center” become something that even ordinary car enthusiasts started hearing about? When I first became interested in suspension, I was at the level of, “What’s the difference between a spring and a damper?” So, naturally, I had no idea what a roll center was. These days, … Read more

My Mistakes (15): Soft Springs Were the Wrong Choice

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This is the final entry in the series! When I first started driving on track, my car was completely stock, with the stock tires and stock suspension. But the stock suspension was difficult to drive, so I switched to coilovers. At the time, I thought, “I don’t want to ruin the ride quality, and I’m … Read more

My Mistakes (14): My Upshifts Were Too Slow

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By this point, I’d gotten pretty comfortable with driving on track, and I’d started getting a little full of myself. “Hey, maybe I’m actually getting pretty good at this.” Then one day, I got the chance to have BJ drive my Roadster, which gave me a chance to see just how much of a difference … Read more

My Mistakes (13): Tires Overheating Without Me Noticing

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I kept practicing so I could put in consistent lap times. Eventually, I noticed something. More and more often, my fastest lap of the day came on my final attack lap. I’d spend the day pushing a little too hard, then being a little too cautious, gradually dialing things in. Then on the final lap, … Read more

My Mistakes (12): When Giving Up on Heel-and-Toe Was the Right Call

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Whenever you’re braking into a corner, you usually need to downshift. This gave me a lot of trouble when I was starting out. Because, of all things, there were corners where I had to downshift while trail braking. Three of them, in fact! Trail braking means gradually releasing the brake while turning the steering wheel, … Read more

My Mistakes (11): Relying Too Much on My Sense of Speed

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After making mistake after mistake, I had finally reached the point where I could put in reasonably consistent lap times. My lap times were usually within about ±0.2 seconds of what I expected. But every now and then, I’d end up more than 0.5 seconds off my predicted time. I’d think, “What? I didn’t even … Read more

My Mistakes (10) — A Follow-Up: Shifting Gears Without Looking

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This isn’t exactly an aside, but I wanted to add something about the line in Part 10: “kept practicing until I finally figured it out.” I’ve actually had experienced drivers ask me from time to time, “How did you learn to do that?” So I thought I’d explain it here. Anyone who actually drives on … Read more