One nice thing about driving on a circuit is that you can practice by driving the same track over and over again.
But when I was still pretty new to circuit driving, I realized something one day.
Even though I thought I was doing exactly the same things every time, there were times when I came through the same corner thinking, “Yes! That one went really well!” And then there were other times when I thought, “Huh? That one wasn’t quite right…”
And when that happened, my lap times weren’t consistent either.
“Why is that? Is there some tiny difference in what I’m doing that I’m not even aware of?”
I kept scratching my head over it.
But eventually, I figured out that there was actually a reason for it.
The thing is, there wasn’t just one reason. There were all kinds of different reasons.
Each time I figured out another one, I’d think, “Ohhh, so that’s what was happening. Man, I’m an idiot!”
And once I started paying attention to each one while driving, little by little, my feeling of how well I’d driven started to match my lap times.
I think this is something everyone goes through, but when you’re a beginner, you just don’t know these things.
So, I’ve decided to write about each of them in this series.
For the first one, I’m going to talk about one of my braking mistakes.
If you’re a seasoned driver, this one might not be very useful to you, so just have a little chuckle at my expense!
My home circuit, Takasu Circuit in Japan, is a track where you’re on the brakes a lot. But there are two corners in particular where you really need to slow the car down with heavy braking.
The Kageyama Corner and the final corner.
Both require braking from over 100 km/h, so as a beginner, I’d psych myself up and think, “All right! Time to hit the brakes as hard as I can!”
When I brake, I pick a braking marker and make sure I’m going to brake around that point.
But for some reason, it always felt like my speed at corner entry was different every time.
I was braking as hard as I could and relying entirely on ABS, so it wasn’t like I was accidentally easing off the pedal.
I was braking from the same point every time…
So why was this happening? Why? Why?
I kept wondering about it.
So, it turned out the answer was:
“Even though I was braking at the same point, I wasn’t lifting off the accelerator at the same point.”
If you’re an experienced driver, you’re probably thinking, “Wait, does that actually happen?”
Well, it happened to me.
Back when I was still new to circuit driving, hitting the brakes as hard as I could was a big, nerve-wracking event.
So, when I thought, “All right! Time to hit the brakes as hard as I can!”, I’d already lifted off the accelerator a little early in preparation for the full braking that was coming.
So I was coasting for a short distance before hitting the brakes.
As a result, my speed at the moment I hit the brakes was different every time, which meant my speed at corner entry was different every time, too.
I tried consciously minimizing the time between lifting off the accelerator and getting onto the brake pedal.
And that solved the problem.
“Ohhh, so that’s what was happening. Man, I’m an idiot!”
Lesson Learned
Minimize the time between lifting off the accelerator and hitting the brakes.