Day 5 – 30 Days of Racing

Two One Step forward

So yesterday, I made some massive improvements but after taking a break to calm down and try to establish a ‘new normal’ of high 1:20.xxx and low 1:21.xxx lap times, I failed miserably.  I wasn’t able to keep the car balanced through a couple key corners, as I found more speed.  So my goal today was to not care about going faster but just be able to easily produce lap times in that range.

The first stint, I just loaded up the car and went on my way and in the third lap, was able to hit a 1:21.040 and then a 1:21.077 and then a 1:20.877… SWEET!  I’m doing this!  I forget exactly what threw me off but I got a little sideways and touched a wall so I decided to get out, take a deep breath, visualize and go at it again.  When I exited, I checked the data quickly on Virtual Racing School and I realized I hadn’t loaded the same setup as the rabbit I’m chasing, which is a good amount different AND I was running on 30 gallons of fuel to start.

I loaded the right setup and went off… no, literally.  I went off on the out-laps.  Twice and had to restart.  It didn’t bother me much at the time or at least I didn’t let it get to me but I really don’t like doing that.  The goal is to simulate the real world conditions as much as possible and if this were the real world, there’d be a lot of repairs to do and I’d be drowning in debt to pay for them.

Final stint – let’s put get a good run in!

With my hour winding down, I went for one last stint.  Breath, look ahead, visualize balance and go for it!  I strapped in and on lap 1: 1:20.310 – new personal best!  

Stay calm, remember – the goal is not to go faster but rather be able to knock out 1:20.xxx lap times like it’s nothing.

• Lap 1: 1:20.310
• Lap 2: 1:20.964 – dirty lap but barely
• Lap 3: 1:20.680 – another dirty lap but barely again
• Lap 4: 1:20.170 – dang it!  Barely dropped a tire somewhere but would be fine in the real world.
• Lap 5: Crash… hard.

I had to call it quits here because the hour was up and my wife and son were running around asking me to be a dad, of which I love!  🙂

Lesson learned: I know what it feels like to do these lap times, just need to hard-code them into my mind and body

We’re starting to get into some pretty decent and competitive lap times and at the traction limit more and more.  This is near the territory of what separates the Pro’s versus the Joe’s who play a Pro on the weekends. I need to realize that it will take time and backing off a little to be more consistent.  Yes, I improved my personal best but it doesn’t mean as much if I can’t consistently get near that or drive more than 5 laps without crashing.  That’s not even good enough for a 20 minute sprint race.

The goal remains the same for tomorrow, don’t worry about going faster, just be able to drive consistently and stay out of the walls.