Basics Of Racing

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Look Ahead

Everyone looks ahead of them when they drive. Most people unfortunately just don’t look far enough! Looking ahead is essential and is still the most common mistake out there.

As a general rule you go where you look...Your movements naturally follow to where you are looking. So in racing, if you keep looking at the ditch, that’s where you’ll end up. It’s weird, but the brain seems to respond this way.

This is incredibly important information! Don’t look right in front of you, instead look ahead of you, to where you plan to go. And I don’t mean as far as you can see on the horizon, just a little further than what you’re used to.

So you should focus on where you go,
not what you should avoid...

Of course you should still watch where you are going, and be fully aware of where you are “placing” the car. This is not really easy, but it’s doable. It’s another skill to master! Look where you are driving while looking ahead. It really belongs to the basics of racing and you can recognize inexperienced drivers by not looking far enough!

As every other technique you won’t learn this skill overnight, but eventually more and more of the driving will be taken over by your subconscious. You’ll almost be on auto-pilot!

When you try the technique for the first time it might feel awkward and your driving might feel like it’s actually worse. Don’t worry about it, that’s perfectly normal. Your brain is just fighting the heavy work-out of coping with “two situations”.

Look up, not down!

Always be one step ahead! When you brake, look at the corner’s apex... As you corner, look at the exit... As you exit, look at the next corner entry... You get the idea! It might not seem faster at first but compare the laptimes driven with and without this technique and you’ll see for yourself how much of a difference this can make.

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