HAVOCDEAN@aol.com wrote:
> First, I think that all rookies in autox should start in a stock class
> car for at least 2 years. Why, because your learning curve is high, more
> prone to making mistakes, and its hard to tell if you improved because of
you
> or the car getting better.
I'm going to agree, and amplify:
Firstly, I think all newbies should spend a year on street tires. The
limits are so much lower, and the break-away curve (slip angle vs grip) so
much flatter, that it really teaches one to drive on the limit of the
tires. About the only bad habit it teaches is using the pitch of the
squeal/squall of the tires as an indicator for the limit - race tires don't
do that.
You won't be fast, but you will get faster, and the skills that sliding
around on street tires teaches means a much better transition to race
tires.
It's like the young man who was accepted to train at a temple of Kung-fu.
He was presented with a barrel of water, and instructed to slap the water
out with his hands. When the barrel emptied, he was to refill it and
continue. He did this - and nothing else - for a year, when he was allowed
to return to his village and see his family.
All his friends wanted to see his new kung-fu abilities, but the young man
insisted that he had been taught nothing of the sort. They contined
badgering him, and finally, enraged, he slapped the table shouting "They
taught me nothing!" - and the force of his blow shattered the table.
> Stock limits you to changing the car allows you to concentrate mostly
> on yourself.
There's three important side effects here, if one starts in a class that
allows more preparation:
1) There is a tendancy to blame the car, not the driver, for poor
performance
2) More room for adjustment means more room to screw things up
3) A well-prepared SP/SM car is *fast*. That means you have less time to
react, and that small mistakes bite you much harder. This makes learning in
a faster car both tougher and more frustrating.
I did 3 years in Stock class, and I'm very, very glad I did. It has made me
a better driver than I would have been otherwise.
DG
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