>Yesterday's course was very well designed for the location, expected weather,
>and number of entrants. It was somewhat simplistic for a typical SFR and
>national course - running it in my head I count 11 notable elements, vs 16-24
>that I find typical for an SCCA course.
One thing I remember from my rookie period of autocross was the difficulty of
maintaining the whole course in my head. I'd walk the course as many times as
possible, studying with painstaking care the braking point, turn-in point, and
desired exit line for each turn. Then I'd go out on course and make it through
exactly the first three turns before getting completely lost. The next run I'd
get through four turns, and my last run I'd make it through five or six turns,
mostly sideways but in good order. From there on I'd simply overdrive from
point to point until something terminally impeded my progress. If this sounds
familiar to anyone, read on...
I've known perfectly well since age eleven of an empirical theory which I never
applied to autocross until I was already able to keep the entire course in my
head (which took me about three years). That theory is that normal humans can
keep track of no more than about six things at once. It is the basis of
organizational units in many fields, from military squads to operating room
staff. This doesn't have to do with memory - (I could memorize the whole course
early during my first year), but rather handling information in real time.
What I realized is that when walking course as a beginner, I couldn't take any
turn/line/element for granted - I had to focus on each one. Therefore, all I
could do was remember the various points for the first three turns. As I
"learned" each one, and didn't have to keep it at the forefront of my mind, I
could incorporate another turn or two beyond that. However, trying to go out
and keep 20 different turns with associated activities associated with each, as
I aspired to do, was simply doomed.
So, what to do?
What I do is to memorize the whole course, which takes a couple of walks and a
bit of concentration. By memorize I simply mean remember each turn and
straightaway, as defined by the Corvette driver's mantra - "If I'm not standing
on the gas with both feet, it must be a turn.". This helps reduce the course
into a maneageable number of elements. For example, the Round 1 course turns
into:
Slow start left.
Right sweeper
#%#$% bump hairpin
Get OFF the back right sweeper (meaning set up to power out hard)
Short shift (to get into second before the kink. Usually upshifts are
automatic.)
Get STOPped for the right halfway down the back straight, then GO to the back
corner.
Downshift. (To first; hey, it's a Corvette! Downshifts take thought because I
left foot brake.)
Stay AHEAD of the course (through the transitions after that corner).
Slow in, fast out (on the right hander leading to the final straight).
GET STOPPED for the finish turn.
That's basically how I'll remember that course for the next several years, like
it or not. Notice how a number of things got left out of the actual course -
the offsets in back and finish straights go away, as do corner entry and exit
points. Still, that is TEN elements, and I can only keep track of FIVE. Now
what?
Well, the part that takes a bit of practice is learning to keep the next two or
three elements actively in your mind, while rolling in the next to the top of
the list as you complete one. I say two or three instead of six because that
allows for some detail in terms of each turn, and there isn't really any great
need to track further down the course than two or three elements. "Look ahead"
stops being useful when you just sit at the start line staring over at the
finish line... Once you can do that fluidly, you can actually add more detail
back in for each element, as long as there are fewer than six details! (Each
turn usually has three.) My "list" for the first couple of elements was
actually:
Slow start left: Don't charge the lights, stay tight, car is loose on
exit
Right sweeper: Stay tight, wide exit, move back right
And so on. However, I could never keep that detail straight without associating
it with some major element. (BTW: all the "stay tight"s is because the course
was so dirty on "normal" line)
My point is that when you're having trouble remembering the course, simple brute
memorization isn't enough. You have to devise a structure that is simple enough
to keep in your head while flailing at the wheel, and dynamic enough to cover
the entire 40-60 second course. There are doubtless other good approaches, but
I bet they all incorporate some method of simplifying matters to no more than
five or six elements.
Be interesting to hear some others' techniques.
KeS
(Oh, how did it all work? Well, I blew element six on my first two runs, and
element three on my last run. You still have to execute!)
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