> What I learned from this is that the
>fastest way through a slalom, and you can see this
>visually, is to hold a constant speed through out.
Okay, but being a wise ass I would add that this is assuming you can get to
that steady state speed by the first gate. Really the fastest way is to be
accelerating flat out on the throttle all the way thru, but on most slaloms you
can only do that in a really slow car, or maybe a Boxster.
>I had no idea just how slow I looked in the car. This
>was disappointing.
Well having experienced your driving both in car and on film (in my car), I can
assure you that "you had to be there", it was plenty exciting in real life! I
think there is a natural order to how fast autox runs seem or feel (no matter
how fast they really are), and it goes sorta like this (from slow to fast):
-Watching yourself on video
-Watching somebody else on video
-Driving your car
-Driving someone else's car
-Riding with somebody else
-Watching Andy on video
-Riding with Andy
What I have also learned from 3 years of begging rides off people with names
like Andy and Teresa and Derek and Randy and Katie and Ben to name a few, is
that there are many different driving styles that can all end up being *really*
fast. Just as fast. Some people have slow hands while others make quick
movements but the sum of all of them combined with a big whallop of gas is
still a smooth motion. As you have pointed out in the past some people take
tight lines and some are a bit swoopy but it can all work out the same in the
end. The one thing I can find in common is a very high level of committment
that comes from not being surprised by anything (looking ahead, thinking ahead)
and a refusal to relax, coast, or give up speed anywhere on course if there is
no reason to.
Now if only I could do that consistently... but that is why I keep doing it!
Peter
|