Street Practice Outline by Dave Radmacher

Book reference: Speed Secrets by Ross Bentley1. HEAD POSITION (speed secret #9, pg 21-22)

1. HEAD POSITION (speed secret #9, pg 21-22)

Keep your head upright. Do not lean your head when cornering.
The brain is used to receiving info in an upright position. E.g., motorcycle racers lean bodies, heads are upright
Try laying head on pillow then read a book or watch the TV guide screen
When driving, entering a corner, move your head side to side, do not lean or tip it.

2. STEERING WHEEL (speed secret #4, pg 18)

Hand position is at 9 & 3
Use firm, but relaxed grip.
Try using fingertips with very light touch, & use wrist for small correction.
Allow both hands to do equal amount of work. One pulls down, the other pushes up smoothly.
Keep both hands on the wheel, except while shifting.

3.BRAKING AND ACCELERATING (speed secret #10, pg 38-39)

Braking
All cars are capable of stopping much faster than accelerating.
Think 'squeeze on - ease off' the brakes.
Proper braking starts with how you take your foot off the throttle. Do not lift off throttle abruptly (ease off quickly) then begin squeezing on the brakes.
PRACTICE BRAKING on the street (be smooth), modulate (ease up) on the brakes so that you cannot feel the exact point where the car comes to a stop.
Pay attention to where you end braking (Weight transfer - pg 69 Traction Circle graph)

Accelerating

The throttle is not an on-off switch: BE SMOOTH.
On take-off, practice as you do braking, squeeze & ease
Visualize a martini glass super-glued to the front hood of your car, half full. GOAL: Do Not spill.
Brake and transition to throttle so smoothly you cannot pinpoint the exact point of acceleration.

4. CORNERING (Chapter 7, pg 62)

Yourgoal in each and every corner is really quite simple: Spend as little time in the corner as possible. Get maximum speed out of the corner by accelerating early to maximize straight-away speed. Often, maximizing one of the above means sacrificing the other. In other words, you may have to compromise corner speed for straight-away speed or vice versa.

5. LOOK WHERE YOU ARE GOING (speed secret #13, pg 47)

Look and think as far ahead as possible. Thinking further ahead refers to the driver's "field of awareness". Focus your eyes on where you want to go. Practice this by late-apexing left hand turn lanes; drive into the nearest lane. Look far ahead, sometimes using the horizon as a focal point; use your peripheral vision. Be aware.

6. HEEL AND TOE (speed secret #9, pg 21)

Practice, practice, practice. This needs to be automatic: second nature.

7. VISUALIZATION (speed secret #26, pg 106)

Visualization, or mental practice, is so very effective for a number of reasons. First, it's perfectly safe. You can never hurt either the car or yourself. Second, you can visualize anywhere. You don't need a race track or a car. And because of that, it's free.

8. TRACTION CIRCLE (speed secret #13, pg 55-58)

Overlap braking, cornering and acceleration forces on the street.
Pay attention where you end braking.

Book reference: Speed Secrets by Ross Bentley

Type 1: One that leads onto a straightaway
Type 2: One that comes at the end of a straightaway
Type 3: One that connects two other corners.
The most important corner is the fastest corner that leads onto a straightaway.