how you train driver?

[Mike Cook]

At the most basic level, make sure that you practice the events like they will be at competition. This means, full safety gear, arm restraints, full cones (inside and OUTSIDE of skidpad). Even good drivers sometimes choke, so it’s good to get them very used to the events so there is less pressure the day of the events.

Practice tight autocross courses with minimum radii turns and slaloms. I hate this, it sucks, is not fun, etc. but SAE courses will have these aspects to them, and you can really loose a lot of time if you find that your car can't steer enough or that the steering is too heavy.

Unless you don't have a choice, I would not start new drivers out in the fsae car with slicks. Slicks are tough to drive on (and expensive!) and also, slicks plus lots of power can be disastrous because there is very little room for error before the tires slide out. Coupled with parking lots, curbs, poles, it can be dangerous. I agree with the other poster that go karts are a good starting spot and even I learn a lot from them (running endurances and such).


Good luck, be safe.

[JamesWolak]

I hear that some teams physically train there drivers and put them on special diets to lose weight. Guess that what you have to do to win west.

[Mike Cook]

no more weight loss for me anymore...we figured out that with more weight our tires get hotter and I pull more g's. Or I really like chipotle.

[Neil S]

chipotle does give you that extra thrust, seems to be working for the Brawn GP cars:

Brawnpace secret!

[JamesWolak]

Originally posted by Mike Cook:
no more weight loss for me anymore...we figured out that with more weight our tires get hotter and I pull more g's. Or I really like chipotle.

Our best driver is 200lbs and about 6'2". Like i said its still baller that you did that.

[3wVo]

I would put a clock on a kart driver. Make sure they are consistent every lap. I want to see aggressive, smart driving and that driver has to take chances like no other.

You find those two traits, make sure they do not burned out too soon or have "seat gap" like Smokey Yunick said is a fearless driver that does not worry about death or family is win at all costs.

[ffrgtm]

Originally posted by 3wVo:
I would put a clock on a kart driver. Make sure they are consistent every lap. I want to see aggressive, smart driving and that driver has to take chances like no other.

You find those two traits, make sure they do not burned out too soon or have "seat gap" like Smokey Yunick said is a fearless driver that does not worry about death or family is win at all costs.

I really don't think that has anything to do with autocross speeds....

[Mike Hart]

Can't really add much more to what people have said. It is well worth getting in someone who knows what their doing to cast their critical eye over the drivers. Whether that's just an alumni who was a good driver, or someone else you know who races karts/cars professionally, it will help identify the areas they can improve massively.

Spending just half a day with someone instructing you can teach you stuff that would take literally years to identify yourself. If they refuse to listen, they're just not ever going to be fast. Any good driver will tell you they never stop learning!

An alternative to finding a good driver would be to get someone who's good with telemetry to have identify areas of improvement. Not quite as good, but better than nothing!

[Adambomb]

This is how we do it in Iowa:

X-Treme Driver Training

Oh yeah, lots of good other info here from others...except the whole "aggressive, no chances" thing. I've seen many aggressive drivers, and I've seen several fast drivers, but I have only a couple drivers that were aggressive and fast, and they both did a lot of off-road racing. Chances are if they spent some more time on pavement and mellowed out, they'd probably be faster. Aggressive drivers are most often good at nothing but making team leaders angry and destroying a perfectly good set of tires.

And if you really need a fearless driver, that doesn't worry about death or family...you've got something SERIOUSLY wrong with your car.

[RobbyObby]

Originally posted by Adambomb:

And if you really need a fearless driver, that doesn't worry about death or family...you've got something SERIOUSLY wrong with your car.

+1

You also have to think about what event they will be driving in. You want the smooth/consistent drivers in the endurance and the fastest in the autocross. If you have a fast but erratic driver in the endurance they will cause hell for your tires and brakes.