Creative Car Control Handbook
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Model of Successful Driving
Vehicle Dynamics and the Human Body »
When we do anything, we collect or invent data as we go. It is the meaning of human data, together with our imagination that causes our beliefs. Making sense of this data in respect of limit handling is what this is all about for when we make best use of the data we optimise our performance.
We all use our senses to provide information about our experience of life's events and it is our ability to enhance our sensory acuity in particular situations that enables us to have richer, more useful experiences. In respect of driving a car near to the limit of what is possible we use the following headings.
Our eyesight is a key element in driving our ability to put the car in the right place. Where we pay our attention to has a profound affect upon the outcome we want. Additionally it makes a big difference to the way in which our bodies interpret movement. Simply changing the place that you look on circuit can chop three seconds a lap off your lap time and add years to your life if you don't have to crash because you paid attention to what mattered most at the time.
We feel on many different levels, our "vestibular" system is centred in the middle ear and provides accurate data in respect of balance and bodily rotation (yaw). The signals from the vestibular system are hard wired into our brains and we simply notice the sensations that are generated. Our brains use the vestibular system to automatically control balance, head movement, eye and co-ordinational activities of the body. Where there is a conflict in feelings from our vestibular and visual systems we often experience sensations of unease that give rise to motion sickness. - Looking in the right place can often overcome this nausea, practice and familiarity is another useful ingredient in managing motion sickness.
We also use our "somatosensory" system which detects movement, position and temperature in our bodies and articulation in our joints. Our fingertips are particularly sensitive areas of our bodies. The place where we feel pressure due to our weight in the seat changes as the vehicle moves and our inertia causes changes in pressure at these points. We can detect our major organs moving in our abdominal cavity - the gut feel.
We also generate and feelings which are imagined by our brains and this gives rise to expressions like "I have a really good feeling about this." Some of the feelings we generate we label emotions; amusement, fear, competitiveness, anger. Are all examples of emotions that may or may not help us to drive successfully.
Focussing attention on kinesthetic data tends to get people associated into an activity.
The sounds (and vibrations) generated by tyres are often attributed to loss of grip and particular attention to these at increasingly subtle levels provides valuable information regarding the performance of a car near to the limit of grip. Engine note rising may indicate wheelspin.
There are some motoring smells that are important - perhaps vital. Fire is one. Another is generated by leaking brake-fluid and is different from leaking engine coolant or gearbox lubricant. They provide warning data for the highly perceptive, highly sensitive driver with a sensitive snitch.
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Model of Successful Driving
Vehicle Dynamics and the Human Body »