Creative Car Control Handbook
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Successful driving is safe, efficient and enjoyable, whatever the road, traffic, weather conditions or the car we are driving. The study we have conducted on effective road drivers reveals that they perform competently on three distinct levels:
Master drivers have a huge margin and larger overlap between these elements than less skilled drivers. They understand the effect that each of these elements has upon their performance. They recognise that the system most people call a car comprises the car with all its tuning bits adjusted suitably, the tyres and the nut that holds the wheel (the driver). Further they can monitor and adjust their behaviour as drivers to maximise the performance of the system and are able to compensate for deficiencies in vehicle, environment and/or their personal internal state of being.
The road, track, proving ground, weather, track conditions, slope, camber etc. all affect the way in which the vehicle performance can be used.
FWD, RWD, AWD, the use and configuration of electronic stability and traction control systems, the tyres and suspension fitted to that particular vehicle etc.
Our senses play a vital role in our driving performance. Stress has a detrimental effect which results when the demands and pressures imposed on an individual exceed that individual's ability to cope. People organise their lives in very different ways. They think about and engage in their driving activities in fundamentally different ways too. We can all do a range of these things and we can all emulate the others to some extent, it just takes practice.
The most significant difference between drivers that has come to my notice concerns the way in which they engage in the activity. Some people are "associated" into the experience of doing it, "in the moment" as it were, others are "dissociated" from the activity (almost watching themselves from the passenger seat).
Both are valid and it is clear which is the ultimate solution, the one that works best.
The people who are fully associated in the event ultimately do best. That is not to say that they don't make mistakes and that others don't or cannot do a fantastic job or that they learn at different rates. But I am convinced that the people who engage into the activity make better meaning of the experience.
Understanding the fundamentals of vehicle dynamics is useful, indeed it is vital for success at any level. Interpreting the nuances and subtleties of a highly dynamic moving vehicle over complex terrain at high speed requires being wholly in the experience. Being wholly in the experience means that it is possible to develop a more sophisticated model that interprets the data and more effectively develop a better model of driving.
Focussing on what you notice during the event is the way to do this.