6 Quick Tips To Make You A Better Track Day Driver

1. Are you sitting comfortably?

Finding the right seating, hand and foot position is essential to driving. This can be matched for road and track driving. Your distance from the wheel needs to be comfortable; not too close, but not too far.

Finding the best position is easy: press your foot on the clutch as far down as it will go then adjust your seat so that your leg is nearly straight but very slightly bent. The distance from the pedals should be adjusted by moving the seat forward or back. Once you’re happy with your legs, stretch your arms so that your wrists touch the wheel. The point at which your arms touch the wheel should replicate where you wear a watch. Use the reclining adjuster on your seat to find the right angle. All being well, your arms and legs should be within comfortable reach of the pedals, gear stick and wheels.

2. Hand and Arms

Often when learning to drive on the road, your instructor will tell you to shuffle the wheel through your hands as you drive around corners. On track, this is a big no-no. By shuffling the wheel, you can easily lose track of which direction your wheels are pointing in, which is far from ideal if you’ve just fallen off the track and need to recover quickly.

When driving on track, the best place for your hands is directly opposite each other on either side of the wheel. If you imagine your steering wheel is a clock, your left hand should be on ‘nine’ and your right hand on ‘three’. When driving on track your hands shouldn’t ever really need to leave these positions unless you’re driving a super tight hairpin or coned sprint course.

If your hands do need to let go of the wheel, they should only ever be overlapping to go back to the three or nine position. Keep your hands where they are, and in tight corners, cross your arms over. With your hands in a fixed position and your arms crossed, you will always know where your wheels are pointing, and getting them straight again is natural and quick.

3. Getting the feel of it

Two of your best assets when driving fast are parts of your body: your fingers and your bottom. Ever heard the expression “less is sometimes more”? Well, it applies to driving too. Watch some of the best in-car footage of racing drivers and you’ll see that they are often only guiding the wheel with their hands and occasionally the tips of their fingers.

Taking a firm grip of the wheel indicates that you’re holding on for support rather than controlling where you want the wheel to be. You should have the ability to judge what is comfortable mid corner through your fingertips on the wheel. Your bottom also can tell you a lot; it often sits directly in the centre of the car, and if it feels like your bum wants to slide in a particular direction, chances are it means the car does too.

4. Knowing where to look!

It might sound silly, but this is genuinely something people often get wrong. If you’re not sure what it is you should be focussing on, the simplest answer is to always look as far ahead as possible.

Essentially if you’re reacting to the corner you’re on, you’re already too far behind. Make your braking, cornering and steering decisions in advance of when they need to happen. Often instructors will ask you to talk out loud and narrate what you’re about to do. Look ahead to each section of a circuit - whether it’s a corner, a straight, or an overtaking opportunity - and imagine drawing an imaginary line in your head just like the suggested line in computer games.

5. Don’t let the car drive you

It may sound bizarre, but in actual fact it’s one of the first things you’ll be told when undergoing tuition. A car should always be doing what you’re telling it to do. The minute that physics takes over to the point where your actions on the pedals and wheel have no effect, means you’re being driven, rather than driving.

It’s important to learn the limits and to know what it’s like to be out of control. Often the first part of car control tuition involves making you spin, oversteer and understeer so you know what to expect. You’re then gradually taught how to reign these circumstances in, and how to control them when they happen.

6. Abide by the laws of physics

The physics of motorsport and car control is a whole lesson in itself, but it’s simple enough to remember the basics. It can be hard to forget that 1000kg+ of metal is often subjected to forces beyond those that we can control. The main reason for losing control of a car is due to too much speed. It’s important to build your skills by starting slow, and gradually getting faster. Doing it that way is safer, and vastly more enjoyable.

When things don’t go to plan, it’s key that you learn from your mistakes and make mental notes each time something isn’t quite as smooth as you wanted it to be. Think logically about why things are going wrong, and the answer will almost always be something related to basic physics.