5 Things I’ve Been Doing Wrong When Driving Fast

A day of high-performance driving lessons in a pair of Porsches at the Nardo test track revealed I was making some common mistakes that needed rectifying
5 Things I’ve Been Doing Wrong When Driving Fast

Having braked nowhere near hard enough, I steam into the hairpin bend I’ve been cocking up for the last few laps, washing wide into understeer. Attempting to regain composure, I do the exact opposite by getting on the throttle much too soon, kicking the rear out and messily catching the slide before I end up pointing the wrong way and looking like a damn fool. It’s really not easy, driving fast on track.

And yet, fast forward to the end of our day of high performance driver training at the Nardo Technical Centre in southern Italy, and I’m actually driving to a reasonably respectable standard.

5 Things I’ve Been Doing Wrong When Driving Fast

We’ve spent the day swapping between a 718 Cayman S and a 911 Carrera 4S Targa, starting off with a slalom, moving to emergency braking and turning manoeuvres before heading to the tricky but brilliantly flowing handling circuit for several glorious hours of hot laps.

In that time I learned firstly that Porsche is almost irritatingly good at producing sports cars (well, we knew that already), but more importantly how to be much better at the whole track driving thing. I learned this not necessarily by finding out what I should be doing on track, rather what I’ve been doing wrong up until this point.

Grabbing our instructor Andreas Mayr before leaving, we had a chat about exactly what had been tripping me up earlier in the day, and why it’s important to rectify these (reassuringly common) mistakes. And while this is all to do with track driving, it’s worth noting some of it is applicable to road driving too (head over here for a more road-focused guide). So listen up and learn from my mistakes…

Mistake 1: Not sorting the right seating position

Matthias Hoffsuemmer showing us the perfect driving position in a 918 Spyder, before scaring the bejesus out of us on Nardo's high-speed ring
Matthias Hoffsuemmer showing us the perfect driving position in a 918…

Mayr calls this the most basic step, and it pains me to admit that after jumping in a car someone else has been driving, I always rush finding the right seating position. I often end up too close (not quite pensioner style but close nonetheless), much to the amusement of my colleagues. But it’s vital to nail the right position.

So what is the right way to be sitting? Over to you, Andreas:

“First you put the seat as low as possible to better feel the car, then adjust so you can reach the pedals effectively. A good angle [for the bend in your legs] is 120 degrees, so in case you have a crash it absorbs the energy like a spring. When you use extended legs the energy will run to your hip - you can break your hip.

“The next step is adjusting the backrest to keep it as straight as possible so you have good support in your shoulders. You should have a relaxed position, and you adjust the steering wheel so you have your arms well bended and your hands at 9 and 3 o’clock. If you put your arm straight over the steering wheel, the steering wheel should be at your wrist.”

Mistake 2: Pulling the steering wheel instead of pushing

5 Things I’ve Been Doing Wrong When Driving Fast

This is actually something I’ve been told before by previous instructors who’ve had the tricky task of trying to shape me into a semi-reasonable helmsman, but I still don’t put much thought into how I achieve my steering inputs.

The key thing is to push on one side of the wheel, rather than pulling the other. “In a right corner [for example] you use the left hand to push the steering wheel so as to support yourself in the seat,” Andreas explains, adding: “You better feel the car, feel the understeering and so on.”

Mistake 3: Braking too soft, and too soon

5 Things I’ve Been Doing Wrong When Driving Fast

Unless you’re driving like an utter clown or performing an emergency stop, you generally won’t use full braking force on the road. On the track though, it’s vital you’re not too gentle and early with your brake application, as I was at the beginning of the training day. “On a race track to stabilise or ‘set the car’ you use a harder braking pressure, a little bit before ABS [kicks in],” Andreas explains. Plus, there’s the obvious benefit of increased deceleration, which is useful if you don’t fancy going too deep into the corner. Like into the tyre wall at the far end of it.

It’s also important to roll off the brakes gently, as a sudden departure of braking force is going to upset the balance of the car, as will a sudden change in acceleration or a brake application mid corner.

Mistake 4: Throttle impatience

5 Things I’ve Been Doing Wrong When Driving Fast

Just up from that aforementioned hairpin I spent the day ballsing up, there’s a lovely, flowing S bend. The trouble is, it was all too tempting to get on the gas too early, when I still had too much steering lock on. Particularly troublesome in the mid-engine, rear-wheel drive Cayman - when its impressive reserves of grip do run out, the back goes rather quickly.

The lesson here? Be patient, and stay the hell away from the loud pedal if you’ve armfuls of lock still.

Mistake 5: Not realising how much there is to learn

5 Things I’ve Been Doing Wrong When Driving Fast

I’ve never been daft enough to think I’m some kind of driving god, but I’ve done enough track driving over the years to make myself feel like I’m not bad. But a day of intense training on Nardo’s challenging handling circuit proved I still have acres of room for improvement. Unless you’re an actual professional driver, there’ll almost certainly be areas to improve how you drive, whether it’s on the track or off.

So be open to a little training. It’s thoroughly rewarding, and above all - spectacularly good fun.

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Comments

Anonymous

Mistakes? Pffff im pro racing driver on forza!

12/07/2016 - 09:32 |
460 | 6
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

said every turn 1 crasher on forza online

12/07/2016 - 09:37 |
352 | 2
The VW Beetle

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

You know you’re a racing driver when you name your account “F0rzaRacer6969”.

12/07/2016 - 10:54 |
90 | 0
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

I am a driving god! crashes into every car on Forza just to take 1st place

12/07/2016 - 13:01 |
68 | 2
RodriguezRacer456 (Aventador SV) (Lambo Squad)

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

said every 12 year old gamer with all assists on

12/07/2016 - 17:13 |
16 | 0
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Alex Kersten

04/01/2017 - 21:52 |
0 | 0
Joshua Lue

Cue a GT-R fanboy (Adnan)

“Mistake 6- Not driving a GT-R”

12/07/2016 - 09:43 |
98 | 6
Anonymous

Aforementioned is Matt’s favourite word…

12/07/2016 - 09:51 |
48 | 0
DL🏁

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

I haven’ noticed the aforementioned issue, but probably because I like using the aforementioned word as well…

12/07/2016 - 12:39 |
0 | 0
Matt Robinson
Matt Robinson

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

I’m also quite fond of ‘bombastic’

12/07/2016 - 14:01 |
48 | 0
Darren Cassey

We’ve been telling you about number 1 for years 😂

12/07/2016 - 09:51 |
8 | 0

Hey, I’ve not been far off, look how close Hoffsuemmer sits ;)

12/07/2016 - 14:48 |
8 | 0
ESR69

And now a race between you and CT’s professional racing driver (Alex)

12/07/2016 - 09:59 |
16 | 0
Unknown

In reply to by ESR69

I think that could be a fun segment. See which CT writer is the fastest on a flying lap

12/07/2016 - 12:45 |
18 | 0
InjunS2K

On mistake 3. What about on a car without ABS? TBH, I think they should disable ABS in the test cars so you can practice proper brake pedal modulation rather than relying on the computer. All cars nowadays have ABS but I think it’s a bit of a lost art to brake effectively without ABS

12/07/2016 - 11:00 |
6 | 0

It makes no difference if the car has ABS or not. The ABS kicks in when the wheels start to lock up and that lock up point is the same with or without ABS.

12/07/2016 - 11:19 |
2 | 2
5 Things I’ve Been Doing Wrong When Driving Fast
Straight6Unicorn95

In reply to by InjunS2K

but that would increase the amount of crashes wouldnt it.. Doesnt sound like a smart move to me to disable it when you have regular drivers trying to learn racing.

12/07/2016 - 14:52 |
0 | 0

Jumping on the brakes hard gives you more weight transfer and more front grip than easing into them. Its a jump, then modulate as the weight starts to come off the front. You’ll need to get a feel for where the limit is through trial and error. Initial braking is the only part of driving where doing it smooth is slower

04/01/2017 - 15:39 |
0 | 0
Max Schmalfuß

Luckily I’m pretty much a racing driver.

12/07/2016 - 11:04 |
2 | 2

Said every guy that’s never driven on a track before

12/07/2016 - 16:51 |
4 | 0
Anonymous

Matt Robinson - the braking thing is really hard to overcome after driving on the road so much, it really is my achilles heel. For accelerating it’s finding that rhythm of rolling on the throttle as the steering is unwound that changed everything for me rather than always coming on too early or too late.

12/07/2016 - 11:18 |
12 | 8
Aaron Hachmeister

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

The problem most people have is that they don’t know HOW to brake since, well, they’ve never had to. There’s a reason driving shoes come with round heels; to roll your heel on the floor to smooth out your acceleration or decleration. You say rolling onto the throttle, but are you rolling onto the brake as well? This is the best way to “feel” the deceleration and control it the most. However, like you said, most people never have any experience needing this knowledge

12/07/2016 - 14:29 |
2 | 0
Rich_WVU

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

This this this. My first event didn’t come until I had over a year of daily driving my E60, so I had the basics of not just straight up crashing and dying down pretty well almost immediately. Throttle wasn’t an issue at all seeing as I’ve driven the car in basically every situation imaginable and the local rural mountain roads had provided plenty of oversteer and understeer tests, but the braking.. Ohhhh the braking.

It took me a good 2-3 hours of track time (spread out across 30 minutes segments) before I gained full confidence in M5’s brakes. Even after that I still found myself instinctively braking far too early and with not nearly enough pedal early on.

12/07/2016 - 14:53 |
4 | 0
Anonymous

I have learnt all this in Assetto Corsa

12/07/2016 - 11:57 |
4 | 4
clayton8or

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Why so many downvotes? Simulators are by no means perfect, but with the technology available now some of them get pretty damn close. I have a little over 200 hours on AC and more on other things like automobilista, and dirt rally (for loose surfaces) and I went from not knowing how to do nearly anything, to putting down consistent (but still not the absolute fastest) lap times on the most difficult settings possible such as realistic road grip, street tires, and no assists. It (and a lot of videos) have really taught me a lot about performance driving and I cannot wait to be able to go to a track someday.

12/07/2016 - 18:00 |
2 | 0
clayton8or

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Why so many downvotes? Simulators are by no means perfect, but with the technology available now some of them get pretty damn close. I have a little over 200 hours on AC and more on other things like automobilista, and dirt rally (for loose surfaces) and I went from not knowing how to do nearly anything, to putting down consistent (but still not the absolute fastest) lap times on the most difficult settings possible such as realistic road grip, street tires, and no assists. It (and a lot of videos) have really taught me a lot about performance driving and I cannot wait to be able to go to a track someday.

12/07/2016 - 18:00 |
0 | 0
clayton8or

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

[DELETED]

12/07/2016 - 18:00 |
0 | 0
clayton8or

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

[DELETED]

12/07/2016 - 18:00 |
0 | 0
Jakob

Mistake 1-5: all of the above.
Mistake 6: I have a Ford Fiesta.

12/07/2016 - 12:38 |
8 | 0