by Ross Bentley
To avoid this situation you need to be contractually covered for every possible situation that could ever come up. But most important, you need to feel 100 percent confident with the people you’re dealing with. If you don’t feel you can trust the team owner 100 percent to do what is right, then no contract in the world will make it work. If the team owner or a family member is a driver in the team, be careful and protect yourself.
An obvious consideration in your team selection process has to be the equipment. If you’re looking at a series where multiple chassis or engine packages are available, you had better be sure you’re driving the best package. That decision is more difficult than it appears, as proven by the number of extremely experienced and knowledgeable teams who have ended up running less-than-competitive chassis and engine packages. They made a bad decision as to which would be the most competitive. You need to evaluate this decision and be totally convinced that the package you’ll be driving is the best.
The equipment factor is not restricted to just the car, although that is obviously the most important. Especially if you have sponsors, though, the team’s transporter and hospitality options are other factors to consider. The team’s shop may be another thing to consider.
In the end, once you’re convinced the team will be able to give you the “hardware”—equipment, results, personnel, etc.—your values, goals, and passion (“software”) should fit the team you’re considering. It needs to be a comfortable setting for you.
Once you’ve selected your team, the next step is to define what the common goals, objectives, and responsibilities are and ensure these are all spelled out in an agreement. It may seem obvious what the responsibilities are, but they rarely are. Who’s going to arrange passes for your guests? Who’s going to make sure media releases are sent out? Who’s going to clean your driving suit after a weekend? Who’s responsible for sending in the entry forms?
Make sure you know exactly what you’re getting for each dollar you spend. Some teams include everything in their deal, while others can nickel and dime you to death if you’re not careful. That’s why so many team budgets that are floated around the racing community mean little to nothing. You’re rarely comparing apples to apples. Make sure you know who’s covering entry fees (both season-long series fees and individual event fees), crew passes and credentials, wages, tires, engine rebuilds, consumables (gears, brake pads, fluids, etc.), transport fees, crew travel, driver travel, driver’s license fees, driver safety equipment, and the big one, crash damage.
BUILDING AND OPERATING YOUR OWN TEAM
Rather than rent a ride with a team, you can also put together your own team and operate it yourself. In addition to the factors that I covered earlier, here are a few more to consider.
Ask yourself what your objectives are in running your own team. Are they to make a profit? Are they simply to give yourself more control? Is it to see your own name on the team’s equipment and entry? Is it to benefit you or someone else? Are there reasons you think this approach will help you win more often? If so, what are they?
Ask yourself if you want to be a team owner and manager or a driver. Which is most important? And even if driving is the priority, is it a little more important or a lot more important?
An important consideration when deciding between renting a ride with a team or starting and running your own is what to do with the car and equipment when it’s time to move up to the next level. More than one driver has had his career stunted by the inability to sell the current car to afford to move up to the next series level. If you’ve invested in a lot of equipment (trailer, tow vehicle, pit equipment, tools, and car) for one series and you want to move up to the next, will you need to sell this equipment before doing that? And if so, how difficult will that be? Will it delay your ability to move up or at least restrict your flexibility to take advantage of an opportunity?
Having all their capital locked up in equipment that cannot be sold off in time has cost many drivers an opportunity that could have made a big impact on their career. Think about it. Plan ahead.
Speaking of capital investment, what equipment will you need to invest in? Will you need to buy a car or cars, trailer, tow vehicle, tools, and other equipment? Will you need to invest in a shop to work out of? If so, what else could that capital be used for? Could it be used to hire a marketing person to develop some sponsorship opportunities? What are you really investing in, a team with your name on it or your driving career?
An important piece of business advice was once given to me. It went like this, 7 out of 10 problems in business are:
1. People
2. People
3. People
4. People
5. People
6. People
7. People
In other words, the biggest challenge in building and running a successful business is the people involved. (If you’re wondering what the other three are, it doesn’t matter. If you select and manage your people well, everything else is easy!)
Running a race team is no different. People are the key to a winning team. So, a critical challenge you will face in building and running your race team will be to select, attract, hire, and then manage the right people. If you think shaving that last tenth of a second off your lap time is difficult, wait until you select and manage your race team personnel!
Budgeting is obviously a critical piece to successfully operate your race team. If this has never been one of your personal strengths, perhaps running a team is not meant for you. I can’t give you the details in this book about how to build and maintain a budget for a team, but a good rule of thumb is to make your best estimate of the total cost for the season, then add another 50 percent. Unless you have a lot of experience budgeting for the specific series, you’re going to be running, and you are good at managing a budget, the plus-50 percent rule is a minimum.
One last comment on running your own race team. Every single team owner I’ve ever met has at one time underestimated what it took to build and run a successful team. Obviously it can be done, by some with great difficulty, but for every one of those, there are hundreds who are not successful. And every one of the successful ones have taken more work, more money, more great people, more of everything than the owner originally planned.
SPEED SECRET
Wildly overestimate what it will take to build and run a race team, and you may actually be accurate.
If I’m sounding like I’m trying to discourage you from building and running your own race team, that’s not entirely what’s intended. I’m just trying to be realistic. And since a focus here is on the driver, your driving abilities and career, it only makes sense that I would focus on what’s best for the driver’s performance. Operating a race team will take focus away from the development of your driving skills and from your career development. That is a fact.
Sure, there are advantages to building or operating your own race team. Most racers have no problem seeing the benefits, such as the control you have, the investment in equipment that you may be able to recoup someday, and so on. It’s the challenges and downside of taking this approach that is so difficult for most racers, and that’s why I’m suggesting you take the time to consider the points I’ve made here. All of the advice delivered here comes from the same place as everything else in this book: from our own and many, many others’ experience.
Most race teams use data-acquisition equipment. This can be invaluable once you learn how to get, and interpret, all the information from it. Many people pay a lot of money for data-acquisition equipment, only to never learn how to get the most from it.
One of the real advantages of data-acquisition equipment is in using it as a driving coach. Most systems will show exactly where on the track you begin braking, your throttle position, the g-forces generated in the turns, your speed, rpm, and many engine functions. This can help you figure out where it may be possible to pick up some speed, especially if you can compare with a teammate or another driver
in a similar car.
Data-acquisition systems are wonderful tools for a number of reasons. First, they often tell you something about the car and your driving that you haven’t noticed. Or they are great at confirming what you already thought. A data-acquisition system can be your “driver coach” and help you determine how to go faster. And most important, they never lie. It’s amazing how often you think you are taking a fast sweeper flat out, only to have the computer show that you did ease off the throttle slightly. After every practice or qualifying session or race, I sit down and go through every detail on the computer. I know it’s going to help make me faster, and if I don’t use it, I’ll be left behind by my competitors who do.
ILLUSTRATION 46-1 Understanding data-acquisition systems is a must for drivers. The upper throttle histogram graph compares the percentage of throttle openings for two separate laps. The bottom graph shows speed and throttle position over the course of a lap.
I have no intentions here of talking about the technical side of data-acquisition systems. What I do want to discuss in this chapter is how to use them to help you as a driver. The first and most important point I want to make is that no data-acquisition system in the world, no matter how sophisticated, can ever replace your feedback. The most successful car engineers know this. They know that the driver’s feedback is more important.
Am I saying your feedback is more accurate than data acquisition? No. What I’m saying is that no matter what the data says, if you feel, read, or perceive the car doing something different from what the data is saying, that is the way it is. The old saying, “Perception is reality” definitely applies in the case of race drivers.
Of course, not all engineers will agree with you on this subject. Many feel that the data is what matters most, and in many ways they are absolutely right. But in most cases, between improving a driver’s ability to sense the limit and level of confidence and improving the overall performance of the car, the former will usually result in the biggest improvement. In other words, you’re more likely to drive a car faster if you have confidence in it and can sense what it’s telling you than you are a car that is technically faster but very edgy and difficult to read.
You might begin to think that I do not have much use for data-acquisition systems on race cars. You couldn’t be farther from the truth. They are one of the most important tools a driver can use. When I’m coaching a driver, I almost demand the car has data acquisition. The most successful car engineers know that data acquisition is an extremely valuable tool to not only engineer the car, but also to help the driver.
SYNCHRONIZING YOURSELF TO THE DATA-ACQUISITION SYSTEM
The first step in using data acquisition is to “synchronize” yourself with it. Without doing this, you and the data-acquisition system will often not agree, and that can only lead to problems.
What do I mean by synchronizing? I mean training yourself to read the track and car in a way that matches what the data-acquisition system says. I also mean learning to interpret the data in a way that matches what you’re reporting. When that happens, you can make great gains in the performance of both your driving and the car.
Am I saying that you and the data acquisition must always agree? No. There is nothing wrong with seeing two sides of the story: how you feel, read, and perceive it; and how the data acquisition reports it. The information you require to make the car perform better is in the feedback coming from the two sources.
I talked about this earlier, but I’ll mention it again. There are many times when you may be able to make the race car faster, but it will become less comfortable for the driver. An uncomfortable driver is a slow driver. Sometimes the data is telling you to make one change, one that would ultimately make the car quicker, and yet you want to make a change that will result in a more comfortable, confidence-inspiring car. In nine times out of ten, going with what you want will result in the biggest improvement in performance of the driver and car package.
Never lose sight of the fact that we don’t race cars without drivers, and drivers don’t race without cars. It is a package, one whose overall performance is not dictated by just one part of it. The car and driver package’s performance is limited by the weakest half. But only one half of the package is human. It is the human element that is likely to be the most challenging component to enhance the performance of.
READING AND INTERPRETING THE DATA
While I don’t intend to get into any type of discussion as to how to interpret data from a car engineering point of view, I do want to touch on a few areas that relate strictly to you as the driver. What I hope to do here is help you become aware of a few tendencies to keep an eye on, as they can tell you a lot about your driving.
Throttle-Brake-Throttle Transition
One of the most obvious driving traits identifiable with data acquisition is what you’re doing with the throttle and brakes from the end of a straightaway through the exit of a corner. Here are the most common things to look for:
• Lifting off the throttle and coasting before applying the brakes
• Releasing the brakes too suddenly
• Too long a gap between full release of the brakes and application of the throttle
• Too abrupt on the application of the throttle
Look for a smooth, seamless overlap of braking and throttle, in both directions: from throttle to brake and brake to throttle. If there is any gap between the two, you’re wasting time. If the application or releasing of either the brakes or the throttle is too abrupt, you will not be smooth enough to be really fast; if it is too slow and gradual, you will be too slow.
Braking Forces
Watch for inconsistent braking forces. Typically, braking forces should ramp up quickly (often to the point of there being no ramp at all; it’s almost instantaneous to peak braking pressure), stay consistent at the limit, and then trail off smoothly. Some drivers initially stand on the brakes, and then begin to ease off, while others do the opposite. They take a long time to squeeze full pressure on the pedal, only getting to maximum threshold braking at the end, just prior to turning in to the corner.
ILLUSTRATION 46-2 This data trace demonstrates a number of problems: (1) the driver eased off the throttle (the green line) too slowly and gently; (2) there’s too long a gap between coming off the throttle and the beginning of braking (the red line); (3) the driver did not trail off the brakes gently enough; (4) there is too long a gap between the end of braking and the beginning of acceleration; and (5) the application of the throttle is too abrupt.
ILLUSTRATION 46-3 The braking trace (the red line) in this graph shows the driver applying inconsistent braking forces (at 1 and 2). In this case, with each downshifting blip of the throttle (3) there is a reduction in braking force.
You need to consider the type and performance of the car you’re driving. If the car has a lot of aerodynamic downforce, then the initial application of the brakes should be hard and quick. From there, you should begin to trail off some pressure as the car’s traction is reduced as the downforce is reduced with less and less speed.
If the car has little to no aerodynamic downforce, the braking should be relatively consistent all the way through the braking zone. The only reason you should alter the pressure through the length of the braking zone is variations in the track surface, and therefore the grip level of the track. If the braking zone is flat and smooth, so should the brake pressure trace on the data acquisition.
Steering Inputs
Often, you can detect a lack of confidence by studying the steering input trace. For example, if you’re not confident with what your car will do when you turn into a corner—perhaps, fearing it will oversteer immediately, or understeer—you will turn the wheel too gradually, instead of turning it accurately and crisply. You will begin turning the steering wheel prior to the ideal turn-in point, progressively turning the wheel too slowly.
If you compare and synchronize what you report (your awareness) with the data trace (the computer’s
awareness), over time you will learn to recognize a lack of confidence in the car. You’ll be able to look at a data trace and see that you’re not confident with the car. Obviously, this is invaluable information, as it is not until you’ve identified a problem that you can find the cause and its cure, and sometimes it’s not until you see the data trace that you can truly be aware of this lack of confidence in the car.
ILLUSTRATION 46-4 The throttle histogram is a useful tool to determine whether a change in car setup or driving technique results in more time spent at full throttle. But beware of reading too much into the information, as an increase in time spent at full throttle along with a reduction in time spent at part throttle could actually result in a slower lap time.
Throttle Histogram
Many drivers and engineers use the throttle histogram to determine whether a change to the car or driving technique resulted in a positive or negative change. The thinking is that if you’re able to spend more time at full throttle, a greater percentage of the lap with the throttle flat to the floor, then that is an improvement.