Not quite ready to dedicate your entire life to your on-track escapades? How about some tips for the rest of us—those who'd just like to fully enjoy our classics, whether it's slicing through Road Atlanta's esses or traversing our favorite mountain pass?
Carl Heideman has gotten intimate with just about every form of classic machinery, from '50s Fords to Britain's …
All very good information, I wish most racers would take note. Yellow flags for mechanical failures burn-up a lot of track time. 
I've fielded a lot of tech support calls that turned out to be something on that list.
#4 is one that even experienced racers have a hard time learning. Depending on gear ratios and engine characteristics you can often short shift and land right on the top of the torque peak in the next gear instead winding the nuts off it as a matter of course.
I managed to get one guy to take my suggestion - he claimed a power peak at 7,000 rpm I asked him to go out and do 3 laps (which I'd time) faithfully doing 6,000, then 3 lps at 6500, then the last 3 at 7,000.
Turned out that regardless of where his actual power peak was, 6500 was just as fast as a 7,000 shift. Probably saved him an early rebuild.
Don't know why some racers are so stubbornly wedded to (sometimes incorrect) theory when it is so simple to just go out and try it and see.
This will probably seem common sense stuff to the serious racers on this board, but the one thing that helped me more than anything was focusing on eliminating any "dead" time in the pedals... What I mean is I should be either on the gas or on the brake, right? By focusing on doing one or the other ALL the time - and eliminating every milliscond of doing neither - lap times drop....
Love it!
'Sumtimz ya hafta slow down ta go faster...........
wspohn said:#4 is one that even experienced racers have a hard time learning. Depending on gear ratios and engine characteristics you can often short shift and land right on the top of the torque peak in the next gear instead winding the nuts off it as a matter of course.
I managed to get one guy to take my suggestion - he claimed a power peak at 7,000 rpm I asked him to go out and do 3 laps (which I'd time) faithfully doing 6,000, then 3 lps at 6500, then the last 3 at 7,000.
Turned out that regardless of where his actual power peak was, 6500 was just as fast as a 7,000 shift. Probably saved him an early rebuild.
Don't know why some racers are so stubbornly wedded to (sometimes incorrect) theory when it is so simple to just go out and try it and see.
Way back when, my instructor did the same on every lap down the main straight....next to a similar car. We'd slow down the last 500 rpm in 3rd while the other guy passed us.
Got him to shift sooner, and guess what happened?
I love all of these.
I'm obsessed with measuring.
I chuckled when I once read of a guy who switched from AFM with trap door to hot wire...."I could tell I was going faster because I wasn't pushing down on the gas pedal as far as before..."
And...."Ground"
Seems that many think it's not really doing anything....I.e. Not as important as "positive" connections.
The confusion, of course, stems from "chassis common" ground, in the car, where the metal frame is half of the circuit, and "earth" ground, in houses, which serves as a secondary pathway for "stray" electrons to get back home....instead of using your body as a pathway for them. This "earth" ground normally carries no current; the exact opposite of "chassis" ground.
We are victims of the endless shortening of technically correct phrases. May favorite is "Zero Turn Radius" Lawnmower to "Zero Turn" Lawnmower; its claim to fame is that it only goes in a straight line.
I love all of these.
I'm obsessed with measuring.
I chuckled when I once read of a guy who switched from AFM with trap door to hot wire...."I could tell I was going faster because I wasn't pushing down on the gas pedal as far as before..."
And...."Ground"
Seems that many think it's not really doing anything....I.e. Not as important as "positive" connections.
The confusion, of course, stems from "chassis common" ground, in the car, where the metal frame is half of the circuit, and "earth" ground, in houses, which serves as a secondary pathway for "stray" electrons to get back home....instead of using your body as a pathway for them. This "earth" ground normally carries no current; the exact opposite of "chassis" ground.
We are victims of the endless shortening of technically correct phrases. May favorite is "Zero Turn Radius" Lawnmower to "Zero Turn" Lawnmower; its claim to fame is that it only goes in a straight line.
In reply to terracer :
Amen! We were watching video one Saturday night at the track and one of the fast front runners said while watching my video "there's no coasting in racing". I was faster the next morning.
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