Defining the Mission
First, we need to talk about just what we’re trying to accomplish when learning a new track. For me, I’m try to get to a state where I can concentrate on execution, not analysis.
That means committing my baseline, rhythm and approach to memory, both mental and muscle, so my brain power is freed up to process the moment-to-moment details and adjust in real time.
Now, this is not always achievable in a single test day, weekend or even longer periods of time. Heck, I’ve been going to the Nürburgring for the better part of a decade and a half, and I’m just starting to feel like I can attack a good portion of the track.
[What it takes to secure a license to race at the Nürburgring]
The same can be said for tracks with far fewer turns, however. Terry Earwood once told me he’s convinced that Turn 17 at Sebring has only been driven correctly a handful of times, and most of those were by accident.
Still, if you’re analyzing a track while you’re driving it, you’re not at the limit yet. The goal is to get the track hardwired into your being so you can concentrate solely on those four contact patches, or traffic, or anything else but the rhythm and flow of the circuit.
Digital Recon
My first step when diving into a new track is to use whatever digital resources I have available to me. In a perfect world, this means iRacing has digitally scanned and modeled the track so I can drive some laps in a high-quality sim. Modern sims serve as an exceptional tool for learning new tracks, particularly from the standpoint of sight lines, basic rhythms and how sections link to one another.
For me, iRacing is the standard because I prefer its physics and high-quality track scans, but Assetto Corsa also has virtual recreations of many circuits that iRacing doesn’t feature. Assetto Corsa’s versions of lower-profile tracks are typically coded or recreated virtually, not scanned like iRacing’s, so the recreations tend to be less accurate from both a physics and scenery perspective. Still, they can give you a good idea of the basic flow of a track.
Screenshot courtesy iRacing
The takeaway message here is that any sim is better than no sim, but temper your expectations when engaging with user-created content.
YouTube is the next best stop for some in-car video and even some track tips. Again, here we need to be realistic about what we’re seeing, as many of the content creators on YouTube are psychos, and no, I won’t be naming names so no one comes after me.
But the key here is to take in whatever information you can. Even someone driving below the limit or on the wrong line can give you a good look at the cadence or sight pictures of a circuit, so consume content from multiple sources. Even motorcycle laps can give you unique perspectives because of the rider’s head movement, so don’t automatically discount them when looking for first-person video.
And while I want you to set your expectations low when trying to learn a new track via YouTube, there are some solid resources there as well. Tom O’Gorman has some high-quality track tip videos online, and our own YouTube channel contains my tips for several tracks as well, including VIR, Daytona, Sebring and Road Atlanta plus our official test track, the Florida International Rally & Motorsport Park.
At the Track
You’ve done all the homework, and it’s time to roll through the front gate of the track. What now?
Well, you again want to gather as much circuit info as possible before your first session behind the wheel. Depending on the event’s format and schedule, you may be able to first walk or bike the circuit–or maybe even hitch a ride with an instructor or track worker–for a low-speed recon lap or two.
Photograph by Tom Suddard
At the very least, you should get to as many trackside vantage points as you can. Seeing the track from spectator viewing areas can show how certain sections link to one another as well as the ideal line. Viewing corners from a distance can also reveal polished sections of pavement, indicating the most worn grooves through corners or the location of frequent spins: One set of skid marks may be an anomaly, but multiple sets in the same place may indicate a corner that needs a little extra attention.
First Laps
Finally, it’s time to roll out, and I’m going to recommend here that you try to start your first laps toward the back of the grid. You don’t need to be going fast or living in your mirrors when you’re trying to process all this new information.
Photograph by Chris Tropea
Your first few laps need to be pure recon, pushing minimally, even in the easy corners that you can fully see through. My reasoning is this: You’re trying to build muscle memory and not just rely on pure instinct. In all likelihood, these early laps won’t count for anything, so use them to start developing the patterns you’ll use to go faster as your knowledge increases.
Your first laps should ideally be on the ideal line that you learned via sim, coach, track guide or trusted video source. What I’m concentrating on during those early recon laps is not trying to go quickly, but really locking in my sight pictures and looking for landmarks I can use for reference.
And when I say reference, I don’t just mean braking and turn-in and apex and exit and hard points like that. I’m also looking for references that help link one segment to another.
I’ll get to more about track segments in a minute and how I approach them, but for me, I like to have cues that one segment is ending and another one is beginning so I can turn that page in my head.
These reference markers can be the explicit kind, like permanent braking markers, or the more implicit kind, like trees, skid marks or braking rubber embedded in the road surface.
Some tracks will frequently use cones to denote turn-in, apex and track-out points, and while helpful, cones are also super easy to knock over. Whenever I see cones early in a session, I first determine whether they’re right for me. But once we’re a lap or two into that first session, I’m also scanning the area for the more permanent markers that I’ll use when that cone inevitably gets displaced.
Photograph by Chris Tropea
Another note about these physical markers: Many of them are subject to change. Stuff like braking markers, curbs, flag stands and crests of hills aren’t likely to change. Trees, pavement markings and trackside billboards aren’t likely to change over the course of a single weekend; six months later, though, things may be very different.
One time I was at Thunderhill in California, and there was a groundhog sitting about 3 yards off the side of the track, right at a turn-in point, for about three laps in a row. Sadly, I was unable to convince him to stick around for the entire 25-hour race, as he obviously had important groundhog business to attend to elsewhere. Or he was already working for another team.
Now It’s Time to Push
Okay, you’ve got that recon out of the way. In between that first session and your next one, you should be able to close your eyes and completely drive a lap of the circuit in your head.
And I want you to do it at awkward times, too. Sitting in your motor home after just studying a track map and doing a mental lap is great, but stopping dead in the middle of the paddock while walking to buy a giant foam finger from the track’s gift shop is even better.
Force yourself to recall the track without any prompting or time to plan–or even context. The better you can remember the track in those situations, the closer you’re getting to internalizing it.
Photograph by Chris Tropea
For this next session, since I now have a feel for the basic flow of the track, I’m going to push a little bit. But I’m going to do it on a corner-by-corner basis.
The things I’m looking for here are grip levels and friction profiles. Some surface and tire combos have gradual breakaway with manageable slip angle, while others won’t. Since you now know where you’re going, you can start to learn how much grip you have.
My approach follows the usual suggestion regarding how to eat an elephant. No, not elephant nachos, although that’s a strong suggestion, but one bite at a time.
In our analogy, we’re going to start learning the track with some aggression in our veins–one bite (corner) at a time. From there, we’ll put together multiple bites to devour one course (segment) at a time. Finally, we’ll assemble those courses to snarf down an entire meal (track) at a time.
[How to shorten lap times–one section of track at a time]
Photograph by Chris Tropea
How this looks inside the car: You’re going to spend a couple laps with your eyes primarily focused on the next corner and its component parts as you navigate through it. Everything should be very exaggerated here, even to the point of saying stuff out loud and moving your head instead of just your eyes.
A typical corner entry at this phase may sound like, “Approach on left, threshold brake where a 2.5 marker would be. There’s a big eucalyptus tree, which stands out because it’s not native anywhere around here.” (If you’re going to use trees as markers, it helps to have some knowledge of botany so you aren’t always just saying, “You know, the brown tree, with the leaves?!?!? I think it’s brown, anyway! Whatever.”)
Or just use that pantsless guy in the Bud Light shirt sitting in the lawn chair: “He hasn’t moved for like 9 hours and I’m pretty sure he’s dead. If we see EVAC heading that way, we’ll get someone to wipe out so they have to back off and redeploy.”
Next, you’ll take those corners that you now know and link them into sections. To define the section, I recommend starting at a given point, usually the braking area following a long straight that leads into a series of complex maneuvers, and ending at the last bit of track that you can see from that first point in the segment.
If you have to adjust a little bit with either point, feel free, but the object here is to get a HUGE chunk of track in your field of vision. This exaggerated version of “looking ahead” isn’t simply about looking ahead of the car, but rather getting a holistic look of as much of the track as possible so you can form a strategy.
Are the multiple important corners in your view? Is the section busy until a final, important exit? Are there sneaky places to make speed because of favorable, usable curbs? Does camber come on or fall off anywhere, possibly putting the kibosh on your excellent plan before it even begins?
This is the kind of stuff you’re looking for, and before long, even just a few laps, you’ll be honking through those segments with abandon–seeing as how you know them intimately and all.
Links 2, 3, 4
Now it’s time to put those segments together into a cohesive whole. Once you’ve committed each segment to the memory banks and you think you have a plan for how to get from one to another–remember that you may have to make an adjustment here to respect the entry into the next section based on how you were coming out of the previous one–it’s time to attack a full lap.
Linking sections is like linking corners, although you frequently can’t see exactly what’s coming up due to terrain, obstacles or simply the track layout. That’s part of how we’re dividing the segments up, so it kind of makes sense.
Photograph by Chris Tropea
If you can’t see ahead, a recommended exercise: During the 4 to 10 seconds that you have on the previous straight, perform a quick mental run through the upcoming series of turns.
Oh, you can’t do that? Well, go back and learn the track better until you can.
You should know it like your seventh-grade locker combination that seemingly never left your brain (33-11-5). Like the face of your sleep paralysis demon. Like the writing on the back of the Dr. Bronner’s soap bottle.
Then and only then can you put it all together and go for that first full push lap.
Calculated Risks and Experimentation
For finding braking points, I usually adjust length and not intensity. So, if I’m seeking the point for a threshold brake application, I’ll start by threshold braking at a point that I know is too early. This might mean reducing the brakes or even getting back on the gas before the turn-in.
If I’m too early, though, I can then incrementally push back my braking point each lap until I find the right spot.
Always maintaining similar intensity allows me to make an adjustment with a single variable (distance) instead of adjusting with distance and pressure or, even worse, varying pressure.
Turn-in speed is another one of those things that’s going to take some willingness to experiment on your part. If you’re struggling with turn-in speeds in certain corners, first experiment with the lowest-risk ones–ones where you can screw up a little and not pay a price.
You’re looking for a manageable rhythm and cadence at a competitive pace, but not at the limit. I’d rather have you at 92% chasing down 1-2% each lap than sitting at 96% and struggling to find fractions each time.
Progression begets progression, and there’s no shame lost in handing yourself some easy wins: It reinforces proper technique and, as I’ve said so many times, builds muscle memory.
Photograph by Ken Neher
And sometimes you just have to make mistakes on purpose to learn stuff. Now, this kind of stuff can only be done in extremely low-risk corners, but it’s amazing what can be learned by (you think) grossly exceeding the car’s capabilities. Just as often as not, you may learn that your car’s capabilities were greater than you thought, and you made an unexpected breakthrough.
Back when I was riding motocross in my mid-40s, I struggled with a lot of the seemingly high-risk aerial activities. Single jumps, even big ones, came to me in time, but screwing up multiple jumps–like doubles or even triples–could lead to a harsh or even cased landing.
At one point, I asked a group of teenage riders on lower-powered bikes how they were so effortless clearing these doubles and triples. “Dude,” one of them said through a grin, “you just ride like there’s girls watchin’.”
Damn it if the kid didn’t have a point. I just hope none of those girls work for my insurance company.
Photograph by David S. Wallens
Anyway, my takeaway from that anecdote is that occasional leaps of faith are warranted if you’re going to progress. I’d never recommend foolhardiness or intentionally putting yourself in danger, but you can learn a lot by venturing outside of your comfort zone.
The key here is to do it in such a way as to minimize the risk. Maybe try that hero entry or full-throttle exit in a slower corner with lots of runoff and no inside wall. Maybe take that kink flat in a Miata, not a Mustang GT. Maybe late-brake into a corner with an early entry so you have plenty of road to work with if you overshoot.
The thing is, your tolerance for and ability to deal with risk will naturally increase with your skills. Things that terrify you on your first session at a new track will seem like a walk in the park by your second or third weekend, so be patient and work your progression at your pace.
Do it enough times, and maybe you’ll run out of new things to experience. Trust me, it’s a weirdly satisfying problem to have.
