Going Fast: Sometimes So Simple It Evades Us

[Toad]

The list of things I don't know about how cars function is endless, so I was pleased to come across these paraphrased quotes from some professional racers that I am trying to use in my Redline driving.

Also can you name the discipline they race in?

Doug Chandler:
What do you do when the rear end starts coming around on the throttle? The answer is: nothing. When the rear tire starts sliding, the last thing you want to do is chop the throttle; instead, simply stop adding throttle until the tire hooks back up.

Dale Quarterly:
"Give to get"--that is, you've got to give up speed at the corner entrance to get it back at the end of the following straight. Rushing a corner entrance only ruins your drive at the exit.

Barry Veneman:
"Choose lines that let you get to full throttle the soonest.

Ken Roberts:
The most important corner on any racetrack is the one that leads onto the longest (and thus fastest) straightaway, so get that section right. Trying to go fast in slower corners is not only pointless, it's risky, because you don't have momentum on your side. losing grip in a fast turn, you've got time to save it. If it lets go in a slow one, it's game over.

Dave Aldana: Think of the brakes and throttle as one control; you apply brakes as you close the throttle, and release it as you open it.

Rickey Gadson: To launch, hold engine revs at peak torque, not peak horsepower, let the tires find grip, then pin the throttle.

[C14ru5]

Adding to the list, but with more famous names:

Derek Bell:
You can lose a little bit of time downhill, but you must make it up uphill.

Colin McRae:
When in doubt, full throttle.

Kenneth Hansen:
He was driving too slow, so I nudged him a bit until he let me pass.


*I haven't claimed that these rules will make you win Redline games

[leoantix]

It is amazing how many drivers, even at the Formula One Level, think that the brakes are for slowing the car down.

[djpimley]

Not exactly advice but a very beautiful quote and precisely the reason I love racing:

With the throttle screwed on there is only the barest margin and no room at all for mistakes. It has to be done right... and that's when the strange music starts, when you stretch your luck so far that fear becomes exhilaration and vibrates along your arms [...] howling through a turn to the right, then to the left [...] letting off now, watching for cops, but only until the next dark stretch and another few seconds on the edge... The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over."

[Sponsored content]