Isn't it always some P.O.S. with no insurance that causes all the accidents!? I have lost count of how many I have seen. I don't even know how you get away with it! In Maryland you cannot register a vehicle, and if your insurance lapses the DMV will charge heavy fines and will eventually suspend your license.

 

thankfully, no. not in my case. i'm getting ( and got..) paid, more than the car cost me. the pain and suffering bit isn't what i deserve, ( personally i think they should do some county jail time time for being at fault and totalling an immaculate low mileage TT ) ..but it beats nothing.

as i braced for impact and ( i swear ) thought, "whew, late model mini.. insured... BAM"!

 

What makes them better?

Well IMHO there are numerous things that make most of them better than your average track day warrior or road speed demon.

Better feel
Better reaction time
Better decision making
Grace under pressure
Better driving skills
More knowledge on a vehicles limits
Shall I go on...

I would say that most pro drivers have way better than average reflexes than your average driver, partially due to conditioning and training but also quite often due to genetics. The ones that do not have that last component usually do not make it to the higher ranks.

Also a seasoned veteran will have usually way more grace under pressure. When the poop does hit the fan they just do not get flustered and lock up or they do not get behind the car. Thus they can save something more frequently than your average driver.

Also a pro is very much more aware of a vehicles limit.

I myself have logged tens of thousands of miles instructing on a race track. Mostly on sport bikes but also a fair bit in cars. I have seen all levels students and skill levels.

Many times a novice driver will push tires or suspension past the limits just due to sloppy driving and technique, usually while going way slower than is actually possible if you do it right.

I proved that last story right just this last summer when a fast student figured he needed to make some upgrades to get to the next level... Well I told him to give me his fastest 2 laps in his car and I would easily beat it if he gave me the opportunity. Well to make a long story short even my second and third laps in an unfamiliar car were faster than his best; and I am no F1 driver... So I told him he did not need a faster car, he needed more practice.

In the track world usually they guys with the most scratches around there gas caps are usually some of the faster guys on the tarmac...

 

Engine Guy - I agree with everything you just said

The funny thing is though - if you re-read Tim's statement, he said what makes US better than THEM - not the other way around



I like your story about the kid wanting a faster car
I had a similar experience when I was younger in a go kart

I was young and inexperienced. I was throwing this kart all over the place, being really brutal, thinking I was doing all I could to get the best out of it

The fella that worked there told me he'd show me how to drive properly
He drove the same kart around the track, he was silky smooth, and was beating my times by a HUGE margin

Ever since that day I've tried to be as gentle and smooth as possible with the car

 

Just cuz I like to argue I'm going to. I'd have to agree with everything but the genetics component. I don't think in the 100 years of driving natural selection has evolved to select a gene for being a good race car driver. Perhaps a host of genes involving instinct, better senses, and quicker decision making skills. I could wrap my head around that! I expect that's what you are getting at and then I could agree. Probably wouldn't hurt to be the size of a horse jockey but those guys are far from genetic engineering marvels. Or are they?!

 

I remember watching a young girl interviewing Carl Fogarty once

She said he wasn't a very entertaining rider
She said a lot of his competitors come out of corners sideways, and do wheelies when they put the power down on the straights

He looked at her and said - That's why I'm the world champion

 

And then there's that!
+1

 

pumptech - he was talking about superfast reflexes when he said genetics

A bit like a world class boxer
You could never teach somebody to be as fast as Roy Jones Junior
That's just genetics

Or a 100m sprinter
I mean, I can run, but I'm no Tyson Gay!!

(at least that's how I interpreted it)

 

Strangely enough, the Pro's do NOT have better reflexes than the rest of us. I watched a British TV program where the University of Manchester got Michael Schumacher and a bunch of other race car drivers together and tested a bunch of things:

Reaction times was one of them... Turns out that even Michael Schumacher had just average reaction times. What ALL of the best drivers DID have, was the ability to process information more quickly and make instant decisions, as well as multitask. Turns out that what makes a World class driver is a brain that processes certain types of data better than non-pros. They can process "feel" and seat of the pants information better than average drivers.

They found out that what makes MS better, is his ability to go through a given corner 1/1,000th of a second quicker than anyone else and hold the Car at the exact limit of adhesion, right on the edge of disaster and do it over and over again.

Fascinating program... I will try to remember what it was called and post a link if I can find it on YouTube or similar.

 

Well I do agree with that there are some semantics that are different yet the end result is the same....
You are right in saying that from a physiological point of view the human body operates under the same set of physiological laws; but what you said above is the reaction time component.
A certain type of person receives input and does nothing with that information quickly; where as another person takes corrective action almost immediately. AKA reaction time.

And the grace under pressure component you and I mentioned is huge... I know I get a bike or car all bent out of shape and my heart does not skip a beat; I actually very much enjoy the feeling. Some people just cannot function under that kind of stress. Racers in general no matter what variety love living in that twilight world of split second decisions.

Another BUT and one that is on the original topic of this thread.... On both the road or track or just in life in general there will be days that life just does not go right. No matter who you are or how great you are there will be days when you bend your stuff.

 

The "Grace Under Pressure" comes from the knowledge that you can correct the situation and come out safely due to tens of thousands of miles on the track. This is most likely due to years of practice and conditioning and not much to do with genetic predisposition.

 

So I will ask how much track time do you have or how often do you teach people to do something, anything. I know I do it all the time on the track, in the air and on the dirt. Some people have and have it in a real short order, others get it with time; and other people just never seems to get it.

We are not all the same, not when it comes to physical things, mental things; not even body shape. Saying that these hyper talented athletes are no different than the next guy is like saying we all have the same God given ability as Albert Einstein or Stephen Hawking.

 

You are spot on. Just as there are people like Mozart who are genetically predisposed to being musical geniuses, so too are there people with a genetic predisposition (it's called talent) to being driving geniuses.

I have been a Race driving instructor for 18+ years now and I can tell you that no matter how much track time you get, if you don't have the talent, you are never going to be very good. I have a friend that is insane for all things Car and Motorcycle related; he LOVES Motorsports. He has been under my tutelage for 15+ years; he has done Bondurant, Skip Barber, the Keith Code Superbike school, shifter Kart courses etc, etc and he is never more than a mid-pack racer, despite the massive amount of track time he has under his belt.

Conversely, I have had students that don't have a single track day experience and come out and be head and shoulders above 99.999% of all the students I have trained. Sheer talent and a feel for things that other people don't even know exist.

Talent trumps track time..... There are people in the Motorcycle racing World like Troy Bayliss, who take two years away from World Superbike racing, then come back for a track test and go 1 second a lap faster than the present factory riders, on a Bike he has never ridden, on tires he has no feel for.

 

The thing that always blows my mind is this......


How many of us are world class at something, but never even find out about it?

For example;

Being British, I've never played BasketBall, but who's to say I couldn't be a world class penalty thrower?

I've never played BaseBall, but for all any of us know I could have an arm like a ****ing cannon!


Just thinking about that really blows my mind

 

I'm most likely world class at women's ping pong