Advanced Driving &

Sensitivity Concepts
By Warren Chamberlain

Dedicated to my Dad, who took me to my first race in October 1966

(CanAm at Laguna Seca), and worked his last SCCA club race in 2018.

William Warren Chamberlain II - January 1933 -- October 2018

Copyright Warren Chamberlain (SpeedCraft) 2019

 SpeedCraft - Advanced Driving Concepts
Introduction
For drivers, the true language of speed is feel. Sure, words can be used to describe a feeling, but the
really valuable information required to drive a car at the limit (energy, forces, movement, balance, etc.) that
stuff is understood holistically by your ‘feeling’ intuition and instincts, not by your ‘verbal’ intellect.
This disconnect between intellect and the actual ‘stuff’ of speed is why it’s essentially impossible to explain
how to drive, or how it feels to drive, at the limit in anything but a very rudimentary way. A great example of
this is to watch car or motorcycle racers trying to communicate with their engineers. If you watch them
‘explaining’ a handling problem they may start with words (understeer, oversteer, etc.) but often the
message is lost in the translation, so when words fail, the non-verbal part of them that actually does the
driving (intuition and instinct), interrupts to show what the problem ‘feels like’. Hands start mimicking
what’s being felt, or steering wheel/handlebar inputs are simulated, or shoulders and hips move to
demonstrate the relationship between what the ‘front end’ and the ‘back end’ of the car/bike are actually
doing on track.
That said, while intellect may not be great at performing the actual driving process, it is exceedingly good
at planning, evaluating, predicting, quantifying, etc. various elements of your driving, or a complete driving
performance; all of which can be very helpful for a racer. The difficult bit is getting intuition and intellect to
communicate so the whole driving process can be optimized.
When I started racing, I was fast immediately (set the lap record my 3rd weekend), but I learned and drove
like everyone else; instinctively/intuitively. I could not have told anyone how/why I was fast, I just did what
came naturally without understanding it. In my 3rd season I had some unusual experiences when racing
that gave me some insight into the mental processes going on when I drive, and the parts/levels of my
brain that were being used when driving at the limit.
Anyway, those insights helped me discover the concepts presented in this booklet. For me, the concepts
acted like translators for my intellect; allowing it to understand the meaning of the feelings my instincts and
intuition were using to drive. Of course, it’s not a ‘direct’ translation; it’s more like the concepts provide a
way of thinking about the source of the feelings, and the cause effect relationships between the feelings.
Basically it just gave me another level of understanding, resolution, precision, and confidence in my
driving. I hope you find these concepts useful, or at least interesting.
___________________________________________________
This booklet contains advanced concepts, so I’ve made the assumption that you know basic racing stuff
like ‘the line’, traction circle, slip/drift angles, etc. Also I’m assuming you can get around the track at a
reasonable pace without being completely overwhelmed. There are some mentions of different information
processing methods mentioned in this booklet; detailed information about that can be found on my website
(www.intuitivespeed.com), which provides a lot of other driving information such as:
• Learning Strategies for Racers
• Reducing the Sensation of Speed (information processing strategies)
• Concentration for Racers
• Confidence for Racers
• Training Techniques
___________________________________________________
This booklet provides my observations and opinions about advanced driving and sensitivity concepts. If
you choose to act on any of the ideas, you do so of your own free will, and assume the risks inherent in
racing. Therefore, I hereby disclaim any liability incurred in connection with the use of this information.

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 SpeedCraft - Advanced Driving Concepts
Advanced Driving & Sensitivity Concepts

Concept #1 - Tire, Traction & Cornering Terminology

Perhaps terminology is not really a concept, but complete and precise terminology does provide the building
blocks for constructing and understanding concepts, so I’ve included mine.

Concept #2 - Speed as a Liquid™

This concept provides an analogy for thinking about how the kinetic energy stored within a car moving at
speed flows through the chassis and into the tires to produce the loads that ultimately create traction, drift (slip)
angles, and the forces that act on the car to get it around the track. This energy movement happens constantly,
but since it can be very subtle, having a way of thinking about it can make it easier to tap into.

Concept #3 - The Energy Cycle™

This is the foundational concept for the way I view both the driving process and sensitivity because it
illustrates the cause/effect relationships and timing of how energy moves during the cornering process, while
also providing a way of thinking about how the different types (or modes) of sensitivity relate to driving. It also
provides a framework for integrating the other concepts.

Concept #4 - The 3D Traction Circle™

This concept provides a visual framework for experiencing and thinking about tire capabilities, loads, traction,
and drift angles in a more holistic way. Since these enigmatic sensations are mainly processed unconsciously
by your intuition and instincts, they are very difficult, or impossible, to clearly describe with words. Hopefully
this concept can work like a translator to help the intellectual portion of your brain to understand and interpret
the meaning of these sensations at a much higher resolution than normal.

Concept #5 - Controlling Rotation & Plan Corners Backwards

Managing rotation is the key to most turns because, in general, it determines the point at which the entry
phase of the turn is complete, and the exit phase begins. Therefore it defines when, and how hard, you can
get back on the gas. Rotational forces are created (or hindered) by the relationship between the car’s front
and rear drift angles. However, it’s important to recognize that the drift angles can be created in two ways (by
heavily loading a tire, or by removing the load a tire needs to produce maximum traction).

Concept #6 - Driving a Trajectory, Not Just a Line

People often talk about ‘the line’ as though it was a point (the car’s center of mass) traveling a specific path
around the track. However, you are not driving a point, you are driving 4 contact patches that describe a
rectangle. Therefore, I’ve always found it more helpful to think of driving a trajectory instead of just a ‘line’.
By trajectory, I mean the combination of the line your car’s center of mass is traveling, overlaid with the
drift-angle influenced orientation of your rectangular contact patches relative to the ‘line’.

Concept #7 - Sensitivity and the Energy Cycle

The energy cycle provides a way of thinking about how the different types (or modes) of sensitivity
can be influenced by paying attention to different elements of the energy cycle. Focusing on elements later in
the cycle means your sensitivity is being used more for reacting to what’s happening. Focusing on elements
earlier in the energy cycle means your sensitivity is being used more for directing what will happen.

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 SpeedCraft - Advanced Driving Concepts
Concept #1 - Tire, Traction & Cornering Terminology
The Inuit (Eskimos) have approximately 50 names to describe something that we use one name to describe;
snow. Why? Because there are many different types of snow (hard-packed, deep powder, wet, dry, corn, etc.).
The differences are not important to us, so we just call it all snow, but when you live in the arctic, identifying
and understanding the type of snow you are dealing with can be a matter of life and death.
For racers, feeling and understanding traction and the tire/track interface can be a life and death matter (or for
Sim racers, a win/lose matter). However, for some reason, racers use very few words to describe tires, traction,
and cornering. And the words we do use are often misleading and/or contradictory. For example ‘Slip Angle’:
The definition of slip is: “slide unintentionally for a short distance” or “slide suddenly and without intending to”.
However, this is not what racers mean when they use the term ‘slip angle’ because what they are really de-
scribing is an expected, gradual, and predictable (for a skilled driver) deviation from an intended path. So they
really are describing drift not slip.
Anyway, I believe that a somewhat larger and much more precise tire/traction vocabulary could be very helpful
in identifying and interpreting how you are controlling your tires, and where you are on the Drift vs Cornering
Force curve (for cornering) and Percent Slip vs Cornering Force curve (for braking and acceleration) at any
point on the track.
Below is my tire/traction/handling vocabulary. I’m not claiming its ‘right’, but it works for me.

General Trajectory/Handling Terms

Drift = Any deviation from the path your wheels are describing, whether intended or not. Drift
can be caused by a great deal of traction, which causes distortion of the tire's contact
patch and sidewall, or by a lack of traction, which causes the tire to slide across the road.

Drift Angle = The amount of drift (in degrees) that the tire/car is traveling away from the direction the
(AKA Slip Angle) front or rear wheels are pointing; so, the amount of deviation from the intended path.
Drift angles can be produced by both heavily loaded and lightly loaded tires. Both can pro-
duce the same amount of drift, but the drift is caused by different types/levels of traction.
Below is an example of two front tires with the same drift angle; the outside (driver’s right)
front tire is drifting due to heavy loading and traction distorting the sidewall and contact
patch. The inside front tire (left) is drifting due to less than optimum loading causing re-
duced traction. (so, both a ‘loaded drift’ and a ‘light drift’ on the same end of the car.)

Bright green shows the in-

tended path of the loaded
(outside) tire’s wheel, and
Bright red show the actual
(drift) path.

Light green and light red

show the same for the rela-
tively unloaded (inside) tire.

Blue shows the actual direc-

tion of the car, which is the
same as the drift path.

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 SpeedCraft - Advanced Driving Concepts
Concept #1 - Tire, Traction & Cornering Terminology
General Trajectory/Handling Terms Continued
Drift Angle Cont. = In addition to having the same drift angle for different reasons on one end of the car, you
(AKA Slip Angle) can also have drift angles happening for different reasons on the front and rear of the
same side of the car.
For example, you could use the throttle to transfer load from the front tires to the rear at
just the right moment when the car is rotating in yaw at the apex of a turn to simulta-
neously create a loaded drift in the back of the car, and an unloaded drift at the front.
When timed/executed properly, you can control excessive rotation by using the unloaded
drift angle from the front to counteract the loaded drift angle from the rear of the car.
Below is Ronnie Peterson demonstrating simultaneous loaded rear tire drift and relatively
unloaded front tire drift. This is as close as you can get to a true 4-wheel drift.
Bright green shows
the intended path of
the loaded (rear) tire’s
wheel, and Bright red
show the actual (drift)
path.

Light green and light

red show the same for
the relatively unloaded
(front) tire.

Blue shows the actual

direction of the car,
which is basically the
same as the larger
drift path. The rear
drift is slightly greater
than the front, which is
a requirement to com-
plete the corner with-
out ‘understeering’ off
the track.

Understeer = The handling condition that occurs when the front tires drift more than the rear
(push) tires. This can be caused by either insufficient or excessive loading of the front
tires.

Oversteer = The handling condition that occurs when the rear tires drift more than the front
(loose) tires. This can be caused by either insufficient or excessive loading of the rear
tires.

Balance = The handling condition that occurs when the front and rear tires are drifting the
same amount. This happens naturally & briefly at a turn’s rotation point, but never
for long, otherwise you’d eventually just drift diagonally off the track. This can also
be made to happen by a skilled drive who understands loads & drift angles.

Percent Slip = The difference between a tire's free-rolling speed and it’s actual rotational speed,
(longitudinal) which can be greater (under acceleration), or less (under braking).

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 SpeedCraft - Advanced Driving Concepts
Concept #1 - Tire, Traction & Cornering Terminology
Traction Type Terms
Interlock = This type of traction is generated primarily by the interlocking of the tire’s pliable
rubber with the pores in the road surface. It is most prevalent at relatively low
speeds/loads/drift angles (blue range in the image below). It is often where driv-
ers who are struggling for speed get stranded because it feels relatively safe.
However to produce maximum traction, an element of friction must be added to
the mix by introducing more energy (speed) and therefore more load & drift
angle.

Stiction = This type of traction is generated from an optimum combination of interlock and
friction, which occurs as a result of applying an optimum amount of energy
(speed) and load to a tire for a given turn. When done correctly the tire produces
optimum drift angles at the stiction peak, which results in maximum traction, and
minimum tire abuse such as overheating and scrub, (as illustrated by the green
peak in the image below). Optimum drift angle is a function of a tire’s design (9
degrees in the example below and maybe 5-6 degrees for more modern tires).

Cornering Force vs Drift Angle – curve ‘B’ below - (From Carol Smith’s book Tune to Win).

Interlock Stiction Peak

Range Friction Peak
CORNERING FORCE (G LOADS)

DRIFT (SLIP) ANGLE

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 SpeedCraft - Advanced Driving Concepts
Concept #1 - Tire, Traction & Cornering Terminology
Traction Type Terms Continued
Friction = This type of traction is generated by the surface of a heavily loaded tire scrub-
bing across the track surface. Maximum useful friction occurs at the third (red)
peak on the previous page’s Cornering Force vs Drift Angle illustration. The peak
occurs at about 16 degrees of drift, and provides a traction level very close to
that obtained at the Stiction peak (it's within about 3% to 5%). However, consis-
tently driving at this peak usually scrubs speed and puts a lot of heat in the tires.
Note: Stiction and Friction are not mutually exclusive; they are simply two points
on the traction continuum, and in between, they blend in various proportions.
Below is an example of friction cornering. Perhaps this is the fast way through (or
out of) this corner (no technique is fundamentally good or bad… they are just opti-
mum for your objectives in the current context or not), but you can literally see
the rubber being torn from the tire and deposited on the track.

Specific Tire/Traction Terms

Slip = An unexpected loss of traction. Typically caused by a reduction in the track’s coef-
ficient of friction (e.g. oil, water, dirt, etc on the track).

Slide = A relatively low level of traction caused by the tire not carrying sufficient load to
produce the amount of stiction or friction needed to create maximum traction.

Skid = Intermittent losses of traction caused by the inability to keep the tire in contact
with (or ‘hooked up to’) the track surface (e.g. bumps, driver induced energy
waves, excessive throttle, etc.).

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 SpeedCraft - Advanced Driving Concepts
Concept #1 - Tire, Traction & Cornering Terminology

Specific Tire/Traction Terms Continued

Scrub = A high level of traction produced by a tire that is overloaded (with accelera-
tion/deceleration and/or cornering forces) to the point that it is producing larger
than optimum drift angles, and therefore most of the traction is being produced
by friction.

Light Drift = A relatively lightly loaded tire that produces a lot of drift angle, while still produc-
ing a good amount of traction. For example, the front tires on a car that is
understeering slightly out of a high-speed sweeper.
(See the Ronnie Peterson example under the Drift Angle section.)

Loaded Drift = A tire heavily loaded with a combination of acceleration/deceleration and corner-
ing forces that is producing optimum (or greater than optimum) drift angles.
(See the Yellow #11 car image under the Drift Angle section.)

4 Wheel Drift = I don’t believe that a true ‘4 wheel drift’ can occur for more than a brief moment,
(the myth) and certainly not all the way out of a turn.

That is, if you’re driving fast, either the front end is drifting more (on the way into
the turn) or the back end is drifting more (on the way out of the turn). In the clas-
sic, car cranked sideways, tail out, power on out of a turn, example of a ‘4 wheel
drift’ (see below) there are only two tires drifting (the rears). The front tires are
managing: the drift, the rear tire loading, and the trajectory of the car, by being
pointed into (in the direction of) the drift at approximately the same (or a few de-
grees less) angle as the drift. That means the front tires would have essentially
zero drift angle. So, the classic 4 wheel drift is actually a 2 wheel drift, but it’s still
cool as hell!

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 SpeedCraft - Advanced Driving Concepts
Concept #1 - Tire, Traction & Cornering Terminology

Cornering/Driving Terms

Line = The two-dimensional path you intend to drive around a turn/track.

Yaw Rotation = The point in a turn at which your car rotates around its center of mass (stops en-
Point tering and starts exiting the turn).

Another way to think of this is the point when the front to rear centerline of the
car rotates from being greater than tangent to the ‘line’ being driven, to being less
than tangent (so, when the car stops pointing to the outside of the line being
driven and starts pointing toward the inside of the line.

The yaw rotation occurs naturally in every turn (usually near the apex), but you
can (and should) control when it happens by controlling your car's Yaw Attitude.

Yaw Attitude = The angle at which you place your car on the line you intend to drive.
The contact patches of your four tires describe a rectangular area. You can con-
trol the angle, or orientation, of your car’s rectangle, with respect to the tangent
of the Line you’re driving, by using various driving technique and/or setup
changes. If you're understeering, the front of your rectangle is pointing away from
the turn; if oversteering, it is pointed toward the inside of the turn.

Trajectory = The direction the car is traveling, which is determined by how drift angles influ-
ence the car’s yaw attitude in relation to the ‘line’ being driven.

Cornering Plan = The plan for getting around a corner at maximum speed, which involves manag-
ing energy flow (with the energy cycle), to apply loads to the tires, to create the
traction & drift angles that will influence the car’s yaw attitude, which will ulti-
mately interact with the line being driven to control the car’s trajectory (and there-
fore speed potential) through the turn.

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 SpeedCraft - Advanced Driving Concepts
Concept #2 - Speed as a Liquid

For me, almost immediately after I started racing, I could feel what was happening in my car and predict
what was going to happen, but it seamed like black magic... like I didn’t really have conscious
understanding and/or control of it. I wanted more; I wanted to understand where the sensitivity was coming
from, and how I was able to translate what I was feeling into a meaningful interpretation that would allow
me to confidently and consistently take my car to ‘the limit.’

As I gained more experience, knowledge, and sensitivity, I realized that a car at speed (or more
specifically, the kinetic energy stored in the car) behaves like a liquid. Hit the brakes, and it flows forward,
hit the throttle and it flows back, turn the wheel and it flows diagonally into the outside front tire. When
turning, the energy also flows in yaw around the car’s center of mass. And, like any liquid, all of these
flowing movements start gradually and build with time as long as more energy continues to be applied.
Also, the liquid’s viscosity is different from car to car, for example; super low for karts (like water), low for
small formula cars (like milk or buttermilk), and the viscosity continues rising as the cars get heavier.
So, I began to see my car’s chassis as a pan full of this liquid, the faster I went, the fuller it got. When I
needed to make a tire work for me (to enter a turn for example), I thought of making driving inputs that
would create a controlled flow of energy... pouring it through the suspension/spring/shock and into the tire.
Since tires require load to create traction, and they keep making more traction as load increases until the
tire’s performance limit is reached, I began to think of my tires as water balloons. However, I thought of
them as very delicate balloons because the liquid energy had to be poured into them gradually or they
wouldn’t have time to expand... too much energy too fast and they would effectively rupture, spilling the
energy and likely causing at least a loss of performance if not control.
This relationship between a tire’s ultimate traction capacity and the load it’s carrying is why anyone,
regardless of how ‘fast’ you are, can spin at less than maximum speed/performance. Load a tire
insufficiently, and you can spin even if it’s only performing at 1/2 of its ultimate capability. Likewise, pour
half the load into a tire carefully, and then dump the rest in and you can spin because you did not give the
tire’s capacity time to expand to it’s design limit.
The liquid analogy also address how energy can move in controlled currents, or in uncontrollable waves if
not properly managed. The idea of uncontrolled waves is especially true in very high speed turns. For
example, if the back end steps out, you must recognize that very early or you’ll likely never catch up (you’ll
spin the direction the back end is going). If you do get correction in to ‘build a dam’ against the energy
flow, but you don't plan for the wave rebounding off the dam (you’ll end up ‘over correcting’ and spin the
opposite direction).

So, what does speed as a liquid mean in practice? An example might be:
1) When it comes time to turn, I try to carefully pour just the right amount of energy, at just the right rate, into the
outside front tire to start the turn. The objective is to allow the tire to create maximum performance while avoiding
the creation of unwanted energy waves/oscillation because energy waves/oscillations can unbalance the car by
changing the loads on the tires in undesirable ways.
2) When the turn is initiated, I turn my attention to how the tire loading is progressing towards its peak performance,
while also monitoring how the traction and direction change is starting a rotational flow of energy around the car’s
center of mass.
3) As the front tire load/traction peaks, and the car approaches the apex of the turn, the rotational flow is gaining
strength, so my attention turns to quickly and carefully moving the energy from the outside front tire to the outside
rear tire to ‘check’ the rotational flow and orient car for optimum acceleration out of the turn.

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 SpeedCraft - Advanced Driving Concepts
Concept #3 - The Energy Cycle, an Introduction

While traction and ‘the limit’ can be sensed, interpreted, and predicted (all successful racers do
so naturally; intuitively), they are very abstract concepts to try and describe and/or understand
intellectually. That is, they can be experienced, but it’s hard to unravel the many factors (driver
input, car type, car setup, tires, environment, etc.) that interact to, ultimately produce the
maximum driver/car performance potential.

Once I realized that speed feels like a liquid to me, I needed a way to think about how I could
use that realization to understand the whole process of cornering so that I could not only do it
predictably and consistently at the limit, but so I could also observe and optimize the process.

After thinking about it, I realized that energy doesn’t just flow linearly into the tires, instead it
flows and grows cyclically over time. It starts with one or more driver inputs, and then it grows as
it travels through the following four interrelated elements or phases:

1 - Energy flows through the chassis.

2 - That energy pours into one or more tires and produces load.

3 - That load produces traction & drift angles.

4 - That traction produces forces that act on the car’s center of mass.

So, the cycle starts with a driver input placing a small amount of energy in motion, and then the
energy level grows moment-by-moment as the forces acting on the car cause more energy to
enter the cycle.

This cycle of increasing energy continues until:

Ÿ Equilibrium between the energy cycle and tire is reached. That is, the tire contains the
maximum amount of energy it can handle (and therefore is producing the maximum traction it
can). When equilibrium is reached the energy cycle reverses and the energy dissipates from
the tire back into the chassis.

Ÿ There is no longer sufficient energy (speed) available to increase the cycle’s energy level,
regardless of the tire’s capability. For example, not enough speed was carried into the turn.

Ÿ The driver executes an input that interrupts the energy cycle, and/or moves the energy from
the current cycle to another location (tire).

Once initiated, the energy cycle can be managed with minimal mental resources if it is evaluated
by recognition (how well it is matching what is expected) instead of the much higher cognitive
load method of analysis, which requires a great deal of attention as the sensations from the
cycle are continually evaluated to interpret their meaning.

(Information processing methods are explained in much more detail here).

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 SpeedCraft - Advanced Driving Concepts
Concept #3 - Energy Cycle Elements - Top View
Below is the framework I started with as the foundation for the energy cycle. It shows the four
elements of the energy cycle, numbered to reflect their order in the cycle, and the intersection of
the crosshair represents the energy cycle’s origin (aka a driver input).

4 - Forces
Traction creates forces that act on
the car’s center of mass. Including the
critical force of yaw rotation

3 - Traction 1 - Energy
Tire loads generate
both traction and
Flow
drift (slip) angles. Driver input causes
energy to start moving
(flowing) through the
chassis and suspension,
and into one or
more tires.

2 - Tire Loads
Energy flowing
Into the tire(s)
becomes loads.

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 SpeedCraft - Advanced Driving Concepts
Concept #3 - Energy Cycle Elements Interactions
The spiral represents how the energy cycle builds cyclically, as the forces acting on the car
draws more and more energy (stored in the car as speed) into the cycle.

It’s easiest to visualize how the energy cycle grows as an animation, so a link is provided below.

4 - Forces
Traction creates forces
that act on the car’s center of mass,
which causes additional energy
(if available) to be drawn into the cycle.
Click to View
an Animation
State of Equilibrium
When the forces acting on the car
equals the energy flowing from
the car, the energy flow stops
& reverses, or is transferred
to another tire as the
result of another
driver input.

1 - Energy
3 - Traction
Tire loads generate Flow
traction and the After driver input
ensuing Drift puts the cycle in
(slip) Angles. motion, the energy
flowing into the cycle
builds over time; driven by
the forces acting on the car.

0 - Origin
Driver Input starts
the energy cycle.

2 - Tire Loads
Energy flows
Into the tire(s) and
becomes loads.

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 SpeedCraft - Advanced Driving Concepts
Concept 3 - Energy Cycle - Side View
A side view of the energy spiral makes it easier to see how the energy level grows over time,
and how the revolutions take time to build the energy level. Even though the energy cycle takes
time ti build, it can actually happen very quickly depending on the car, driver input, and turn.

This is easiest to visualize as an animation, so you a side and perspective view are provided
(link below).

Cycle Diameter
Represents the amount of traction (G load & drift angle)
the energy/load/tire combination is producing.

Click to View
Animations

State of Equilibrium
When the forces acting on the car
equals the energy flowing from
the car, the energy flow stops
& reverses, or is transferred
to another tire as the result
of another driver input.

Cycle Height
Total amount of energy Cycle Rotation
in the cycle (Including the Frequency
energy stored in springs
Represents the energy level’s
and tire deformations) . rate of change, which is impacted by
multiple things including the available
energy (the car’s speed and weight),
the coefficient of friction between the
tires and track, how aggressive the
driver input is, etc.
(More rotations = a slower cycle)

Origin
Driver Input starts
the energy cycle.

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 SpeedCraft - Advanced Driving Concepts
Concept #3 - Fast Energy Cycle - Top & Side View
By a ‘fast’ energy cycle, I mean like the difference between how energy flows through a kart vs
how it would flow through a heavier car like a GT car or a stock car. The weight of the car
essentially determines the viscosity of the energy, and therefore the maximum speed of the
energy cycle, but driving inputs also have an impact on the energy cycle speed.

So, for example, braking hard, and turning a kart into a sharp turn, would cause the energy to
flow very quickly; producing a very fast energy cycle with fewer rotations before reaching energy
equilibrium.

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 SpeedCraft - Advanced Driving Concepts
Concept #3 - Using the Energy Cycle
While all of the energy cycle elements interact, I think of the elements #1 & #4 (energy movement
and the forces acting on the car) as more ‘whole-car’ things, and the elements #2 & #3 (tire
loading and traction/drift angle) as more ‘tire-specific’ things. When thinking in tire-specific terms, I
think of each tire as having it’s own energy cycle. That said, all tires should be carrying some load,
and therefore will contain some energy, so you could also think of it in terms of one tire being the
primarily active tire in a whole energy cycle... whatever works best for you.

Visual representation 4 - Forces

of a whole-car
energy cycle.

1 - Energy Flow
3 - Traction

Visual representation
of tire-specific
2 - Tire Loads energy cycles.

When it comes to monitoring and managing the energy cycle, I prefer to deal with one tire at a
time, because from a driver perspective, when cornering, there is only one critical contact patch at
any given time (the outside front tire from turn entry to rotation/apex, and the outside rear tire for
the remainder of the turn). When braking in a straight line, I focus on the tire that is most load
sensitive (most likely to lock). Taking this one-tire approach profoundly simplifies my mental load
when driving, which creates ‘free’ mental resources for other tasks such improving sensitivity, race
craft, performance evaluation, etc.

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 SpeedCraft - Advanced Driving Concepts
Concept #3 - Using the Energy Cycle - Tire Focus
2) When the energy cycle reaches equilibrium (typically at the rotation point/apex) the energy in the cycle begins to return from
the front tire to the chassis, so there is no longer enough energy in the front tire to maintain optimal drift angle. With the front
end unable to keep drifting predictably in an understeer attitude, the rotational momentum from turning into the corner starts to
takes over and build momentum, which causes the car to begin rotating
(yawing) around it’s center of mass.

...

3) Once the car starts rotating, the rotational momentum will continue
to build until it goes out of control and the car spins. So, the driver must
maintain control by executing additional inputs (throttle and/or steering),
to move energy from the outside front tire to the outside rear tire so that
it can produce the loads/traction required to manage the rotation.
4) If rotation control is properly timed and executed, the rate and amount
of rotation can precisely controlled, which allows the car to be placed
the yaw angle that produces optimum rear tire drift angle, while also
placing the car on the optimum trajectory/line to complete the turn.
NOTE: One important point is that it takes a lot of energy to create drift angles
by loading a tire to the point that it deforms and its contact patch twists. That
kinetic energy (speed) is delivered via an energy cycle that the driver creates to
manipulate the complex relationship between energy flow, tire load, traction,
drift-angle, and forces. So the driver ultimately determines the growth rate and
limit for an energy cycle, but some other factors can influence this are:
1) There can simply not be enough energy (speed) carried into a turn, so
sufficient energy is not available to load the tires to the limit of their capabilities.
2) Too much energy can be carried into a turn, and when that excessive
energy is pored into the tire, it overloads it causing the excess energy to be
dissipated (wasted) by scrubbing off rubber and generating heat.
3) Energy can be poured into the tire too quickly (or to roughly) so the tire doesn’t
1) The energy cycle starts have time to ‘stretch’ to it’s maximum capacity. The excess energy simply ‘spills’
with driver inputs (brake out of the undersized vessel (tire), which can often result in an ‘underloaded’ spin.
and/or steering), and 4) The driver can consciously or unconscious perform inputs that alter
builds with time to it’s Max the energy cycle’s growth, and/or transfer it to another tire.
level (aka equilibrium).
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 SpeedCraft - Advanced Driving Concepts
Concept #4 - 2D & 3D Traction Circles
In the same way that the energy cycle provides a way to think about how driving inputs influence
energy flow, and ultimately the car’s behavior, the traction circle give us a way of thinking in a more
detailed way about how our tires are working, and how the energy/load we control as drivers
impacts their performance and longevity.

The idea of the traction circle (what I call the two-dimensional traction circle) has been around,
basically unchanged, for at least 50 years. It’s a very effective tool for visualizing a tire’s maximum
longitudinal and lateral performance potential. it’s also effective at illustrating the idea that it’s
possible (really critical) to combine lateral and longitudinal forces to achieve maximum performance
throughout a turn.

However, the 2D traction circle does have some limitations or weaknesses (explained in the
following pages), so I came up with a visualization tool; the three-dimensional traction circle. The
3D traction circle provides the information from the 2D traction circle, plus additional information
about full tire performance potential and traction types, while also dovetailing nicely with the
concepts of speed as a liquid and the energy cycle.

Basically the 3D traction circle is based on the tire’s performance potential curves. For longitudinal
performance, the (percent slip vs coefficient of friction) curve, and for lateral performance the (drift
angle vs G load). Together, these curves represent the tire’s full performance potential (all the way
from unloaded to massively overloaded).

When viewed in 3D, the tire’s potential appears as a vessel into which the driver can pour energy to
create loads, traction, and drift angles. The diameter and height of the vessel changed dynamically
based on it’s current load, which reflect the fact that you must bring a tire to full potential by
gradually pouring energy into it to create load/traction. That is, you must give the tire time to expand
to its performance potential; pour too much energy too quickly, and the excess energy will ‘spill’
before the tire can ‘expand’ to hold it, which will likely result in a loss of control.

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 SpeedCraft - Advanced Driving Concepts
Concept #4 - The Two-Dimensional Traction Circle

Braking
force
The maximum force the The gray circle
tire can produce when represents the
optimally loaded. 2D traction circle

Right Left
turn turn
force force

The tire is
Accelerating
producing no force.
force (e.g. not moving
or off the track)

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 SpeedCraft - Advanced Driving Concepts
Concept #4 - 2D Traction Circle & Tire Curves Relationship

2D Traction
Circle
The 2D traction circle shows
the tire’s performance potential
from zero potential to
Coefficient of Coefficient of
maximum potential because it
friction for friction for is a reflection of the area from
longitudinal longitudinal
deceleration acceleration the origin to the peaks of the
force force
tire’s performance curves...
25 20 15 10 5 0 5 10 15 20 25

Percent Slip Percent Slip Percent Slip The Drift Angle vs G Load
Curve Peaks curve (for lateral force) and the
Percent Slip vs Coefficient of
Braking
Friction curve (for longitudinal
force).

2D Traction
Circle
Right Left
Turn Turn

Accelerating
(cornering force)
(cornering force)
G Loads

G Loads

20° 16° 12° 8° 4° 0° 4° 8° 12° 16° 20°

Drift Angle Drift Angle

Drift Angle vs
Cornering Force
Peaks
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 SpeedCraft - Advanced Driving Concepts
Concept #4 - Traction Circle & Energy Cycle Relationship
While the 2D traction circle shows the traction forces provided by the
tires relative to the tire’s maximum capability, overlaying the energy
cycle onto it provides a way of thinking about how those traction forces
build and dissipate, and about the time it takes for that to happen.

Braking

Right Left
Turn Turn

Accelerating

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 SpeedCraft - Advanced Driving Concepts
Concept #4 - 2D Traction Circle Limitations
So, the 2D traction circle is a very useful tool for understanding traction.
But, even though it has stood the test of time, it does have some limitations.

Limitation #1: The 2DTC only shows the information range

from no performance to peak performance (but the Slip/G
& % Slip curves show the tire’s full performance range).
So the 2D traction circle’s performance limit (the edge)
gives the false impression that going over the edge will
result in something like this.

Limitation #2: The 2DTC

provides no information about
how the tire performance levels
relate to the type of traction
being generated. For example:

Ÿ Interlock

Ÿ Sticktion

Ÿ Friction
(or Scrub in the extreme)

Limitation #3: The 2DTC does not provide a way of

visually representing how energy/load impacts the tire’s
ability to carry additional load, how load can be increased
up to the tire’s maximum performance potential, and what
happens if excess load is applied.

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 SpeedCraft - Advanced Driving Concepts
Concept #4 - The 3D Traction Circle
I created the 3D traction circle to address with limitations of the 2D traction circle, and to show a
more complete picture of a tire’s full capabilities, along with how the energy cycle relates to tires.

To make it, I ‘swept’ a tire’s longitudinal percent slip curves (red & green curves below) and the
lateral G curves (blue curves below) into a 3D shape. The opening in the shape represents the
‘vessel’ into which energy can be poured to create load, which creates traction, which creates
drift angles.

A tire’s capabilities change with load, so the 3D traction circle should also be thought of as
varying in size (height, diameter, and vessel capacity) depending on the energy/load placed into
the tire. So, from nothing (no 3D traction circle if there is no load) to full size (as shown below,
which represents the extent of the tire’s capabilities when being massively overloaded).

The 3D traction circle is not a perfect model, but for me it’s still very useful.

Note: The curves (outer

edges of the 3D traction
circle) end (drop off to zero)
because the image must end
at some point. However, in
reality, the traction level would
never just drop to zero like that.
Instead, if you got completely
sideways, you would scrub your
way down the track dissipating
energy (speed) through the tires
and into the track, until you ran out of
energy and stopped... or hit something.

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 SpeedCraft - Advanced Driving Concepts
Concept #4 - The 3DTC & Tire Performance Levels
Earlier, I mentioned the difficulty of thinking about or identifying the tire performance levels when using the 2D traction
circle model. What I mean by performance level is how the tire is generating traction, for example:
Ÿ Primarily by interlocking with (or adhering to) the imperfections in the track surface, which typically happens if tires
are under loaded, meaning that they aren't given enough energy/load to allow them to generate optimum drift angles.
Ÿ Primarily by the friction from drifting (or scrubbing) the tire across the track, which typically happens when a tire is
very heavily loaded. In moderation it looks cool and can be fast, but is hard on tires.
Ÿ Or with sticktion; a well managed balance of both of interlock and friction that produces maximum traction, as
efficiently as possible by managing the load on/in the tire to generate the optimal amount of drift for efficiently
produce maximum traction.

Contact Patch
Interlock Area
Drift Area

Interlock Range 1- 8° of drift angle Stiction Range 8 - 12° of drift angle Friction/Scrub 12 - 20+° of drift angle

If you imagine the continuum of traction types ranges from interlock (blue), through sticktion (green) and
finishes at friction/scrub (red), then hopefully you can see below the areas of the 3D traction circle in which
those tire performance levels reside.

Longitudinal Tire
Performance

Lateral Tire
Performance

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 SpeedCraft - Advanced Driving Concepts
Concept #4 - The 3DTC & the Energy Cycle
This is just a visual representation of how the 3D traction circle & energy cycle relate to each other and
to the generation of traction. Hopefully it shows that as the energy in the cycle rises, the load on the tire
(and therefore the tire’s capability to generated traction) rises, which means the drift angles rise.
However, if you keep pouring energy into a ‘full’ tire, it will spill over the ‘optimum performance lip’
(peak) into the inefficient ‘friction’ tire performance range (very high drift angle). If too little energy is
poured into a tire, or energy is poured too quickly (faster than the tire’s capabilities can expand), then
the tire’s performance potential will not be reached because a false (under loaded) limit will be created.
In this case, drift angles are still produced, but at a lower overall traction level.

NOTE: I’m not very good with my 3D software yet, so I’m just trying to get the idea across with these very rough
images and animations (link below). Please try to imagine that the energy cycle (orange spiral) does not venture
outside of the empty (hollow) portion of the 3D traction circle, which represents the variable size vessel into which
energy can be poured. Also imagine the orange spiral just leads the 3DTS growth rate (doesn’t run so far ahead).

Click to See Click to See a

Side & Perspective Top View Animation
View Animations

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 SpeedCraft - Advanced Driving Concepts
Concept #5 - Controlling of Rotation
Concepts 2 - 4 are important because they provide ways to think about energy movement,
traction/drift angles, and forces, but applying that knowledge to control rotation can pay huge
dividends on track.

I believe the key to optimum performance in any turn is managing yaw rotation (rotation around the
car’s center of mass relative to the line being driven).

Corner Entry Phase Rotation Point Corner Exit Phase

(Car is oriented greater than tangent to (Car orientation rotates so it is tangent to (Car typically keeps rotating until it’s less
the line - hopefully by an amount equal the line and for a moment the front and than tangent to the line; the driver’s job is
to the optimum front tire drift angle.) rear drift angles are relatively equal.) to keep the orientation angle equal to the
optimum rear tire drift angle.)

Pink shows the ‘line’ the driver is The green & red arrow combinations show
attempting to travel. Blue shows the how the front and rear drift angles change
car’s orientation on the line, and it’s relative to the car’s orientation as
approximate actual direction of travel. the car travels through a turn.

By managing rotation, I mean strategically influencing one or more of the three elements of rotation:
location, rate, and amount.

The location where rotation occurs is critical because it determines the end of the turn’s entry phase,
and the beginning of the exit phase, which mean it also signifies when you can get back on the gas.

The rate and amount of rotation profoundly influences how aggressively you can (or must) get on the
gas, and how hard and efficiently you use your tires as a result of doing so. However, going back to
the speed as a liquid concept, one other related factor that must also be taken into consideration
when managing the rotation speed is how much momentum the rotational energy has and/or is
building. The rotation momentum is influenced by the overall energy level (speed) of the car, and the
time that un-managed rotation has been occurring.

If any reasonable amount of drift angle is carried into a turn, the car will always rotate naturally as it
goes around the turn (typically at or near the apex). If the car did not rotate naturally, it could not
finish the turn. However, fast drivers almost always instinctively, or knowingly, manipulate at least one
of the rotation factors in each turn. But to be clear, the ‘change’ in rotation can be very subtle, like a
few feet earlier or later than the natural location, or a few degrees more or less rotation amount, etc.

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 SpeedCraft - Advanced Driving Concepts
Concept #5 - Controlling of Rotation Cont.
Manipulating the rotation location and speed begins with using various driving techniques to
influence the energy cycle of the outside front tire so that it peaks at the desired energy/load level,
and at the desired location. Doing so, means optimum drift angle (and equilibrium of the energy
cycle) is achieved, and rotation is triggered, where YOU want it to happen.

In general, the faster the turn, the more rotational energy and momentum there will be. However,
rotation speed and momentum can be influenced with the energy cycle by manipulating the level of
energy/load/traction for the outside front tire relative to the turn-in point. That is, turning in and letting
the tire loads grow gradually will produce less rotational momentum, and a slower rotation. Whereas,
‘pinning’ the front end (with a lot of trail braking) to aggressively pitch the car into a slow turn, will
produce a lot or rotational speed, but not as much momentum as a high-speed turn.

The point where the car goes tangent to the line being driven (where the front and rear drift angles
will be relatively equal) is one of the most critical parts of any turn because while the front/rear drift
angles might be the same, there is not enough energy available to give either tire optimum
load/performance. This is the case because the energy from the energy cycle used to optimize tire
loads, etc. for the entry phase of the turn, is now being split between the front and rear tires as it
either directly (via driver inputs), or indirectly (via a combination of natural energy cycle collapse +
rotational momentum) moves towards the outside rear tire. However, you cannot allow the
energy/load to get to the outside rear tire when it feels like it; you must take control of the situation
and get optimum load on that outside rear tire quickly enough that you can control the rotational
momentum and rotation angle, but without inadvertently adding to the rotational momentum. Anyway,
this tire loading ‘no man’s land” at mid rotation is why ‘they’ always say “avoid coasting at the apex.”

Anyway, when rotation begins, the rate is pretty much already established by the way you drove the
turn’s entry phase. At that point it’s up to the driver to manage the amount of rotation. Again, this is
done using driver inputs to influence the energy cycle so that optimal load is placed on the outside
rear tire. To accomplish this, the driver has three tools: acceleration, counter steering, and timing.

Accelerating will do two things: 1) Transfer energy from the outside front tire’s energy cycle to the
outside rear tire’s energy cycle. 2),Increase the car’s overall energy/speed.

Counter steering will pour energy out of the outside rear tire into the chassis and/or front tire.

Timing is what makes accelerating and/or counter steering work in the context of the current rotation
rate, rotation momentum, and objective of the corner exit phase. For example, with a low-
momentum, high-speed rotation (e.g. pitching the car into a low speed turn), the rotation amount can
typically be controlled by waiting for the car to rotate the desired amount, and then getting hard on
the gas to ‘hook’ the outside rear tire up, stop the rotation, and aggressively accelerate out of the turn
(fine tuning with counter steering as needed); hard acceleration out being the ‘exit phase objective’.

However, when the car is rotating with more momentum, you must get out in front of the rotation
‘wave’, and take the momentum into consideration when timing the ‘checking’ of the rotation. Also,
you must use the accelerator with much more finesse because the tire will already contain a lot of
energy, so if you add too much more energy, too quickly, you will end up ‘spilling’ it, which will result
in an increase of rotational momentum instead of ‘checking’ it.

That’s the basics of rotation, so now we’ll take it a step farther and move on to the related topic or
using rotation to drive a trajectory on a line.

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 SpeedCraft - Advanced Driving Concepts
Concept #6 - Drive a Trajectory on a Line
In Concept #5, we talked about the importance of controlling rotation, but rotation and the racing line
are intertwined. That is, change your line, and you will impact the energy cycle, tire loads,
traction/drift angles, and rotation. Change any elements of rotation, and you will impact the line itself,
and/or your ability to keep the car on the desired line at the desired speed.

Therefore, for advanced driving, the traditional concept of "a line” is too limited because it only
represents a portion of the picture (the path you want the car's center of mass to travel around the
track). Expanding the concept of "the line" to include the rectangle defined by the car’s four contact
patches gives a much more complete picture of cornering because the constantly changing tire drift
angles influence both the orientation of the car (rectangle) relative to the line it’s following, and the
car’s actual direction of travel relative to the line.

Another important point is that the car’s trajectory determine’s how the energy from acceleration,
deceleration, and cornering forces move through the car's center of mass, which determines to what
extent the energy helps or hinders the cornering process. For example:

Ÿ Trying to accelerate hard out of a slow-speed turn with a trajectory that has the tail end hung way
out does not allow the acceleration force to push relatively directly and efficiently though the car’s
center of mass; instead the force tends to ‘spill’ in the direction of the drift, limiting how hard you
can accelerate without losing control of the energy and spinning the car.

Ÿ However, in a mid-speed sweeper, where cornering forces are high and acceleration forces are
lower, then if you tend to run out of track at the exit of the turn, it might be advantages to drive a
trajectory that hangs the tail out slightly, so the acceleration forces (which aren’t high enough to
push rear around) are put to work helping to push/drive the car away from the edge of the track.

Ÿ If your car is unstable (rotates into oversteer too easily) in a high-speed turn, then if the instability
comes entering the turn it might be advantages to take a more shallow trajectory into the turn (to
keep rotational momentum from building too quickly). If the instability is from the rotation point out,
then it might be advantages to manage the rotation amount by driving a trajectory that checks the
car’s rotation when it is at or near tangent to the line (by strategically removing front tire loads).

I believe that to extract the last bit of performance from a car/tack combination, a driver must
combine their (intuitive and/or intellectual) knowledge of concepts 2-5 to formulate a cornering plan
that allows for the driving of a trajectory for each corner (and each phase of the corner) that will
optimize performance to best meet the objectives for each turn. When creating a cornering plan:

Ÿ I determine the priority of the turn relative to lap times (e.g. does it lead onto a long straight), and
my specific objectives for each phase of the turn.
Ÿ I identify any special considerations for the corner, car, or conditions. For example, if camber,
elevation, or surface changes need to be considered. Or if the tires go off quickly, so using less
than optimum drift angles may be called for during the turn’s entry and/or exit phase.
Ÿ Then I identify where I want rotation to occur, and the rate and momentum of rotation needed to
produce an optimum trajectory out of the turn to meet the objectives and considerations above.
Ÿ Finally I determine the entry phase trajectory for the turn by determining the energy cycle I will
need to create to produce the outside front tire loading/traction that will make the car rotate where
and how I want it to.
The next two pages show some examples of how to manipulate rotation and trajectory:

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 SpeedCraft - Advanced Driving Concepts
Concept #6 - Drive a Trajectory - Examples 1
An understanding of the Speed as a Liquid concept can allow you to enhance your car’s level of ‘natural’ rotation. This
might be helpful if your car generally handles well (so you don’t want to change the setup), but you’re having trouble
getting the car to rotate into a sweeper that does not require braking. Since energy (and especially rotational energy)
tends to move in waves, you can use this to your advantage by approaching the turn’s turn-in point slightly away from the
edge of the track, and then making two turns; one small turn out to the edge of the track, so you get to the edge of the...
... track just as you reach the turn-in point,
followed by your turn into the corner in one
smooth motion. In the example (at left) the
initial left turn will send a small amount of
energy into the right rear tire/suspension,
and will start a small amount of left-hand
rotational momentum. When you smoothly
connect the first turn with the actual right-
hand turn into the corner, the energy from...

Pink shows the regular line

... the RR tire/suspension and blue shows the
rebounds and is added to advanced-rotation line. The
the natural rotational cars are positioned to show
energy produced when the rotation/trajectory
you turn into the corner. relative to the blue line.
This compounded
rotational momentum can An understanding of the Energy Cycle and
help overcome the car’s Speed as a Liquid concepts can allow you to
reluctance to rotate into significantly advance the rotation point in a turn that
the corner. requires hard braking, followed by hard acceleration.
Doing so effectively compress the entry phase of the
This technique can be turn and extends the exit phase so you can begin
modified in several ways acceleration earlier and get full throttle sooner.
to make the effect even
stronger, for example: To do this, you brake as late and as hard as possible
(massively loading the front tires, and unloading the
1) You could start from rears), then as you approach the turn-in point (with
farther away from the the front end energy/speed just beginning to dip), you
edge of the track. turn the car in with an aggressive trail-braked ‘flick’ to
initiate a quick rotation. What makes this work is
2) You could start near managing a perfect balance between braking and
the edge of the track, cornering loads for the outside front tire, which
swerve toward the center provides the rotation force, and the fact the rear tires
of the track, back out to are very lightly loaded, so they are free to ‘slide’
the edge, and then into across the track surface as the car rotates.
the corner. (e.g. combine
3 rotation waves). The rotation rate will be high, so as soon as it begins,
you must get correction steering in place, and then
3) You could breath the wait until the car rotates the desired amount. Then
throttle just as you you get on the gas hard to pin the outside rear tire to
actually turn into the the track, check the rotation, and drive the car (hard
corner. on the gas) out of the turn on the desired trajectory.

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 SpeedCraft - Advanced Driving Concepts
Concept #6 - Drive a Trajectory - Examples 2
An understanding of the Speed as a Liquid concept can allow you to reduce your car’s level of ‘natural’ rotation
momentum, while also moving the rotation point later in the turn. This might be helpful if your car generally handles well
(so you don’t want to change the setup), but is over-rotating into a high-speed turn, causing you to delay getting back to
the gas while you manage the oversteer into, or even beyond, the apex. Because there is a relationship between the
energy cycle’s growth rate and rotational momentum, modifying the turn entry phase energy cycle can help manage the...
... rotation-driven instability by building the
energy more slowly, and by directing the
cornering forces more directly to the car’s
center of mass. Doing so produces less
rotational momentum and a more
‘understeering’ trajectory through the turn
both of which tend to stabilize the car on
corner entry. To do this, turn in a little earlier
(like a few feet - nothing crazy). However, ...

Pink shows the regular line

and blue shows the reduced-
rotation line. The cars are
positioned to show the rotation
& trajectory relative to the
blue line.

3) Finish turn with power on

... in addition to turning (manage front/rear drift
earlier, turn in more balance with throttle if needed).
slowly so that you end 2) Get on the gas hard enough to
up at the ‘normal’ apex ‘stop’ rotation and unweight the
front end.
for the turn. Doing this
1) Let the car rotate to the desired
will build rotation more orientation/trajectory.
slowly, and will cause a
significant amount of the When a car is twitchy at the rotation point and/or
rotation to occur where through the turn’s exit phase (like many smaller
overall energy levels are formula cars), it can make getting on, and staying
at their lowest point on, the gas without scrubbing speed or losing the
(at/near the apex). back end very difficult. However, in many corners,
carefully managing the rotation amount can produce
That said, bear in mind driver-induced understeer, which can stabilize the car
that this technique makes and allow you to accelerate aggressively; apex -> out.
compromises with
rotation during the corner The key to inducing understeer is to strategically use
entry phase of the turn, the throttle to both ‘stop’ rotation of the car at the
which does not come for desired orientation, AND simultaneously unweight the
free. So when you get to front tires so that an unloaded drift angle is generated
the apex, the car should to counteracts the outside rear tire’s loaded drift
have enough rotation to angle. When timed/done correctly, you kind of ‘carry’
start the exit phase of the the front end out of the turn while causing the
turn. However, it’s quite acceleration forces to drive through the car’s center
possible there may still of mass, which is a very stable situation that let’s you
be a little more rotation accelerate early and hard.
required to complete the
turn. This ‘extra’ rotation At first, this can be a ‘leap of faith’ technique because
often happens as a back- getting hard on the gas doesn’t see like a good plan
end twitch near the track- when the car is twitchy (and it’s not), but getting on
out point, but it typically is the gas hard at just the right time (JUST before the
no problem if you are car rotates into twitchyness) can turn a beast of a car
expecting it. into a a very quick dream to drive.
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 SpeedCraft - Advanced Driving Concepts
Concept #7 - Sensitivity and the Energy Cycle
All the advanced driving concepts presented so far provide ways of thinking about what is happening
when your drive, and how your intentions and inputs influence your car’s performance. However your
ability to use that knowledge to improve your driving is dependent on the breadth, depth, and
resolution of your sensitivity:
Ÿ Breadth = The number of senses you are aware of and can tap into.
Ÿ Depth = The amount of USEFUL information you can extract from your senses.
Ÿ Resolution = The level of ability you have for interpreting what your sensations mean
regarding the relationships between the car, track, tires, environment, and your plan for getting
around the track as quickly as possible.
Anyway, before we dive into sensitivity, we should first look at what sensitivity is not:
Ÿ It's not one thing.
Ÿ It's not just the cliché “being one with the car.”
Ÿ It's not just focusing all of your attention on one of more of your senses (assuming anyone
actually has the mental bandwidth to do that when driving at full speed).
Ÿ It's not just feeling traction (you must also be able to feel what's producing and influencing
traction, and understand where, when, and how to exert control over those things).
Ÿ It's not a mysterious gift that you either have or don't have; it's a skill (well actually a set of
skills), so once the skills are identified and understood, they can be improved.

I view 'Sensitivity' as a catch-all term for the multiple intertwined Basic Sensitivity Proess

processes and skills required to filter and prioritize the sensations

you experience when driving, translate those sensations into
information you can use, interpret the 'meaning' from that Start Session
information, use that meaning to determine how close your car is
to the 'limit’,… and then, respond with appropriate driver inputs to
1 - Plan for driving around the track
stay at the limit, elevate your performance level if you’ve not (including Intentions and Expectations)
found the limit yet, or recover control if you’ve overstepped.---->
2 - Sensory Stream from
At its core, sensitivity is an information processing skill. However, Driving Around the Track
each of us has only so much information processing capability
available at any given moment. The amount of your processing
3 - Identify & Extract
capability that can be devoted to sensitivity is dependent on how Relevant Sensory Data
much of your cognitive resources are being consumed by other
higher-priority, processing-critical activities.
4 - Translate sensory data
into information (e.g. speed,
level of grip, rate of rotation)
For example, if you are driving your first few laps on a track that’s
new to you, then the most critical activity is staying on track while
also trying to figuring out where you are, and where you're going 5 - Interpret the meaning of the
translated sensory information
next. In that situation, almost all of your information processing (e.g. on or off target, at limit or not)
capabilities will be devoted to those visual tasks. That means
during those laps, your sensitivity level will likely be very low.
Use the interpreted meaning to either adjust
your driving to stay on (or get back on) plan,
or improve the plan by adjustting 'on the fly'.
Now consider a novice driver or an overwhelmed/low-confidence
driver. Drivers in this situation typically will be constantly 'busy'
with the tasks of driving, so they will likely not have much if any End Session
(And determine how you might improve
processing bandwidth available for more advanced tasks like your driving, or your plan, or your
driving with elevated sensitivity to traction, forces, etc. sensitivity process next session)

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Concept #7 - Sensitivity and the Energy Cycle
Since we have limited mental bandwidth with which to be sensitive, the first key to elevating
sensitivity, is to free mental resources by making your mental processes for gathering, filtering,
translating, interpreting, and responding to sensory information more efficient. The easiest ways to
do this are:
Ÿ Only invest attention on the most important stuff at any moment; that’s why I ‘drive’ only one
tire at a time.
Ÿ ’Do’ less so you can observe and feel more.
In music, the structure and ‘feel’ of a song is created not just by the notes (the musician’s
actions), but by the relationship between the notes and the rests (the musician’s inaction). If
you remove the rests, the music disappears; it loses its structure and just becomes noise.
In my mind, it is the same with driving. If you drive by focusing your attention from action point
to action point (braking/steering/accelerating/etc.) you lock yourself into a constant level of
business (and likely tension), which can limit the depth of your sensitivity, and therefore the
quality of your driving. I believe that’s the case because the ‘rests’ in driving (even though they
are brief) represent your opportunity to relax into the moment, so that your intuition and
instincts are set free, and your mind is given the bandwidth needed to feel and observe what is
happening, which can elevate your driving performances from being a robotic step-by-step
process for getting around the track, into art or even magic.
“He who sees inaction in action and action in inaction is wise among men” – Bhagavad Gita

Ÿ Don’t do or analyze that which you can automate or recognize.

Another way to free critical resources (and carve out even more sensitivity time per lap), is to
only ‘DO’ the most important actions in each turn and only analyze sensations that are not
already part of your mental model of the track. Back to the music analogy, when a guitarist rips
through a blazing fast riff, he is not investing attention on the playing of every note. He focuses
on the whole riff and the ‘key’ notes that help him get through the passage with the correct
timing and feel. The rest of (most of) the notes are played on autopilot, via mental and muscle
memory. Doing something similar in racing can free a huge amount of mental bandwidth.
For example if your plan for getting around a turn includes reference points for braking, turn-in,
apexing, throttle-on, and track-out, that’s a lot of stuff to ‘do’, and each ‘task’ you do shorten’s
the ‘rests’ needed for sensitivity. The braking and turn-in points are likely important to attend to
because they create the energy cycle that sets up the rest of the turn. However, if you are
reasonably familiar with the track/turn, for the rest of the turn, you can just trust in your mental
model of the track to know where you should be on the track, the speed you should be going,
the loads your tires should be carrying, and the trajectory you should be traveling.
So, if you get the braking and turn-in right, the rest of the turn should just happen automatically.
When you are in the ‘automatic’ portion of the turn, the only cognitive load is subconsciously
comparing what’s happening to what you expect (your plan for the turn). If things start going off
plan, then ‘you’ jump back in and start ‘doing’ stuff to get back on plan for the turn. Any time
that you can be in ‘automatic’ mode on track is time that you can relax, and focus on feeling
and observe what’s happening... and that is where the speed hides.

Click here for detailed information about the mental skills of analysis, recognition, mental models etc.

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Concept #7 - Sensitivity and the Energy Cycle
Now that we’ve looked at ways to free mental resources for sensitivity, let’s talk about where and how
to use those resources. But first, consider this; awareness and focused attention are on the
consciousness continuum, however ‘attention’ takes way more mental resources than ‘awareness.’
You only have to be sensitive enough to any particular thing/feeling/etc. to accomplish whatever job it
is that you want to get done, so invest your hard-earned mental resources carefully.
Sensitivity is also very complex because it can be many things, depending how, when, and with what
objectives you are looking at it. That is, I believe that when you look at sensitivity from different
perspectives you will see that it can have different characteristics, for example:
A Mode: Reactive, Predictive, Managed or Directed
A Type: Interpretive or Proactive
A Direction: Incoming or Outgoing
A Management Method: Active or Passive
To make sense of all this, I relate the characteristics of sensitivity to the Energy Cycle. The next two
pages have graphics that show/explain this... I recommend having a look now before reading on.
When appropriate, I also use the concept of Speed as a Liquid to understand and predict how energy
will likely move within my car so that I can focus attention when need to sense/manage that.
Likewise, I use the 3D Traction Circle to understand and predict the state of, and trends for, the load,
traction, and drift angle for the most important tire in the current turn phase.
I know all of that is kind of abstract, so here are example processes for how I might use different
types of sensitivity (Interpretive and Proactive in this case).
Turn Task Interpretive Sensitivity & Sensitivity Focus - (turn with braking) Management Method
Braking Focus on the braking point, then monitor traction and braking force to bring the tire to Actively monitor/analyze traction
it’s deceleration force limit without locking up. and braking forces.
Entry Phase Focus on the turn-in point, then focus on the outside front tire to monitor the growth of Actively monitor/analyze turn-in
the energy cycle’s traction and cornering forces elements to ensure they are building in and corner entry forces, and
a way that will cause the car to rotate where and how it needs to. calculate rotational momentum.
Rotation Phase When rotation begins, actively manage the car through the rotation process (while Actively monitor the outside front
switching focus from the outside front to outside rear tire) to ensure it rotates at the tire energy cycle peaking, and
correct speed, and to the correct orientation, to produce the desired trajectory for the perform driving inputs to manage
turn’s exit phase. the rotation process.
Exit Phase After stopping rotation and beginning the turn’s exit phase, focus on the outside rear Actively monitor the load, traction,
tire and its traction level, drift angle, and the car’s rotation forces to assess the tire’s and forces from the outside rear
available traction level, so maximum acceleration can be applied without overloading tire as rotation ends, then monitor
the tire and/or adversely impacting the car’s optimum trajectory out of the turn. traction and drift angle to optimize
the turn exit.

Turn Task Proactive Sensitivity & Sensitivity Focus - (no braking turn) Management Method
Entry Phase Focus on the turn-in point, then, based on the mental model of the track and plan Actively monitor the turn-in timing,
for the turn, focus on precisely executing the driving inputs required to create an then just observe the results of the
energy cycle for the outside front tire that will produce the entry trajectory and driving inputs and manually adjust if
rotation required to match the entry phase of the turn plan . needed to stay on plan for the turn.
Rotation Phase The corner plan includes the pre-defined driver inputs (throttle & steering), and Observe the rotation control inputs,
related timing, needed to manage the rotation to produce the optimum corner exit then just observe their results and
trajectory, so sensitivity focus in on executing these precisely. manually adjust if needed to stay on
plan.
Exit Phase The corner plan includes the optimum outside rear tire load and drift angle Observe how reality is matching the
throughout the turn’s exit phase, along with the steering and throttle inputs needed plan, with an extra focus on outside
to produce them, so again, focus is on executing the planned inputs precisely. rear tire load/drift for the first part of
the exit phase.

NOTE: The examples show the sensitivity types, as being separate things/processes, but in reality the different sensitivity
types are blended to optimize performance.

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Concept #2B - Sensitivity - the Modes/Ranges
Sensitivity is much more than simply reading and reacting to what's happening on track. When you dig deeper,
and especially when you try to understand sensitivity in the context of the energy cycle, you'll see that there are
several distinct, but interrelated modes or ranges of sensitivity, which form a sensitivity continuum.

4 - Forces
Reactive (Acting on the Car) Directed
Sensitivity Sensitivity
(Mode/Range #1) (Mode/Range #4)
In this sensitivity range the In this sensitivity mode, the driver
driver can’t connect with the directs (or triggers) an automated
energy cycle’s earlier stages, series of precisely timed inputs to
so they focus almost entirely start, grow, and disperse an energy
on traction and the forces cycle that will produce the desired
acting on the car (especially results. Then, the energy cycle
rotation) while constantly and on-track results are
working to keep the car going monitored and verified as
in the right direction. (typical they unfold using pattern
for early-learning stage matching. (Typically only
drivers, or for higher level used by drivers at the
drivers when traction is highest learning stages
not predictable like on and in predictable
a wet or drying track.) conditions.)

3 - Traction 1 - Energy
(& Drift angle) Flow

Managed
Predictive Sensitivity
Sensitivity (Mode/Range #3)
(Mode/Range #2) In this sensitivity range the driver
In this sensitivity range the driver focuses on achieving specific driving
focuses almost entirely on: goals by managing the energy flow
2 - Tire portion of the energy cycle to produce
• For the lower learning stages, ‘feeling’ Loads the tire loads (the cause), that will
traction by analyzing their sensations. produce the desired traction & forces
(the effect). Pattern matching (against the
• For middle and high range learning stages, metal track model) is used to determine if
using the current holistic context (and their the energy cycle is growing as expected, and if
mental track map) to recognize traction everything is on target to meet the driving goals,
levels and predict traction trends. or if adjustments are needed to stay on target.

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Concept #2B - Sensitivity - Types, Direction & Management
While sensitivity can be thought of as a continuum, with reactive sensitivity at one end and directed sensitivity
at the other, the sensitivity modes can also be grouped/classified based on their type (interpretive or
proactive), their direction of flow (incoming or outgoing), and how they are managed (active or passive).
If we represent the sensitivity continuum with color, (using red = Reactive, purple = Predictive, Blue =
Managed, and green = Directed), and then overlay that with the energy cycle, it becomes clearer how the
various sensitivity modes/ranges relate to the various sensitivity characteristics such as sensitivity types,
directions, and management methods, as described below.
4 - Forces
(Acting on the Car)
Sensitivity Type Sensitivity Direction
when looking at things from Another way to think about
a sensitivity type view, you the sensitivity continuum and
can think of the left side of sensitivity types is to consider
the continuum (red/purple) the sensitivity’s direction.
as the interpretive For example incoming
sensitivity type. For sensitivity (red/purple)
example when the driver would come from focusing on
focuses on the results of the what the car/tires are doing.
energy cycle (traction and Outgoing sensitivity
forces) to actively interpret blue/green)
what they are feeling, (or would come from focusing on
predict what will happen) so executing actions precisely
they can respond to those to produce/manage an
sensations to produce the energy cycle that will allow
desired results. you to accomplish your goals.
3 - Traction 1 - Energy
(& Drift angle) Flow
Sensitivity Type Cont.
The right side of the
continuum (blue/green)
can be thought of more as
the proactive sensitivity
type. For example, the driver
focuses on performing a set
of predefined actions, to
create a specific energy
cycle. Or they focus on the Sensitivity
results they want from the Management
energy cycle (to accomplish
their cornering plan), and Active Management
just do what is require on-
the-fly to create that energy 2 - Tire Another way to think about sensitivity is to consider
cycle. Typically, if a driver is how you are mentally managing the energy cycle.
at a high enough level to use
Loads For example, if you are driving with a more reactive
proactive sensitivity, they will approach to sensitivity, then you must manage the
manage the process with process by using a lot of mental resources to continually analyze
passive management. what your sensations mean, and then interpret how you should respond.
Passive Management
If you are using a more proactive approach to sensitivity (creating the energy cycle per a cornering plan and/or predicting what the
energy cycle will do),then you already know what, you want (you want to replicate your mental model for driving the track each lap),
so instead of analyzing everything that you’re feeling/sensing, you can use the more efficient pattern matching method of
comparing reality to your metal track model to determine if the energy cycle is growing as expected and if everything
is on target to meet your driving goals for the turn, or if adjustments are needed to stay on target.

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Conclusion
In closing, I just want to say a few things:

One of the biggest challenges that arose when writing this booklet was trying to explain holistic
concepts with language, which is by nature structured and sequential. The concepts had to be
unraveled and dissected to write about them (at least that’s the only way I could write it), but in reality
all of the concepts are interconnected; each one influences, and is influenced by, the others, just like
all driving inputs influence multiple things, while also being influenced by other factors such as
speed, the track, conditions, etc., so keep that in mind... “The map is not the terrain.”

When written out, I know that some of the concepts in this booklet might seem complex or confusing.
However, if you focus on the overall meaning/message of each concept (instead of getting bogged
down in the minutia when you first read it), and you try to think about your past driving experiences
while looking for examples of what the concepts are describing, then you may find that the concepts
do provide another perspective (or way of thinking about) what you felt when driving. If the overall
concepts make sense to you in the context of your experience, you can just go with that, and then
come back to this booklet later to dive into the details if you’re interested.

Another point I want to make is that, in my experience, once I became aware of the concepts in this
booklet, it took very little (if any) mental effort to ‘use’ them when driving. I’m not saying that, having
read them, the heavens will open, and a beam of light will envelop your car as it circles the track at
lap record pace. However, a light may go on in your head; you may find yourself ‘understanding’ what
you’re feeling on a deeper level, and you may begin to recognize the interconnectedness of the
whole driving process in a way that allows you to predict and control it on another level.

I realize that the idea of these abstract concepts actually improving your on-track performance might
sound like a fantasy or delusion. However, the first person I ever shared this information with was a
Sports Car Club of America ‘Spec Racer Ford’ driver who had already been racing for two seasons,
had done many hundreds of laps of testing, and had private instruction from ‘big name’ coaches, but
he was still stuck at 6+ seconds off the pace. We emailed for about two months, discussing the more
foundational information that’s available on my website, and at his next race (held at his worst track)
he took 3 seconds off his best time, and felt comfortable and consistent doing those times. Over the
season, we talked about, and he applied, the concepts in this booklet, and at the end of the season,
he was lapping 0.5 seconds under the lap record at his favorite track. Of course, that’s no guarantee,
and everyone is different, so while these concepts may work for some, they may not for others.

At any rate, I wish you artful driving, and successful and rewarding racing wherever you compete!

___________________________________________________

“The mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

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