Are racing drivers better drivers

[admin]

When it comes to driving on the roads would you say a professional racing driver is a better driver?

Does the racing experience help on the roads?

Do you need fast reactions and car control skills to stay safe or is there a lot more to driving on the public roads than just that?

 

[HDi fun]

There's no reason to suggest that racing skills aren't beneficial on the road, it just depends which ones and how they are applied. Uber quick reflexes and pin sharp car control skills generally don't translate into everyday road driving. They shouldn't do so anyway !! However, I get so frustrated when I see people fudging things up and fumbling with extremely simple things such as selecting a gear. I makes for a very uncomfortable ride as a passenger, quite apart from it taking several millenia to get to the intended destination.

I do think though that having a feel for the balance and poise of a car can make driving much more enjoyable. I can string a series of A road bends together very neatly and very quickly but I'd not want to push so hard on the road that I'm approaching the limits of available grip.

This is where track experience differs - you can (relatively) safely explore how your car behaves when you transgress the boundaries and learn to control it when technically beyond its adhesion limits. This is all useful information and it's fun without a doubt. But does this form much part of everyday road driving. Probably not. But the track experience can help the (hopefully rare) mis judgement into mothing more than slightly raised blood pressure and a mental note to self to back off a few percent next time.

ABS & DSC/ESP (not just simple traction control) etc. is a reasonable, if crude indicator. If you're constantly provoking it's intervention then maybe you're pushing slightly too hard. This all depends on the car too, some systems are ultra nannying and start stabbing at individual brakes if you achieve more than 0.00000000001 lateral g. Other's such as the DSC on my 528i, leave you wondering whether it actually works. Yes, it does, but there's a lot of 'slack' there to play with before in starts reigning things in. On a track clearly you switch it totally off and leave it off.

I suppose I am saying that there's no such thing as bad knowledge or bad skills, it's just choosing which ones to apply and when.

 

[TCJBOLDIE]

HDI it seems that we are in total agreement here as you have spelled it out far better than me
Unfortunately my old track car has no electronic nanny systems and the ABS,ETC,EBA,ESC etc are all controlled by my right foot

 

[T9 man]

Unfortunately my old track car has no electronic nanny systems and the ABS,ETC,EBA,ESC etc are all controlled by my right foot

Sometimes the old school ways are the best

 

[HDi fun]

HDI it seems that we are in total agreement here as you have spelled it out far better than me
Unfortunately my old track car has no electronic nanny systems and the ABS,ETC,EBA,ESC etc are all controlled by my right foot

They don't really belong in race cars anyway. On the road though all are worth having, provided they don't nanny things to the point that the car is not enjoyable to drive. A frustrated driver is more likely to be dangerous than a contented one.

 

[TCJBOLDIE]

I just think that all the electronic gizmos/aids lower the drivers skills and feel for what the car is doing/responding to their imputs and can lead some into thinking that they are "better "drivers than they really are.

Please do not missunderstand me I am all for the electronic aids as they help make the roads safer for everyone.

All the electronic aids can be/are lifesavers in many situations particularly with inexperienced/non switched on drivers who have not been reading the roads or traffic around them and get into a situation that they wouldn't have if they had been concentrating on the job at hand ---- driving safely and not thinking about what they are going to do when they get there or whatever.

 

[HDi fun]

I suppose my position is much as yours TCJ; they are there for when we do what is natural to humans ie. make errors of judgement. I like to think that good drivers don't make so many errors that such systems are wresting control frequently. If such systems are intervening frequently then it's time to think about approach and attitude to driving. If drivers are so blissfully unaware of such systems and their actions then it really is time for a bit of re-training.

Thus what you say ie. that they lower the driver's skills is partially correct.

In the case of the mindless idiot who is unaware of anything at all, well they have no skills anyway (observationally, mechanically, car control or attitude) then let's hope the systems keep them and the rest of us safe. It is not possible to fix stupid, no training will help cos these people are already dead from the neck up. As these people have no skills anyway so they cannot be lowered further

Taking a break now - my brain is cold - head shave for charity is hurting - it's time for a beer

 

[TCJBOLDIE]

I'l join you with an OJ it's breakfast time here.

If you really have a shiny dome then wear it with pride as God only made a few perfect heads the rest he covered with hair

I think we are on the same page it's just that we seem to express things or our point of view a bit differently at times.