So driving this morning, I finally realized why I LOVE driving race cars so much. It’s the challenge and exhilaration of being on the edge but not over it. When I was a kid, I was the little turn who would poke someone just 1 time less than what it’d take to completely send them over the edge and, all the while, keeping me (somewhat) endearing. Yesterday, on the way home, I got my little car to solidly rotate into a turn (whoops happened to be on a public street) and it kinda just hit me. I had a smaller revelation the first time I got a racing car to rotate at Mid-Ohio, but this time it was different. The time it happened at Mid-O (and every time after), came from a tense ‘oh shit please keep me hooked up so I don’t die’ approach to a corner. This time, it was much more under control…and surprisingly…much smoother and quicker feeling. Guess it’s a tactile thing.
As I’ve read books like the Speed Secrets series and Skip Barber’s Going Faster, instructors and coaches always talk about being on the edge. But it wasn’t until this morning’s childhood regression that I finally connected the dots.
As we all (racing drivers that is) are trying to find ‘that thing’ that makes us faster. This is one barrier, I’m REALLY excited to have identified and broken through the was it feels like it should be.
JasonWiener 