SimHQ.com - Motorsports Zone - Book Review - Speed Secrets: Professional Race Driving Techniques

Late in 2004, one of our SimHQ members and online driving buddy sent me a copy of the now hard-to-find EA's F1 Challenge '99-'02, along with a CD-R containing the superb RH2004 mod by EMAC's Ralph Hummerich (and others). I tore into my new sim, and discovered like so many have that the physics modeling of modern race cars varies slightly from developer to developer. I was turning laps just fine in my Williams/BMW, but not very smoothly or consistently.

Early this year, while shopping at my local Barnes & Noble, I came across a small, unassuming book in the transportation section called Speed Secrets: Professional Race Driving Techniques by Ross Bentley. It looked like the title would be more at home in the "self help" section than the transportation section, with lots of graphs, graphics and bulletized 'tips' strewn across its pages. Realizing that the book is not written for the virtual driver, but that the sims I drive are fairly realistic in their depiction of race car physics (not to mention my dabbling in SCCA Autocross), I figured, "ah, what the heck, I'll give it a go" and plunked down my $12 for the title with the cashier. Let's just say I was skeptical, but looking forward to a read that was outside my usual tastes in books.

Little did I realize at the time how much of a profound difference this little book would have on my virtual driving technique, which is why I wanted to share this little gem with the members of SimHQ.

First, a little about the book: Printed by Motor Books International (MBI) in a small, 6" x 8" format, the book comprises only 160 pages of text (including appendices and index) and was copyrighted in 1998. The author, Ross Bentley, is a professional race car driver with experience in many types of cars and series, including Indy cars and IMSA 24hr endurance events. And, he's knows what it takes to win, with many victories over his 20 year career, including standing on the top tier of the podium at the 2003 Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona. He's also a high performance/race car driving instructor and coach, and his talent for teaching the straightforward yet subtly complex elements of max-performing a race car on a road course is quite evident in his book.

Since almost everyone in the PC simulation genre has owned and operated a car for years, and logged many miles behind the wheel on all sorts of roads. Because of this, deep down inside we often think we know what it takes to drive a car smoothly, and that there are no 'surprises' or new concepts to grasp when it comes to driving, including a race car. But you'd be wrong, sort of. Fundamentally, we know how to operate a road vehicle. But to drive one consistently at the limit, and do so competitively, takes driving to a whole other level. What Ross Bentley does in this book is to take those simple concepts you might think you already have mastered and shows you how much more depth of knowledge and finesse can be had with some study — and in our case, some virtual practice.

As a teaching text, I found "Speed Secrets" to be very well formatted, with sections on:

Car components and functions. This portion was a little slow and dry in parts, but topic is key to understanding the meat of the discussion on driver technique in later chapters.
Race Car Dynamics (i.e., physics). I found this part to be really interesting, as the author discusses things like weight transfer, tire slip angles, and aerodynamics. All done in a format that's easy for liberal arts majors like me to grasp! As a business econ student, I especially liked being introduced to the "traction circle", a graphic depiction of telemetry that shows how close to the limit you're able to drive the car around and through corner. It allowed me to get a bit more out of my self-imposed telemetry 'debriefs' after a test session in F1C, as I studied what things I improved on during each lap of a session.
At the track. Great discussions on corners and braking/cornering/accelerating technique. This is the real meat of the book, but without building on the foundation of knowledge in the other sections, it wouldn't have the same impact. As you might expect from a book like this, discussions of how to use your car the right way to go fast is the focus of the book, and luckily it's also the part of the book that really makes it an outstanding text.
Driver mindset and psychology. These last few chapters delve deeper into specific techniques, and racing psychology and the business of racing. Discussions on qualifying mindset, finding your personal limit, the business of racing and how the sponsorship game is played, and even some discussion on health and fitness programs for drivers is also provided in this section. While these topics are also interesting to a hobbyist like me, you won't really apply them unless your goal is to start a new career as a professional race car driver. Maybe I'll re-read that section when I retire from the service!

SpeedSecrets - PWF PTA Cockpit Road Atlanta

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