darcness

iTrader: (3)

Agreed completely with the previous post.

I actually do this myself. Wasn't ever taught or told to, just kind of how I do things naturally. Whenever I'm working on a project, trying to fix something (I work in technical maintenance), or doing just about any task I try to look for ways to be more efficient. I hold this true at the track as well. I usually start with the sections I'm WORST at, and then work from there. I take a corner, a rhythm section, a jump, whatever and recognize that I can improve my line and/or pace. After I improve there, I move to the next worst section, and so on and so forth. Once I'm to my "good" sections, I just try to tweak them in a little bit more. Once that's done, I start all over and repeat the process again and again. You're always learning, always getting better, and always finding ways to improve. You just have to look at it systematically and whatever you do, don't rush it. It will come with time. The more you drive, the better you'll get.

Just as a reference I noticed that my friends aren't able to keep up with me any more. When we first started, we were all of equal skill. In fact one of my friends would beat me in 10th scale buggy EVERY time. Over the past couple months I've raced every Wednesday and Friday, and they haven't. Now when we get on the track neither one can keep up. In fact I actually lap them most of the time during a 5 minute heat. My friend asked me what I've been doing and how I got that much better, and I simply said, I've been racing.

I think driving in that competitive environment is just as important as practice myself.

Lonestar

iTrader: (14)

you also have to acknowledge that the last 3 or 4 tenths vs. the real top guys (ntl or intl level) will simply keep eluding you forever until you drive 3 times a week for the next 10yrs, and even then... there's a time/money investment to be made here that might not be worth it unless you want to be one of the rare pro-drivers... And as said, not everyone will be able to reach this anyway.

Just keep pushing the car harder and harder without crashing and missing the apex, all while keeping your gear in tip-top shape, and lap times will keep improving

Paul

darcness

iTrader: (3)

Ahh yes, I forgot to mention keeping your gear in good order as well. It's important to do a really thorough cleaning often. It's the best way to find broken parts, bent pins, and anything else that might keep you from driving at your best. I'm sure most of the fastest guys probably do a tear down after every race. I myself (since I do club level every week) do a full tear down about once a month and then do a partial tear down as often as I can (about once a week or every other week).

mjk1210

iTrader: (9)

kudos to you for having the brains and guts to ask on here.

My opinion is...
1st. Car maintenance. Fresh diffs, fresh shock oil, balanced tires, everything moving freely. This HAS to be first or you can't do any other steps. Buy the parts to freshen things up regularly. Diff parts and shock oil aren't super expensive, but they are super important.

2nd. Push yourself. It takes thousands of missed jumps and blown turns (entry and exit) to learn how to do it the right way. Put in more motor, drive harder and prepare to screw it up and break stuff. When you want to "race", back it down a notch and you will be faster and it will seem easier.

3rd. Go to as many different tracks as possible. Different dirt, different style of jump, different flow to the track, HUGE tracks, very small tracks. Try to to to each track as they put a new layout in. Learning a layout quickly and being fast on it is very advantageous. As well as finding the right setup for different conditions quickly. the pros can do it, most weekend racers can't. you can beat alot of people with this skill.

wfdfiremedic

iTrader: (6)

Vrc pro has helped me tremendously. It allows you to improve hand eye coordination with a radio.

t0p_sh0tta

iTrader: (35)

I agree with everybody else. If your car isn't in perfect working order, then you're wasting your time. Practice is great for tuning, but it's easy to put down a fast lap when theres nobody else around.

Running with the fast guys will make you a better driver. You'll pick up on their lines, braking points, and technique.

TQ2

the big thing I see with novice class drivers trying to move up, is that they still drive like a novice and instead worry too much about going faster. they don't seem to understand that when you keep making the same mistakes, not running consistent clean lines and wrecking or semi-crashing every lap, you are never going to get faster overall.
one fast lap is not going to make you faster or help you get faster or better, consistency wins every time. stop paying attention to lap times, or what the fast guys run, and instead count how many wrecks you have each heat. remember, every wreck costs you about half a lap, and at the end of a heat or a race those half-laps add up quickly, in many cases to exactly how far you are down from the leaders. when you can get down to one wreck or none per heat, then you can start "pushing it." until then you're just going to be wrecking going faster and breaking more parts.

henry

One thing you can try to do is when it's your turn to marshall go out and pick a spot on the track where you know you're losing time.

Watch how the fast guys take the corner and listen to their trucks to get a better idea of when they brake and accelerate.

One thing you can try to do as well is put a faster motor in the truck on practice days. Since you already have decent gearing for your 13.5 you can put it back in for race days.

Practicing with something that is overpowered is almost like the R/C equivalent of resistance training. Because you need to drive with lots of finesse to get something that is over-powered around the track decently, it will almost be like you are driving in slow-motion when you go back to the 13.5.

t0p_sh0tta

iTrader: (35)

Too much motor is the biggest mistake that new guys make. Races aren't won on the straight. My local track is fairly small, and I've run everything from 17.5 to 7.5 in 2WD buggy (we just run them all as mod buggy). I swear I'm faster with the 17.5 than any other combination. It's so much easier to eliminate wheelspin, and keep the car heading where I want it.

brent701

iTrader: (8)

You can't teach skill.
You gotta get out her and learn it.

The only way to really go faster is peace a faster driver.

It is hard to teach or give you tips on when to brake what to do with throttle in a corner. I don't drive like you. I don't know your track, howmuch traction your track has or how your truck is setup.

Each day at the local track I race at is different. Different holes start coming up in a turn which means I have to use different brake/throttle input or a different line

Cain

iTrader: (294)

I would say watch how the winner of your class takes to the track with his or her vehicle and compare it to your driving style.

If you find you are scrubbing a lot of speed in the turns by heavy braking, or, you take a lot of turns wide, etc. that can really add up over the course of the race.

But, I would also say this, I found that when I reached a plateau with my laptimes, I was able at that point after comparing what others were running in the class who were *fast* to go to a hotter motor and I dropped my times even more.

fq06

iTrader: (12)

I don't think braking can be taught, that is a learned motor skill, hand eye coordination. You will get better at "feeling" the brakes and not just jabbing at the trigger. That said, you brake as late as you can to get into the turn at the proper speed and throttle out as soon as you can.

One thing I can recommend is to set your braking end point on your radio to where you are barely locking up the tires with full brake. Kinda like ABS where even if you slam the brakes coming into a turn, you won't go sliding out of your line.
Most beginners will go to full brake and if they are lucky will ease out of it before they spin out or push out of a turn or just about as bad slow down more than needed, with less brake end point adjustment, you can do less harm.

I let a guy drive my truck a month ago and he was like OMG, you have no brakes! After the three minutes he drove it, he decided to lower the brake end point adjustment on his radio.

dtr

Practice with something faster. Driving an 1:8 e-buggy for a few races improved my SCT times and consistency significantly.

blade329

iTrader: (114)

Consistent is good. This is how I classify myself. I'm not terribly fast, but I am consistent. That style of driving has served me well. The best way to get past the "conservative" blues, is practice and more practice. What I do, is watch the experts and the lines they take on the track. I talk with some of them about tires and setups. Practice and learning to tune better will help you get faster.

Top priority is to have fun.

rcboy1

Here are somethings I have learned/tips/tricks:
-DON'T crash. Going hand in hand with "slower is faster", you will do much better going slow and not hitting anything then going full throttle and hitting everything.
-"Slow is fast", one of the oldest tips in the books
-When you practice, try to learn the layout more than focusing on going fast. Once you find the fastest way to approach all the obstacles, you can pick up the pace
-Use VRC pro. Yes, it is on-road. However, in my experience, driving on-road will make you much more consistent and faster in shorter time. I still use this at least twice a week. Trust me, driving a truggy after driving a mod 1/12 pan car is like driving in slow motion.
-Watch the faster drivers, they know what they are doing...mos...som...a lot of the time.
-stay calm. No matter how much you crash, no matter how much you get hacked, just don't lose it. Stay focused, and just pick up where you left off.
-Don't overshoot the corners. It is much faster to slow down before the turn, come in tight, then push wide to exit the corner.
-just get out there. This IS a hobby, and the learning curve is part of the fun. The sense of accomplishment you will get after seeing your times improve by 5 seconds or more is just awesome.
Good racing,
-Carter Flotron