If you come to Colorado, and love to race, make your way to the High Plains Raceway and look for the red STi if you want 
to race. I have been an amateur racer since I turned 16, doing all of my own modifications and teaching myself how to become a better racer.
My unique quest started with a love for horsepower, and not enough money to add it to my car and take driving classes. My father ended up being my inspiration during this time, as he never went to college, but became successful. In his words: “learning is a habit, once it is well honed, college is no different than a library card.”
What resulted was an unhealthy mix of theoretical learning and inexperienced practice. While nothing bad happened, there were plenty of times that I was well out of my league. Instead of letting other people like me go through the same trials by fire; this article aims to explain the principals of racing to amateurs.
The Basics:
Racing is, at its core, an amazingly easy concept to understand. You want to get from start to finish faster than your competition. There are two ways to accomplish this; either you are better than your opponent, or you are smarter. Since parts and modifications can alter the perceived skill level of a racer drastically, the only variable you can control with any consistency is your knowledge of racing.
There are a few things that I feel are essential to have in your mental toolbox.
The Racing Line – The Line is the route that a driver takes to get around the track. Mastering how to quickly choose a line en-route is essential to outsmart your opponent.
Oversteer – When you are taking a corner, and the back of your car starts to fishtail. Often referred to as “the back end of my car went out.”
Understeer – Essentially the opposite of oversteer, this is when the front end of the car loses traction. The main difference, is that you can still steer with oversteer, if you get yourself in a understeer situation, you cannot turn until you regain traction.
The Line:
All other things being equal, the person with a faster line will win the race. Being able to identify different lines on the fly puts you precious seconds ahead of your opponent. The line you choose depends on four things; shedding speed, turning point, the apex, and the next turn.
Shedding speed is essentially the art of braking. Of all of the things that affect my line, I would recommend that you spend a lot of time becoming intimate with your brakes. My haphazard trial-and-error method led me to believe that the other pieces to choosing a good line can be overcompensated with amazing braking skills. The downside is that I can’t tell you exactly how to brake; you just have to learn on your own. For guidance, I would concentrate on traction and how you like to lose it. Generally speaking, I prefer oversteer to understeer, so if I haven’t shaved enough speed before the turn, I will stop braking, yank my handbrake, and power-over through the turn. Find out how you like to lose control, and get your car to the point right before it happens. Proper braking will allow you to get through the turn faster, and put more power to the ground when you get out of the turn.
The turning point is a simple concept; after you have scrubbed off enough speed, it is the point that you initiate the turn. It is the least important thing to learn about racing a line, as it is pretty much intuitive to the driver. Until you race professionally, I’d argue that instead of learning the 3 major turn-types, study how to utilize the apex, and what turn type you like. Be the master of one thing instead of mediocre at all three.
The Apex is by far and away the most important theoretical element of racing a line. The apex of a turn is defined by the point of your turn that you are closest to the wall. Generally speaking, you brake before the apex, and apply power after it. I can’t go into all the different Apex strategies, so instead I’ll tell you how I handle it. As I mentioned before, I have learned that I prefer to risk oversteer rather than understeer, which means I have a tendency to apply too much power than too little. Because of my driving style, I use the late apex strategy. Essentially, I scrub off speed, start my turn slightly earlier than most racers, and apply the power back to the wheels well before my opponent. What this allows me to do is to only plan through the middle of the turn, when I have cleared that, I apply a huge amount of power. If my tires slip, because I have already cut back on steering, the only tires that have a chance to lose traction are my rear tires. Since I am very comfortable drifting, I don’t have to let up on the power, and I simply compensate with my steering.
The next turn should just be in the back of your mind when you take a turn. If you have a couple of linked turns going in different directions, coming out of the first turn wide will only make your second turn painfully slow. Tailor your turns according to the track; a successful line is one that encompasses the whole race, not just each turn individually.
How to Handle Oversteer:
Oversteer is what happens when your car exceeds the traction limit of the tires. In oversteer, the back tires go over the traction limit. What this does is cause the back of the vehicle to whip out in a fishtail. The ability to control oversteer skillfully is referred to as drifting.
Usually, oversteer is caused by entering the corner too quickly. For racers like myself, this is a calculated risk, as the optimum speed to take a turn is just below the threshold of losing grip. I find that I would rather deal with oversteer rather than lose valuable momentum. This allows me to use the late apex strategy very well since I already know how to drift well.
Handling oversteer is easy. What is happening during oversteer is that your car is trying to spin out, overcompensate with the front wheels by pointing them in the direction you want to travel, usually away from the spin. If you wish to stop oversteer quickly, then gently let off the gas until you regain grip, this will allow you to take the next corner more easily. If you have a straight section after the turn, I usually keep the power the same and wait for the grip to correct itself.
How to Handle Understeer:
Understeer is what happens when your front tires lose traction. It looks like the driver did not turn enough, when in fact the tires are not gripping the road. Understeer is a major problem with amateur drivers that feel that the fastest one into the turn is the faster one out.
There are no benefits to understeer unless you know how to tail brake, but that is a technique best left to professionals. What you need to keep in mind is that the front wheels have two jobs instead of just one. The rear wheels usually just apply power, so you can add power until you feel them spin. The front wheels have to balance grip between power and turning, and the equation is equal on both sides. If you start to understeer, let off the gas and it will make more grip available to help with the turn.
Thats all for now! Keep an eye out for my next article where I get into the intricacies of rev matching, heel-toe shifting, and understanding your power band.
Pete Wise is an amateur racing enthusiast and content creation factory. This article was written on behalf of the AAMCO Centers of Colorado, who keep my STi in perfect condition with transmission repair done by expert car mechanics. If you liked the article, and want to finish the series, connect with me on Google+
