At the 2022 SCCA Solo National Championships and Pro Solo Championships, 7 students of The Complete Autocrosser’s Manual won their first national championship titles, and 2 others won their second championship. I asked each of them the following question… “In what ways have you improved your driving/performance that contributed to your win? This could be anything! It could be a mental approach, some specific driving techniques, better car prep, skipping breakfast, anything at all. There is NO pressure/expectation to say anything BeST related. I am looking for a real/honest exploration of what improvements helped you get the win this year.” You’ll notice a slew ofRead More →

While it sucks that most of us are stuck at home right now unable to participate in motorsports activities, we can choose to use the time productively and get better prepared to kick butt when racing activities pick back up. There are, of course, innumerable things we could be doing; we could work on our cars to make them faster, we could turn to sim racing, we could enroll in online courses, and so on. But today, let’s focus on 2 specific things that anyone can do without spending a dime. 1. Review past performances Take advantage of this down time to review your pastRead More →

No matter what form of motorsports you participate in, there has likely been a time when you sought out advice from someone else about how to go faster. When choosing who to get advice from, we typically reach out to the fastest driver we know. Of course, this makes sense. When we look for for an A/C repairman, financial advisor, or any other professional service provider, we want to know what their credentials are; we want to know what makes them qualified to help us. From that perspective, “lap times” are the credentials of a performance driver, so we feel confident that the fastest driversRead More →

Long time readers of this website know that I like to start off each year with a little introspection (and some tough love). Do you know someone who wants to get in better shape, but is still “doing research” on the right workout plan and diet? Or perhaps they already workout somewhat regularly, but haven’t made the progress they want? Maybe you know someone who has been talking about looking for a new job, but has been “working on their resume” for years now? Or, a friend who says they want to meet a new special someone, but refuses to put themselves out there andRead More →

A common misconception is that faster drivers do everything better than average drivers. Average autocrossers may lack a few major driving tools/skills. For example, they might struggle with car placement, lack smoothness, etc. They also have a less clear idea of what they are doing wrong or how to fix it. That said, average autocrossers occasionally shine, and collect trophies at national events from time to time. Good autocrossers often make the same mistakes as average autocrossers, but usually recognize their mistakes, and have strategies to avoid those mistakes in the future. Good autocrossers will frequently have success, win national events, but struggle to doRead More →

Have you ever asked a friend who lost weight and got in really good shape how they did it, and they said “I just watch what I eat and workout a couple of times a week”? Or perhaps you have asked a CEO or a similarly successful person to give you career advice; they commonly say something along the lines of “follow your passion and work hard”. In both of these scenarios, the advice given isn’t wrong, but we intuitively know that it is incomplete. There must be more to it! Why do people who achieve success give us these short, albeit well meaning, butRead More →

Photo by Perry Bennett (http://www.autoxpix.com) We hear experts talk about this with F1, or hear our racing friends lament about it, or perhaps we have experienced it for ourselves over years of competition: There comes a point in time when a driver no longer has the pace that he/she once did. The most common explanation is that reaction time slows down with age, and on the surface that seems like a reasonable justification. But turns out that doesn’t hold up under scrutiny, and in order to really understand what’s going on, we need to think more deeply not just about our physical abilities, but ourRead More →

Yes, this website is about driving faster, but let’s kick things off with a little introspection. Humans are pleasure seeking creatures, and our natural desire is to seek happiness. Pleasure refers to anything that can give us satisfaction and gratification; it can be good or bad. The directive is to gratify our immediate needs and wants and to avoid pain. And because we are generally focused on our immediate needs and wants, our natural tendency is to focus on the “now” rather than the “later”. So it is extremely difficult for us to put in the work now (i.e. experience displeasure or pain) for future happiness. We makeRead More →

This all began, as most things do, with failure. A few years ago, I was frustrated with my lack of success at national level autocross. Sure, I was doing reasonably well, winning a Pro Solo event here and there and placing high up in the trophies at the national championships. But I felt like my progress was slowing, and there seemed to be a performance glass ceiling I was struggling to break through. Admitting that we are not performing as well as we would like is hard for a lot of us. It certainly was hard for me. It is a vulnerable feeling, and atRead More →