Written by our long-time friend & PCA member, Rob Pecori. Although at the time Rob used a Traqmate (no longer made), this is a great article on how data acquisition can help find those precious few seconds. Enjoy!
“Put Me In Coach….” - - - “I’m ready to play, today”, goes the John Fogarty song. It's what I thought before I decided to take a coach with me to the recent Porsche Clash PCA Club Race at Watkins Glen. I was ready to learn a few things about my car, my driving and myself—but not too much. You see, “I am experienced”.
I have been doing PCA DE’s since 1990, instructing for about 15 years and racing with PCA, NASA and the SCCA for 12 years. I am no pro but I have won races and scored many podiums. I have been driving the same car, a 944, the entire time and I have been going to the Glen for more than 10 years. Sure, I was paying for and expected to find some time and refine my driving, but I was in for a shock. About 4 seconds of shock!
My coach, E. Paul Dickinson, is a friend, a client, a business partner and a former Professional Coach. We had always discussed making me a “client” of his but never seemed to find the right time. The race at Watkins Glen finally presented the right opportunity for both of us. For those who have not been to the Glen Club Race, it follows the 2 sprint, one enduro format. You get a ton of track time, which is perfect for coaching.
I was racing in the very competitive SP2 class, a PCA class for 944 Cup cars. All of the cars weigh between 2600 and 2750 pounds and can have no more than 144 HP. (My car makes 138 HP at the rear wheels.) The cars may not be “fast” but the emphasis is on the driver, and let me tell you, many of them are fast.
Prior to beginning the weekend, we had a long discussion about driving, my experience and my goals for the weekend. Generically, I wanted to lower my times and learn a few things about my style. I would be using data acquisition for the first time and was interested to see what it would show about me. When several of the data acquisition systems jumped into the affordable zone the last few years, my interest piqued.
I knew that the data would be a great learning tool, but I also knew that I likely would not be able to sufficiently interpret the data to help myself. I knew that E. Paul had vast experience with data acquisition, as it has been available for many years in the pro arena. The system that we used was the Traqmate Complete (this is the system with the in-car timing readout but not the extra sensors for throttle, brake, steering, etc…) This system collects more than enough data for the club racer and, in fact, you can become overwhelmed if you choose to view too much.
The first session on Friday was to be a baseline. While the data that I was able to collect was useful, I was disappointed as the track was wet. When it finally dried and I was able to put on the dry tires, I was able to get some better laps. My best lap, 2:24.3. Not a bad lap, but not as good as my personal best, 2.23.2.
When I finally came off of a dry track, with a smile on my face, I was greeted with: “Well, lets see where you are lying to me”. “Lying? What do you mean?” We looked at the data together –“that can’t be right, I braked way later than that, and overall I was on the power much sooner”. Or so I thought! “Are you sure that this data thing is working right?” If you are new to data, like me, you know that data is very humbling. What we found the first day was that I was extremely consistent—consistently LOUSY! I was braking too early and too much. Because I was screwing up my braking I was also turning in too early, wasting time and making more steering corrections than needed.
I was crushed. “I sucked!” This could not be happening to me. We continued working together. Using what we were uncovering in the data combined with my Coach’s practiced eye while I was on-track, we established a game plan for the next day. I was very angry with myself so I was motivated and focused in the next morning’s session. Unfortunately, I had a fuel pump failure on the grid -- I lost the session. I also lost the first sprint race getting the new pump installed.
Sprint race 2 would be my first attempt to fix my ills. I had to start last as I had no qualifying time from the first race. Starting from 12th in class I was able to get as high as third. I had a great dice with the 4th and 5th place cars and eventually finished 6th with a best lap of 2:20.4.
Wow! That’s just under 3 seconds from my all time personal best lap. “Hey, this coaching thing works pretty well.” More importantly, my driving was much improved. The braking issue, which was the brunt of most of my problems, was much better. Though I was still making mistakes and leaving time on the table I knew where it was on-the-track. I could see it in the data, and, with the coaching, I knew WHAT to do to go get it.
The next day, my next opportunity was the enduro. I started the car and planned to turn it over to my co-driver after about 50 minutes. Because I had the 4th fastest time in the sprint, I started the enduro 4th in class. I was able to work up to a solid third. I was catching the 2nd place car and keeping a nice distance on 4th by working traffic effectively. (The coaching was also very helpful during the race as he called the flags, spotted the race and provided race craft advice on the radio.) Solidly in 3rd place , I turned the car over to my co-driver, Tony Sciarrino,. After the stop to change drivers, we re-entered the race 4th. Tony was able to maintain quick, consistent laps and we were challenging for the podium. Unfortunately, the motor blew two-thirds into Tony’s stint. Our day was done.
My disappointment about the motor, however, was off set by my finding another second! I had done a best lap of 2:19.2 backed-up with a number of other laps within tenth’s. I had dropped a consistent 4 seconds off of my best time, and 5 seconds for the weekend. I was ecstatic. I was never so happy in the face of a broken car. Even better, from further examining the data together, I know where there are another 2-3 seconds that I can actually execute.
So, “What did I learn?” ONE, an E. Paul mantra that “practice does not make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect”. I was proof of that. TWO: I had obviously developed bad habits over my years of experience. THREE: I was reasonably fast but I had reached a plateau and was unable to get off of it by myself, I was no longer improving on my own.
I was able to shake some of the habits over the weekend and I still have work to do so that I do not revert. But, I now know what and HOW to do that. FOUR: I learned that data is invaluable—but, only if you know how to interpret it to find WHAT needs improvement, then, probably the most important, HOW to improve it.
And, there was one other interesting observation. I asked E. Paul if he would spend some time with Tony since we were co-driving the enduro. Watching the two of them work together, the Coaching style and issues were much different from mine. I know now why he calls it “personal” coaching.
Without “My Coach”, I would have been lost. His insight on what I was doing corner to corner, using the data and my descriptions, was uncannily accurate. Based on his observations of me on-track coupled with the data, he was able to quickly formulate a game plan for each successive session. I could have never done this on my own.
Two things came to mind as I was packing-up Sunday afternoon. Throughout the weekend we made significant improvement – 4 seconds! Had I not lost three sessions to rain the first day and another two to a mechanical problem the second day I wonder how much more than 4 seconds I could have achieved.
Since that weekend, I have continued to think about what I was able to accomplish and what I hope to do to continue to improve. The one thing that I keep coming back to is how much money that I have wasted over the years.
Like many, many racers I have thrown money at the latest “go fast” bits for my car, from the latest and greatest tires, to rebuilt motors to the hot shocks. I can tell you, unequivocally, however, that all of those mods combined never found me 4 seconds of time. They also cost me far more than I spent on coaching that weekend.
Interestingly, the whole weekend, I never so much as changed tires pressures. All the work that we did was with the nut behind the wheel, not under the hood, with the suspension or using fresh tires. My next step, after getting my car back on track, is to schedule another weekend with E. Paul. I’m still not over the rush of finding 4 seconds on a track that I know well, but I want those additional 2-3 seconds that I know I left behind. This time, rest assured, “I’m ready to play”.
Rob Pecori
#71 SP2 944
rpecori@pecorilawyers.com
Apex Performance is pleased to offer a variety of data acquisition systems - check them out!