A Rare, Unwelcomed, but Reassuring… Sbinalla.

Dirtfish and goofing around in the rain aside, it had been six years since I last properly spun a racecar. I am proud of my resume involving client's vehicles and the responsibility given to drive them hard, but in a way that still guarantees they come back in the same state as you left (tyre state, fuel level and brake pad wear excluded of course). That means, it’s been at least half a decade since my last proper “oh shit this isn’t correct” moment that was going to take major improv to save... Que the IGT Enduro at Sebring 2021. 

I always find it both amusing and a fantastic learning experience when it seems moments line up perfectly to drastically change the moment by moment feeling while in the zone. A few laps ago I had done my fastest lap around Sebring, it’s safe to say that I was soaking up every moment of driving such a machine at the limit with no external stress or pressure. I was driving hard for my own good. My self confidence was building corner by corner as I saw the delta bar keep going negative. I was in my element. 

As soon as I got onto the brakes going into the hairpin on this particular lap, I immediately noticed something wrong as the car promptly rotated right pointing me right at a concrete wall. Time slowed down more than normal at this point (think about how much you can mentally process in real time vs how quickly it happens in video, the mind always slows down time in the car), I had the thought of “Ok this corner cannot be saved and it’s now survival mode, this is not my car and I am responsible for it”. My natural reaction kicked in to counter the slide, now triggered and committed due to ABS not allowing me to lockup a tire. One quick moment of inexperience was the understatement of how quickly the now-loaded right front would grip up from the countersteer, and promptly whip the car the other way, sending me into a counter-clockwise spin. 

The next moment has to be my proudest moment of the experience, as something that can be seen in the video: acceptance of the situation and instantly looking forward to how it can be recovered. No different than an athlete in the XGames trying to spot the landing, I start looking hard left to when the car will keep rotating around and give me an opportunity to open up the wheel. I knew the spin itself was inevitable and there was no reason to try and fix anything that had already happened! Take a look at how quickly and hard my helmet swings left and I desperately try to analyze where I exactly am on the track through the side side window. 

While facing backwards, I did have two or three thoughts run through my head. One was my confirmation of the idea that having a massive red button to instantly disable ABS would be extremely handy in GT3 cars, as you cannot just “lock them down” and flatspot all four. This led into my next thought which was word-for-word “Ok I'm facing backwards and this is going to keep rotating, do I go left hand down or right hand down? I have a wall to the right of me but it’s rotating well… let's just keep station and let it spin.” 

After what felt like an eternity, I was able to release the wheel from it’s counter and start moving it left hand down to get ahead of the car and be able to straighten out in time. This was only done once I had realized the car was going to perform a full rotation and point me in the right direction with velocity and momentum to help stabilize the car in that direction (yay physics and angular momentum!). This allowed me to counter-rotate the wheel as it started to point straight and not only minimize the possibility of over-rotation, but snap-back as well. Planning ahead and anticipation led to the successful save of the car and a moment of “wow did that just happen!?” before restarting and continuing. 

At this point as I get back going again, I can take a breath and start to analyze what allowed me to not damage a vehicle worth more than my net worth. Number one is luck, everything had to go right to not hit a narrow wall going into a 150>40mph corner. I got lucky, no ifs ands or buts. That being said, I am extremely satisfied with how I handled the aspects of the moment and the decisions that I made in the moment as a “wartime general” . The fact that my “eyes forward” attitude that is SO prominent for success on the track to give a driver as much as time as possible to think ahead played such a pivotal role in recovering successfully. 

The ability to not only look ahead, but be open to adapting as the moment sees fit is a driver’s biggest tool in their arsenal. As I love to preach the importance of looking “seconds not feet” up the road, this is an extreme situation where it truly made the difference between bringing the car back with an engine ten degrees to the right, or with a smile on my face. While only .05% of the time us spent looking ahead for damage limitation, allowing yourself to think as far ahead as possible by virtue of looking as far ahead as possible, can enable you to not only save a car in such a scenario, but give yourself time to actually think and optimize the inputs needed ahead.

Virtual coaching to the real world? GRM’s take

Earlier in the year, I had a fantastic conversation with Grassroots Motorsport’s writers on the evolution of simulators into a real-world tool. What is needed, what isnt needed? How is the sim “real” and what aspects are not yet there? And most importantly, what areas of the simulator can be capitalized on and incorporated to real world racing?

Check out the article here and tell me what you think!

Real Intensity, Virtual Environment

Heart rate monitors are funny things to play around with, fantastic tools for working out and seeing how one pushes their body. When my friends and I thought it would be a good idea to wear them for the iRacing 24hrs of LeMans, we were both surprised, but not surprised by the results. Driving an LMP2 car for a planned eight hours would be a mental exercise. 

Heart rates were up, peaking into the lower 100’s for all of us, clearly elevated to a sustained level when in the car over two hours. Sim racing isn't inherently a physical activity, but mentally it can be an ideal tool for dealing with pressure and stress. It makes sense though when you think of the countless hours the four of you have put into the car setup, into the driving tactics, into fuel and tyre strategy. None of us wanted to be the one that doesn’t bring the car back and hand it off to the next driver. 

Four of us, all from different parts of the world, all pushing as hard as they could to win a class at Le Mans. We hit issues early which means driving at 10/10ths to get back into the fight, and that push elevates senses to real world amounts. To maximise laptime over two hours but to not make a mistake prioritizes your goals and self rules while in the car. No matter how hard you want to push, these long endurance races have that extra sense of responsibility. This is something that cant be found outside of a real car otherwise. This is where simracing can shine for a real driver looking for more prep. 

These are the moments why I simrace. The pressure, the intensity, the camaraderie and friendships. While the race itself didn't end how we wanted it to, the mid-stint intensity of racing around LeMans at 2am local time trying to scratch and claw seconds off the next person in front, with teammates on the radio talking shit, nothing can touch it except the real thing.