Rallye Star!

	April 27, 2005 After a massive drive out of Oregon, we were home at last on Monday night. Tuesday was a catch up day and Wednesday was a day of reckoning. Today Leon and I watched the in car videos from Oregon. I had emerged from the forests thinking that I had gone so fast and driven so hard, but as the video rolled on I quickly realized how wrong I was. It was painfully embarrassing to watch. There were a few stages where I’d have the car on cam and where I’d be zipping along nicely before falling into some bad habits. And then there were the many just bad stages. I shifted way too low and I’d be lifting half off of the throttle. I wasn’t sideways enough and I was braking but not braking deep enough. Leon was pretty disappointed and so was I both because we knew I could drive better. I could drive well in practice, but it seemed like I’d forget everything as soon as I got out on the stages. Leon told me to think everything through and to try to figure out what was and was not happening. Looking back, I seemed unwilling to take chances. I didn’t want to hurt the car in any way because I wanted to keep racing. I was afraid of DNFing and of crashing, not for the thing in itself, but just because I wanted to finish. Rallying is a sport where you have to take chances and I wasn’t going out on a limb. Later today Leon took me out to pick up his Evo and to stop by Chad DiMarco’s shop, Sube Sports. Chad is Leon’s driving coach, so when he started talking strategy with Leon I listened. Leon is also running the Rim of the World Rally so Chad gave him some pointers for that race. Chad made two important points: winning is all about consistently staying at the top of your game and about figuring out your opponent’s strategy and consistently beating them at their own game. Of course this had a much more basic meaning for me than it did for Leon who runs at a level where simple inches and hundredths of a minute separate first place from fifth. Looking at Chad’s first point I could see a lot of my weaknesses. I was never consistent with my driving. Sometimes I was on it, sometimes I slowed down for the downhill parts and even more times I just forgot everything except my goal to finish. If I had been consistent with my good driving I am sure I could have taken at least five minutes off of my overall times. Leon always tells me that if I drive hard and work the car I am capable of finishing in the top 15. Besides, didn’t Nick Taylor, Prince’s former owner win two California Rally Series titles with the same car? I know how to do it. I have to be mentally alert and focus on driving well and what I am seeing and hearing from my co-driver. I also have to keep track of shifting. Although I quickly got Prince on cam, I often spent too much time too high in the revs or wasted time puttering too low. I need to fully utilize my gearbox. Consistency in that area would take off a lot of time and improve the overall drivability. As for beating my opponents at their own game… That point was a little advanced for me. I’ve always tried to find similar cars to run against, but the little green Datsun was the closest I’ve gotten in four events. It was time to look at other cars. The Honda CRX from Oregon will be at Rim and so will Don Shryer with the blue RX-7 from Ramada. Don’s got experience and the CRX is pretty consistent. For me to run against them I’m going to have to match their consistency and I’m going to have to take risks, anything less and I’ll be eating dust- literally! So consistency and risk taking are my goals for Rim. Although I can keep feeling ashamed about the video, I really did gain one important thing in Oregon. I came out of the event feeling better about the whole rally driving thing. I felt like I was driving well and that I could be competitive. I wasn’t so scared to push things beyond the comfort level. While my feelings did not necessarily always match up to the reality of the situation, I think that just these positive thoughts are a big step forward. One of the hardest things about rallying is breaking bad habits and destroying mental barriers and for me, it feels like something has been broken down. I am sure that had the car been running on Sunday my positive mental state would have made my driving better so that good to bad driving ratio would flip. Leon says that there is nothing to do now except to push forward and that is exactly what I intend to do at Rim! Back to Diary of a Driver.

April 27, 2005

After a massive drive out of Oregon, we were home at last on Monday night. Tuesday was a catch up day and Wednesday was a day of reckoning. Today Leon and I watched the in car videos from Oregon. I had emerged from the forests thinking that I had gone so fast and driven so hard, but as the video rolled on I quickly realized how wrong I was. It was painfully embarrassing to watch. There were a few stages where I’d have the car on cam and where I’d be zipping along nicely before falling into some bad habits. And then there were the many just bad stages. I shifted way too low and I’d be lifting half off of the throttle. I wasn’t sideways enough and I was braking but not braking deep enough.

Leon was pretty disappointed and so was I both because we knew I could drive better. I could drive well in practice, but it seemed like I’d forget everything as soon as I got out on the stages. Leon told me to think everything through and to try to figure out what was and was not happening. Looking back, I seemed unwilling to take chances. I didn’t want to hurt the car in any way because I wanted to keep racing. I was afraid of DNFing and of crashing, not for the thing in itself, but just because I wanted to finish. Rallying is a sport where you have to take chances and I wasn’t going out on a limb.

Later today Leon took me out to pick up his Evo and to stop by Chad DiMarco’s shop, Sube Sports. Chad is Leon’s driving coach, so when he started talking strategy with Leon I listened. Leon is also running the Rim of the World Rally so Chad gave him some pointers for that race. Chad made two important points: winning is all about consistently staying at the top of your game and about figuring out your opponent’s strategy and consistently beating them at their own game. Of course this had a much more basic meaning for me than it did for Leon who runs at a level where simple inches and hundredths of a minute separate first place from fifth.

Looking at Chad’s first point I could see a lot of my weaknesses. I was never consistent with my driving. Sometimes I was on it, sometimes I slowed down for the downhill parts and even more times I just forgot everything except my goal to finish. If I had been consistent with my good driving I am sure I could have taken at least five minutes off of my overall times. Leon always tells me that if I drive hard and work the car I am capable of finishing in the top 15. Besides, didn’t Nick Taylor, Prince’s former owner win two California Rally Series titles with the same car? I know how to do it. I have to be mentally alert and focus on driving well and what I am seeing and hearing from my co-driver. I also have to keep track of shifting. Although I quickly got Prince on cam, I often spent too much time too high in the revs or wasted time puttering too low. I need to fully utilize my gearbox. Consistency in that area would take off a lot of time and improve the overall drivability.

As for beating my opponents at their own game… That point was a little advanced for me. I’ve always tried to find similar cars to run against, but the little green Datsun was the closest I’ve gotten in four events. It was time to look at other cars. The Honda CRX from Oregon will be at Rim and so will Don Shryer with the blue RX-7 from Ramada. Don’s got experience and the CRX is pretty consistent. For me to run against them I’m going to have to match their consistency and I’m going to have to take risks, anything less and I’ll be eating dust- literally! So consistency and risk taking are my goals for Rim.

Although I can keep feeling ashamed about the video, I really did gain one important thing in Oregon. I came out of the event feeling better about the whole rally driving thing. I felt like I was driving well and that I could be competitive. I wasn’t so scared to push things beyond the comfort level. While my feelings did not necessarily always match up to the reality of the situation, I think that just these positive thoughts are a big step forward. One of the hardest things about rallying is breaking bad habits and destroying mental barriers and for me, it feels like something has been broken down. I am sure that had the car been running on Sunday my positive mental state would have made my driving better so that good to bad driving ratio would flip. Leon says that there is nothing to do now except to push forward and that is exactly what I intend to do at Rim!

Back to Diary of a Driver.