Secrets of Smooth Driving

The best racing drivers are always the smoothest.

When driving near the limit of your vehicles handling, it is particularly important to drive as smoothly as you can.

Weight transfers caused by aggressive inputs can upset the balance of the car and change the levels of grip available at each wheel. If you're driving at 50% of the car's potential, you'll be able change gear as roughly as you like, and brake, accelerate and steer aggressively. At speed, however, this can lead to poor track times and increased risk of an accident.

Important elements to consider include the following:

Steering

Hold the steering wheel at the ten to three position (Figure 1) to allow fairly tight radius corners to be tackled without having to take your hands off the wheel. Reposition your hands on the wheel accordingly before taking a tight bend. Shuffling your hands is not a smooth technique.

Figure 1: Correct steering position for maximum smoothness

Braking

Pressing the brake pedal smoothly and progressively (see Figure 2), never stamp on the brakes, and do not get into the habit of allowing ABS to sort out locked wheels. This doesn't mean that you can't press the pedal hard, but ensure that the pressing and releasing motions are smooth as this will keep weight transfer spikes to a minimum and hopefully reduce the chances of a locking wheel.

Figure 2: Correct brake application
Braking curve

Acceleration

Smooth accelerator inputs are more important in more powerful cars. Engine braking is just as important as acceleration, so bear weight transfers in mind when lifting off.

Gear changing (in a manual transmission / stick shift)

Avoiding shock loads through the transmission is essential, especially in a powerful car. When changing down, releasing the clutch rapidly will result in rapid forward weight transfers and in extreme cases, locking wheels. Use rev matching where possible to smooth out down changes, or release the clutch with mechanical sympathy in mind. A poor down change can result in oversteer in a rear wheel drive car when driving close to the limit.

Rev matching

Rev matching is a technique used to prevent unnecessary weight transfer during down-changes in a manual transmission car. For a demonstration of why this concept is useful, select third gear and accelerate to about 3000rpm, then quickly select second and release the clutch fairly rapidly. You'll notice a large forward weight transfer as the engine speed is forced to increase. This can also cause the driving wheels to lock in extreme situations.

Rev matching will make you a much smoother driver when changing down through the gears, a skill which is essential for the track and can lead to faster lap times. This technique is performed by depressing the clutch, selecting the required lower gear, increasing the throttle, and then releasing the clutch smoothly. You'll need more revs if changing from forth to second that from fourth to third. With practice, this can result in very rapid and very smooth changes, and is almost essential if driving on the track. Rev matching can also be performed while braking, this is known as heel and toe. When you first start to learn this technique, you might find it hard to predict the amount of revs you'll need for each gear, but remember any increase in revs is better than none.

For more information on rev matching, please see the blog post on this subject

Note: Weight transfers can also work in your favour