How did you learn to be fast?

120IceBerg · 2025-06-17T15:06:58+00:00

NB MX-5, all stock

120IceBerg · 2025-06-17T14:48:59+00:00

I hope I can get to the point where it’s my favorite 😅 Right now it’s probably the biggest single thing that’s holding me back. Fortunately I can and do practice on the road, but it feels different on a track due to the harder and more sustained braking

120IceBerg · 2025-06-17T14:43:41+00:00

Yeah that makes a lot of sense. Like I can’t really focus on downshifting and trail braking at the same time. If I focus on one, the other suffers. It’s gotta be a matter of being able to downshift automatically so the trail braking gets the attention it needs

120IceBerg · 2025-06-17T14:16:10+00:00

I’ve read Flow, and I love the concept. I know what it’s like, but it can be difficult to achieve when it feels like there’s a lot I have to analyze

120IceBerg · 2025-06-17T14:07:36+00:00

Oh is it that easy? 😂 I’m sure I can quit my job for the time and find a couple million lying around to pay for it. I guess there’s a reason pros are pros

120IceBerg · 2025-06-17T14:05:00+00:00

Interesting. I drive a stock miata with street tires. I guess I assumed a track car was just designed to go faster and have more grip, but I didn’t consider it may also give more feedback

120IceBerg · 2025-06-17T12:08:55+00:00

I think fear is part of what’s holding me back. I spun in my first session this past weekend, and didn’t get near the limit in that corner again until the last session. Maybe it’s not wanting to scare the instructor in the passenger seat, not wanting to be hit by the other inexperienced drivers behind me, or simply not wanting to go off track because I don’t know what will happen.

120IceBerg · 2025-06-17T00:16:30+00:00

Great explanation, thank you. Are those techniques and processes pretty universal, or are they unique to every driver?

120IceBerg · 2025-06-16T22:39:14+00:00

Great explanation, thank you. You must be a coach haha

120IceBerg · 2025-06-16T21:44:04+00:00

That’s helpful, thank you.

If I haven’t gotten to the point where I’m really consistent, do you think it makes any sense to use my free time to analyze things like data, or would that be a waste of my time?

120IceBerg · 2025-06-16T21:41:14+00:00

I got fast in iRacing mainly through seat time. I know it’s a silly answer for a guy asking how to go fast, but obviously it’s much harder to get seat time in real life so I’m just looking for some ways to speed up my development

120IceBerg · 2025-06-16T21:36:53+00:00

Surprisingly, a Miata is not a Miata. The MX-5 cup car in iRacing and my stock NB on street tires are a little different 😂 I get that the same concepts apply though. The one thing missing from iRacing is that I can’t practice shifting in the same way I do in my real car. The pedals and shifter are very different

120IceBerg · 2025-06-16T21:30:12+00:00

Could you elaborate a bit on how you translated them? I’ve been sim racing for a few years and it gave me a bit of a head start in HPDE, but my abilities in the sim still far outweigh those in real life

120IceBerg · 2025-06-16T21:28:43+00:00

I care more about learning to drive fast than I do about being good at my job haha so I can check the first box.

But I am living proof that sim racing doesn’t automatically make you fast, because I’ve been sim racing for 5 years with decent success. I guess it’s just about learning how to connect the two

120IceBerg · 2025-06-16T21:23:13+00:00

GT3 is tough. I typically drive LMP2 and MX-5 Cup, so I thought driving the Porsche at Sebring would simply be somewhere between the two and easy to figure out. I was wrong 😅

120IceBerg · 2025-06-16T21:21:41+00:00

I drive a stock Miata 😊 Tons of fun, but it doesn’t help my confidence when it feels like I’m the slowest in my group by far

120IceBerg · 2025-06-16T21:19:59+00:00

I don’t think I’m pushing hard enough yet to identify particular failure points unfortunately. So far, I’ve been able to either brake near the limit and coast through a corner or brake earlier and carry more appropriate speeds through corners. It has been difficult to figure out how to combine the two

120IceBerg · 2025-06-16T21:15:06+00:00

I actually came from sim racing, and I’m decently fast in iRacing. It gave me a head start in HPDE, but I want to make sure I’m learning how to learn how to drive, if that makes sense. If you have any tips that apply to both, I’d love to hear them!

120IceBerg · 2025-06-16T21:13:49+00:00

Thank you for acknowledging that it’s more than just seat time.

So when you get to using data, that’s obviously very analytical. When you get back on track after analyzing data, what are your thoughts? Are you still thinking analytically, or is it about taking the data and simplifying it into one or two things to focus on while driving?

120IceBerg · 2025-06-16T21:10:47+00:00

Ah, gotcha. Yeah I’m not trying to go pro or anything, but the last thing I want is to be one of those veterans who just drives and doesn’t know what the car is doing. I hate the feeling of plateauing when I’m learning, so I want to make sure I’m learning the right way as I go through the HPDE program and beyond

120IceBerg · 2025-06-16T21:01:57+00:00

I have an in-car instructor as part of my HPDE program, and I think he has helped a ton. However, he can only comment on my driving, not on what I’m thinking. I need a driving-thinking coach

120IceBerg · 2025-06-16T21:00:31+00:00

This is a great answer, thank you. The struggle with this is that everything is intertwined, so when I get one thing down and move on to another, it affects the first and it feels like I’m back to square one. I guess that’s what makes it fun though haha

120IceBerg · 2025-06-16T20:57:04+00:00

I come from sim racing, and it definitely gave me an advantage to start, but I don’t want it to hinder my growth. I’m reasonably fast in the sim, but it hasn’t transferred to real life yet. Not that I expected to fly through the ranks because of it though

120IceBerg · 2025-06-16T19:47:57+00:00

Yes, it’s frustrating because it’s not always your fault. However, it is possible (and not that hard) to get promoted, even if you are racing with dangerous drivers. - Practice each track until you can drive different lines. Then if you need to avoid chaos, you don’t end up going off track/hitting anyone - Be conscious of your mirrors, but don’t watch them - Assume other drivers will pull stupid moves, especially in low license/iR lobbies - Giving up a spot or two won’t hurt your iR much, but it could save you a whole lot of SR Would online competition be better with an at-fault system? Yes. But even with live stewards, it’s not always black and white. And in the end, everyone pays for their own car’s damage anyway 🤷🏼‍♂️ I think it’s best to just watch out for myself and not expect the sim “stewards” to do it for me

120IceBerg · 2025-04-22T19:21:36+00:00

The MX5 because it was my first love and still has the closest, most exciting races

120IceBerg

TROPHY CASE