Involve Yourself: Become a Better Driver

Skills & Focus
Get through the course, as marked by cones placed around a parking lot, as quickly as you can without hitting any cones. Charge through the forest along fire roads, in a driving rain and fog, as fast as you can without launching yourself and your navigator off into a ravine. Racing will teach you how to drive better for the simple reason that the clock does not lie. If you're driving well, you'll be smooth and consistent in your lap times. You will enjoy the time spent on the track, and with the simple practice of observation you will find a better way to do things if there are any other racers to observe. If you are so good that you're at the front, your car will have a big number 1 on the side and everyone will agree that you ARE a good driver!


The great thing about racing is that, unlike commuting, there is a complete focus on the task at hand—driving quickly. Everyone around you will be focused on the same thing, and generally willing to help someone who is trying to become better. There are too many class types to describe, but a local racetrack will have classes/instruction for the novice racer, along with instruction for the usual classes that run there. Beyond that, you have many options. Go racing in parking lots around a cone set-up, called Solo, and the SCCA will help you there. Have an interesting older sports car, an MG or Alfa? The local club that supports that make/model will possibly have a racing program with dates at a local track. Racetrack "house schools" are a perfect way to gain basic racing skills and certification—and don't dismiss these skills as being useless on the street. Frankly, any training is better than none and you will definitely learn the benefits of concentration and planning at a race school.

Why?
With the increasing number of distractions that a driver faces every day—from which book to read while commuting to how the new makeup looks in the vanity mirror or where to place the extra-grande low-fat mocha frappa-latte with a twist so you can check your e-mail on your handheld—isn't it good to know you can choose a more intellectually challenging commuter pastime? You start out by scanning the road ahead as far as you can see trying to identify all the possible dangers you can find. Then, predict which danger will occur when and decide how you would react to said dangers. No, that wasn't an opening for you to cut left across four lanes of traffic, mister! That was ME leaving one car length for every 10 miles an hour! When it comes time to execute that plan, as it so inevitably will, you'll impress yourself with your newfound skills.


Let's drive better out there—it will help everyone involved.

Resources
www.mazdarevitup.com