Willow Springs teaching lap -- Give me some input

[nostatic]

ok...server fixed. In my office at 11:48pm on a Friday night. But I get to drive home...or maybe up PCH. Decisions, decisions...

[Emission]

Very cool. Worked flawlessly.

[Jack Olsen]

[jluetjen]

Jack, here are some product comments from a guys who's thousands of miles away and never seen Willow Springs in the flesh. My intention is just to look at this as a potential customer.

This is better in some ways then the video tape that I mentioned earlier, but loses out in some ways.

1) Make sure that you hit your apexes. Admittedly the camera is mounted on your off-side, but it didn't show a clear right side apex until turn four - (even taking into account the really-really-really-late apex of turn 2). Apexes as reference points are key to beginners. In addition to leaving road un-used, missing an apex in the video takes away reference points that beginners hunger for.

2) Mount the camera onto or inside your helmet. Almost nobody drives the car from outside the right rear window. Beginning drivers need to see the driver's perspective -- not the rear wing's. This will help them to pick out reference points that they can see (as opposed to those that they can't). It will also alert them to possible driver sensations that remote camera's can-not. For example -- Chris Foley recently posted some video from LRP that had some really fast laps (for a 4-cylinder 914 1.7) that showed some significant bumpiness through Big Bend. It reminded me of an old R&T article that I've kept through the years of Sam Posey going through LRP Step-by-step with pictures. He pointed out the same thing with pictures that conveyed the exact same experience.

3) Speaking of famous drivers, the tape that I have has some famous drivers (Derek Bell and others) doing a voice-over calmly describing what is happening. This can be very helpful.

4) In addition to the driver's eye view, why not edit in some highlights of reference marks. For example like the picture below. They would only need to flash on briefly to give the beginning driver an idea of where to look and for what.



It would highlight to the driver that the reference is to the right of the tower. In my opinion the key references to show are turn-in points and apexs. You could also highlight where the driver's eyes should be when cross the apex and where to look when exiting the turn. Skip Barber's teachers teach (and I agree) that the car will go where the driver's eyes are pointed. So capturing in a video where the driver's eyes should be looking would be something new and different.

[tiorio]

From a video geek perspective...

If you have the ability, switch your camera over to 'progressive' mode (may be 24fps). This avoids the annoying interlace tearing (the horizontal jaggies) when you play the video on the laptop.

Depending on your editing software you may have to change that to a progressive mode as well.

[PeteBrown]

Jack:
Attached is a link to an Optometrist who mixes his video laps between a camera mounted on a harness bar and a lipstick camera mounted to his passenger mirror. He brings his laptop to the track to allow beginners to see his video/driving line and aid in his instruction.

http://homepage.mac.com/on_track/hotlapvideos.htm

I found it to be very helpful when I visted Gingerman a few years ago, especially when there were no familiarity rides.

[Emission]

Jack,

I drove Willow Springs for the first time last week (in about 10+ different cars). I used your map (above) and it helped!

The turn 3-4 is a bit awkward until you get used to it... and I still don't have the guts to go into 8 without a tap on the brakes... I guess that will come.

I saw a brand-new 2005 'Vette go off pretty hard to the outside of #3. Ouch.

- Mike

[motion]

Cool video! What kind of lap times are you turning at Willow?

Turn 1 looks great. I think you should hug the turn 2 inside line much tighter - will cut 50-100 feet out of the length of that corner and allow you to carry more speed to the exit of turn 2. Looks like your turn-in at the top of turn 4 is a little early, too. That sucker needs to be late-apexed to make the run down to turn 5 as straight as possible. Same with turn 8 - keep those right tires almost on the dirt in the inside. That'll cut 100-150 feet out of the length of that turn. Turn 9 - What the hell, Jack? Keep it in 5th and don't take your foot off, hehe.

*I do not know what the hell I'm talking about, so discard info accordingly*

[Zeke]

Man, a lot of armchair racers here. I think any pics or vids are an aid. I believe I've read that F1 drivers and others "drive" the tracks on interactive games. But, as was pointed out, the advange gained in watching a video is parallel to the amount of overall track driving time.

I think a first timer is going to be a bit lost while watching the video. It would be abstract, as Jack said. There is no substitiute for a in-car instructor and following other cars/drivers who set a good example. IOW, no substitute for seat time. The video can't hurt, though.

I need to hurry up and get some memory in my computer because I've never been able to download any of Jacks vids. Even on DSL, which I thought would help. The memory is coming soon. I have seen other vids that are either in a different format or smaller files. I love watching them. The pause feature makes it work as a tool.

Jack, is there a way to play your vids on a screen at the driver's meeting and classroom at OTR? That would be outstanding.

[Jack Olsen]

All of this input is very helpful, guys. Thanks.

Originally posted by Zeke
Jack, is there a way to play your vids on a screen at the driver's meeting and classroom at OTR? That would be outstanding.

That was close to my idea for this. But I think it's like you say: the first time you sit down with a class, this sort of thing is a complete abstraction. Then they go out and do ducks-in-a-row, and ride with their instructors, and it slowly (and I do mean slowly) begins to form a complete picture in their heads. My thinking was that rather than rely on their memory of what I said in class, or what the instructor said/yelled as they were driving, it might be useful to have this sort of thing running on a TV up in the drivers' meeting room so that -- if they wanted -- they could come up and see it again as they slowly gain more familiarity with the track.

A lot of times, students hear all of the right things on a track day, but are so excited/distracted/overwhelmed that it goes in one ear and out the other. I think using something like this as a supplemental tool might help to remind them of what their instructor has said as the day goes on and their thoughts have a chance to settle down a little.

A free-standing video for someone who's never been to Willow is a great idea, but it's more ambitious than I want to get at this point. Multiple perspectives are still a possibility, and more text on screen is in the works.

Richard, I'm not sure why I was running so high through 2 that day. Usually I'm tighter. I lost my rear end a little exiting 3, so my line through 4 is a little off. Here's a clip of what I normally do there. I've tried staying in 5th through 9 a bunch of times, and it's always slower in my car.

The lap this clip was based on was a 1:30.27.