The Blayze team went through and asked pro racecar drivers, coaches, and peers in the grassroots racing community for what common misconceptions they see drivers speaking about in our sport:
Dion von Moltke - Blayze Coach & Pro Driver:
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Coasting is bad: I'm really not sure why this is taught, I literally coast in every single corner on every single race track and so does every other pro driver. The length of the coast will change quite a lot but whether you're driving at the absolute limit or if you're just starting out and learning coasting is not a bad thing to do. In fact, I want beginner drivers coasting even more!
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There is a "perfect braking trace": In a lot of classrooms across the world people draw a little graph of a "perfect brake trace". You probably know the one, it has a big spike up initially and a nice smooth long release. Can that be a great brake trace? Sure! Is it always a great brake trace? No! You want to adjust how you brake for every corner you enter.
The last one I want to cover is less a misconception and more drivers taking an idea and running way to far with it. A common scenario I see is:
A driver enters a corner and starts to apply the throttle. They start losing the rear and they think to themselves, "I need to add more weight to the rear" so as the rear starts to slide they either keep the throttle consistent or even add additional throttle.
What happens? They spin or worse...
What's the very last thing I want to do when I start to lose the rear? Add throttle.
Are they correct in that adding throttle will send more weight to the rear and that can add grip to the rear? Yes! But, when the rear tires are starting to slide you are already over the limit. They have no more grip to give you and that inside rear tire is really starting to slip. So, by adding throttle you are sending the rear tires even farther over the limit and that inside rear tire will start to spin faster and faster which makes the whole car snap even harder.
The far more important thing to do in this moment is to reduce your speed and try to take load out of the car (get your hands straight). That means I want to do the exact opposite thing, I want to get off the throttle (smoothly) so I start to reduce my speed.
Alain Tranchemontagne - Blayze Member
One suggestion I frequently make, especially with inexperienced drivers who have a challenge sensing the car and modulating the brake (or throttle release) is to straighten the steering wheel slightly (counter steer if the slide is well under way of course) to reduce the lateral load. It's a fraction of a second that allows the car to shed a few mph quickly and rebalance the car.
I find that drivers often don't counter steer enough or fast enough while slowly releasing off the throttle. They are taught being smooth (which is important) but in this instance the counter steer isn't smooth, it needs to be fast.
