Speed judgement?

[vmagics]

At the risk of sounding a bit thick. After (literally) months of almost continual practice and attempting to correct my mistakes mid-corner it has just occured to me how important/vital it is to find the optimum speed on entry and apex. Since I am hopeless at judging my speed by engine sound I frequently find myself quickly glancing at the speedometer (the virtual one). This often results in me heading off line, off track or worse... into the arse end of the car in front. Anyway, I really can't think of any other way of judging my speed. If anybody has any thoughts or suggestions on this matter I would very much like to hear them.

[Keith Peppiatt]

my initial technique is to approach the corner and scrub off as much speed as i feel needed before turning, i can then accel thru the corner. with more and more practice and getting used to how setups can effect the car balance i've been able to adjust this (i'm talking months here).

i have always thought if you think you're too slow approaching the corner, you're probably not too far away from the correct speed.

you also just need to get used to that engine note. it is key. don't think speed think gear and noise.

[vmagics]

Thanks Keith. So, with experience I'll be able to judge speed by gear and noise? I am a musician, this really should be a natural approach to me. Although unfortunately my instrument is drums.

[Michael Herrmann]

i can only agree with keith it takes ages i still need the speedo from time to time to check my speed
specaly on tracks i dident drove befor but normaly i just brake down so much that i can turn in ... still on brackes till the apex and just apply more throttle
while releasing brakes

[James Yates]

Originally Posted by vmagics

Thanks Keith. So, with experience I'll be able to judge speed by gear and noise? I am a musician, this really should be a natural approach to me. Although unfortunately my instrument is drums.

Once you learn to drive the car using the engine sound as a guide you will find your laptimes will improve by a good margin. Don't worry about looking at the speed, just go at the speed you feel comfortable with and once you get the hang of that you will become much more consistent. From there all you need to do is increase the speeds more and more until you are able to do some good laptimes. Its best to try to get as much done as you can before you enter a corner - such as braking quite early and making sure you are on the right line to enter the corner. By doing this you should find that you are able to take corners with the correct line which will help massively in allowing you to increase your corner speeds. Providing you have a force feedback wheel you will be able to feel what the car is doing, and if the car is trying to understeer, its very likely that you are going into the corner too fast.

[Attila Domján]

As other said already, i can only confirm: i use also only the sound of the engine to judge my speed, never look on the speedometer, except at the start when i check the revving before the light goes out.

After during the whole race what i do is:
- ears: listen to my engine to judge speed
- eyes: look as far ahead on the road as possible, always think 2 corners ahead about the ideal line
- brain: keep in mind always which gear you are, it is like an internal clock for me, after a while even without concentrating on it you should be able to tell in any second any moment which gear you are currently, even if it is in the middle of a fight with 3 other cars on the braking zone.

Hope it helps you a bit.

[Lee Downham]

I don't think I could tell you what speed I am doing at any point on any track (maybe I should check the speedo occasionally ).

My driving is all done by engine note and knowing which gear I am in ... or should be in at any point on track

Maybe as a drummer, you could just listen to the beat of the tappets and valves

[vmagics]

Originally Posted by Lee Downham

Maybe as a drummer, you could just listen to the beat of the tappets and valves

Actually, as a drummer I blame my equipment and beat it with big sticks!

[Dietmar Auferkorte]

... amazing what you can hear, must be my on board sound !

[Lee Downham]

... try using some top spec Sennheiser headphones with any reasonable soundcard and you will not miss a single RPM ... now that gives me an idea for a poll

[Attila Domján]

ye, i use Sennheiser PC 165 headset, blast good quality of sound

[Dave Gardner]

speed guage,whats that then, lol

i rarely look at the guages only to see how my lap time is compared to previous laps,then only if i remember, i change gear on the revs,which sometimes catches me out,as the alfa seems to keep pretty much the same pitch all the way from 6k+ rpm, but other than that,i drive a few laps fairly cautiously then just speed up bit by bit.

probably explains why i'm so slow lol

[Warren Dawes]

Originally Posted by Dave Gardner

speed guage,whats that then, lol

i rarely look at the guages only to see how my lap time is compared to previous laps,then only if i remember, i change gear on the revs,which sometimes catches me out,as the alfa seems to keep pretty much the same pitch all the way from 6k+ rpm, but other than that,i drive a few laps fairly cautiously then just speed up bit by bit.

probably explains why i'm so slow lol

Same here, Dave and I must have gone to the same driving school.

[Lee Downham]

LOL ... yeah I do bounce it off the rev limiter a bit more than I would like, and am even worse in the Evo GT's since are so throaty and don't scream quite so much

[Gary Brain]

I wonder does the use of trackIR help in judging speed? I have been discussing the use of IR4 on another thread and maybe the ability to glance side ways so easily would enable your senses to figure out speed? as its when you look sideways in a moving car that you really see how quick you are moving?

[Attila Domján]

for me it would be more disturbing then helping i think.

[Eyghon-RD]

About the only time I use the Speedo is at the start to hold the revs at my prefered RPM and when setting up the gears for a new track etc after that it's done on the engine sound and practice.

[Chad711]

I have a sound card. I have my PC hooked up to my home surround sound system. I can hear very well what speed/rpm I am at. I can typically shift with out looking over.

Maybe try some better sound?