Hey Guys,

I am a pretty inexperienced auto-x/track driver. In my life, I've done a total of 2 auto-x events and done some ride-arounds at the track.

I don't normally drive "spirited" on the street, but I've found a nice backroads on my way home from work. Quite a few twisties, fall colors on the trees, and sunlight peeking thru. It's quite a relaxing time after a hard day of work.

I'm pretty comfortable with the curves, and most of them are fairly open so I can see around the curve.

So, with that, I've put the BMW 325IS thru it's paces today. (The 914 is on jackstands, sans engine).

So, I've noticed that when I'm really winding the car out and hanging near the limits, my vision narrows - much like that in a "fight or flight" situation. I noticed this when I was at my auto-x's which was very disconcerning when you're trying to look ahead for the next turn, keep an eye on the gauges, and have a general "feel" of where you are on the course, when you have tunnel vision.

Is this a normal occurance, or is this just me and my inexperience? Anything that I can do?

I would assume that having a more open field of view while hanging it out thru a corner would be most benificial - especially in a track situation. Watching the line you're on, checking the car in front of you, and the ones in front of them.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Tom

It's a normal consequence of concentration. Your brain is simply blocking out unnecessary detail so you can get the job done. The more you're concentrating, the more tunnel visioned you become.

You'll find, as you get more experienced, a certain speed requires less active concentration, and you can relax more. More experience (and talent) means the bar slowly rises so you can eventually go lots faster while exerting no more effort than you do now to drive slowly. Whereas now you may have to sweat bullets to go a pace X, you'll eventually find your mind will wander, or you can do things like hold a conversation at pace X or even at pace X+10.

The phrase 10/10ths applies as much (really more) to the driver than it does to the car/tires/etc. You now may need to work your brain at 10/10ths to go 2 seconds a lap slower than someone else who's only working their brain at 8/10ths to maintain their speed. Eventually, with practice, you'll be able to hit their 8/10ths speed while working at 10/10ths, and later still, to match that pace at 8/10ths. An experienced endurance driver will usually drive at their own 8/10ths speed, as driving at 10/10ths is exhausting. Even an F1 driver will probably only use 9/10ths most of the time, and only dip into 10/10ths during critical moments (lap before and lap after a pit stop, or while chasing someone just a second or two up the track).

Driving at 8/10ths is also where smoothness comes from. If you can drive at the car's 10/10ths pace while you yourself are only operating at 8/10ths, you have enough brain capacity to think ahead and plan, and thus can be very smooth and controlled in your driving. If you have to push yourself to 10/10ths to fully exploit the car, then you're going to be ragged and less in control, and use up the tires more. This is why driving a "slow" car fast is so enjoyable, and why driving a really fast car fast is actually a lot of work.

This is EXACTLY the single biggest skill to learn on the race track.

Its kind of a stepping stone to reaching the next level in driver skill.

heck, I'm still at that step half the time.
its a constant battle to learn and train your body to raise your field of vision on the race track.

my personal opinion... it seperates the men from the boys, or the fast drivers from the so-so drivers.

I constantly (every day I'm on a track) work on this issue.
by consciously raising my chin 2 inches and reminding my brain to ignore that apex point and look at the corner ahead. You can still hit the apex out of your peripherial, without even looking at it.

you can consciously tell you are faster on the lap charts when you practice this.

brant

IMHO, i find that practicing on multi-tasking helps....

pickup some multiplayer video games.

get online and find some beginner players online and warm up to training your brain to track multiple players at the same time while your runing through a road course or shoot-em-up game. I like Rogue Spear or Rainbow Six =-))

after a while you will become better at tracking multiple players/cars and you'll notice your driving will become more relaxed taking in multiple streams of info.

Also helps to improve your reflexes. Big time. =-))

Excellent observation.

A technique to help, which can be practiced all the time, is to try to look at the rearview mirror w/o moving your eyes. "See" the whole picture. In many cars, you can see both the center and left side mirror in one "view". You can do this during the morning commute, and you can do it at speed (well slower than your max).

Another thing to watch for when learning how to up your speed is "Look where you want to go". This sounds almost trite, but it's astonishing how many people, when they get into trouble, end up staring at exactly what they end up hitting. If you can force yourself to NOT look at the edge of the road when you're in a bit too hot, and instead look up the road where you want to go, you will often get yourself out of trouble. Avoiding target fixation is a key element to not regularly crashing.

Finally, when you look up the road, pay attention not to where you ARE (because you're there, so you can't do anything about it), but instead at where you'll be in a few 10ths, which you CAN still control. If you can combine the "wide view" with "look where you want to go", you'll usually end up actually looking about 0.5 to 2 seconds up the road, depending on how much you can see, and how fast you're going at that moment.

Devote a little bit of your brain to always checking to see if you're all tensed up (and relax), and whether you're looking at some point 0.1sec in front of the hood, or 1-2 seconds up the road. This will eventually become automatic.

Wow... Lots of good responses.

What really sparked this was after I was letting the car cool down, I started to think back when my Supra got wrecked. Some yahoo pulled an illegal U-turn in front of me (even worse, he was in the oncoming traffic).

I *just* hit the guy, ripping the front driver's suspension clean off...

I remember everything happening in slow motion, and all I remember doing was looking at the guy's front bumper, thinking "Holy sh!t, I'm gonna hit this fool". Now that I think about it, I never even looked in the lane next to me to see if I could move over, or if there was even a car next to me (I don't think there was).

Honestly, it wasn't my fault and I don't think I could have avoided it - it happened in a split second... But, when lapuwali mentioned that most people hit what they're looking at, the light bulb really turned on...

I've been playing Battlefield 2, and I plan to get GT4, so maybe I'll try and brush up on them over the wintertime.

Honey, no really - I NEED to play this game.

Looks like I need to practice some more. Good think I'm looking to only run a 1.8L in the 914.

Thanks guys, more ideas the better.

Tom

QUOTE

by consciously raising my chin 2 inches and reminding my brain to ignore that apex point and look at the corner ahead. You can still hit the apex out of your peripherial, without even looking at it

Yes look where you want to go

QUOTE

Another thing to watch for when learning how to up your speed is "Look where you want to go".

YES!!!

A Ski instructor I had years ago hammered this tenet into me. She picked up that I was worried about the terrain so much rather than getting where I wanted to go. Told me to keep my head up, look where I want to go, and my skills would get me there

Your peripheral vision is incredibly powerful!!

After a few session with a student I ask them to look at where they want to be, not the immediate obstacle..

Dont worry about the gauges in the middle of a turn, check gauges when your car is settled, also relax your grip on the wheel

Wow-
what a bunch of info. Now, to start changing my driving! Hell, this stuff is like -deep, man-. Alright, sounds trite, but you know, the "look where you want to go" thing might have bigger application than just driving.

actually "look where you want to go" may be a start, "see where you want to go" and let your bodies incredible skill sets get the car there. It quite hard to know that you can do it, and that the car is more than capable..

seat time, lots of it

Well, I dont know if its my age.. or what, but I dont have any problem with this..

I loose lack of confidence in a car before I get narrowed vision... Setup is crutial...

At least, I dont remember having any issues with this...

I'll try and note my vision next time I auto x...

Very interesting idea though.

Could be a medical problem, get checked out by a doctor, let him/her know what is happening to your vision. Do other things also bring it on? (amusement rides, spinning?) you might have a blood flow probelm, narrow vision is one of the signs of low blood flow to the head. This could be aggrivated by the spirited driving. Your blood veins might be expanding causing a pressure drop, that can lead to a black out, which could kill you, and anyone you hit if your driving at the time.

I have driven pretty radical,a nd have not experienced this problem. It may just be an effect of the driving on a "normal"person, or it could be a medical problem. If I had vision norrowing I'd get to a doctor.

Stay healthy.

Anyone who rides a motorcycle understands the "look where you want to go" and the "keep your head up" mantra. I find that since I got my motorcycle and took a course on how to ride it that I am a better driver. Many of the basic ideas necessary to stay alive on a motorcycle translate to go driving practice in a car.

What you describe sounds abnormal. The concentration that has been mentioned by some is one thing. Focusing and blocking out distractions (figurative tunnel vision) is normal. Actual, literal tunnel vision is not.


Andrew

now that i think about tunnel vision, i do actually get tunnel vision at about 130 140MPH... but at that speed i'm trying to scanas far ahead as possible.

AX tunnel vision? NO comprende'. LOL

when i finally started skiing the double blacks, my buddy who was coaching me told me to plan 3 and 4 turns ahead of time... that was a huge help and i use it in driving today.

When road racing with buddies on motorcycles... then THERE is the multi tasking thing... =-)

Tunnel vision would be like looking thru a tube, black painted on the inside. That is tunnel vision. I have had it comming out of being knocked out, and from the abnormal effect of a cortazone injection (resulting in loss of blood flow to the head). The tunnel vision effect is I believe cause by that lack of blood flow. I do not think you can concentrate tunnel vision, you can concentrate and ignore whats to the side, (which ain't too smart in street driving, but ok on a closed course) But to have that concentration actually cause a black out like tunnel vision does not seem right

QUOTE (Tom Perso @ Nov 3 2005, 05:22 PM)

Is this a normal occurance, or is this just me and my inexperience?

normal. gets worse the faster you go. at 200+mph, a 5 lane highway turns into a thin rubber band ...

Andy

As a clarification, it's not actual "tunnel" vision - ie: a Medical condition.

It's just my dumb head concentrating so hard on one subject, like the road 20 ft in front of me.

It seems to happen when the car is nearing the end of it's grip, and a bit of the "butt pucker" factor starts happening.

Maybe I'm just a sissy...

Of course, I'm *not* saying that I could use some help with my head.

Tom

IMO, this is very common when in relatively unfamiliar territory. As the territory becomes more familiar, the symptom starts to decrease.

Soloracers mentioned motorcycles. This is a good example. I think one goes through the exact same progression from the time they first start (street) riding, to the time they acquire some experience.

Speaking strictly for myself, experience cured the tendency. In your "fight or flight" example, the same occured when I started amature boxing. After a while, I was surprised at what I started noticing around me while my opponent was doing his best to take me out. You also gain the ability to relax. Racing was the same. I started noticing all sorts of things without losing perspective of my driving goals. The need to be able to read your guages, is an example. You must acquire the ability be able to do this while racing (though at a hopefully optimum moment). Another, is driving two or more cars ahead of you. If you're vision is locked onto the the other guy's rear bumper, you'll never see an upcomming problem or opportunity. Experience will gain these skills. FWIW.

Andys

Some excellent replies.

There are some really good excercises that you can do help expand your field of vision, both in and out of the car. Also, looking ahead is a mantra that you should repeat to yourself, aloud if neccessary, while on the autox course or track.

Where you look is where you go... If you're in a sweeper, and all you see is the road right in front in front of the bumper, you will be -constantly- reacting to the turn as it changes. You will be sawing at the wheel, your throttle will be uneven, you'll be slow, and you'll wind up quickly becoming exhausted. The further through the turn you can look, the more able you will be to -predict- what you need the car to do. Your steering inputs will get smoother, your throttle will get smoother, you'll feel better, and you;'ll be sooo much quicker coming out of the turn that you'll probably blow the next one 'cause you're way hotter than you're used to. And by looking through the turn, I mean -through- the turn. You should be turning your head. In a 180, you shouldn't even be looking through the windshield untill you're exiting the turn, -that's- how far ahead you need to be looking. It doesn't happen overnight, but with practice, you -will- get there.

A couple of people came close to saying it, but no one did...

"A Twist of The Wrist" by Kieth Code.

Kieth Code is a long time motorcycle racer who runs a superbike school as well. He has written a couple of books, "twist" being the most popular. While it's written towards motorcycles, it is just as usefull for competition driving with four wheels.

Read it. It's a major help for competition driving... And there's a really neat excercise in the video for expanding your field of vision. (The original topic of this post).

Good luck! Go Fast! Go Smooth! Have Fun!

-Josh2

Tunnel vision while driving is manditory to receive a drivers license in Pennsylvania.

Spoke

"normal. gets worse the faster you go. at 200+mph, a 5 lane highway turns into a thin rubber band ...

Andy "

Yep, I remember Hans Stuck describing driving his 959 on the autobahn at 240MPH saying "everysing got very...narrow"

QUOTE (soloracer @ Nov 3 2005, 09:54 PM)

Anyone who rides a motorcycle understands the "look where you want to go" and the "keep your head up" mantra. I find that since I got my motorcycle and took a course on how to ride it that I am a better driver. Many of the basic ideas necessary to stay alive on a motorcycle translate to go driving practice in a car.

Took the words right outta my mouth!

I'm always trying to look 8 seconds ahead. But that's not always possible in traffic Find yourself staring at the bumper in front of you? Try looking through the car...through the rear and front glass. Off the sides of the car. Watch the brake/tail lights of the ahead traffic. They tell you what to expect. You'll find yourself slowing down before the car in front of you because you're paying attention beyond the 10' to 20' in front of you

During auto-crossing I don't have the need to look at any gauges. There's no cops so speeding isn't an issue. I know where the car is in the rpm range by the sound she makes, thus I know when to shift. My peripherial vision will alert me to any bright warning lights the gauges emit in the event of any engine trouble. Heck, I even TRIED to GLANCE in the rear view mirror once to see a cone I hit but I couldn't because the next gate was approaching me. Looking at unimportant stuff will just slow you down.

As for this 10/10ths stuff...never heard of it. Kind of confusing? Someone care to elaborate at the 8th grade level?