Your Driving Strengths and Weaknesses

In order to get better, we need to work on what we lack, and at times, capitalize on the strengths we do have. List at least one of each (and no more than 3) of your personal driving strengths and weaknesses. I'm curious to see what everyone says, and it's okay not to reveal all your secrets as well.

My Strengths:

~Endurance: I have a lot of practice staying alert and focused for long periods of times, even in extreme conditions.
~Smoothness: Something I'm continually perfecting, I still feel far from it, but I feel I'm more consistent than most.
~Setup: I derived a lot of pleasure from setting up my car for maximum grip and performance.

My Weaknesses:

~Braking: In my opinion, I tend to brake too softly and too early, even with my FWD NA car, which should be the opposite.
~Temper: I can be a bit rash from time to time, but I've gotten a ton better...according to my wife
~Shifting: Most of the time, my rev-match and heel-toe are spot on, but I think I miss-shift WAY too often for my taste, it really frustrates me....esp. when everything has been perfectly smooth all day.

Smoothness is my weakness all around. Whether it be in breaking, acceleration, shifting, turning, or the transitions between all of them, it is definitely my weakness. I definitely go into turns too hot, especially in an autocross.

Having a well set up car is nice. I love my car.

I know at the Dragon last time, I missed a couple of heel and toe downshifts which was not good.

My strong point is smoothness and knowing my limit.

That being said is I sometimes find myself having a change of heart half way through a good run and slow down for know reason.

One of my strongest weaknesses is the downhill. The added momentum throws me off on roads like Richard Russel downhill coming out of the sweepers and straights strikes the feeling of under steering right through the next turn.

My strength is knowing my limits and being over all pretty smooth.

Like Dana, I to have problems with downhill due to brake management and not cooking them right away. I dont quite understand this whole gravity thing and how it applies to going fast now a hill.

My other weakness, and Vance and others will get a good chuckle about this is... Decreasing Radius Corners... I hate them, they hate me, and the only time I have ever crashed was on one of these...

^ haha.

My weakness is curbs, then signs.... (for Jared and Min)

I think gravel pits needs to be added to that list...

My strength is pushing down the accelerator; my weakness is having to let it go.

~The_Duke~ wrote:

I think gravel pits needs to be added to that list...

ROFLMAO!

mazeroth wrote:

My strength is pushing down the accelerator; my weakness is having to let it go.

I think it's the other way around. You are very tentative with the throttle on the Z06.

Weakness: Not keeping a car long enough

Blowing up engines

I feel my strengths are:

:Confidence, Not cockiness. This is also one of my most used pieces of advise to everyone who comes on runs with me. There is a fine line between the two but they have polar opposite outcomes.

:Ability to pick lines and swapping driving style to suit where I am/what I'm driving quickly.

:smoothness, The greatest gift my favorite car (92 mitsubishi magna/diamante in the us I think) gave me before the police gave it a defect notice and I took it off the road. I Had a tiny steering wheel in it and very light steering. Add to that I customized a set of s13 coilovers with very aggressive suspension setup and sticky 245 tires it took a very precise driving style but god damn it was fast in the corners.

My weaknesses are:

:AWD cars. I've never owned one but driven quite a few and I can't get my head around them. One day I'll buy one and figure them out. I've owned just about every other platform I can think of and learnt as much as possible about each one. But AWD is like my nemesis, We are destined to confront each other for a final battle one day.

:Drifting too much. I sometimes get lazy and continually walk the rear end around. I know it is costing me time but unless there is someone going quick enough to make me really focus I generally just skid it.


Sorry if this is a bit long and painful but I like analyzing things like this.

There is probably a few more things I do when I'm really focused that I don't even notice which is my I'm setting up a camera inside the car so I can watch it later and see what else I can improve on. I think having someone behind with a camera would also be a helpful thing.

These have more or less been bought up by 3rd party observation at one point or another so I am only listing what people have seen.

Strengths:

Strong FWD driver, even though it's my least preferred platform I spent alot of time driving them and do not fear them.

Late Braking, I never knew I did this subconsciously until I had 2 different passengers confirm I initiate my braking late and shoot through turns that they believe should have turned out with me off the road.

Observation, I spent alot of time following other drivers or in passenger seats so I had alot of time to see people push the envelope, even make mistakes and hit the mountain.

High power confidence, I have always owned and worked on cars with above 180 or more HP (with 1 exception). Sometimes as much as 600 horse power or even cars with 2000lbs curb weights. I may not be well skilled in utilizing high powered cars but by no means do they scare me (often).

Weakness:

Night blind: I have very poor vision and tend to follow more then lead.

generally unskilled: In my group I am the slow driver, I just need more practice

Theory> execution: I study alot but have not quite got down the physical execution.

500KEG8 wrote:

In order to get better, we need to work on what we lack, and at times, capitalize on the strengths we do have. List at least one of each (and no more than 3) of your personal driving strengths and weaknesses.  I'm curious to see what everyone says, and it's okay not to reveal all your secrets as well.

My Strengths:

~Endurance: I have a lot of practice staying alert and focused for long periods of times, even in extreme conditions.
~Smoothness: Something I'm continually perfecting, I still feel far from it, but I feel I'm more consistent than most.
~Setup: I derived a lot of pleasure from setting up my car for maximum grip and performance.

My Weaknesses:

~Braking: In my opinion, I tend to brake too softly and too early, even with my FWD NA car, which should be the opposite.
~Temper: I can be a bit rash from time to time, but I've gotten a ton better...according to my wife
~Shifting: Most of the time, my rev-match and heel-toe are spot on, but I think I miss-shift WAY too often for my taste, it really frustrates me....esp. when everything has been perfectly smooth all day.

Welp, it's been about 2 years since I posted this. As I look back at my prior weaknesses, I can see they have become some of my strong points now, relative to what I thought "my strengths" actually were back then.

Since then, I've gotten to know some phenomenal, and I do mean PHENOMENAL drivers! Compaired to them, it would seem, everything is my weakness. The best thing I can do at this point, to improve, is more and more seat time. I look forward to continual growth and becoming better at learning.

SPARTA wrote:

I sometimes find myself having a change of heart half way through a good run and slow down for no reason.

I would consider that a strength Sparta. There's no point pushing yourself if you don't feel up to it. It's one thing to pressure yourself to get better and keep practicing, it's another to try and force the issue. If there's no heart in aggressive driving it ceases to become a sport and feels more like a bad habit.  

Strength's_______________________________________


Confidence in my limits


My biggest strength as a driver is probably that I don't question myself when I have a bad feeling or an urge to modify my driving technique. I trust my instincts to warn me and guide me, and most of the time they work well.

There have been plenty of moments I've found myself inexplicably countersteering or left-foot braking before my conscious mind makes me aware that I just hit a patch of black ice or started understeering or whatever.

It's not a talent that came naturally however. When I started driving I was all cockiness lacking awareness and caution. That's why I nearly died in a crash on the touge when I was just 18 suffering a concussion causing permanent memory loss of that event.

After I recovered from my physical injuries I realized there was still plenty of subconscious mental trauma left to deal with. My hands would literally shake if I tried to grab a steering wheel sometimes. It was some form of ptsd I reckon and it was bizarre to have symptoms without the memory of the event that caused them.

I had a choice to make about what to do about it and decided the best way to cure the fear was building up a stronger dose of self confidence to counteract it. Thus, I took to going off alone in the mountains late at night, effectively teaching myself how to drive in a calmer more controlled environment so I wouldn't be afraid of it anymore.

Kinda sad it took a near-death experience to realize the proper level of respect and restraint I needed to do well with a steering wheel. I've always been passionate about driving though, I see it as one of the great joys in my life.

I don't think I'll ever be entirely free of fear from driving, but I think that is a healthy thing. It keeps my subconscious 'switched on' so my 'muscle memory' can kick in when needed.

Safety Conscious about Setup and Maintenance


I'm obsessive about safety prep on any car I want to drive aggressively. I check all the usual things like alignment, lug nuts, tire pressure, brakes, wheel-bearings, etc. I don't like driving aggressively in a car I'm not confident in mechanically or setup wise.

Braking

I dunno why more people don't realize its cheaper and safer to go faster with tuned brakes than a tuned engine?

Weaknesses_____________________________________

Lack of Touge Runs in Groups

I've had plenty of fun in groups on the racetrack, but its not something I'm used too on the touge. It's so dangerous I worry about others so much I loose focus on what I'm doing.

ap2uner wrote:

Weakness: Not keeping a car long enough

^ This applies to me as well.  

                                                                               
Lack of Practice in AWD and MR Cars

Something I plan to remedy with more project cars down the road...

I still keep looking at my rear view too much when someone is behind me, need to quit doing that. gotten much better at not following the person in front of me though.

mazeroth wrote:

I still keep looking at my rear view too much when someone is behind me, need to quit doing that. gotten much better at not following the person in front of me though.

I'm starting to dislike the rear view altogether frankly... cause on roads with lots of undulations or elevation changes it seems like the rear view just sits directly in the middle of where I'm trying to look just to drive.

Strengths:
I have some pretty solid limits that I know well. Im really good at going through back and forth chicanes, feeling and knowing what the car I'm driving is capable of, pretty good at regular shifting, and I have a lot of experience with twisty mountain roads since I've been here at WCU for what's my 5th and final year. I'm also pretty good at when to brake and get back on the gas, and that leads me to my weaknesses.

Weaknesses:
I don't know to heel toe and all of that more advanced stuff. I rev match pretty good most of the time, but sometimes it's a little rough. As someone else said, I also SUCK at down hill touge. Im on my brake too much, and I forget how to take turns...especially when it comes to highway mountain driving(For Example, Highway 441 in NC going up and back down Cowee Mountain). My own limits are far under my car's limits, so I need to raise my limits so I can really get all of the fun out of my '13 STi. I may be good at powering through corners, but I'm not great at it...and definitely need some improvement with this car. As with a lot of other things, I'm also not consistent. That's all I can think of right now....I'll edit or make another post if I think of more.

My weakness is everything. I'm very rough and sloppy on upshifts, kicking the snot out of the clutch and throttle without a hint of smoothness. I also tend to do clutch dump launches intentionally since it's just about the only way to get dry wheelspin in my worn out FF shopping cart. On downshifts, I know in my head how to rev-match, but there's about a 70% chance I'll get the revs wrong and either lurch or defeat the point of rev-matching. My car is utterly incapable of getting the back end loose on dry or even wet pavement (25 year old suspension and no rear stabilizer might have something to do with that), but if the surface is ice or hardpacked snow I might very well spin out completely.

Random bumpdate: my shifting has got a lot better, probably simply due to paying more attention to it.

One other weakness I have is that I tend to listen to very loud rock and country music while driving. Certain songs get cranked up to the point where I can't hear my engine even while revving up to downshift. Also, a somewhat-justified lack of confidence in my abilities, as well as a usually-detrimental tendency to overthink things (often when I get a line wrong, second-guessing myself has something to do with it).

How in the Hell is there a 93 Pontiac Anything surviving Alaska? I need video proof! Post a link of you holding a piece of paper with my screen name and date with it just idling will be sufficient.

Don't think, just ride the ripples in the flow man

I love old 90's econo boxes now, if they've somehow survived. I saw an early 90's Ford Tempo one day in mint condition and was more excited than I've ever been seeing a lambo.