Pre-Race Prep

If you are looking for a check list of things to do before you do a race, here are my personal thoughts on what you can do to prepare for a race. Not everyone has the time to do all this granted but for the races that are more important to you this can be a decent way to prepare for the race.

Start by learning the track

• Starting with a paid setup is likely the best place to start.

• Watch the lapping videos made by the pro that made the set to learn how they do it before do too many laps and learn bad habits.

• If a new track, do about 10 laps first so I can understand the layout more which will tend to allow you to pickup more details from watching pro's videos.

Lapping Practice

• Practice with race set first, at least 50 laps...but 200-400 for races you care more about.

• Start off with doing 5 laps runs to decide which of the paid sets works best to pick the paid set that will be your baseline set.

• Do full tank runs to know how the car feels at the end of the run and make driving technique and or setup changes as required.

• For example, changing braking techniques to see what works best.

  • Does braking earlier but softer give me more stability and high min corner speed and more pace in the long runs?

  • Does trail braking with less pressure give me more off power steering (rotation) on corner entry?

  • Does trail braking with more pressure give me more stability on corners where the rear is getting too loose on entry?

• Experiment with different lines if an unfamiliar track.

• In addition to driving technique, make setup changes as required to ensure you are quick over a full tank.

• Join 3 to 5 different practice servers to see what the weather and track state variance will be and make sure you understand how to drive effectively in each.

• Practice different driving techniques for different situations so you get the timing and brake points right.

• Practice fuel saving technique for each corner to get your timing right.

• Practice different lines into corners that simulate passes you are trying to make or defend from.

Qualifying Practice

• Practice with qualifying set to ensure you understand how it may differ in balance from race set.

• Try different speed out laps to see if they make a difference on the first or second lap of qualifying.

• Current out lap approach that works for me.

  • Full power down the straights with some very slow weaving.

  • braking 100m early.

  • Going through corners at approx 60% speed.

Practice Pits Stop

• Practice pit lane entry brake timing and pressure.

• Pit box entry braking.

• Practice leaving pit box using the clutch.

• I use pit limiter when I first enter pit lane but quickly turn off and over speed within the +1.3km/h limit. You should also practice using any pit limiter on entry to see if you can do that consistently and if that is faster.

• I use pit limiter as I exit box.

• I will turn pit limiter off after I leave pit box if long enough distance to pit exit.