10 Great Cheats to Make You Faster

Presented by I/O Port Racing Supplies

The saying goes, "There are two types of racers: cheaters and losers." However, I beg to differ. I am here to tell you that there are cheaters and they are the losers! If you cheat, you are only cheating yourself. How can you feel good about winning if you had to cheat to win? Only when you win honestly, can you call yourself a winner.

So, why am I here under the pretense of teaching you how to cheat? Well, I apologize. I am not going to teach you how to cheat, but I will teach you how to achieve faster lap times. So, what is cheating? I will use the term loosely and define it as an unfair advantage. There are legal cheats and illegal cheats. An illegal cheat is one that does not comply with the rules. Examples are things like a large motor, too much camber, short gears, etc. A legal cheat is one that complies with the rules, but gives you an advantage.

Many racers will justify cheating by telling themselves that the competition must be cheating and that is the only reason they are losing. Most of the time, they are wrong. Most of the time the competition has been racing for many years and they have discovered what I am going to tell you now. So now, without further ado, here are my top 10 unfair advantages:

10. Prepare your car.

Car preparation is one of the most important things you can do to go fast, but how many of us prepare our car as well as we should? Racing takes a lot of hard work between races. Those who spend the time to prepare their car better than the rest will more likely end up in the winner’s circle.

Prepare your car to the maximum that the rules allow. If you are allowed a limited slip, then put one in. If you can’t afford it, then weld it up. You cannot expect to win with a less-than-perfect car. You can bet that your competition will have the best equipment.

Leave no bolt (or nut) unchecked. Racing creates a lot of vibrations. Check the torque on every nut and bolt between every race. You simply cannot afford to have a bolt drop off your car during the race. This could cause injury or death to you or someone else on the track.

When we had just put together our Pro7 car, we took it to Thunderhill Raceway Park (in California) for testing. I had told my car owner, Mark, that racing was hard on equipment and every nut and bolt needed to be checked and to use Locktite. I was coming through turn 6 when I heard a noise that didn’t sound good. I knew we had just broke something, but I didn’t know what. I shut the motor down and radioed Mark to get ready, I was coming in. I coasted around 7 and took the shortcut back to the pits. We soon found the problem, one of the brake caliper bolts had fallen out. Mark was in disbelief. He was a mechanic for a living working for a Chevy dealer. He knew he had tightened the bolts to factory specs, how could they just fall off? Well now he had the proof that I knew what I was talking about...Locktite everything!

Make sure that your brake pads, rotors, tires, wheel bearings and hubs have enough life left in them to last the weekend. Check these things between every on track session.

My team was racing at Sears Point (now called Infinion), and we had just installed a brand new set of cryogenically treated rotors. We had done this before, but this was a new manufacturer of the rotor. Our driver, Tom, had qualified on the Pro7 car on the pole and this was our best chance yet to win a race with this car. After qualifying we had done the normal checklist: add gas, check the oil, clean the car, etc. We figured that rotors lasted for a minimum of two weekends of racing, so we didn’t need to check them. Well about 20-30 minutes before the race I decided to give the rotors a check. I looked at the left front and sure enough, it was cracked! As our mechanic got to work on changing the rotor, I went to check the right side and sure enough, it was cracked too! We got help from another team and worked as fast as we could to change both rotors. Tom was in the cockpit strapped in and ready to go. We dropped the car down and Tom took off for the hot pits, but the race had already started. They were a half a lap ahead, but Tom was able to reel them in and he finished 12th.

The point to this story is to illustrate just how important it is to check even the things you think couldn’t be wrong. Be especially careful when working with new or different equipment. Don’t assume that it will be OK just because it was fine the last time you looked at it.

Check your alignment between races. Does the track you are going to this time require a different alignment than the previous track. Make sure you keep notes on every event. Refer to these notes when preparing for future events.

Go to the track the day before the race and test. Take tire temperatures and pressures. This will give you clues as to how to set up the alignment. Take all your tools and alignment equipment and be prepared to adjust your car at the track.

Clean your car after every event. How will you be able to tell if your car has a new oil leak if all you can see is road grime? Get under the car and wipe everything down. Check for damage, especially after any off-track experience. Check your car again right before your next race to make sure that there are no leaks. (Or in the case of Porsche 914s and British cars, no abnormal leaks!)

Change your oil after every event. Racing is hard on the engine. Use good fluids like Red Line. Make sure there is no debris in your brake ducts and clean your air filter! You bought a K&N for an extra few horsepower, but leaving it dirty will take away all that advantage.

Make sure that you drain your coolant and put back pure water with Red Line WaterWetter. This will keep your engine running cooler and if it ever gets on the track, it won’t be as slippery. Many sanctioning bodies including NASA do not allow antifreeze/coolant in the race cars.

Install the best equipment that you can afford. When it comes to horsepower, every horse counts. When it comes to your safety equipment, can you afford not to be safe? Remember, the rules state the minimum safety equipment. You need to prepare your car to the level of safety that you feel comfortable with. Good safety equipment can not only save your life in an accident, but it can also allow you to drive your car faster. There is enough information in this area for a whole separate seminar.

Create a checklist to make sure that you accomplish everything needed between races. Don’t wait until the night before the race to work on the car. Get your sleep. A sleepy driver cannot perform well on the track. This brings us to our next point.

9. Prepare yourself.

A fast driver needs to be prepared both physically and mentally. The faster you drive and the longer you are on the track, the more physically fit you need to be. Have you ever come off the track completely exhausted? This is because you are not in good physical shape. You need to start working out at the gym! Have you ever noticed how at the end of a long race the NASCAR drivers typically look like they could go for another 2 hours on the track? These guys are in shape. They work out every day. Sure, they are racing for 500 miles and we only have to drive for about 40 miles. This should tell you just how out of shape you really are!

When you are out of shape, your muscles fatigue faster and you are more likely to make mistakes. Mistakes are dangerous when you are going 120 MPH. You are also more likely to get overheated. When your body overheats, your brain starts to cook. Here is a second danger, mental fatigue. Have you ever noticed that you tend to make more mistakes toward the end of the race or the end of the day? This is due to both physical and mental exhaustion.

How else can you prepare yourself for the race? You can do not only physical exercise, but also mental exercise. Keep your mind active by doing word exercises or by playing chess. You can also mentally go through scenarios in your head about what you might do in certain circumstances. Let’s say you are in second place behind your arch rival. You have been following him for several laps and you have been studying his weak spots and strong spots. How will you overtake him and keep the lead for the win. What lap will you try your move? Will you try a different move the lap before that you know might not work, but he will think you will try the same thing the next lap?

Read books. Do you think you were the first one to ever race? Are you the best that has ever been? Are you an old dog who cannot learn new tricks? Believe me, the cheapest way to go faster is to read. There are dozens of books out there on car preparation, driving techniques and racing techniques. Read them all. Sure, one book might say the exact same thing as the next, but it might also say it in a way that suddenly turns on the light. $20.00 might be what it costs to cut 2-tenths off of turn 3.

8. Have a good crew.

Having a good crew will allow you to concentrate on your job...driving. If you are worried about fixing your car between qualifying and the race, then you can’t concentrate on the mental preparation of racing. Racing is a team sport, if you have a team of one, you are hard pressed to get everything done that is required. Try to encourage your friends, relatives...anyone, to become a team member. Make up team uniforms. Buy them dinner and a room at the local motel. Treat your crew right and they will stick by you.

We have a local racer that is a policeman. He instigated a program for at-risk kids in his neighborhood. These kids were his crew. This gave them something worthwhile to do and kept them out of trouble. It gave the kids a sense of pride and gave him a crew to work on his car. A true win-win situation. Perhaps your next door neighbor’s 16 year old son would love to be around race cars?

Another suggestion is to work with other racers driving the same type of car. This way you can share tools, spare parts and labor. You can work together in the paddock and race on the track. Sometimes racing as a team on the track and give you some advantages (one of which I will share with you in a moment).

7. Video Tape your races.

Well, this one is kind of obvious for anyone who knows about I/O Port Racing Supplies. The video camera mount is our claim to fame. A video tape is a poor man’s data acquisition system. Take a video every time you are on track. When you return to the paddock, study the video to see what you did right and what you did wrong. Where were you fast and where were you slow? Try to figure out how you are going to drive in the next session. See if you can get the local hot shoe to take a look at your video and give you pointers. Take your videos home and study them. Sure they are great for entertaining your friends and family, but the video tape is a great tool for learning how to drive faster.

Video is also your documentation on rule infractions. It can get you out of trouble or it can be the damning evidence against you. It can also show clearly what the driver did in front of you to cause him not to deserve the win. You can use the tape for evidence in a protest.

6. Watch videos of the track the week before you go there.

Especially when you have not been to a track before, watch someone else’s video of the track you are going to be racing. You can get many hours of free track time before you ever turn a wheel on the track. This will get you up to speed pretty quickly once you do get there. Try to watch a video of someone driving a similar car doing similar speeds. Drive the course pretending to steer and shift as you would do if you were actually there. Eventually you should be able to drive the course with your eyes shut and still be within one or two tenths.

Video games are available for certain tracks. This is a great way to practice, too.

5. Radios

Radios can be a double edged sword. Good radios with a good spotter can make your race. Poor radios and/or a poorly trained spotter can cost you the race.

Case in point, I was racing at Thunderhill Raceway Park leading my class and I had just made the pass (on a car not in class) for the overall lead. As I exited turn 5, my spotter radioed to inform me that the car that I had just passed was all over my butt. I looked in the mirror as I approached turn 6. When I looked back again, I was heading straight off driver’s right. I had missed my breaking point and my turn-in point. I tried to turn, but I spun. The car stalled and I could not restart. Sitting smack dab in the middle of the turn facing traffic, I watched the entire field pass me. I was not able to get the car going again and I went from hero to zero in a flash. This poorly timed message should never have been communicated. It cost me a win and nearly the championship.

Poor radios can be just as distracting. I hear a lot about racers using FRS radios. This is a bad idea. Sure, it could be OK for some people in some areas, but when you are hanging the car on its edge is no time to hear about Susie going to the store to pick up eggs! I have also heard the drivers say, "I love my FRS radios! They don’t work in 8 or 9, but so what, I didn’t pay that much." Get good radios, they cost a lot, but they are worth it.

A good spotter can communicate vital information before your competition can see or react. How valuable would it be to know that the whole track is blocked beyond the next blind corner just after you have gone by the flag station? What if your spotter told you that you could go by the outside of the wreck if you just slow down and set up for it? Perhaps this could win a race for you, or even save your life.

Once, I was racing with a teammate, Tom, (again at Thunderhill Raceway Park). My teammate was going for points, but I was just racing for fun. We decided to run radios on the same channel. After the race started, there was a disabled car in turn two. The pace car was set out and the tow truck was dispatched. The disabled car was quickly pulled off to the Eagles Nest (turn 5). The pace car’s radio was not working so the tow truck driver walked out to turn 5 and pointed to his arm pit. "What the heck is he trying to say," I thought to myself? Well, the pace car driver understood that he should pit. Smart! But, the pace car driver, (a little inexperienced) thought that they really wanted him in the pits NOW! So he turned off his lights at turn 6 and exited the race surface at turn 7. (This is a shortcut back to the pits.) My spotter saw this happening and radioed us to watch out. I radioed back stating that we were all big boys and could pace ourselves back to start/finish. All the drivers knew that the pace car had made a mistake because he would normally exit into the pits after turn 15.

Just then the turn 8 flagger dropped the double yellows. Knowing the rules, I keyed the mic and yelled, "Green, green, green." My teammate and I both stepped out of line and floored it. I had a run on my teammate (who was about 4 cars ahead of me) and I bump drafted him (hard) up to turn nine where two of the other drivers had finally caught on to the fact that some of us were now racing. I was able to get Tom up to first and I was able to move up to 3rd. Coming into turn 10 the flags were up again and we all got back in line. This is where the 2nd place car decided that everyone should take back the original positions and passed Tom back. The guy behind me decided to follow suit and passed me. This is now under double yellow flags...not legal!!! At the end of the race, the guy that passed me was declared the provisional winner and Tom came in 2nd. I had faded back to 5th. When we came in, everyone was mad. I filed a protest on the winner of the race as he had passed me under yellow. The next day after the protests had been heard, the race director had a drivers meeting and pointed out what I had known all along...when the yellow flag drops, it is a green track (even if it is a mistake!). My protest stuck and the winner was penalized...Tom got the win! This brings us to our next cheat.

4. Know the rules.

As I have pointed out in the above example, knowing the rules can allow you to win. Not knowing the rules can be, at best, an inconvenience, and at worst, deadly. My advice is to read the rules, then read the rules again and then read the rules a third time! Not only do you need to know the rules so you can prepare your car to the max, but also you need to understand flags, procedures and even paddock rules.

How many times have you seen kids riding their Razor scooters in the paddock. This is just plain dangerous! There are too many race cars driving in the paddock where the driver has just exited the track and he is still thinking about his race. Also, many of them are not thinking about driving at paddock speeds. The point is that the parents need to know the rules. If the kids belong to guests of the driver, it is the driver’s responsibility to inform them of the rules. The last thing you want to be told to go home because your guest violated the rules. Unfortunately, NASA has had to do this.

After a race where your competitor made a mistake that cost you the win is no time to learn about protests. You need to do this before the race. If you do not understand that there is a time limitation on filing a protest, by the time you read the rules, you might be too late.

Racing is a life or death sport and the rules are what keep it as safe as possible.

3. Think creatively.

Racers are an innovative bunch. They are always thinking about how to make their car faster. In order to do so, you need to know the rules about what can and can’t be done. Can you heat up and bend the rear axle to get a little more camber? Can you weld in another bar in the cage to give the car a bit more stiffness where you need it? Can you put in nitrous using the cage as your cylinder? Can you drill holes down the mounting bolts of your carburetor to allow just a little more air in?

There will always be someone with a bigger racing budget then you. You must be able to out-think them. Remember, you must stay within the rules. If you are trying something new and you think it might be illegal, ask a tech inspector before you try it. The tech inspector will not pass this information along to your competition. It is better to get a judgment before you spend your time and money than to try something that turns out to be illegal and then you get labeled a cheater.

2. Get a driving coach.

Most racers don’t think about a driving coach. They have had an instructor during driving school and they have talked to their buddies about how to improve their driving skill. Some have even read books to improve their skills! Racers tend to think about driving coaches likening them to a psychiatrist. Maybe you have never heard of a driving coach, but think about it. All other sports have coaches. Basketball, football, baseball. They all have them. All the Olympic athletes have coaches. Well, drivers are athletes and they can benefit from driving coaches.

Driving coaches are different from driving instructors. A driving instructor will tell you how to get around the track, what is the best line, where do you brake, where is the apex. A driving coach will help you with other aspects of racing. Are you having trouble with high speed corners? Are you having trouble with turn 14. You know the line, but you just can’t get through there as fast as the competition. The driving coach will help you find out what is keeping you from your goal.

And now, the Number 1 unfair advantage to allow you to go faster:

1. Practice, practice, practice.

Remember, only when you win honestly, can you call yourself a winner.