Have you ever wondered how much faster than you a pro driver would be in your own car? I often have. But how would you ever find yourself in a situation where you could find out? Well, I found myself there just the other day. And here is how I did.
Photo of Lee Carpentier, Lamborghini Trofeo race driver, from his Facebook page
But first, what separates a pro from an amateur like me? I used to think it was pace. I wasn't wrong but I wasn't right either. Yes, the pro driver was faster than me, as we'd all expect. But that was just the obvious difference. There was way more to the story that only revealed itself when Lee Carpentier jumped into my driver's seat.
How did I get this unique opportunity? It wasn't planned at all. I was at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park for the weekend, running my car with the Northeast Region of the Porsche Club of America (PCA). The club invited Lee to come do some information briefings and driver's meetings and also to do ride-alongs and drive-alongs. I'm not generally a big customer of these types of things, since it always feels like I have so much more to learn, but a friend parked next to me had Lee both ride with him and drive his car and expressed great admiration. I did a track walk, led by Lee, on Saturday evening, and I was very impressed. Lee was insightful, energetic, and highly entertaining! It was the first time I walked Thompson, having driven there a number of times, and I wish I had done it long ago. You just don't know a track until you walk it. The secrets of speed hide in plain sight when you are behind the wheel and are only revealed on foot. Lee's talk on Sunday morning about what to think about as far as my car and my driving goes over the winter ahead is the topic of a whole different article.
So here I was at 4pm on a Sunday afternoon with a professional race car driver sitting in my car and driving a track that I'd just been working on for the whole weekend. For those in the TL;DR (too long; didn't read) crowd, if you're still reading, Lee hopped into my car and ran a 1:24.398. My best lap of the weekend was a 1:25.811. That's a 1.413 second difference. I look at this many ways. Lee didn't know my car. It's not completely stock. It's not a common car either, with the Targa roof. It's got R-compound tires that are new to me. But I have a serious advantage in familiarity and seat time in my car. At the same time, I'd be lying if I didn't say that I'm rather happy with my performance this weekend.
So where and how was Lee faster than me? Let's take a look at the data.
At the starting line, Lee and I are at nearly identical velocities - Lee was 105.5 and I was 105.7 mph. By the point marked "1" in the yellow circle, Lee's line (down the straight) is showing gains. Lee did more turning on the straight than I did, but clearly he benefited more from carrying his speed than he forfeited from slowing down by turning. By the kink, he's doing 120.6 vs my 113.7. Lee's vmax on the straight was 121.1 mph where I topped out at 114.5 mph. By the time I started slowing on the straight for Turn 1, I was already down almost two tenths.
Lee braked later and stronger into Turn 1 than I did. He went down to 39.4 mph at turn-in where I turned in at 42.0. And his cornering force at turn in was far less than mine at a max of 1.15G's for him vs. my 1.29 joy ride. I started enjoying sliding my car in Turn 1 a bit too much! His entry was much more conservative and safe at probably the most dangerous part of the track. The speed difference for him between top speed on the straight and going into Turn 1 was 81 mph! My faster entry speed did seem to pay off, though, as I went from being 0.9 seconds down at turn in to being only 0.6 seconds down by Turn 2. I clawed back three tenths.
Lee then outbraked me (circle 2) and cornered harder (Lee: 1.25G, me: 1.07G) through Turn 3 bringing the gap back to 0.9 seconds. My smooth line through Turn 3 once again was beneficial. I got the gap back down to 0.5 seconds by carrying more speed through the corner (78 mph vs 72 mph).
Lee eeked me out to a higher top speed before entering Turn 4 (circle 3) by out-braking me (L:78.7, me: 78.2). By turn-in to Turn 4, Lee had stretched the lead to 1.379 seconds. My less violent rotation and smoother line around the turn allowed me to accelerate sooner and bring the gap back down to 0.938 seconds between turns 4 and 5.
Lee carried more speed through Turn 5 (circle 4) under the bridge and again out-braked me. The gap went back up to 1.449 seconds. Again, my smoother line through the corner meant I was back on the gas earlier so I could shrink the gap to 1.36 seconds on the first part of the oval. I topped out at 77.1 mph. Lee yet again out-braked me and got up to 78.8 mph before turning into Turn 7 (circle 5) on the oval.
I got a better kick out of Turn 8 onto the other side of the oval getting up to 81.5 mph while Lee was still at 78.6 so I gained back a little time. But, as is a clear pattern, Lee went deeper into Turn 9 (circle 6) getting up to 83.1 before hitting the middle pedal. Lee appears to have often braked harder and more quickly than I did - evidenced by the more drastic downward slope of his speed line, which reduced his corner entry speeds - which he probably exaggerated since he was in my car, not his - the number one rule of being a driving coach is probably, "thou shalt not stuff thy student's car."
Lee was more patient before turning into Turn 10, turning in about 100 feet later - which is a big deal on this track. Turn 10 really can dictate your top speed on the straight even though it is two turns and almost half the track before that point! It is that important. I got on throttle earlier again, so I had more speed on the straight earlier (circle 7), but Lee's courage and skill carried more speed into 11a and 11b (circle 8). Lee built his lead up to 1.667 seconds in 11b, but my ability to get back on power allowed me to gain back half a tenth by the time we crested the hill and two and a half tenths by the start/finish line with a speed differential of 3.2 mph and a final time difference of 1.413 seconds.
If you followed all this info to here, you deserve to know Lee's amazing process. As we went out for a 24 minute session with Lee driving my car in the Red (instructor) group, Lee drove the first 8 or 10 laps in a very scientific manner. He got comfortable with my car and how it felt, asked me about it a bit. After he got to know it, he started to try different things in different corners. But not every corner. He explained to me that trying to perfect every corner simultaneously isn't easy. So he's found that during each exploratory lap, he only focuses on a few corners, trying a couple techniques each time until he finds what he thinks feels right. He did this whole process with a certain seeming nonchalance, finally announcing on lap 10 or so, "now we put it all together."
And with that, I saw the magic happen. In an amazingly focused and precise manner, I saw Lee execute the various bits he had noted as being preferable from data gathered over a slew of laps into one amazing minute and a half. A white flag at Turn 11 meant that he had to lift and we lost the first attempt (a 1:24.8, ultimately), so Lee did one "cool down" lap and then went for a second flyer. I was absolutely struck by seeing the switch flip. Research and strategy suddenly became action. Lee had earlier reiterated Ross Bentley's maxim, "only perfect practice makes perfect," and I was there to see it all happen. In my own car!!
I imagine watching a celebrity chef make the most amazing meal you've ever had in your kitchen with stuff you had on hand must feel a lot like this did. And, wow, it was awesome.
It's important to note that this information, the timings, and data were done completely independently of each other. My fastest lap happened early in the day and Lee and I did not talk about any specific times, aside from times that he was logging as he drove. Lee was kind enough to show me how he drove the track a bit in my car so that I could watch, learn, and be amazed. This "comparison", if you can even call it that, is just pulled from recorded data way after it was created. Lee was kind enough to help clarify things in a post on Facebook and I though it important to make sure you have the info here too:
From Lee: "It's not a matter of how well I know the car just what is the risk I am willing to take. Here is how my mind works in this situation. First I always leave room on the table in the brake zones. While it is true I do use the brakes aggressively and more efficiently I am braking very early and softening the pedal as I realize I'm over slowing. The key is to emphasize exit speed to a student, not entry speed. No one needs to be in the right seat when dealing with entry speed. When I work with drivers on that aspect we use radios and it works just as well as if I was sitting in the right seat. The next thing is I did not ride with Sterling so I was unaware of his abilities. It would be extremely irresponsible of me to show him exactly what his car is capable of. By this I mean giving him the answers to go extremely fast without the knowledge to back up the situation. All too often students chase the instructor's time and that can be pretty dangerous for everyone on the track. Remember whenever you learn something new take small bites."
Sage wisdom from a seasoned pro and great teacher for us all to savor.
Thanks to the NER PCA for another great weekend at Thompson - especially Stan Cobett, Dick and Ann Anderson, Adam Schwartz, Tom Buckingham for checking me out for White, and all the volunteers and people involved in making the event happen. A wonderful end to an amazing season. And many thanks to Lee Carpentier for being gracious with his time and knowledge, bestowing his experience and insight upon us. It is an experience I won't soon forget!