Hints to help your inner Hamilton

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Like many guys who move in car-related circles, I often encounter assemblies where driving, and its more nuanced topics, are discussed. Through these conversations, I have realised many people — you probably know someone like this — think that stretching their right foot at a green light puts them in the upper echelons of exceptional drivers. It’s cringe worthy.

Then there are those who are of the belief that, despite never having set a wheel on a racetrack, they are Lewis Hamilton. Unfortunately, this level of inborn skill is rare and becoming a good driver takes quite a bit of training. 

Here are a few tips, tricks and techniques you can use on the roads — or on a racetrack — that will help you drive like a pro. Use them wisely — take them to the track, don’t practise in your neighbourhood.  

First up is one that, while basic, will help you pick up speed at an impressive rate. It’s called rev-matching. In essence, this means matching your engine speed (revs) with the rotating speed of the wheels to avoid being slowed down by the clutch and flywheel.

Select your desired gear while gently blipping the accelerator pedal to rev-match when changing gears. When the revs have matched, you can gently release the clutch pedal and, if done correctly, the gear change will be smooth and you will be ready to floor it. 

This skill can be simplified to depressing the pedal, changing down a gear, blipping the throttle once and releasing the clutch. 

This does take some practice, but once you have it waxed, you will be able to use it on your daily commute or, with some hours of training, around a track.  

Off to a roaring start: Very few people have an innate driving ability and the professionals go through years of training and practice. But there are some tricks such as rev matching and tail breaking that you can master to make your driving more efficient and fun.
Photo: Supplied

Up next is trail braking, a skill used to enter a corner carrying more speed by shifting the car’s weight to the front tyres under braking. 

You will need to brake slightly later than you would for a typical corner, turning in while still nudging the brakes. This puts weight on the front tyres, allowing for more traction and for you to rotate your car into the corner with more speed. 

This trick can cause you to spin out if you turn too aggressively and can lead to oversteering if you get on the throttle too early. The key here is to keep it smooth.

Oversteer is a fun skill to learn but it’s best left to sparsely populated stretches of tarmac — your rear tyres will thank you. 

Oversteer most commonly occurs in rear-wheel-drive cars, implying a loss of traction at the rear. It is counterintuitive if you’re trying to improve lap times and tyre longevity, because it will slow you down and create long-lasting friendships at the tyre fitment centre. 

There are a few ways to initiate oversteer but the easiest is to simply plant your right foot in the middle of an aggressive turn. This will only work in rear-wheel-drive or high-powered all-wheel-drive vehicles. 

I would only recommend attempting it in your Subaru if you know what you are doing because an all-wheel-drive slide is considerably harder to control. 

Applying the throttle should break traction in your rear wheels and send the car into a slide. If your car isn’t powerful or you have sticky tyres, it could prove difficult to lose rear traction, and you will need to apply a different method. 

The other technique for breaking your rear tyres’ traction is a clutch kick or using your handbrake. Both can initiate a slide but can also hurt your car. 

Losing the back end is just the start of a powerslide or drift. Once the rear end starts to rotate, you must ensure your front tyres are heading in your intended direction by steering in the opposite direction. 

Once you know where the car is going, most of your control comes from your throttle input. Controlling a drift rarely comes naturally and takes a lot of practice, so if you want to learn, either attend a skid-pan session or try a drift school. 

The last skill on the list for becoming a driving deity is heel-and-toe, which is complex to learn. 

This involves rev-matching and braking simultaneously by using all three pedals. How is that possible if you only have two feet? Well, you use the heel and toes of one foot on the brake and the throttle pedals. Let’s begin. 

You must hit the brakes and change down as you approach a corner. Most people will simply change down by engine braking but this can unsettle the car and slow you down too much. Instead, use a heel-toe when entering the braking area. 

First, you hit the brakes, then depress the clutch. Once the clutch is in, twist your ankle around and blip the throttle with the heel of your braking foot. 

Once the revs have increased, shift down, release the clutch, and repeat, if necessary. 

This puts you in the optimum gear before the corner and you gain greater control and stability without unsettling the car.

There you go, a few skills that will allow you to drive more like a pro. Most importantly, keep your driving smooth and safe — and keep practising.