When I mentioned above that the car is still more capable than the driver, this is what I struggle with most...and it ties into pissing the tires off during a run.
My worst habit used to be overdriving into the corner,standing on the brakes too hard and entering the turn in part of the corner too hard on the brakes with the back end jacked up into the air and causing the car to be loose on turn in and roll thru. The millisecond that you start sliding the car is the moment you start loosing time until it stops sliding. I am much better at not doing this now, it is a rare problem.
What is more common is I'll enter the corner a bit on the easy side and brake a little too long and then mid-way through the roll thru zone my right foot says
"GOING TO SLOW" and it'll hit the gas...which is wrong wrong wrong.
One of two things will result, either the car will take weight off the front tires where it is still needed and the car will push or it will spin the rear tires before the weight gets transferred back to them resulting in loose. Either way...huge amounts of time are lost waiting for the grip to come back and now my tires are pissed for the rest of the run.
I read driving books all of the time and generally the cornering advice is geared towards road courses, where you have 10 laps of practice during a 20 minute session to pick out your braking points, memorize visual cues, and practice the 10 or so important corners on the 2 minute lap track. All before your actual racing starts.
In autocross, especially SCCA autocross, you have 3 runs on a course you've never driven before, with 10-15 important corners during a 60 second lap to set your best time...and you are done.
THIS IS HARD.
There is no time to set braking points, memorize visual cues, much less practice. You have to drive by feel and instinct. You have to know what your car is going to do before you dive into that corner and how it is going to come out the other side. Contrary to road racing, you generally do NOT make up time on the straights in autocross, you make up time carrying as much speed as you can through the corners. And the second you start sliding a tire is the second you start loosing time.
This is especially hard when for larger part of the 30+ years you've been driving...coming out of a corner with the rear tires spinning in a spirited powerslide was considered FUN!!!
