Tip from Greg Gilbert

Tip of the Month, July- Greg Gilbert

When you get a tip about anything it is best to consider where the tip comes from, and is this person qualified to give a tip. This month's tip comes from a man who is vastly qualified to give one. Greg Gilbert has extensive experience in racing Eurosport classes. He has raced in Europe as well as the United States. In fact, he has won the World Championship in two classes of Eurosport racing. He has also won 19 national championships here in the United States in Eurosport classes. He can be truly described as a World Class Racer.

His tip of the month is not one you would expect from such an expert in Slot Car Racing. It does not concern chassis set-up, wheel and tire information, body design, or even what type of controller to use. His tip is one of a psychological position. If you think about it, at the level of competition he has raced in, everyone is an expert at car set-up. At this level, everyone is an expert driver. So what gives him an edge over others to achieve the accomplishments he has? At this level of racing the mental process is key. This is true at the local level of racing. No, you cannot outrun someone who is half a second per lap faster than you are by keeping a positive outlook, but you can do certain things mentally to give you the greatest edge you can. With that edge, if your car is competitive with those you are racing with, it might just give you the edge you need to pull out a win.

Greg's tip is very simple, but it says volumes. “Keep your car out of harms way.” That is it. Words so simple, but yet so hard to live with. How many times have we gotten caught up in a race where someone is running us down. We can see him gaining a couple feet every lap. He finally is right beside us and we drive into a turn too deep trying to avoid him passing. Or, let's look at this from the reverse role. Suppose you are chasing down the car that is directly ahead of you in lap counts. You really want to get by him to take the position. As you gain on him you start taking a little more risk with your car to try to accomplish the pass. Eventually, you are right on his tail trying to beat him into a turn to take the lead and you over-drive your car into the turn and deslot. Now you have to chase him down all over again and hope you don't make the same mistake.

The tip Greg gives, “Don't put your car in harms way.” speaks directly to this. You have been caught by a faster car and you put your car in harms way trying to prevent the pass. You have now deslotted trying to avoid one person passing you. In the process of your deslot, and the marshaling of the deslot, you will often lose more positions, plus a lot of track distance to the person who just passed you. You have fought hard to prevent losing 4 or 5 feet to this person and now you have lost half a lap or more because of the deslot. Let's look at it from the aspect of you chasing someone down. You have gained 2, 3, or 4 feet a lap over many laps to get yourself in this position. Now you over-drive your car trying hard to get around him and lose 75 feet. You are now looking at maybe 20 laps to catch this person to try again. That possibility may not come as the rotation, or the race, may end before you can catch them again. If you simply drive the race you have been driving, you will catch and pass this person in time. After all, you have chased him down already. You have proven to yourself that you are faster than him. Given time, you will get around him, or he will succumb to the pressure and overdrive into a turn himself. The important thing in either of these situations is to not over-drive the car and put it into harms way by desloting.

Now, let's take a look at another kind of putting your car into harms way. When you are racing, you should know where deslots usually happen around the track and where the cars will usually end up. For example, if you are coming into a lead-on turn for the longest straight, you know people will have a tendency to drive hard into this turn hoping to gain more speed on the long straight. This means quite often a deslot will happen and the car will wind up on one of the two outside lanes. In a turn coming off a straight where you are going into a donut, you will find the deslots usually happen at a slower speed than the lead-on turns. This means the desloted cars could wind up at any part of the track. Usually, if you are in the inside two lanes of a turn you are pretty safe though. Then there is the donut. This is a nightmare to the people on the outside two lanes. When you are starting a rotation, you should be aware of the lane you are on and where the deslots should effect you. Therefore, when you are racing and you hear a deslot happen you will know if it is in the area that you are most likely to be affected. Should a deslot happen in such an area, you should be cautious going into that turn knowing a corner marshal may have their hands on the track dealing with another car. A slight reduction in speed going into this turn may cost you a tenth of a second for that lap but it could save you a two or three second deslot. On most tracks a deslot can cost you half a lap and possibly up to two laps of running time. By slowing down to give yourself that split second to see if there is a deslot problem, you could possibly keep your car out of harms way. The key here is to drive with your ears open and respond as the situations arise.

Another part of keeping your car out of harms way that Greg pointed out is selecting where you pass. How many times have you “nerfed” the car on the outside of you in a turn. Causing the car on the outside of you in a turn to deslot is just part of racing. If you are about to pass a car in the lane next to you it is important to keep in mind which side of him you will be on in the turn. If you will be on the outside of the car you are about to pass it is better to back off a little and wait until you will be on the inside of the car you are passing. With proper timing and a little patience you can safely pass a competitor. Just don't try to pass when it will put your car in harms way. Another thing to think about in passing someone is if you are catching a car that is much slower than you are. In this case sometimes passing on the inside can cause you to be desloted instead of the car on the outside. Have you ever entered a turn to find a car stopped in the lane outside of yours? This will usually result in your car hitting the other car and desloting your car. This occurrence decreases in frequency based on the other cars speed increasing. It ranges from the car on the outside being stopped usually desloting your car to, at full speed the car on the outside will be desloted and your car on the inside will be fine. If the person is much slower than you, and on the outside of your car, it is often best to wait to pass in the straight that is to follow. This is especially true if you are coming off a long straight into a banked turn. In this situation it is very common for the car on the inside to deslot if the other car is much slower. You are much better off to time the turn so you will catch and pass coming out of the turn after your car has straightened back up from the turn. Remember, passing on the outside usually is dangerous, passing on the inside is much safer unless the other car is stopped or too much slower than you.

The words “Keep your car out of harms way” may not sound like much. It does not help you get that gear mesh you have been trying to perfect or the correct manner of soldering, but it speaks volumes about on-the-track racing. 'Thanks' go to Greg Gilbert for sharing this insight with us.