I agonized over the title of this article for quite a while. I originally included the word "free", but realized that most of you already know there ain’t no such thing and would skip over it without reading a word. Besides, my "secret" DOES involve a cost – it’s just in time rather than hard-earned bucks:

BECOME A CORNER WORKER !!!

Now think about it for a second before you immediately pooh-pooh the idea. How many different cars do you see go through a particular corner? The two in front of you and maybe the one behind you, am I right? And that’s only if you’re in traffic, which means you’re usually kinda busy and not really in a position or mood to reflect upon the relative merits of an alternate cornering trajectory. Plus you’re only seeing the folks that are running about the same speed you are. You’re already that fast, so what are ya gonna learn from those goof-balls?

As a corner worker, on the other hand, you get to see EVERY car come thru your particular corner – the really fast guys, the "speed-challenged" guys and everyone in between. I’ve worked corners on multiple weekends the past three years, from Drivers’ Schools to pro events such as the Petit LeMans and TransAm. Without exception, I have learned something about going faster every time I’ve worked. When I first watched EFR & Butch Leitzinger come under the bridge at Road Atlanta on the far right, I wondered why (I had felt more comfortable slightly left of mid-track). I also knew that these guys make their living racing, so after trying it my next time behind the wheel, I realized they are right (!!) – the bump under the bridge is less severe and the resulting arc thru Twelve is much smoother. Had I not watched them while I was working corners, I probably never would have tried changing my line.

An additional advantage to working corners is that you build a rapport with folks that can function as your best critics. On the weekends that you’re racing, go to the worker party, find the crew that was working your worst corner and ask them how you looked. If you’ve worked with them in the past, they probably paid closer attention to your efforts.

So if you’re a National driver, pick a Regional weekend(s) to come help out (Regional drivers come to the Nationals). And everyone ought to come to at least one of the vintage, Pro and/or Panoz weekends that allow us to hold our SCCA events at a reasonable cost.

Wanta go faster? Come work a corner and help yourself and your fellow club members out at the same time. Contact Stan Martin at 770-980-9386 (stan_martin@hotmail.com). Or visit: http://www.scca.org/amateur/club_racing/workers.html

See you at the track…

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Last modified: February 02, 2009