Yokohama Drivers Cup USA: Racing with Assistance
NEWPORT BEACH, CA March 8, 2007 – “The Yokohama Drivers Cup USA is agreat concept and an exciting new series,” said Patrick Long, Porsche factorydriver. “I wish it was available when I first made my debut in the 911 GT3 Cuplevel racing. This would have been an ideal place for me to make the transition.This is the perfect program to bridge the gap between traditional club racing andthe various professional endurance racing series and ultra competitive PorscheCups around the world. I look forward to attending Driver’s Cup USA races in2007 where my own racing schedule allows to assist drivers and teams on keydriving and set up points with their own 996 and 997 Cup cars.”
“Our series is all about usable, personalized education,” noted Greg Franz,President of Competent Motorsport, LLC, and founder of the series. “We are goingto make sure that we positively touch everybody who races with us. The series isnot about numbers. It is a hands-on experience. This is racing with assistance.”It will be a partnership of on-track experience and technology. Along with beingable to tap the expertise of Craig Stanton, Patrick Long and other named drivers,technology will greatly enhance the learning experience. For example, the use ofmultiple in car cameras to evaluate race craft in the car will be real time: theparticipant does a session and comes in and gets immediate feedback. Plus thedriver will be able to compare his telemetry to that of his coach, taking advantageof years of top racing experience.
In addition, the black art of interpreting data acquisition will be explained. Whengood drivers are talked about, it is often noted how effectively they communicatewith their race engineers. The Yokohama Drivers Cup USA series will give thedriver the tools to interpret the data and most importantly, the linguistic languagethat will allow the driver to effectively communicate and get the most out of the car.And the participants will benefit from our various numerous partners givingseminars during the race weekends. Jim Munn, Director of MoTeC Systems USA,and his staff will be responsible for the first seminar during the March 30 – April 1race weekend event at California Speedway.
“The properly configured datasystem is the key to knowledge about the performance of the car and the driver,”stated Munn. “Data acquisition plays the key role role in letting the driver see justwhere they are gaining and losing time on the race course. Smoothness,consistency and grace under pressure will always yield better vehicle reliabilityand quicker lap times. The data system will inform the driver about critical issuesusing custom tailored warnings. In addition, information about lap times, lapnumber and other valuable data is displayed to the driver at the appropriate time.Careful attention to detail means the driver's attention is not misdirected by poorlythought out alarms or messages.
“After the session, when the driver is reviewing the recorded data on the PC, hecan examine his consistency in each lap, compare lap vs. lap and find areas forimprovement. Changes suggested by the data help the car achieve properbalance. The addition of video to the data record makes the practical impact thatmuch more revealing. Data, properly displayed and recorded for the driver andthe feedback it generates, is the quickest way to see improvement in theoperation of a race vehicle.”
The race weekends are structured as follows:
Friday is the Test and Tune Day which includes an educational drivers’meeting on how to drive the track, hot laps with in-car video followed byone-on-one professional coaching and feedback after each session.There will be a meeting at the end of the day to highlight areas where thegroup did well and what they should think about for Saturday.
Saturday starts with a drivers’ meeting to reinforce Friday’s progress.There are two practice sessions in the morning, followed by a qualifyingsession and a sprint race in the afternoon. Each session will be followedby coaching input. The drivers’ meeting after the race will continue toemphasize where improvement has been made and where further work isneeded. There will also be an in-depth seminar from one of our partnerswith different subjects on each weekend. For example, MoTeC on how tobest use data acquisition, Stand 21 on drivers’ heat stress and Yohohamaon getting the most from your tires.
Sunday’s schedule will be similar to Saturday’s with a drivers’ meeting,coaching, practice sessions, qualifying and an afternoon race. There willbe continuing emphasis on coaching feedback. During the three days, thecoach will be walking the track and checking out each comer to giveindividual feedback to each driver. He will also walk the paddockthroughout the day and answer any questions drivers may have.
“It will be an enjoyable weekend and very educational for the participants,” notedFranz. “It will be a multi-level learning experience. They will learn from ourcoaches, from the use of technology to enhance that learning experience, fromour technical partners and from each other. We like to think of it as a season’sworth of improvement in one race weekend.”For more information, please go to www.competentmotorsport.com
