The Car Goes Where Your Eyes Go - (Focus)

Haaaappy Friday,

I took a high-performance driving course at Laguna Seca Raceway. One of the drills was in a 5-speed BMW with bald tires in the parking lot, a sprinkler wetting the pavement, some orange cones, and the instructor in the passenger seat.

INSTRUCTOR: “You see that orange cone up ahead? I want you to accelerate to 45 mph. When you reach that cone, turn hard left, break the rear tires free, do a controlled slide around the corner, return up the other side, and stop at the final cone right there.”

"Got it." Engine noise, shifting gears, 45 mph, arrived at the cone, turned hard left, broke the rear tires free, and...the car spun all the way around twice and came to a hard stop.

Didn't expect that...

INSTRUCTOR: “Back to the start.” 

INSTRUCTOR: "Okay, same thing. But this time, when you reach the cone, immediately turn your head all the way to the left and fix your eyes on the final cone.”

"That's it?"

Engine noise, shifting gears, 45 mph, arrived at the cone, turned my head, threw the wheel hard left…the back wheels broke free, and…voila’! A perfectly controlled slide around 180 degrees and an easy straight finish to the final cone. What just happened? I only changed where I was looking.

INSTRUCTOR: “The car goes where your eyes go. Everyone spins out the first time because they're looking straight ahead through the windshield at what's in front of them. It's natural. But when you focus your eyes on the endpoint, you intuitively make the small but important adjustments to the wheel and throttle needed to get around the corner and get there.”

True. I knew precisely where I wanted to end up on the first run. But knowing the goal wasn't enough - insufficient focus.

With your eyes on your goal every day, you're much more likely to recognize and make the intuitive, subtle adjustments needed to get you there. The critical difference between spinning out and achievement is focus.

Have a GREAT weekend,

Dave

A couple of follow-up comments on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQzBP40QbE8

Feedback and blowback are always welcome: dave@goodnewsfriday.com

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Written by me, not ChatGPT, with valuable speed assist and grammatical enhancements graciously provided by Grammarly.