How to Drive:Real World Instruction and Advice from Hollywood's Top Driver

317 Pages·2016·14.45 MB·English

by  Ben Collins

First published in the United States of America in 2016 by Chronicle Books LLC.
First published in Great Britain in 2014 by Macmillan, an imprint of Pan Macmillan, a division of
Macmillan Publishers Limited. Copyright © 2016 by Ben Collins.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from
the publisher.
All line illustrations © James Provost; 36–67: (Volvo S60) with thanks to Simon Atlassi at Volvo and Bill
Goodell at Arnold Worldwide; 44: © Alan Welner/AP/Press Association Image; 46–47: © Drew Gibson;
109, 234: © Alamy; 114–115, 136, 198–199: © Daily Sportscar (with thanks to David Downes, David
Lord, and Peter May); 123: (Ford B-Max) © Ford Europe/Blue Hive; 142–143 © EON Productions Ltd;
176: (McLaren F1) © Ben Collins; 219, 225: © Michelin Tyre PLC; 264: © Michal Podemski.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available.
ISBN: 978-1-4521-4529-7 (pb)
ISBN: 978-1-4521-5410-7 (epub, mobi)
Design by Sam Potts and Neil Egan
Typesetting by Howie Severson
Cover design by Neil Egan and Ben Kither
Cover photo © Alex D. James Chronicle Books LLC
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CONTENTS
Preface: How Not to Drive 6
Introduction: How to Drive 8
Part 1: A Very Short History of Driving
1.1 Roads Aren’t Straightforward 14
1.2 Burning Rubber 19
1.3 Road Rage 21
MOTOR RACING 22
1.4 The Driving Test 24
1.5 King of the Road 27
Part 2: The Basics
2.1 Are You Sitting Comfortably 32
FEET, NOT LEGS 33
ARMS 34
SEAT BELTS 34
MIRROR, SIGNAL, MANEUVER . . . AND REVERSING 35
2.2 The Beast 40
LIGHT TOUCH 42
BALANCE 43
2.3 Smooth Operator 50
PULLING AWAY 51
2.4 Shifting Gears 54
GEAR SELECTION 54
HOW TO HOLD A MANUAL GEAR STICK 54
SHIFTING UP (I.E., GOING FASTER) 55
SLOWING DOWN, BRAKING, SHIFTING DOWN THE GEARS 57
ENGINE BRAKING 57
REV MATCHING (MANUAL TRANSMISSIONS ONLY!) 57
COMMON FALLACIES ABOUT GEAR SHIFTING 58
SKIPPING GEARS 58
DOWNSHIFTING USING THE CLUTCH 59
BRAKING AND ENTERING 60
2.5 Steering 64
THE SHUFFLE 64
THE PUSH AND PULL 65
ROTATIONAL STEERING, OR HAND-OVER-HAND TECHNIQUE
67
2.6 Braking 69
BRAKING FORCE 70
EVERYDAY SMOOTH BRAKING 71
BRAKING IN THE REAL WORLD 77
STOPPING IN AN EMERGENCY 77
THINKING DISTANCE 77
STOPPING DISTANCE 80
YOUR CAR 81
TREAD DEPTH VS. BRAKING DISTANCE 83
TECHNIQUE 84
BRAKING WITH ABS 84
BRAKING AT THE LIMIT 86
THE LIMIT 86
TECHNIQUE 87
ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS 89
TRAIL BRAKING 93
LEFT-FOOT BRAKING 93
2.7 Curves: The Art of Turning a Corner 95
VIEWING THE CURVE 96
RHYTHM 97
THE PHYSICS OF TURNING A CORNER: THE TIRE VS. ISAAC
NEWTON 99
WEIGHT: m 100
SPEED: v2 100
BEND: r 100
THE RACING LINE 101
SLOW IN, FAST OUT 102
CUTTING CORNERS 102
BENEFITS OF “LATE APEXING” 103
PREMATURE EJECTION 103
THE REAL WORLD 106
TYPES OF CURVES 106
THE ROAD SURFACE (THE MISSING LINK FROM TARUFFI’S
EQUATION) 108
TYPE 108
TEMPERATURE 111
WEATHER 111
INCLINE 111
CAMBER 112
FOREIGN BODIES 116
BIG BAILADEROS 116
SUMMARY 117
Part 3: The Open Road
3.1 Avoiding Accidents 120
STATE BY STATE 120
MIND THE GAP 120
DEATH BY SLOW MOTION 122
NOT NOW, I’M HAVING AN ACCIDENT 124
CHASING GHOSTS 125
SUMMARY 129
3.2 Intersections 132
BOGEY AT SEVEN O’CLOCK 133
INTERSECTION ETIQUETTE 135
CONTROLLED INTERSECTIONS 135
ROUNDABOUTS 137
RURAL ROADS 138
3.3 Passing 140
SPACE 147
BODY LANGUAGE 147
APPROACHING CARS: THE SECOND MOST LIKELY CAUSE OF
ACCIDENTS 147
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS 148
SPEED, MOMENTUM, AND POSITIONING 150
FINAL CHECKS 152
3.4 Multilane Highways 155
3.5 Freeways/Interstate Highways 156
RULES 157
WARM UP 158
THE FIELD 158
THE SHOULDER 158
MERGING 158
EXITING 162
THE GAME 162
SPACE, TIME, AND RELATIVITY 163
FOLLOWING DISTANCE 164
COMMUNICATION 166
BLIND SPOTS 166
THE PLAYERS 170
MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS 170
GAME-CHANGING WEATHER 171
SUN 171
FOG, SPRAY, AND SMOKE 171
RAIN 172
SNOW 172
BLACK ICE 173
3.6 In the Zone 174
3.7 Free Your Mind (and the Rest Will Follow) 179
EMOTIONAL BAGGAGE 180
TIME PRESSURE 180
PERCEIVED WRONGDOING/RAGE 180
COMMUTED 180
DISTRACTION 181
DEAD WEIGHT 184
DRUGS AND ALCOHOL 184
ENVIRONMENT 184
3.8 Vision 186
THE MARK 1 EYEBALL 186
PERIPHERAL VISION 187
THE VISUAL STRATEGY OF A RACING DRIVER 188
HELL IS OTHER PEOPLE 189
3.9 Night Driving 192
DRINKS 193
EATS 193
SLEEPS 194
3.10 Basic Instinct 196
3.11 Visualization: The Perfect Lap 201
SUMMARY 203
Part 4: Skidding
4.1 The Limits of Grip 206
COMMON CAUSES OF SKIDS 208
UNDERSTEER 208
COMING ’ROUND THE MOUNTAIN 208
OVERSTEER 210
LIFT-OFF OVERSTEER 210
POWER OVERSTEER 211
OPPOSITE LOCK 211
OPPOSITE LOCK EXPLAINED 212
OVERCORRECTING 212
THE “TANK SLAPPER” 213
RECOVERING FROM A SPIN 213
4.2 Driving in Wet Weather 215
AFTER IT RAINS 216
READ THE ROAD 217
TIRES IN RAIN 218
AVOIDING HYDROPLANING 218
FACTORS AFFECTING HYDROPLANING 220
SUMMARY 221
HANDLING HYDROPLANING 221
FLOODS 223
4.3 Winter Driving 226
SNOW AND ICE 226
PREP THE CAR 227
PLAN A ROUTE 227
GET MOVING ON ICE. 227
STUCK IN A RUT 230
DRIVING IN THE SNOW 232
BRAKING 232
STEERING 235
ACCELERATING 235
READ THE SCRIPT 235
HILLS 236
UPHILL 236
ESSENTIAL GEAR 237
4.4 Worst-Case Scenarios 238
TIRE BLOWOUT 238
STICKING THROTTLE 239
BRAKE “FAILURE” 240
BRAKE OVERHEATING 240
TOTAL BRAKE FAILURE 241