Learning to race is a journey, so it might be helpful to have a ‘map’ of the path. While not necessarily perfect for our application, the Dreyfus skill acquisition model provides a decent framework with which to understand how racing skills are acquired.
What we hope ever to do with ease, we must learn first to do with diligence.
— Dr. Samuel Johnson
The information processing methods described in the Spiral to Speed’s CORE Skill #1 – Reducing the Sensation of Speed page are intertwined with the learning process. Therefore, I strongly recommend checking out the information, images, and videos on that page’s Information Processing Examples and Information Processing Examples by Learning Stage sections concurrently while you are reviewing the learning stages information below. Likewise, concentration methods are intertwined with the learning process, so I also recommend checking out the Concentration for Racers page.
Novice
When first learning to drive a race car, drivers learn a few basic techniques and rules, such as shifting techniques and the proper line around the track. The rules are presented as absolutes, without regard for the context in which they are applied. For example, novice drivers are not told that there are times when the rules should be bent or even broken because they are so preoccupied with trying to follow the rules that any additional information would only cause overload and confusion. The simplified rules provide a relatively safe system for gaining experience.
At this stage of learning, drivers must use all of their cognitive resources/concentration to follow the rules, which means they have no sense of the overall task of driving a race car; they essentially drive from action point to action point, and as soon as they finish doing something, they start preparing to do the next thing. They are so busy dealing with the stream of visual information, and they are so inwardly focused (on remembering and executing the rules/plan) they are almost completely ‘blind’ the sensations (feel) of driving.
To progress novices need to:
- Habitualize the sensations of driving around the track, which will reduce their stress.
- Automate simple tasks (like up shifts, etc.) as much as possible.
- Start creating in their mind a full sensory mental model of the track, along with the process for getting around it.
Advanced beginner
As a driver gains more experience, they begin to get a more coherent sense of the overall task of driving a race car. They still follow the rules, but they start to apply more complex rules and they start to become more aware of the context in which the rules apply. That is, instead of robotically following the rules and driving from one reference point to the next, they begin to see that reasoning behind the rules; that the rules allow them to link the turns together into a smooth flowing rhythm. Also, they begin to develop their own rules to deal with new situations they experience (such as sliding correction, passing, etc.).
At this learning stage, drivers start to benefit more from their experience because they are starting to understand the context within which they are driving. They are also starting to become more comfortable driving at speed, which slightly reduces the amount of cognitive effort they must put into getting the car around the track. The ‘freed’ cognitive resources can be put to work trying to feel and interpret what the car is doing. Drivers at this level are also beginning to be able to extract more information from their experience, so if they understand how, and put the effort in, they can really start making progress (For more information about using experience, see Types of Knowledge and Learning Strategies for Racers).
Advanced beginners still pretty much drive from action point to action point, and they still spend a lot of time preparing to do upcoming tasks (accept for when there is a long distance/time between tasks). However, they start partially ‘automating’ less challenging tasks like shifting or non-critical positioning of the car on the track. That means that while they are still very ‘busy’ they don’t have to use 100% of their attention/mental resources for everything they do, so not quite all of their time is spent trapped in the slow intellectual/analytical process.
Competent
At this learning stage, a driver’s speed and confidence should be incrementally increasing, and they should start feeling more relaxed behind the wheel. As speed increases, the Sensation of Speed (SoS) may start to elevate. However, if everything progresses naturally, as it should, then the driver will start to instinctively reduce their SoS by changing the way they process sensory information; moving towards ‘recognition’ and away from ‘analysis’. In a related change, drivers will also begin to experience holistic concentration instead of only using focused concentration. Drivers at this level will also start to rely less on rules and deal more with situations. That is, instead of following the point-to-point rules to drive through a turn, they establish a goal (maximum speed through the turn) and then develop a plan to accomplish the goal (which may or may not follow the rules).
However, at this level, developing a plan can take considerable attention, so drivers may have trouble maintaining speed while driving if they are simultaneously trying to develop or modify a plan. If the driver has changed their sensory information processing method toward the much more efficient ‘recognition’ model, then that should free up a considerable amount of cognitive resources, which can be used like a human video recorder/data logger to vividly recall their goals/plans and their results. Used properly (to habitualize their driving and/or to create virtual-realizations) this information can be a great resource for the continued advancement and refinement of their craft.
For competent drivers, there is still a strong impression of action point to action point driving, However, the amount of time they spend preparing to do upcoming tasks is coming down. Also, all but the most critical tasks (hardest braking points) are becoming at least partially automated, with less challenging tasks taking very little intellectual/analytical processing effort. That means competent drivers are still fairly busy, but they feel far less busy/rushed than novice or advanced beginner drivers.
Proficient
As drivers work through the proficient level, they will still use some analysis to process sensory information, and they will still use some focused concentration. However, the use of these will be rapidly declining, until the majority of their driving will be done using recognition (pattern matching) and holistic concentration.
By shifting a majority of the driving tasks from analysis to recognition, their driving becomes much more fluid leading to increased confidence. Also, driving by ‘recognition’ frees a huge amount of cognitive resources that previously was being consumed when driving with ‘analysis’, so goal setting and planning also become more fluid to the point where driving plans can be created, implemented, evaluated, and fine tuned on-the-fly while driving (at least in the less dangerous turns).
When a driver’s use of recognition and holistic concentration increases, they are able to relax more, and feel more. The increased relaxation begins a cycle that allows them to move deeper into recognition driving and holistic concentration. That cycle can take a driver ‘deep’ enough into their driving that they can get a glimpse of ‘intuitive driving’; driving in almost a meditative state (or the Zone if you will).
However, as soon as they notice they are driving intuitively, they will probably slip back toward analytical driving. This happens because to drive intuitively, your analytical mind must be relaxed with your conscious attention focused on your awareness (holistic concentration). When you notice (your intellect becomes aware) that you are driving intuitively, your attention is automatically shifted from your awareness to your driving, therefore interrupting the connection that allows you to drive intuitively.
Proficient drivers also spend far less time preparing to do upcoming tasks, therefore, the overall impression is less of a driver stuck in action point to action point driving (intellectual/serial process driving), and more of a driver with a foundation in holistic driving (intuitive/ parallel processing) who dips into varying levels of intellectual/serial processing to accomplish certain important tasks.
This shift away from intellectual processing and toward intuitive processing is made possible by several things:
- Less challenging tasks are fully automated so they require no intellectual processing.
. - Habitualization to the tasks of driving that car, around that track has conditioned the driver to know what to expect and when to expect it, so he does not need to turn his attention to the next task until he is close to the actual time/location when the task must be started.
. - Even important tasks are at least ½ automated (are accomplished with no more than 50% intellectual processing) so the continuity of intuitive/parallel processing is at least partially maintained throughout the lap.
Expert
An expert level driver uses very little analysis to drive, and they spend the overwhelming majority of their time using holistic concentration. Therefore, information simply flows into them and their responses flow back out automatically, with no real effort on their part; they just do what comes naturally, and they rarely make mistakes. For them, driving is no longer just a skill, it is as much a part of them as their ability to walk and talk. That is, they are able to absorb the car as part of their body, and it takes no more effort to control the car than it does to control their body.
There is no need to run outside for better seeing. Rather abide at the center of your being; for the more you leave it, the less you learn. Search your heart and see… The way to do is to be.
— Lao-Tzu (6th century B.C.)
Since expert drivers process, and respond to, sensory information so efficiently, their Sensation of Speed is profoundly reduced, which creates the perception that things are happening in slow motion. Because of this, they have a large amount of ‘free’ cognitive resources that can be used for:
- Race craft
- Evaluating the car’s performance
- Self Coaching…
Even the best drivers can still benefit from using some of their cognitive reserves to observe/coach themselves on the finer points of driving, such as saving tires by choosing to drive in a way that will not overwork one tire, etc.
Expert drivers spend the overwhelming majority of their time using intuitive/parallel processing & holistic concentration, with just occasional ‘blips’ into intellectual/serial processing & focused concentration for tasks that require precision timing and/or precision execution. Also, since temporal awareness is not really a strength of intuitive processing, I believe the intellectual processing ‘blips’ provide essentially a rhythm track for the driver/car/race track combination. The rhythm track helps synchronize reality (the flow of sensory information) with the driver’s stored ‘mental model’ of the track, which allows driving to be done via recognition (pattern matching) rather than analysis.
Therefore, the overall impression for an expert driver is that of a relaxed person, who is ‘doing’ very little. He is simply taking in sensory information and calmly, automatically and, instinctively responding to it, which produces the very desirable side effect of a significantly reduced Sensation of Speed, along with ample free cognitive resources.
Master
The Dreyfus skill acquisition model (at least the versions I’ve seen) stop at the expert level; implying that experts are masters. I don’t agree with this, especially for racing. While experts and masters approach the task of driving in very similar ways, a master uses a little less intellectual information processing and can get that small fraction ‘deeper’ into the task… driving from a connection deeper within themselves. This is going to sound more ‘cosmic’ than I want, but while an expert’s driving is ‘automated’ and they drive from their intuition –, a master can go a little deeper… they can lose themselves and actually ‘become’ their intuition. It’s hard to explain; there’s not a big difference between the two, but you know (you can feel) when you have seen a master drive. Another way to think of it is this; take the top four F1 teams, the #2 drivers are experts, and the #1 drivers are likely masters… perhaps with one being a master among masters.
While day by day the overzealous student stores up facts for future use, He who has learned to trust nature finds need for ever fewer external directions. He will discard formula after formula, until he reaches the conclusion: Let nature take its course. By letting each thing act in accordance with its own nature, everything that needs to be done gets done.
– Lao-Tzu
Master drivers spend almost all of their time using intuitive/parallel processing & holistic concentration, with very few, and very shallow ‘blips’ into intellectual/serial processing & focused concentration. These ‘blips’ would occur at critical points such as hard braking and critical turn-ins. Driving is almost completely automated, so like the expert driver the ‘blips’ provide essentially a rhythm track for the driver/car/race track combination.
So, the overall impression for a master driver is, well, complete mastery that requires almost no ‘effort’ (no ‘doing’ of things or tasks). For a master, driving is automatic and intuitive/instinctive. When a master drives, sensory information streams in and automatically triggers (and mostly anticipatorily triggers) ‘the driving response,’ which then simply flows out through the driver. Masters are calm and relaxed when driving, and they experience a profoundly reduced Sensation of Speed along with a huge amount of free cognitive resources.
Learning Stages, Intuitive Driving, and the Zone
Intuitive driving and the learning stages are intertwined, as are sensory processing and concentration methods. To progress through the learning stages, a driver must change the way they process information and concentrate. When drivers do this to an adequate extent, they begin to drive intuitively (by feel and instinct rather than by process and analysis). If you look at the table below, you’ll see that the proficient level is the learning stage where drivers start spending a majority of their time using preconscious sensory information processing and holistic concentration. However, at this level they still spend a significant amount of time using ‘analysis’ and focused attention, so they may start to catch a glimpse of intuitive driving, but they can’t get very deep into it.
This table is a guess at the percent of focused concentration drivers use for common driving actions, based on their learning stage (100% = all focused concentration and 0% = all holistic concentration)
When drivers progress to the expert and master levels, then the overwhelming majority of their time is spent using efficient information processing and concentration techniques, so driving intuitively is a natural result of that. However, intuitive driving is not an on or off thing, so you can think of it as a continuum ranging from just starting to flicker on for proficient drivers to being on full blast for master drivers.
Put another way, intuitive driving is less a way or level of driving than it is a result of using optimal methods for both sensory information processing and concentration, and its by-products are: speed, confidence, relaxation, a reduced Sensation of Speed, ample reserves of cognitive resources, and ultimately Zone-level performance. I also believe that driving in a Zone state is intertwined with intuitive driving; again being a continuum starting in the mid to upper area of the Expert level and deepening through the Master level.
Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.
— Saint Francis of Assisi
Learning Stages Summary
So, now that we’ve looked at the learning stages and related information, I have to point out a few final things:
- It’s important to note that analytical processing and focused concentration are not ‘bad’, they are necessary to progress through the Novice, Advanced Beginner, and Competent levels. They are also necessary in much smaller amounts throughout the higher learning stages, but to keep making progress, a driver must make the natural progression away from using analysis and focused concentration, and toward recognition and holistic concentration until by the time they reach the ‘master’ level they are using almost entirely recognition processing and holistic concentration.
. - Another point is that you must earn your ‘stage/level’ every time you drive; how you perform in any given moment determines your true level. For example, a driver who typically performs at the expert level may slip into the proficient level on an ‘off day’, or in an unfamiliar car. The difference is that they will have a much easier time getting back to the expert level than will a driver who is trying to make the transition from proficient to expert for the first time.
. - The process of learning to drive/race is a spiral, not a curve or line. Different skills may progress at different rates, and skills influence and interact with each other. For example, if you don’t have any particular skill weakness, then improving your information processing skills should reduce your Sensation of Speed, which should free some cognitive resources, which could then be used to increase your sensitivity, which should allow you to feel loads, forces, and traction more clearly, which should allow you to use your tires more efficiently, which should lower your lap times, which could increase your Sensation of Speed, which would mean you need to improve your information processing skills again. So there you are, back at the core of the spiral again… but on a different level as it were. In this way, the whole driver/person evolves and grows, and if they’re not careful, even learns a bit about themselves.
. - While the learning stages are a continuum, it’s an unfortunate fact that, a smooth transition from Novice to Master happens for very few drivers (the ‘naturals’ if you will). Many (maybe most) drivers encounter plateaus at various stages along the way. Some are able to discover and apply the lessons they need to move to the next learning stage, but many remain stranded and frustrated. Helping drivers get moving and keep moving through the learning stages is one of the primary objectives of Speed Craft.
. - Finally, all of the explanations and examples in this learning stages section described how things work (or should work) ‘in a vacuum’; with just you, your car, and the track. So for each learning stage, you can think of the descriptions as the core, or default, driving mode. However, in reality, you’re rarely ‘in a vacuum’ on the track; you likely have extra tasks to attend to like recovering from a mistake, passing, being passed, and dicing with competitors. These may well impact your information processing mode and/or concentration method. However, I believe the amount of impact depends on your level/learning stage. That is, a competent driver may shift way farther into analysis and focused concentration to execute a pass than an expert or master driver would. That said, the most important thing is to relax and get back to your core driving mode as quickly as possible if dealing with external circumstances forces you out of it.