Years ago, when I
got my first SAAB AERO, a more sports driven, higher HP, more torque, tighter
suspension and Brembo brakes oriented 9-5, I was invited to a racing school in
Roswell Georgia to learn how to master the new “AERO”.
Considering that it was FREE, because of my purchase,
it seemed like a cool thing to do for a weekend. So off I went, with Marie by my side, to experience
the world of high performance driving, even for a short 48 hours.
After some class
room time, we were all excited to get out on the course and put our new skills
to the test; to see who among us was a “race driver.” Obviously none of us were quite ready to
proclaim ourselves “high performance drivers; at least not to the Scandinavian driving
crew that had been assembled as our instructors.
As we crashed into cones, spun our cars out,
failed the water test and ended up on the infield more often than not, it
seemed that we had a lot to learn. In
fact so much to learn that we all realized that the best we could do was to improve
our daily driving skills. At best.
By the end of the
first day, I was in 11th place out of 19 of us. At the cocktail hour
that night, I strolled over to one of the instructors, introduced myself and asked
him what I would need to do to improve.
Ah yes, “I have seen you drive and among other skills you need to
improve, you have one MAJOR flaw that you need to overcome. “Yes, yes” I said
excitedly, “what is it?”
“Do you understand
that you car goes where your eyes go?"
So if you look at
the car that you want to avoid in a crash, you will crash into it. If you look at
the cones that you want to avoid in the slalom, you will hit them. Look at where you want your car to go, not
at what you want to avoid.” With
that said, he said good night and walked away.
All thru dinner
and all that night, I thought about what he said, determined to try it the next
day.
And try I
did.
This should be
easy, I thought, all I have to do is look at where I want to go, not to where I
want to avoid. But a lifetime of driving
habits aren't that easy to fix, but I kept at in my trial runs and about an
hour before lunch, it was my turn to do the slalom. So far 14 people went ahead
of me and the fastest time turned in was about 37 MPH.
I slammed the
accelerator and started looking at the spaces between the cones…and not the
cones. I felt more in control, more at
ease, more flexible with my hands spinning the steering wheel and felt like I did
better than my 35 MPH yesterday with 4 cones down.
After this run, I
did 41 MPH with no cones down and won the event.
Later that day, I improved in almost all of the school requirements and
ended up finishing 5th overall.
Now with the fall
bowling season upon us, are you pointing your business at where you want to go
or are you looking at what you are trying to avoid?
