I am currently employed
as a Technical Writer, although I'm working toward becoming a driving instructor/coach.
I started racing Formula Fords at the Jim Russell/BSMR Racing School when I was
18 (1978). I had immediate success (second in my first race, lap record in my
fifth) and finished the 19-race season with 12 wins, 3 seconds, and 2 thirds.
I couldn't find a sponsor, so I had to stop racing, which is when I became curious
about how I learned to drive. After evaluating my experiences, I developed theories
about the systems that must be present in the brain, and how I was programming/running
my brain. I then researched Neurology, Psychology, Sports-Psychology, Education,
and Philosophy to determine if my theories could be reconciled with science and
facts. Almost all were, so I decided to share what I learned by writing a book
(in between occasional kart racing efforts from 1990 on) that will help drivers
bridge the huge gap between what racing schools teach and what they must learn
to become fast. To test my training techniques, I attending a three-day Skip Barber
FF race at Thunder Hill in CA (2/95). This was a "worst-case" test because it
had been 11+ years since I drove a FF, and I had never... driven a SB car, raced
on radials, or seen the track. The test was successful, with finishes in the three
races of 5th, 3rd, and 2nd, and a fastest lap that was within less than .2 seconds
of the lap record.
Even though the techniques I use/teach are unorthodox, they are based on experience and science, and they work! I hope you'll give them a try, they may be just the thing you need to accelerate your learning curve or shake you out of a driving rut. At any rate, they're just ideas, so try everything, keep what works for you, discard the rest, and have fun.
Warren Chamberlain
The following information is copyrighted by W. Warren Chamberlain III 1/1/1996. It is a sample of topics that will be presented in the book Speed Craft, which is currently under construction.
It kills me when driving schools and books end by saying "you now know the basics, all you need is experience." For about 90+% or drivers that's BS. Sure some drivers instinctively discover the lessons in their experience (because they have been around racing all their lives) or because they have similar experience (perhaps from another sport). These drivers progress quickly, become fast, and are considered "naturals". While the rest struggle to find the lessons within their experience and either progress slowly, or get stuck as some "technique plateau". In both cases these drivers get less enjoyment than they could from racing, and they never have the chance to discovering how much "talent" they have.
Your brain's (dominant) left hemisphere works like a serial processing computer; handling only one bit of information at a time (although very quickly). It is very good at analytical tasks such as naming, categorizing, judging, comparing, and prioritizing. It handles all language tasks and is also very good at temporal (time related) tasks. However, it is not good at processing extreme amounts of sensory input, or coordinating complex simultaneous movements (both of which you must do when driving).
Your brain's right hemisphere works like a parallel processing computer; handling a huge amount of information at a time. In task responsibility, it is just about the opposite of your left hemisphere. It's VERY good at processing extreme amounts of sensory input (visual and otherwise), or coordinating complex simultaneous movements. However its not good at prioritizing, naming, etc., and it has almost language ability or temporal awareness (most of which are also needed when driving).
The hemispheres of your brain are connected with a huge bundle of nerves called the Corpuscolosum. This is your brain's network connection. It allows the hemispheres to function on a continuum ranging from separate functioning (as two independent computers), to coordinated functioning (as a single computer). Unfortunately, the left hemisphere (which has a big ego and wants to do everything itself) is the system administrator, so often it tries to do all of a job that would be better shared with the right hemisphere (like driving a kart).
There is another system in the brain called the Reticular Activating System (RAS) This system essentially controls your level of consciousness, and conscious (left hemisphere) processing. The RAS is what allows you to be involved in a conversation at a noisy party and still hear when someone across the room mentions your name. Your name is important to you, so your RAS makes you pay attention.
The reticular activating system (RAS) is a mass of neurons that extends from the top of the spinal cord to near the top of the brain stem. All signals going to and coming from the brain pass through it. The RAS is responsible for both establishing your brain’s level of consciousness (comatose, aware, alert) and for focusing consciousness (concentration).
When racing, the term "concentration" is sort of misleading because it implies that if you are concentrating properly, you are placing all of your attention in a sharply focused manner on driving. The problem with this idea of concentration is that attention can only be 100% focused on one thing at any given time while driving a kart quickly requires you to be doing several things at any point in time. Consciousness is a continuum that stretches from unconsciousness through awareness to focused attention "concentration". However, I believe there are actually two types of focused attention (both of which are required to drive a kart at the limits of physics).
The first type of focused attention is what we normally think of when we hear the word concentration. I call this left-hemisphere concentration (LHC). In this method of concentration we focus all of our attention "Consciousness" on a single thing to the exclusion of everything else. To me, this type of concentration feels like I am sending my attention THROUGH my eyes so that I can focus it in super-fine detail on a single thing.
The advantage of this type of concentration is that you get very detailed information about whatever you are concentrating on. For example, you can place yourself very accurately on the track, or you will be able to pick out the particular items you are using as markers (breaking, turning, apex, etc.).
When you are racing, you must be able to continuously determine where you are on the track, the forces that are working on your kart’s center of mass, and the traction available. Therefore, to drive with LHC requires that you quickly move your concentration around to sample each sense (visual, kinesthetic, auditory, etc.). You then must take these samples and mentally combine them to create a "sensory model" (pseudo-holistic sensory picture) of your current status (location, speed, trajectory, forces, traction, etc.).
The problem with this type of concentration is that your RAS must send the sensory information to your left hemisphere where the information is interpreted and the model is created. Then, because your brain stores your previous experience (your pattern-recognition templates) as holistic patterns of sensory information (visual, kinesthetic, auditory, etc.), this information must be retrieved into the left hemisphere, interpreted, and compared to the sensory model. Your left hemisphere then determines whether or not you need to make any adjustments to your speed, location, etc. based on the quality of match between the sensory model and your pattern-recognition template. Unfortunately, all of this information gathering, interpreting, and comparing puts a lot of load on your left hemisphere which causes an increase in the sensation of speed and your stress level. This stress keeps you from getting into the zone, reduces your sensitivity, and generally screws everything up.
The second type of focused attention is what I call "right-hemisphere concentration", which is a focusing of your conscious attention on your awareness. When you focus your attention on awareness (instead of focusing on a single item or a single sense), you are concentrating on everything simultaneously, which creates a holistic scene involving many senses. To me, this type of concentration feels like I am focusing my attention on the back of my eyes (instead of through them), which means I am simultaneously concentrating on everything in my visual field.
The advantages to using right-hemisphere concentration when racing are:
The information generated from right-hemisphere concentration does not require your left hemisphere to create a mental model of your situation because the information is already in a holistic form. That is, it contains all of the information you need to simultaneously determine where you are on the track, the forces that are working on your kart’s center of mass and the traction available.
Since your brain stores your previous experience (your pattern-recognition templates) as holistic patterns of sensory information, it’s very easy for your RAS to do a pattern match between your pattern-recognition templates and the sensory information coming in from right hemisphere concentration. Because the pattern match occurs at the RAS/right-hemisphere levels of your brain, very little if any intellectual resources (left hemisphere) are used to do the comparison, which means comparisons can be made very quickly (virtually in real-time).
If the sensory information matches the pattern-recognition template, then your intellectual resources remain free to handle other activities such as critiquing your driving, evaluating your kart’s performance, race-craft, etc. This reduction in load on your intellectual resources is what produces a reduced sensation of speed, which lets you get to the zone.
If the sensory information does not match the pattern-recognition template, then the RAS draws some of your intellectual resources (your left hemisphere’s attention) to the mismatch. Your intellectual resources are needed so you can evaluate the mismatch and determine what to do to adjust for it. The amount of intellect that is drawn to the mismatch depends on the amount of mismatch and the perceived danger of the mismatch. For more detailed information about this, see "Programming Your RAS to Stay in the ZONE", which follows this discussion about concentration.
Another very important benefit of RHC is that it takes less mental effort to use because you are not constantly trying to force your attention into such a narrow beam.
Although RHC has many benefits compared to LHC, it also has one big weaknesses; it does not provide the razor-sharp clarity that some driving activities require. Therefore, as always, there is a balance that must be achieved to gain maximum performance. Expert drivers (mostly unknowingly) constantly shift back and forth between right- and left-hemisphere concentration. For example, as they drive down a straight toward a turn they are in RHC, as they approach their braking point they need more precision to position the car on the track and to precisely target when braking must begin so they switch to LHC. Once properly positioned, they switch to RHC so that they can simultaneously handle the visual and kinesthetic sensations coming in, and so their body can make the fine motor movements needed to control the brakes.
Next they switch back to LHC to target their turning point. As they approach the turning point, they switch to RHC so their left hemisphere does not interfere with the fine motor movements needed to turn the car into the corner, and so they can process all the sensory information coming in. They then briefly switch to LHC to verify they are headed toward the clipping point, if so, they switch to RHC so they can handle all of the sensations coming in, and so their body is relaxed enough that they can accurately feel the traction that is available. Finally, they briefly switch to LHC to verify they are on target to hit their track out point. Then they switch back to RHC until they approach the next critical (breaking or turn in) point.
NOTE: Drivers will also switch toward LHC if there is anything that requires precise attention, such as if another car is next to them, or if they sense a problem with the car, etc.
To get an idea of what left-hemisphere concentration feels like, go to a mirror and concentrate on one of your eyes. Look so closely that you can see the small veins in the white of your eye. Then, Concentrate 100% of your attention on a single vein. Notice that while you are concentrating on the vein, you are not able to pay any attention to the pupil of your eye, much less your other eye, your nose, mouth, or anything else in the room. Also feel how much mental effort it takes to keep all of your attention focus on the vein in your eye. If you try to shift any attention to something other than the vein, you loose concentration and can no longer see the vein with precision.
When you lose concentration on the vein, your mind begins to wander because you no longer have a single thing for your left hemisphere to concentrate on. That is, several things are in your field of vision (your face, eyes, nose, mouth, etc.), but your mind is wandering so you are not really concentrating on anything in particular, or on being aware of the things in your field of vision. In other words, you are looking, but not seeing. Finally, refocus your attention on the vein, then try to simultaneously pay attention to another sense, tactile, kinesthetic, or auditory. Notice how difficult (if not impossible) it is to maintain concentration on the vein when you are trying to be aware of another sense.
Next, try right-hemisphere concentration by relaxing your eyes and simultaneously looking at your entire face. (Try to focus your attention on the back of your eyes instead of sending it through your eyes to be focused on a particular object.) When your attention is focused on your awareness, you will not be able to see any particular part of your face with razor sharp precision like you can with left-hemisphere concentration. But, you will be able to simultaneously concentrate on all of the things in your field of vision without your mind wandering. In other words, its not a crystal clear picture of any particular thing, but it is a complete picture of the entire scene. Also note that it takes much less effort to keep your attention focused on your awareness than it does to focus your attention on a single thing. You also get a much more complete picture of whatever you are seeing. For example, you see your entire face, however with left-hemisphere concentration, you only see one part of your face at a time, then you must mentally construct a model of what your face looks like.
Now, while concentrating on your awareness, notice that you can be simultaneously aware of your other senses. Also note that this simultaneous awareness does not require any more effort and does not diminish the amount of information you are receiving from your visual senses.
In addition to controlling your consciousness level and concentration, your RAS also serves as a self preservation alarm system, which draws your left-hemisphere attention to anything unusual or threatening (like the guardrail you are understeering toward). While this self-preservation system is handy for keeping you alive, you must program your RAS for driving, or it can get you into big trouble. In the above example, if you let the RAS focus all your attention at the point on the guardrail where you are going to hit, you will have no mental resources left to avoid crashing. Can you say "Target Fixation"? Therefore, to ensure you can stay in the zone when you are driving, you must have already programmed your RAS so that it will only draw your attention to important things. You must also train your RAS so that when it does encounter something unusual, it only draws the mental resources needed to deal with the situation.
As I said before, the rhythm of driving past your pattern recognition templates combined with "habitualization" (a thorough familiarity with all of the important sensations: visual, kinesthetic, auditory, etc. you experience when driving around the track) produces "the zone". The antidotes to the zone are anything unexpected that happens, anything expected that does not happen, or anything beyond your experience such as:
When any of the above happens, your RAS perceives it as a threat and therefore draws your attention to the situation, which causes your left hemisphere to start moving out of the zone as it quickly evaluates the situation (threat). After evaluating the situation, it decides on a coarse of action based on how threatening the situation is. The response to the situation can fall anywhere within the following continuum:
Unfortunately, your left hemisphere "stressing out" jumping out of the zone and taking control away from your right hemisphere is exactly what you do not need when you are in trouble; you need to be as calm, relaxed, and sensitivity as you can be so that you can get yourself out of trouble.
This RAS triggered right and left hemisphere interaction is the reason a big mistake (like having a big crash, or really scaring the s*#% out of yourself) can cause a setback in your learning process by making it hard to get back to the zone. This can happen because your left hemisphere may figure "Oh great, I went into the zone, let the right hemisphere have some control, and it goes and puts us in danger... I guess I have to do everything myself". The funny thing is, your left hemisphere probably caused the problem in the first place, and it was actually your right hemisphere that jumped in and tried to save the day. However, your left hemisphere is really pretty much the tyrannical ruler of your brain and will ignore or distort the facts to make itself right.
If you have an experience like this, you must reestablish the left hemisphere’s trust in the right hemisphere’s ability to drive before you can get back to the zone.
Because the RAS relays signals that are both coming into and going out of the brain, you can program it with incoming signals (experience) or outgoing signals (imagery) as follows:
As your RAS checks every lap you drive against your pattern-recognition templates, it verifies that both the sensations coming in are normal, and the pattern recognition templates are still applicable. For example, if the amount of available traction changes (your tires go off, or it starts to rain) then the template you had previously been using would no longer be appropriate. When your RAS and left hemisphere determine that the pattern recognition template is no longer appropriate, then the template is modified to conform to the new circumstances.
Therefore, to reprogram your RAS with incoming signals, all you have to do is make a slight change to the way you do things and repeat it consistently. That is, purposely cause a slight deviation between the sensations your RAS is experiencing and your pattern-recognition templates. To cause this deviation you could:
NOTE: Do NOT make a big change in your driving (like going flat out through a turn you used to brake for) or you run the risk of causing "target fixation" and the resulting nastiness.
When you first start driving with the "slight deviation", your RAS will draw a little attention to the deviation. However after a few laps (number of laps varies with different people) your left hemisphere and RAS will agree that perhaps this variation is "normal". When this happens, your pattern recognition template is updated. That is, the previous pattern remains and the new deviation is added to it, so if your RAS receives sensations that match either one it perceives a pattern match.
You can repeat this process with many different types of deviations to create a very broad and flexible pattern recognition template. This flexible template will allow you to experience a pattern match most of the time when you are driving, which means you can stay in the zone most of the time.
There are, however, a few problems with this training method:
Because your brain can not tell the difference between an actual experience and a vividly imagined experience, you can use imagery to perform the following types of programming for your RAS:
Defining What is Important and/or threatening
Because your RAS automatically draws your attention to any PERCEIVED threat, you can reprogram your RAS by redefining what is threatening. For example, an expert driver can get fairly sideways at a very high speed turn without having their RAS draw all their attention to the slide. They can do this because they do not perceive sliding at high speed as threatening, their right hemisphere simply adjusts for the slide and their RAS lets them stay in the zone.
For a novice driver in the same situation, their RAS will probably draw all their mental resources to the "threatening" slide causing their left hemisphere to jump out of the zone. When this happens, they tighten up and stop receiving information about traction. This slows down or blocks the instinctive slide correction they need to make, which will probably causes them to loose control.
Programming your RAS with what it should consider important and/or threatening, is simply a mater of consciously deciding what’s important and/or threatening. For example, you can be reading a book in an airport, ignoring all the hubbub and intercom announcements, until they announce that your flight is boarding, suddenly your attention is automatically shifted from your book to the announcement. This happens because you have previously decided that this information is important to you, so when your RAS recognizes the information it draws your attention to it.
The difficult part is knowing what you should consider important and/or threatening. One of the best ways of learning what to consider threatening is to model other drivers. That is, if a fast driver (with a similar kart) is drifting flat-out through a particular turn that you always lift for, you are probably misinterpreting your sensory input from that turn as threatening (which causes you to slow down) when in fact you could be going through the turn faster.
NOTE: Having said that you can model faster drivers, in the above example you wouldn’t try and immediately go flat-out the next time you drive through that turn (for the reasons stated earlier about target fixation); know it’s not a threat, but always make changes in increments.
Aside from modeling fast drivers, simply paying attention to what you are doing (and the results you produce) when you drive will show you what is important at any given point on the track.
Adding a random experience
This method is useful when you have an unexpected experience that you want to add to your pattern recognition templates. For example, you are trying to make a pass in a race and you get into a turn "too hot", but (after jumping out of the zone and scaring yourself) you make it through OK. You now know you can go through the turn faster. However even though you know something (you can go faster), you still may not be able to make yourself do it. Even if you force yourself to do it, you probably won’t be able to stay in the zone while doing it. With imagery, you can replay that experience enough times that your RAS and left hemisphere come to recognize it as normal and presto, you can drive through the turn at the faster speed while staying in the zone.
Preparing yourself to modify your pattern recognition template
Because racing is dangerous by it’s very nature, it is very hard to make any changes when you are driving. That is, unless you are an expert driver (with a great deal of track time/experience), you will not have diverse enough pattern recognition templates to allow you to change the way you drive while you are driving. Instead, you will probably have to come off the track, evaluate your experience on the track, and then decide what to change.
Unfortunately, even though you have "intellectually" determined where you can go faster and the changes you need to make to your driving, there is no guarantee that you will actually be able to make the changes to your driving. That is, as soon as you go back on the track, your RAS and brain want to do what they have done before because it works and most importantly, it’s safe. Therefore, the best way to change the way you drive is to use imagery to actually drive the way you want to (in your mind) before you go back on the track.
Using imagery to change your driving works because as I said before, your RAS and brain can’t tell the difference between what you imagine and what you actually experience. Therefore, to make a change, you simply need to guess what it will feel like to drive the way you want to, and use imagery to program yourself with these sensations. The next time you go back on the track, you will probably be able to make the changes you wanted to because your RAS and brain will have already experienced them; they know it is save to drive the way you want to.
You may be wondering "what if my imagery 'guess' is not exactly right"? That should not be a problem because if you are making incremental changes to your driving (which I highly recommend) even being slightly wrong about your "guess" will not cause a big enough mismatch to create "target fixation". After you have driven using your "guess", you can then complete the change/improvement in your driving by using the actual experience you gained on the track to overwrite your guess.
There are five main techniques you must master to achieve your potential:
Reducing the sensation of speed is the first mental technique that must be mastered, because you can't free enough mental resources to learn anything else until you have mastered this technique. To reduce the sensation of speed, you must move the processing of visual information from your brain's dominant left hemisphere (which processed only one bit of information at a time) to your subdominant right hemisphere (which processes all the information at once).
Since your right hemisphere processes visual information as patterns, you are actually programming yourself with pattern recognition templates for the track. Once you have patterns for the track stored, and your left hemisphere becomes habitualized (used to) to the incoming visual images, your left hemisphere will tend to stop "analyzing" the visual sensory input. When this happens, the left hemisphere simply observes the visual information and delegates the processing of it to the right hemisphere. It is much easier for your right hemisphere to do a simple pattern match (comparing what you see to the stored pattern) than it is to intellectually (left hemisphere) process each bit of information from each mental image. The reduction in processor load that pattern matching provides is what causes the reduced sensation of speed.
There are two ways you can develop pattern recognition templates and habitualize your left hemisphere:
Your on-board computer (brain) physically stores memories such as your pattern recognition templates (and your programmed responses to them) as "engrams." These engrams are formed when an electrical signal travels along the brain's cortex (outer covering). So, in a sense, you could say that engrams are the wiring (or programming language) of the brain. As the signal travels from neuron (the brain's nerve cells) to neuron, it jumps the synapses (microscopic gaps that separate adjacent neurons). When the electrical signal jumps a synapse it causes a reduction in the resistance at the synapse. This drop in resistance persists for a while, so the next time you have the same experience the signal will passes more easily along the same path (circuit). When you encounter the same experience enough times, the resistance of that path is reduced so much that the resulting "circuit" is essentially "hard wired" into your brain. That's why learning usually takes repetition. You need time to establish the new circuit(s) in your brain.
When learning to drive, seat time is very important, but your brain can not tell the difference between an actual experience and a vividly imagined experience; a similar electrical signal travels across your brain's cortex in either case. So, if you have enough seat time to know what to imagine, you can use the mental-imagery training techniques that follow to effectively increase your seat time. Imagine, you could do 5, 10, even 50 perfect laps every night before you go to sleep and it won't cost you a penny in gas, oil, tires, or "unplanned learning experiences"
Imagery Procedure
After storing pattern recognition templates for the track, and using visual imagery to habitualize your left hemisphere to the speed at which the images will appear, you should start experiencing a reduction in the sensation of speed (and you will experience a proportional reduction in the level of STRESS you experience when driving). What you are trying to achieve is a harmonious working relationship between your brain's hemispheres.
Too much left hemisphere and you will always feel like you are behind (things are happening too fast) and you will experience a high level of stress. Too much right hemisphere and you may "zone out" and experience brain fade because the right hemisphere does not know what your markers (braking, turning, etc.) mean. That is, it's lack of temporal awareness may cause you to forget about (or screw up the timing of) the next "task" (braking, turning) that must be completed. The ultimate balance uses both hemisphere's strengths at the appropriate times.
The left hemisphere should take care of the "management." It should only be concerned with whether or not reality matches the plan (the plan being where am I, what should I be feeling, where am I going). To accomplish this, the left hemisphere only needs to really be "on" when you approach a reference point (one of your pattern recognition templates). Once it determines that the template and reality match, it can switch off and the right hemisphere can turn on to sense forces and the traction that is available. As you approach the next significant template, the left hemisphere switches on and the process begins again.
The first template in a corner is the most critical, followed by a gradual decrease in importance as you progress through the turn. This is the case because of your self preservation mechanism. That is, if you approach a braking point, you must brake correctly to be "safe" and to be able to properly do the next task... turning. If you brake and turn correctly you will be on the proper line to clip the apex and drift to the exit. Therefore those templates become less important because it is less likely there will be a problem.
That means that if you brake and turn in correctly, you can switch primarily to your right hemisphere to sense traction through the remainder of the turn. Conversely, if you screw up the braking/turn in, you must use more left hemisphere processing to correct you path and get back on line. Its another unfortunate paradox that right when you really need all of your ability to sense traction, you brain is trying to figure out where the h*$# you are going and how it can get you back on line (often times resulting in a worsening of your situation).
When you drive around the
track with your left hemisphere turning on and off at specific locations, you
quickly establish a mental rhythm. Since rhythm is the foundation of both meditation
and autogenic training (self hypnosis) the rhythm you establish puts your brain
(mostly your left hemisphere) into a meditative state. This very relaxing state
is just what you need to reduce tension and help your left hemisphere transfer
some control to the right hemisphere. When you do this, you can clearly perceive
what is happening, allowing you to confidently push you kart to the limits of
performance. Can you say THE ZONE! ;~)
Increasing your sensitivity
to forces, loads, and traction
Sensitivity will come as you grow more comfortable with speed. To help it come more quickly, try the exercises that follow, which will help focus your available attention on the energy flowing through the kart, the forces acting on the kart, and the available traction.
NOTE: It is preferable to do these exercises on a test day when there are not too many other karts around. That way you are less likely to be distracted/interrupted.
NOTE: The next time you are at a race, go watch a turn where everyone slides (off camber turn or something like that). Watch the fastest drivers and you will see that they actually correct for the impending slide a fraction of a second before the kart actually slides. You will notice that their karts don't slip far sideways and then snap back into line as they correct. Instead the kart moves through the turn in a smooth drift because the “correction” was there waiting for the slide instead or trying to catch the slid from behind. Contrast the good drivers to the mid-pack drivers and you will see that the slower drivers are always playing catch-up with the back of the kart. It jumps sideways and they react/correct, then it snaps back into line...or maybe it just keeps going around if they were too late. When you learn to anticipate reaching the limit of adhesion, and you correct ahead of the slide, you stop the kart’s yaw rotation before it builds up too much momentum, that's why the faster drivers karts don't go way sideways.
When you come in, you will have a good (although exaggerated) idea of how your tires will feel when drifting at the limit of adhesion. Next, you simply need to combine the experience of driving properly inflated tires just below the limit of adhesion with the experience of driving the under inflated tires at the limit of adhesion. In other words, once you know how the tire feels at the exaggerated limit it will be easier to imagine how a properly inflated tire will feel at the limit. Using kinesthetic imagery (imagining how things feel) to combine your soft-tire and normal-tire experiences to create a mental model of how the normal tire will feel at the limit. You can also try imagining the traction as a curve, take what you imagine the soft-tire's curve to look like and stretch it 75% to 100% taller and make it about 50% more narrow to get an idea of how the properly inflated tire will feel at the limit.
I'm no developmental psychologist, and I'm not a father, but here is my .02.
Young children 0-2 years old relate to the world almost entirely through their right hemisphere. (E.G. They have no sense of time, and every sensation is new and get their undivided attention.) During the 2-5 year period their left hemisphere comes on-line and they develop language skills, etc. but they still spend a significant amount of time "in their right hemisphere." By the age of 10, school (which almost exclusively develops the left hemisphere) starts the shift in consciousness away from the right hemisphere. By the age of 16 or 18 the child functions almost entirely out of their left hemisphere (unless they have a hobby that promotes the right hemisphere such as karting, music, art, etc.) By this age, they have also developed their self image and belief system. So as you can see, the things you want to stress when training a junior driver depends on their age and level of mental "development" (for lack of a better word).
In general, children have an unfair advantage over us old farts when it comes to learning to drive. I believe this is the case because of the following (in no particular order):
Here are a few generalities about training children:
NOTE: The most important thing with all these training techniques is to make them fun activities that they want to do, and NEVER make them DO their "training."
Take your time and BE
SAFE whenever you are changing your mental or physical techniques.
I am very interested in your feedback about the information/techniques presented,
so feel free to e-mail me with your comments, questions, suggestions, etc.
Warren Chamberlain