Sir John Whitmore posted the following article last month which was met with an interesting response from the advanced driving community:

Bad and unnatural steering practices - Telegraph

Here is his reply to the comments......

Take road safety into your own hands - Telegraph

Chris

I dare say Kepler, Copernicus and Galileo banged on about the earth going round the sun, and the earth not being flat, before the ecclesiastical and scientific establishments finally accepted that they themselves had been wrong.

IMO they're all wrong some of the time! Pure "fixed" steering limits you to maybe 1.5 turns lock to lock, which is inadequate for handling tight corners with a typical road car. Pure "push-pull" is slower than fixed, and robs you of a clear knowledge of where "straight ahead" is in faster stuff.

well done him, he's dead on though

IMO they're all wrong some of the time! Pure "fixed" steering limits you to maybe 1.5 turns lock to lock, which is inadequate for handling tight corners with a typical road car. Pure "push-pull" is slower than fixed, and robs you of a clear knowledge of where "straight ahead" is in faster stuff.

For a sharp slow corner (turning across a junction, for example) I favour push-pull as I find it smoother, for less sharp turns which require more speed I go for fixed-hands.

Everyone seems to be in agreement that two hands are better than one though...

Rob.

For me the most telling thing is that he (in the second article) felt the need to insult anyone who'd disagreed with him. If he was truly confident of his position such playground tactics wouldn't be necessary.

For a sharp slow corner (turning across a junction, for example) I favour push-pull as I find it smoother

Push-pull or pull-push?

Chris

Push-pull or pull-push?

Pull-push but after the first pull it all ends up the same anyway...

Rob.

Push-pull or pull-push?

Chris

I just used them that way round cos it's "normal" to do so. It's actually more "pull-pull-pull" anyway with me IYSWIM.

Does every thread on this forum turn to smut eventually?

I do fixed hands for most normal corners, but tighter corners, i favour the one hand down to 6 o'clock, push the wheel then fixed hands so i can get the extra lock. No idea what that is actually called, but I like that method... The shuffely pull-push thing is really slow

I don't think about my hands, just about getting safely round the bend. Literally and metaphorically! Best if you're not going too fast

Ever since my track day at thruxton I've used the quarter to three approach and I'd say my driving has improved greatly for it.

Before, I used to generally hold the wheel with left hand up at 10 and the right down at 4 or 5 (or just one handed at 4 or 5 :eek: ) - don't know why, this just seemed comfortable :P .

Once I got used to holding the wheel on the "comfort bars" I found my general control through corners to be much improved .

If someone is more comfortable using the push pull method then good luck to them, life would be boring if we all through the same - I'll stick to what I'm most confident with.

At least now I have both hands on the wheel 95% of the time!

I don't think about my hands, just about getting safely round the bend.

That's interesting - do you think if you did think about your hands and how you steer you could get round the same corner safely, but with less steering input/effort and carrying more speed?

Chris

That's interesting - do you think if you did think about your hands and how you steer you could get round the same corner safely, but with less steering input/effort and carrying more speed?

Chris

Personally, I don't conciously think "what method of steering should I use for this corner?", I just do it, and only think about it in a thread like this one. I wonder if that's what Hana's getting at, or misunderstanding.

But you have to consciously be able to use techniques, before they fall into subconscious techniques? So my question was really geared around a have you thought about the best approach and this is why you no longer think about it, or that the focus is elsewhere and steering is just steering, in which case, could it be improved.....?

Chris

Something was nagging at me about the article, and I've realised what. He basically says "Everyone is different and people should not be forced to do thigns in a particular way", and follows up with "Everyone should stop doing it that way and do it the way I say".

Interesting failure of logic there.

Something was nagging at me about the article, and I've realised what. He basically says "Everyone is different and people should not be forced to do thigns in a particular way", and follows up with "Everyone should stop doing it that way and do it the way I say".

Yes, and considering he's a leading coach who is known to get the best out of people through self-discovery and free-thinking, I'm not sure the approach in this article is consistent with that either....

Chris