Practice
You can't "buy" success, you've got to work
at it - and the name of the game is PRACTICE. There's no substitute. You
can buy "speed", "horsepower", and all the rest, but you can't buy better
lap times - those, you've got to earn.
Being Smooth
The most important single thing I can think
of, is to be SMOOTH. Never yank on the throttle - gently pull on it. Ditto
for the brakes - when you apply them, do it smoothly, both getting ON
the brakes, and when you're getting off them. You can spend hundreds of
dollars on speed controls and high-tech radios that do this for you, but
the truth is that all the control you need is in your trigger finger.
The same thing applies to the steering - never twist the wheel violently
one way or the other - try your hardest to turn it smoothly, both going
into a turn and coming out of the turn. I know this is easier said than
done, as everyone in a race is too busy trying to go fast to worry about
stupid stuff like being smooth, but believe it or not, the ONLY way to
get fast is to get SMOOTH first.
How do you know if you're driving smoothly? Next time you go out to race
or practice, have someone time you for four or five minutes, then compare
your lap times. If your lap times vary from fast, to slow, to maybe fast
again, then slow, then slow, then fast… you need more practice. On the
other hand, if your lap times are consistent, lap after lap, you're on
the right track. First get smooth and consistent, and only then
try to go faster.
Throttle Control
Don't use full throttle all the time. There
are two reasons for this. First of all, when you're in a turn, there is
an optimum speed for taking the turn. If you give your car more throttle
than you should, you will actually be slower going around the turn. "Roll
the throttle", going around the turn smoothly. The only way to learn this
is by practice. Again, when you're coming out of the turn and you want
to apply more power, do it smoothly. The second reason for this is that
it's more efficient. Giving your car more throttle than it can use for
any given part of the track just wastes batteries (for you electric racers)
and tires (especially so for gas racers). Some gas racers go through a
couple of sets of tires in a single day - I used to, so I know. If you're
racing an electric car, and you haven't yet learned how to do this, all
I can say is just keep practicing at it. If you find your car staying
on the proper "racing line" (one more thing you have to learn), you're
probably doing things pretty well. If you're going faster than you should,
or you're giving your car too much throttle, you'll go wide in the turns.
Not only is this a longer way around the turn, which means you'll be slower,
but you'll be on a part of the track that isn't where everyone wants to
be driving, and therefore will be dirtier than the rest of the track.
This means your tires will get dirty, so you'll have less traction for
a while until the dirt wears off the tires. With dirty tires and less
traction, you have to go even slower than usual, until the tires are back
to the way they should be.