Performance driving hand repositioning

Controversy over the Jedi mastery of holding the steering wheel continues. Are you still doing it wrong?

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Incorrect hand position: do not pass Go.

Captain’s log, zombie lockdown date whatever. It’s all Tom Hanks/Castaway. Saw a guy mowing the front yard in his pyjamas at 10am last Thursday. This is kinda where society is at. 

The steering story so far: Jedi masters of driving hold the wheel at nine and three o’clock, where control is maximised, and where the designers put all the supplemental switches, where the thumb-rests are, and where ergonomic interaction is most efficient.

The rest of the population has yet to realise holding the wheel in any other way makes you a Muppet. Especially you self-righteous ‘10 & 2’ pelicans. Aviation can teach us a lesson here >>

Now this:

I have watched your video about the 9-to-3 hand position, which I agree with. When it comes to a series of tight turns , which do you recommend: no release of hand from wheel, with forearms pretzeled over each other, or passing the wheel from one hand to the other ?

-Chris

Okay, so, repositioning is hardly ever necessary in free flowing driving. Even switchback turns - hairpins, by any other name - can be successfully negotiated without repositioning the hands, generally, and thus de-Jedifying yourself. 

The world’s oldest two-year-old.

If you’re driving some relic from the 1960s - like a 2019 Land Rover Defender - this may not be possible, of course. But in most cars, the only time you need to reposition your hands is in low-speed maneuvering. Turning at traffic lights, parking, U-turns, stuff like that.

The benefit of indexing your hands at nine and three is that you’re ready for evasive action if there’s an emergency, and in a skid or a slide, you never lose track of where straight ahead is. And that's generally important. At other times, you just get more control.

The way the world should be: at 9-and-3.

But if you do need to reposition on the fly, do it pre-emptively. If you’re about to turn hard left, reposition your left hand to 12 o’clock and your right to 6 o’clock. And then turn. And un-wind by reversing the process. You generally don’t need more than that.

If you need to reposition on the fly, say you’re in the middle of a bend and your elbows are bound up, and you need more lock, just wing it. Physiologically it’s not that hard. If you’re having problems with that, it’s because you’re using your arms on the wheel to brace your body against the cornering loads.

Pro tip: Don’t do that. Lock your hips into the car by pressing hard against the footrest on the floor. Make sure the seat back is relatively upright and engage your abdominal core to keep yourself upright. (Performance driving is surprisingly physical.)

You should not be using your arm strength to hold your body upright. When you’re performance driving, your arms are for fine motor control of the wheel. And that’s it.

Most people have to do a lot of CNS (central nervous system) reprogramming to become a proper driving Jedi. It shits me that this stuff never gets taught to ordinary drivers >>

If you also want to heel-&-toe like a Jedi, watch this >>

And this is my overarching Advanced Driving Techniques How-To, for those dreaming of Jedi Master status >>

But most of you probably wouldn’t even pass the beginner’s test: Vision >>

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Leadfooting the bill

Just want to talk to you quickly about a guy named Steve Grealy, from Meadows, which is just south of Australia’s largest living cemetery, Adelaide.

Steve is a crash rescue dude with 36 years in the Metro Fire Service - and I have nothing but respect for people like Steve. Mainly because they meet people having the worst days of their lives, over and over. It’s the job. That’s who their clients are. And they often meet them after running this way, while the rest of the population is running the other way.

Anyway, Steve has developed this IOS app called Speedo Minder, Pro Speed Alerts. The app is designed to save your licence from your lead-footed self - in 89 countries, no less. In both kilometres per hour and miles. So that’s nice.

I have not used it personally, but it’s rated 4.8 out of five stars on the App Store, and Steve tells me by e-mail he’s $24,000 in the red developing it - and he’s not a marketing genius. The full version with no ads is US$4.99.

I’m not getting anything out of this. I’m just trying to do a favour for a guy who, in my estimation, deserves one.

So here’s my cunning proposal to you: If you’re a bit of a leadfoot, or if your licence is hanging by a thread in any one of those 89 countries, or if you’re just kinda jacked off with contributing to various government coffers in this bullshit smokescreen (you know - the one where they say it’s all about safety when in fact it’s really all about money)…

If that’s you, out of respect for Steve’s service to the community and all the lives he’s saved in 36 years of running against the prevailing flow of choas, check out Speedo Minder, Pro Speed Alerts - I’ll put a link in the description.

Let’s see if, collectively, we can’t turn a $24,000 developmental frown kinda upside-down. As well as protect your licence and of course your wallet from bullshit governmental profiteering. 

If you do buy the app - let me know what you think of it in the comments feed below. Thanks for watching.

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