How Some Simple Analysis Can Help Your Driving

Written by Wes McDougall

In motorsport, laptime is everything—but the story behind the lap time is where the real gains live. If you're still relying solely on seat-of-the-pants feel and the occasional GoPro replay to guide your development as a driver, you're leaving serious performance on the table. These days, the quickest drivers are the ones who combine intuition with data-driven feedback.

Let me show you something that I call the Coast Factor.


The Average Coast Factor (in seconds) is on the Y-axis. Whilst Laptime is on the x-axis (horizontal). In plain terms, coast factor is the amount of time a driver spends with their foot on neither pedal—just coasting. It’s a measure of indecision. Or hesitation. Or, in some cases, just a bad habit.

And the pattern is crystal clear: less coasting equals faster lap times.

What Is Coasting, Really?

Coasting usually happens at two key moments:

  1. On corner entry, where a driver lifts but delays braking.
  2. Mid-corner, where neither brake nor throttle is being used to control the car’s balance.

The problem? While coasting might feel safe, it's usually just slow. The car isn’t accelerating or decelerating. It’s in no-man’s land—burning up precious tenths per lap while doing… nothing.

A fast driver is either:

  • On the brakes, slowing the car aggressively in a straight line - or trail braking gently on corner entry.
  • On the throttle, committing to the exit.

That in-between zone? That’s coasting. And coasting is the enemy of lap time.

Why the Data Matters

If I just told a driver, “Hey, you’re coasting too much,” I’d probably get a shrug. But show them this chart, and suddenly the penny drops.

To stress the point, this is real data, from a real race event. Every dot on this graph represents a lap. Each colour is a different car. And across the field, the trend is consistent—drivers who spend more time coasting end up slower. Not by a little, but by seconds per lap. As you can see, the laptime at this circuit is quite high (+2 minute lap) - which helps to really emphasize the point.

One of our drivers (Driver "A" in the dark blue dot) is consistently combining short coast time with competitive lap times. They’re committing earlier, staying aggressive longer, and trusting the car.

Another driver, (Driver "B" in the red dot) is spending between 12 and 14 seconds per lap coasting. Put another way, that is 3 to 5 seconds more coast time then the fastest driver. That’s like giving away an entire corner of the circuit every lap—sometimes more.

I've also had some drivers say to me - "Hey, I know I need to coast less, but I need the car to rotate - that's why I'm waiting and coasting." And it's a good point. But, and here's the kicker - when I look at the data? It usually follows that they aren't trail braking correctly. In other words, they aren't maximising their entry speed and they aren't breathing on the brake pedal to keep a little weight on the front tyres. 

As always, chapter 4.6 of The Complete Race Driver eCourse - Brake Release, Steer Increase - does a great job of explaining this in more detail!

It's Not Zero!

But be aware! The amount of time spent coasting isn't zero! As coasting is a by product of a driver not being on either pedal, when that driver is moving his or her foot from he throttle to the brake and vice versa, the coast time add up in tiny amount each corner.

And in some instances, I can be very powerful in heavy cars with little downforce, to have a relatively slow transition from throttle to brake pedal when heavy braking. This is to help align with the weight transfer as the car pitches. But - as ever - if you looked at the trends, it will still be the driver with the minimal coast time that gets the job done, whatever that number ends up being. 

Turning Insight Into Action

So, how do we use this?

  1. Start Logging Your Data. Even if it’s just throttle/brake traces and lap times. Without it, you're flying blind.
  2. Overlay Laps. Compare your best lap to one with high coasting time. Look for where you're hesitating, braking early, or picking up throttle too late.
  3. Set Specific Goals. Don’t just say “I want to go faster.” Say, “I want to reduce coast time at Turn 2 by 0.3 seconds.”
  4. Review Every Session. Ten minutes of review after a session can be worth more than ten laps of guesswork

It’s Not Just About Going Faster—It’s About Understanding Why

Anyone can get lucky and bang in a fluke lap. But when you start diving into the data—like coast factor, brake pressure trends, or minimum speed through key corners—you stop chasing ghosts. You start learning, lap after lap.

It’s not about turning yourself into a robot. It’s about removing the noise, the guesswork, and the excuses. Data isn’t just a tool for engineers—it’s your secret weapon as a driver.

And the best part? It doesn’t care about ego. The stopwatch doesn’t lie, and neither does your coast factor chart.

Want help breaking down your own data?

At The Complete Race Driver, we do this stuff every day. If you're keen to understand why you're not hitting your potential—or you just want to find those last few tenths—let’s talk.

Faster laps start with smarter analysis.

 www.thecompleteracedriver.com