Book Review - You Suck At Racing
If you aren’t familiar, “you suck at racing” (https://yousuckatracing.wordpress.com/)is the blog of Ian Korf, where he finds youtube videos of racers crashing and does analysis of why it happened. It’s funny, interesting, and educational, and reading articles from it during the Covid Isolation in this terrible Year of Our Lord 2020 has certainly played a part in my decision to finally start my own blow. If you’re a racer, its absolutely worth checking out. I decided to check out Ian’s book by the same name.
Click to view on Amazon
You Suck at Racing is, on its face, a fairly broad top-down view of what it takes to get going as an amateur racer. I’ve read my fair share of books on competition driving (and I think I’ll plan to review some of them in the future), and I’m always interested to see where a new book finds its place amongst the others. Even when so much of a topic can be re-tread by all of the authors, there’s often enough of a different point of view or unique nuggets of information I can find in them to make it worth it, as long as the writing isn’t a slog, and happily Mr. Korf’s writing is quite enjoyable.
The first thing I’ll say about the book is that it’s written by an amateur, and not a professional, and it’s immediately refreshing. When you read books by the likes of former F1 world champions, they seem to carry a certain weight of expectation in them that to me lingers in the back of my mind as a reminder that this is something that I will almost certainly never get to do professionally, no matter how close my career path has taken me.
You Suck at Racing is more like a heart to heart conversation with an experienced enthusiast who’s educating a beginner even as they’re reinforcing the concepts in their own mind. There are some things in this book that I haven’t seen handled elsewhere, like track day insurance and car rentals, getting started with safety gear, napping, etc. It’s not just about driving or vehicle dynamics, but what the reality is of getting a car and yourself prepared to go racing as an amateur.
That’s not to say that it skimps on the driving theory. In fact, I was pleased with the clarity and simplicity with which he explains some concepts that other texts seem to only convolute in their own attempts. Basic tire concepts such as slip and load sensitivity are explained easily and immediately shown how they pertain to getting the most of a car.
Overall, I think the book is a great read for anybody who already partakes in amateur or sim racing, is considering starting, or maybe is already involved but is looking to go deeper. Mr. Korf has a great conversational style and his professorial background shows through. Really, the only small complaint that I would make is that the editing needs to be revisited in some spots, but at a price of 99 cents, it’s such a deal you won’t even notice them.
It’s a succinct, entertaining and informative read at a great price.
Recommended.