SCCA’s Shop Manual Presented by Hoosier is back to make your motorsports life easier. Today’s topic is something that we might be aware of, but how-to books hardly do justice: the track walk. Jon Krolewicz, SCCA’s Senior Manager of Regional Track Program Development as well as driver and coach, made a lap of Sebring International Raceway during a Tire Rack SCCA Time Trials National Tour Powered by Hagerty event to examine what can be learned when you’re on foot rather than at speed.

In the walk, Krolewicz offers five items that will translate to any racetrack walk, focusing on the environment (the grass, or lack thereof, beside the track); curbing; brake markers; what you may see in the background; and various bumps and track surface changes.

For example, early on in the video, Krolewicz points to an area just off the track that’s largely dirt.

“What you want to pay attention to when you’re looking at where to put your car is, a lot of times, where there’s no grass growing,” he points out. “If there’s grass right up to the edge of the track, you know that most drivers just aren’t putting their car there. But where there is dirt, you know this is where you’re going to be close.”

As the walk progresses, he stops at Sebring’s famous final corner to get a closer look at the bumps in the concrete.

“Look where the dark spots appear on the track,” he says. “That’s because as the car goes through here, the tire is bouncing up and down and it’s got alternating pressure on the track. Now you can see what your suspension is doing…and what you need to compensate. You can read what the cars have written on the track by looking at the surface.”

For some, this may be a review or simply a chance to put what they’re already doing into words. But for many – especially those new to track driving – it’s an important opportunity to get faster.

Watch the video below or click here.