If you ask most people what their goals are for track day driving, you'll often hear "go faster" or "lower my lap times". You'll also hear a lot of people say "have fun". At a certain point however, these two goals become at odds with each other.
If you are focused on getting lower lap times, you will be constantly scrutinizing every part of your car and your driving. Should I get different tires? Why am I understeering in turn 3? Do I need more camber? Will a cold air intake get me more power? How can I be smoother and get on the throttle earlier? The questions go on and on and can consume a person who is focused on lower lap times. At some point, it becomes less fun. Many people reach a certain lap time plateau and get very frustrated when the lap times don't improve, regardless of what they are trying. That frustration can eat away at any enjoyment that brought them to the sport in the first place.
I like to separate the two goals and only work on one or the other at any one time. If I'm focused on quicker laps, it becomes serious and I need to focus. If I'm deciding to have fun, I don't worry about lap times at all and just enjoy the experience - I purposefully take different lines, purposefully oversteer or understeer, give too much steering input, hit the brakes hard, and jam on the throttle. It's not faster at all, but it can be a LOT of fun.
Lately I've hit a lap time plateau at Laguna Seca (1:52.5 in my Miata). So I've purposefully decided that Laguna Days are Fun days. Who knows? Maybe by trying all sorts of odd stuff I'll find a better line somewhere or learn something that actually gets me around faster. But it really doesn't matter - I'm there for the fun.
