So while watching in-car videos I've notice some distinctly different ways that people hold on to the steering wheel during corning. Personally, my hands go at 3 and 9 o'clock and never ever leave. (None of the tracks around here have corners so tight that I can't turn the wheel far enough.) I've noticed others moving their hands to all sorts of different positions when corning - typically to maintain the 3-9 grip relative to the dash even with the wheel turned, it seems? Is there any benefit to either method? I personally like the way I drive because I feel it allows me to be smoother, and I never have to spend time determining which direction the wheels are pointed. My gf uses the latter method, and I've been pointing it out to her so she can work on keeping the same grip all the time like I do. Should we bother? Will this ultimately help her?

 

I believe in general I do as you do, 3 and 9 all the time. It may be that there are a couple of corners on the tighter tracks around here where I've had to make minor movements but I don't believe so.

 

I think I'm a little closer to 10 and 2

I'm not a big fan of people shuffling their hands on the wheel. Some tracks may have corners where it must be done, but in general 10/2 or 9/3 seems to work very well, especially considering how wonderfully tight the steering ratio is in the S2000.

 

I aim for 10 and 2, but after looking at some on-board video, its more like 10:30 and 3:00 as my left hand seems to creep up when on the straight sections

I need to work on that.

I usually try to rotate my hands a little in anticipation for the next corner

 

I put my thumbs on the top of the steering wheel spokes and it gives me a natural 9-3 position. I don't shift my hands, under most circumstances. The big advantage to not shifting your hands is that you always know what angle the wheels are turned to.

 

I thought I was at 3 & 9, but looking at some old video, it looks more like 9:30 and 2:30.

I tent to keep my hands pretty stationary on the track, but at the autocross, I have a tendency to "shuffle" a bit for tight corners.

 

do you mean...... some poeple shuffle the wheel so that your hands remain near the 3&9 or do you mean you hold 3&9 when the car is pointed forward, but then at turns you keep your hands glued to the wheels so they turn with the wheel?

I tried the "glued to the wheel" approach and found that I was doing the old gorilla grip..... i am a shuffler and therefore hold the wheel much less tightly.... seems to work better for me.

I love seeing guys get their arms completely twisted up going around a sharp turn because they don't want to let go of the wheel... blaa

 

Shuffle and keep hands lightly at 3 & 9. Idea being that as you go through the turn, you have the ability to make quick 180 degree wheel movements either way to correct, if necessary. If you do the death grip on the wheel, you run out of room to correct.

 

I keep mine planted on the wheel in the 3-9 position like most race books say. If you watch Tiff (sp?) on Fifth Gear when he is "driving the wheels off" the test cars, his hands never move from the wheel no matter how twisted the car gets. I think he's a pretty good driver with good car control.

 

I recommend keeping your hands stationary on the wheel. When you need to make a correction using a stationary hand position, you will not have to guess which way the wheels are pointed. 9-3 and 10-2 (or variations there-of) are just details. At speed there are at most 2 turns on the entire west coast that require a shuffle. If you car can rotate the car with weight transfer or throttle, that number drops to ZERO.