One thing I've learned is that the more you are on the brake the more time you are wasting. Which is why you see most people brake at the very very last second to get every ounce of forward momentum they can get. When you are braking you are not going faster.

It's a typical thing to do, don't get me wrong. This is why I sound like a broken record to people when I tell them not to modify their car. Because 99% of the time you don't know your car as well as you think. It took me 2 years to understand deep braking. And I mean DEEP. I used to scare newbs when I would take them for fun runs because they didn't think I was going to slow down in time. You could see it on their face and see them gripping anything to hold on to.

Also the other thing that you know you are getting better is if you can talk your walk through a course. One of the biggest lessons I learned was attending an Evolution School back in 2002. I was taught when you can read the course (100 feet before you get to each section) out loud in your car WHILE driving you are getting there. When I'm instructing I'm talking the course, pointing with one hand where I'm looking, steering, braking/accelerating, and shifting all at the same time with my student Now that's multi-tasking