I've heard it only in context that you're not supposed to do it.

I was watching some in-car vids of track racing, and it doesn't seem the turns are sharp enough to justify more than a hands at 12 and 6 position.

I was toying with trying not to do it in my daily driving (not high speed, just when doing sharp, 90 degree plus corneres, like when pulling in/out. I didn't see the helpfulness.

Can someone please elaborate on this concept, and when it is applicable?

I realize that in auto-X you probably have sharper corners than in track...

-PHiZ

 

i'm a road track racer so the turns on a road track aren't as tight as on an autox course. with that in mind vir's north course has one corner where i actually have to stagger my hand position to get the best turn in

in normal daily driving only going to 12 and 6 may get you into an accident as if you suddenly have to make an even sharper turn you can't do it as quickly as your hands are in an awkward position

 

It is supposed to make your movements smoother.

Gotta remember that a lot of this advice comes from racers who can change their steering ratio to whatever they want.

 

I agree with qtiger.

It's to promote smooth steering wheel movements. I find that lot of the beginners literally hack at the steering wheel.

I told this one person to go slower and make precise and smooth steering inputs and he dropped his time by 2 seconds.

having said that I've crossed my arms many a times in an autox. some times they like to put these hair pin turns where you have no choice. Either that or start the turn with one hand at the 12 O'clock position.

 

I don't think anyone has quite nailed this answer on the head yet, so I'll contribute.

Crossing over hands when turning the wheel does two things. First, it means you have one hand off the wheel in the middle of a turn [possibility of a hand slipping and losing your wheel position in the middle of the corner]. And second, it means that the leverage of your arms on the wheel will change as you grab, release, etc, which will make your turns choppy.

Instead of crossing over in a competition situation, what you should do is position your hands before you get to the turn so that in the middle of the turn your hands will be relatively close to 3 and 9 o'clock on the wheel, so that you can more smoothly make corrections to your wheel input at the apex of the corner. This will prevent awkward positioning of your arms at the most critical part of the corner, and also ensure that you have a firm grasp on the wheel.

Granted that in a manual transmission car, you spend a lot of time with only one hand on the wheel, but ideally your upshifting and downshifting should be executed in a straight line. This way, as you approach your corner entry, you can have your left hand in position and quickly grasp the wheel with your right hand after getting into your desired corner exit gear, and still be able to smoothly transition into the corner with both hands in the wheel, without putting your arms in an awkward position.

The key thing to remember is that if your arms start to feel out of place, you won't be able to judge as smoothly on your correction inputs. This is more true for street cars than dedicated race machines that can have variable rate steering [such as Formula 1, where they steering is set tight enough for the tightest turn on the track and no more, meaning that drivers do the "thumb hook and cross" motion]. Set up for the corner ahead of time, be smooth on the wheel, and I think you'll find the technique more coordinated than trying to flip hand-over-hand for rapid corners.

 

The way I was trained on turning the wheel was shuffling the hands.

If you are making a right turn and hands were at 9/3 o'clock. When I get to the turn I turn the wheel to 12/6 o'clock then shuffle my left hand back to 9 o'clock and my right hand back to 3 o'clock. When I straighten out I do the reverse.

Sorry this is so cut and dry I'm tired!

 

I thought that crossing over hands was ok til I ran at Laguna Seca. My instructor basically told not to do it. Especially if you overcook it on a turn and crash, this will break your arm(s). So now I don't do it. My instructor drives a Viper GTS.