For the normal and black/white filters I may tweak the brightness down between 0.0 and -.3 depending on the track and time of day. For the miniature filter I may tweak down anywhere from -.5 to -1.0 accordingly.
For a 5-10 minute race/drive I may spend another hr just in photo mode composing upwards of 10-15 shots going back and forth between shots and setup trying to get everything just right before saving the shot I like.
Usually I'll start out with location and general positioning and then proceed to filters and brightness, and then finally shutter speed and final composition (angles, framing and focus).
Keep up the effort and you'll eventually get there. Your work has already shown a lot of improvement all around.
Last edited: Jul 20, 2014