Yes darrenis, panning is where you 'track' or follow the car through your view finder and rotate your body as you pan. Good panning technique is a whole other topic that you will find loads about on this forum but the smoother and better your panning technique the better your shot will be and the slower shutter speed you will be able to use giving your shots more pleasing background blur and sense of speed (with the car still sharp).
If you're finding the car is blurry in your panning shots just increase your shutter speed until the car is sharp. Practice some more and then start to reduce your shutter speed again. Practice practice practice!
'While the shutter is open' was referring to your shutter speed. So say for example 160th of a second. Try to compare your shutter speed to the distance an F1 car will travel in that time and you'll get a feeling for why some shots come out blurry and others sharp. If you shoot at 1/1000 second an F1 car will only travel a short distance but if you shoot at 1/30 second an F1 car would travel quite a few metres. In that period of time you have to move your camera with the car in order to capture it as a sharp image.
Hope this helps.
