We are all striving for the perfect lap or the perfect race but mistakes happen.
Don’t dwell on a mistake, put it behind you and concentrate on the next corner. You can’t change whats already happened and you can’t make up the time loss all in the next bend. Focus on getting the next corner right, then the next. Live in the ‘now’ not the past.
If you have to do any of those things more than once you have made a mistake somewhere: turned too early; turned in too fast or; got on the gas too early.
Go back to basics and simplify the corner and the laptime will improve.
Today we have a short article from Autosport giving an overview of the benefit of a driver coach:
Only focus on the next corner. Don’t get caught up in how many laps in your stint or the mistake you made on the last corner.
Keep your focus on what you can do something about: the next corner. Once you’ve done that focus on the next corner, then the next one.
All of a sudden you will have improved your pace, finished your stint or corrected your mistake.
Any opportunity you get to jump in with another driver on track, take it. You can always learn something from it, even if its that your styles are so different what you are experiencing is not relevant to the way you drive, you’ve learned there is another way to do it.
Every day there is an opportunity to improve your track driving. If you are fortunate to be at a track the the opportunity to improve is obvious, but what about the other days?
Read a book, you will find an excellent one in the shop
Review old data or in-car video from previous races/tests, even if its old, critique it and learn from it.
Look up other drivers in-car videos on the net (here for example), critique them and learn from them.
Spend a few minutes practicing getting your mind focused. The more you do this the easier it becomes when you are in the assembly area prior to qualifying.
Do some exercise, the fitter you are the longer you can keep your lap times and concentration up when it matters.
In short, do something everyday, even if its just 5 mins and it will all add up.
Technique is king, as it is in all equipment based sports but your individual style is also important.
I was fortunate to work recently on an event with a couple of legends of the sport and looking at their data showed near identical lap times but wildly different styles: one attacked corner entry; the other was all about mid corner speed.
This shows that although you should focus on your technique, get the basics right, but tune them to your style. Forcing a different technique can challenge your confidence and driving fast is a confidence game.
