Going for your first race is a daunting yet exciting experience. Just how do you get yourself ready? How do you steady your nerves and then your hands? It doesn;t take more than a deep breath and some preparation.
A vital ingredient to getting a good start is confidence and self-assurance. The biggest problem for drivers at the beginning of a race is distraction from everything happening around them. The noise, the sights, the anticipation, the crowds....
As with any endeavour, practise makes perfect, and likewise, to get over being overloaded on race day, I would practice, but there is a limited supply of race starts….you don’t get to practice starts enough. So use the next best thing.
Most racers also cite another thing, called - Visualisation.
1. Take some time out before your race and sit down somewhere relatively quiet. Take a look at where you are starting, who is beside you and who is in front.
2. Now make a plan of exactly how you want your start to go, and imagine you are starting in 8th place with a grid of 20. You need to make a plan about how your perfect start will go. Imagine that you are going to fly across the line. Pass the guy inside you going over the line and then stuff it up the inside of the 6th place kart into the first corner.
3. You need to make this plan seem real! So say to yourself exactly what’s going to happen. Make decisions about every move you are going to make.
4. Then, imagine exactly how the whole of the first lap will go; and you have to imagine the best first lap ever. Passing a kart at every opportunity.
Now, you have a mental plan of the start, if you take it seriously you will feel more confidence on your way to the grid. This is because you have made a real effort at preparing yourself at how the lap will go.
Next, in your kart on the dummy grid; go through the plan you made earlier and visualise that perfect first lap again. Now, the next thing is to prepare yourself to take control of the other drivers around you. Chances are they are not nearly as prepared as you are right now. You have the advantage over them and you are the most confident driver there!
The rolling lap. This is the time to really think over how your planned start is going to happen. Focus on the kart ahead of you and stick to the rear of that kart like glue. Don’t worry if you give it a few bumps here and there…you really need to stay close.
The start. Here is the most important practical piece of advice; whatever happens you have to go first. You have to accelerate before the driver ahead of you. You stick to his bumper so close that there is never any space between you! So if you push him gently over the line that’s fine, at least he didn’t get away. So, if you are always so close to the driver in front that you are touching, then you will be able to hit the gas before him without the worry that you will collide with him.
And once you get over the line you are into your plan. Make the moves, make that perfect first lap happen.
A vital ingredient to getting a good start is confidence and self-assurance. The biggest problem for drivers at the beginning of a race is distraction from everything happening around them. The noise, the sights, the anticipation, the crowds....
As with any endeavour, practise makes perfect, and likewise, to get over being overloaded on race day, I would practice, but there is a limited supply of race starts….you don’t get to practice starts enough. So use the next best thing.
Most racers also cite another thing, called - Visualisation.
1. Take some time out before your race and sit down somewhere relatively quiet. Take a look at where you are starting, who is beside you and who is in front.
2. Now make a plan of exactly how you want your start to go, and imagine you are starting in 8th place with a grid of 20. You need to make a plan about how your perfect start will go. Imagine that you are going to fly across the line. Pass the guy inside you going over the line and then stuff it up the inside of the 6th place kart into the first corner.
3. You need to make this plan seem real! So say to yourself exactly what’s going to happen. Make decisions about every move you are going to make.
4. Then, imagine exactly how the whole of the first lap will go; and you have to imagine the best first lap ever. Passing a kart at every opportunity.
Now, you have a mental plan of the start, if you take it seriously you will feel more confidence on your way to the grid. This is because you have made a real effort at preparing yourself at how the lap will go.
Next, in your kart on the dummy grid; go through the plan you made earlier and visualise that perfect first lap again. Now, the next thing is to prepare yourself to take control of the other drivers around you. Chances are they are not nearly as prepared as you are right now. You have the advantage over them and you are the most confident driver there!
The rolling lap. This is the time to really think over how your planned start is going to happen. Focus on the kart ahead of you and stick to the rear of that kart like glue. Don’t worry if you give it a few bumps here and there…you really need to stay close.
The start. Here is the most important practical piece of advice; whatever happens you have to go first. You have to accelerate before the driver ahead of you. You stick to his bumper so close that there is never any space between you! So if you push him gently over the line that’s fine, at least he didn’t get away. So, if you are always so close to the driver in front that you are touching, then you will be able to hit the gas before him without the worry that you will collide with him.
And once you get over the line you are into your plan. Make the moves, make that perfect first lap happen.
