Karting is an exhilarating motorsport that demands skill, focus, and adrenaline-filled action. Behind the wheel of a high-speed kart, you need to navigate tight corners, battle for position, and attempt victory. While speed and competitiveness are essential, there is one crucial factor that often separates the great from the extraordinary: calmness.
In this article, Blayze coach Dion von Moltke will explore why karting drivers need to cultivate a calm mindset during a race, and how it can contribute to your overall success.
Chapter 1 – Importance of Calmness While Driving
Chapter 2 – Strategies for Enhancing Calmness in Karting Drivers
Chapter 3 – Practical Application
Chapter 4 – Success Stories and Resources
Chapter 1 - Importance of Calmness While Driving
Karting is a sport that demands physical stamina, quick reflexes, and mental fortitude.
Typically, skills like speed and the ability to know when to overtake an opponent are emphasized much more than the importance of mental fortitude. But remaining calm during a race is as significant as any other skill for karting drivers.
First, it is important to understand that every athlete deals with some sort of nerves or anxiety before their performance. And not all athletes handle their nerves in the same way. What one driver does to help calm their nerves may not help another driver.
Before we dive into how to develop a calmer mindset while racing, let us discuss why it is important to develop mental fortitude (the ability to master your emotions).
Fight or Flight Mode
When we are not calm, our sympathetic nervous system is activated which is our “fight or flight” mode. This negatively impacts our athletic ability and decision-making. Learning to calm yourself and activating your parasympathetic nervous system is key to staying mentally focused during races.
Science shows that when you breathe deeply and slowly, you stimulate your vagus nerve. This is a key component of the parasympathetic nervous system – the system that sends signals of relaxation to your body. It helps to slow down your heart rate, blood pressure and promotes a sense of calm.
Deep breathing allows you to take in a greater amount of oxygen to your lungs. Oxygen is essential for the proper functioning of your cells and organs. It helps your body function more efficiently and your muscles to stay engaged and active.
Our fight or flight mode also has a massive negative effect on our visual processing on track. When our sympathetic nervous system is turned on our field of vision lowers and narrows. By using our breath to calm down and turn on our parasympathetic nervous system we not only make better decisions but our ability to look at the right place, at the right time, and be more aware of our surroundings significantly increases.
Precision and Control
Maintaining a calm demeanor while racing allows drivers to exercise precise control over their karts. A calm mind allows you to concentrate on your technique, making calculated decisions and executing maneuvers with finesse. When you are calm, your hands remain steady on the steering wheel, your throttle and brake inputs are more controlled, and you can better anticipate and respond to the ever-changing race conditions.
Focus and Concentration
Karting is a sport that requires intense concentration. A calm driver can filter out distractions and focus solely on the task at hand. By remaining composed, you can allocate your mental energy toward analyzing the track, studying your competitors, and strategically planning your moves. The heightened focus allows you to spot opportunities, exploit weaknesses, and make split-second decisions that can be the difference between victory and defeat.
Safety
Safety is of paramount importance in the world of racing. Motorsports entail inherent risks, and the consequences of accidents can be severe. Remaining calm allows you to assess potentially dangerous situations objectively. Instead of succumbing to panic or instinctive reactions, when you stay composed you can make rational choices that prioritize safety. This level-headedness helps prevent worsening risks and minimizes the likelihood of more severe accidents.
Performance Optimization
Your composure as a driver directly affects your performance on the track. While racing, calmness is a catalyst for peak performance. By maintaining a composed state of mind, you can regulate your breathing, heart rate, and muscle tension (see Fight or Flight section again). These physical factors contribute to better coordination, precise control of the kart, and consistent lap times. Calmness allows you to tap into your skillset, achieving optimal performance and pushing the limits of your abilities.
Top performance coaches for Formula 1 drivers, DTM drivers, and more use the term “mental endurance” often in their training. When you stress your body to remain at a heightened focus state your heart rate rises and when your heart rate rises your body fatigues faster which then breaks down your ability to remain focused.
Karting drivers focus on their ability to remain focused but in a relaxed state with low heart rates. They achieve this by focusing on their breath before and during sustained periods of focus.
Decision Making
As a karting driver, you often face critical moments where quick decisions can make or break a race. Overtaking opponents, defending positions, and adapting to changing weather conditions – these situations demand a calm and focused mindset. By remaining composed, you can assess risks, weigh the potential rewards of each action, and make informed decisions. Rash or impulsive choices are minimized when you can think rationally under pressure, ultimately enhancing your chances of success.
Quick Thinking
Racing situations are fluid, and situations can change rapidly on the track. If you are calm, you can adapt to these changes swiftly. Rather than panicking or reacting impulsively, you can maintain your composure and allow your rational thinking to prevail. This enables you to adjust your driving style, modify your race strategy, or react to unexpected incidents without compromising your performance. The ability to think quickly and make rational decisions under pressure is a valuable asset that calm drivers possess.
Mental Resilience
Endurance is a hallmark of motorsports. Races can be physically and mentally demanding, testing your stamina and mental fortitude. By staying calm, you can maintain your mental resilience throughout the race. Composure helps ward off exhaustion, loss of focus, and negative emotions. It enables you to persevere, adapt to changing circumstances, and push through grueling moments. Mental resilience ensures that you remain motivated and at your best, even in the face of adversity.
In the fast-paced and competitive world of racing, drivers who remain calm hold a significant advantage. Composure allows drivers to maintain focus, make sound decisions, optimize performance, ensure safety, and uphold mental resilience. It is a characteristic that separates exceptional drivers from the rest.
Chapter 2 - Strategies for Enhancing Calmness in Karting Drivers
Walking out to your kart before a race can often be an exhilarating and nerve-wracking experience. You may have butterflies in your stomach and your mind might be anxious about what to do, what not to do, and a bunch of other mixed emotions.
Being able to calm your nerves before a race will help you in maintaining your mental fortitude throughout the race.
Pre-Race Preparation
Dion gives you all some great insights on how to calm your nerves before a race in this Race Weekend Prep and Routine. He gives you in-depth insights into breathing techniques and creating a routine before the race.
As a recap, here are some ideas to help calm your nerves before a race.
Deep Breathing
Deep breathing is a simple yet powerful technique to help calm your nerves. Try taking slow, deep breaths, inhaling through your nose, and exhaling through your mouth. Focus on your breath. Notice it entering and leaving your body. Allow your breath to bring you back to the present moment. Deep breathing sparks the body’s relaxation response, reducing anxiety, and promoting a sense of calmness.
Visualization
Visualizing success and mentally rehearsing how you want to accomplish during the race can help stop pre-race jitters. Close your eyes and visualize yourself executing your skills with precision. Think about the line change your coach wants you to make and what that will look and feel like when done right. Or think about what it will feel like to extend your brake zone deeper into the corner.
Try and engage all your senses through visualization. Imagine the sounds of the track, the sights you may see, and the feelings you get when you are successful. Through visualizing positive outcomes, you can build your confidence and lower your anxiety.
Positive Self-Talk
Every athlete deals with negative mental chatter. That’s the voice in your head that’s saying, “why are you even doing this? You’re not good enough!” What the best in the world excel at is their ability to notice that the negative chatter is even happening and then direct their focus away from that and towards something useful.
Directing your thoughts to the things you want to execute or just directing those thoughts to something positive can be immensely powerful.
The power of positive self-talk is, well, powerful! When you replace negative thoughts and self-doubts with positive affirmations, you help to remind yourself of your strengths and skills. Repeat phrases such as “I am prepared,” “I am confident,” and “I know I can do this.” By consciously directing your thoughts toward positive statements, you shift your mindset and calm your nerves.
Create a Pre-Race Routine
Develop a pre-race routine to create a sense of familiarity and control, reducing anxiety. Design a routine that works for you. Incorporate activities that help you relax and focus. This may include stretching exercises, listening to music that calms you, meditating, or going through your previous driving data. Do this routine before every game to signal to your mind and body that it is time to enter a calm and focused state.
Listen to Music
Create a playlist of calming and soothing music that resonates with you. Before your race, listen to this playlist to help relax your mind. Focus on the melodies and rhythms. Allow the music to transport you to a peaceful state. Music can serve as a powerful tool to distract you from negative thoughts and put you into a positive and relaxed mindset.
In-Race Techniques
When you have trained yourself to be calm before races, you will be able to go out on the track and fall into an intuitive state of driving. Meaning, your body knows what to do. If you continue to focus on your nerves, you then start to become a distracted driver and not an intuitive driver. A distracted driver is a danger on the track.
What do you do when you find your nerves are coming back during the race? How do you get out of your head?
Focus on the Present Moment
When anxiety arises while you are racing, one of the best things you can do is focus on the present moment. Concentrate on the next reference point ahead. When you hear a pro driver talking about how they “just hit their marks” that means they were in the zone just going from one reference point to the next.
Stop replaying past mistakes or potential future outcomes. You cannot control the future or change the past. But you can control your mental state in the present moment. By directing your attention to the present, you reduce anxiety and enhance your ability to make quick decisions on the track. Trust your skills and training and stay in the present moment.
Travis Thomas, USMNT coach, mentions that when you can remove emotion from the situation, then you can clear your head and focus on what matters. Even the best athletes in the world get nervous. What separates them is their ability to accept the nerves and refocus their mind on the one or two in-game actions they need to focus on executing to drive a good outcome in the game.
Thomas suggests taking a few moments to breathe and clear your head, allowing you to remove those nerves and anxious thoughts. When the nerves are calmed, then you can refocus your mind on what you need to focus on. Proper initial throttle application points, smooth brake releases, decisive overtakes, and more.
Your goal is not to be perfect; your goal is how quickly you notice that you are distracted so you can refocus your attention on your intentions. How quickly can you refocus your thoughts to where you know you will be effective.
Focused Breathing
Focused breathing, also known as diaphragmatic breathing, involves consciously directing your breath to deepen and slow down. Unlike shallow chest breathing, focused breathing engages the diaphragm. This type of breathing promotes relaxation, oxygenates the body, and calms the nervous system.
By practicing focused breathing, you activate your body’s relaxation response. This triggers a state of calmness and reduces the production of stress hormones. This technique can be practiced anywhere, at any time, to alleviate stress and promote a sense of calm.
Practice focused breathing outside of your races so that you know which technique works best for you. Experiment with box breathing, 4-7-8 breath, or alternate nostril breathing. Then when game time hits and you feel nervous while racing, you can quickly focus on your breathing and reset your nervous system.
When we consciously focus on our breath, it provides us with a focal point for our attention. This can divert our focus away from stressful or intrusive thoughts and redirect us to the present moment.
Attention Control
Attention control is the ability to sustain focus on specific stimuli while also filtering out unneeded information. In motorsports, we need to be able to focus on where we pick up initial throttle and how aggressively we ramp up to full throttle. How much brake pressure we want in any corner, where we want to apply the brakes, and when we want to release off them. In addition to that we want to focus on our turn in points, turn in rates, and how quickly we can unwind the steering wheel. This will give you a competitive edge.
In high-pressure situations, drivers must learn to direct their attention selectively. You need to identify specific cues that are crucial to your performance and focus only on those. When you filter out unneeded distractions you can maintain a clear mental space that allows for optimal decision-making.
With little to no breaks in motorsports racing, drivers need to be able to sustain their attention and focus. It is hard! Most sports have a half-time, but racing does not. Learning to increase your focus and attention control takes practice.
Use SIM Racing to Improve on a Real-Life Racetrack
Chapter 3 - Practical Application
Training and Practice Incorporation
To stay calm during races and develop a stronger mental fortitude, you have to practice your calming techniques before race day.
One of the best ways to practice breathing techniques is right before bed. As you are lying in bed, focus on your breathing. Start by breathing normally. Then deepen your breath and slowly exhale. Go through the various types of focused breathing techniques (previously mentioned) and see which one you like the best. Focused breathing will also help you sleep better!
Use your calming techniques before training. If you have to practice being good at overtaking other drivers, then you should practice being good at developing a calm mind. Create your calming playlist before you train and try out the songs. If anything sounds strange or doesn’t help, remove it from the playlist. This way you are ready to go for race day.
Chapter 4 - Success Stories and Resources
We have repeatedly stated that typically all athletes suffer through bouts of anxiety or nerves when it comes to performance. This also includes professional drivers. Many of your favorite pros still suffer from nerves or anxiety issues.
This is not a full list of professional drivers who battle their nerves or anxiety issues, but it is a great start in helping you understand that nerves can get to you at any age and any level!
Professional Drivers
Lando Norris
The talented and impressive F1 driver Lando Norris has been very open about his struggles with mental anxiety. He wrote a piece for MIND, a mental health awareness charity, where he discussed suffering in his first season from nerves and anxiety.
“Despite making it to F1 – something I had dreamt of ever since I began racing – I found myself questioning my own self-belief: worrying if I had what it took, comparing myself with my teammate and other drivers.”
He overcame this anxiety by realizing that his errors were learning mistakes. He looked at what he did wrong, then moved on. With practice, he has become quicker at not dwelling on his past errors. It is easier for him to look at a situation and see “I need to do better here and here” and then go out and work on it.
Lewis Hamilton
Hamilton has struggled with anxiety and nerves for several years and states that in a highly competitive environment, it is hard to battle those nerves and feelings. With help and support, he controls his emotions and focuses on his job at hand. He practices controlling his emotions so that when his visor goes down, he is all focused on the job at hand.
Resources
A great resource for anyone who would like additional help and information on anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues is Racing for Mental Health.
Professional race car driver Jordan Missig established Racing for Mental Health as a way to promote mental health awareness and destigmatize the topic of mental health through conversation, education, advocacy, and outreach.
Conclusion
Mindfulness is a powerful practice that can help you stay focused and present in the heat of the race. Before stepping onto the track, take a few moments to center yourself through deep breathing or meditation. During the race, anchor your attention to the present moment. Let go of any past mistakes or future anxieties.
Preparation is also a crucial role in helping you develop calmness and mental fortitude. Get in your training so your skills and techniques are sharp. Familiarize yourself with the track in-depth. Know the priority in every corner, where you want your minimum speed to come, where you want full throttle to come, and build up the rest of your reference points.
Remember that it is just a race. While the desire to win is natural, excessive attachment to outcomes can lead to anxiety and tension. Focus on enjoying the race, driving to the best of your abilities, and appreciating the relationships you have with your fellow drivers.
Learn More With Blayze!
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