Ps my ribs were bruised during the race so the âurghâ sounds are from it.
Felipe,
Itâs hard to tell but it sounds like you are vocalizing a lot. Sort of the sound Iâd make if I had a bruised rib.
Are you injured? I canât tell if the sounds are you talking to yourself or reacting to physical discomfort.
What engine package are you guys running?
Hey Dom how are ya? Sorry I forgot To mention that my rib was (still is) a lot bruised during the race so those weirds sounds come from myself 
Aha. I thought that might be the case. Sort of a universal sound. Howâs it healing? It takes a while.
Itâs good considering that the race was last Saturday lol
At least was the last race of the season so I can rest and recover until next year 
Ok so:
Pass at 53s seems a bit timid but you were trying to figure out if you still had time to get under. You did. It did peel some momentum off, though and it looked like he might have been next to you as you ran out. But, it worked and you didnât get steamrolled by the fellas behind. It seems to me that with stronger drivers behind, youâd get beaten up for this move. Not sure if answer is to wait and choose better pass.
There is subsequently a lot of grunting as you gap back up to leader group. This hurts. Personally, I was useless with bad ribs. You canât take any lateral loading and itâs hard to drive well if it hurts each time you change direction.
2:23 you attempt to follow 213 past 425. Not quite enough so end up side by side with 425 and then you tuck in and push him through. He gets wide in chicane and you follow his line. You are not as wide but still get slowed dramatically and enter the straight a sitting duck (along with the other guy)
Perhaps an earlier lift to stop the push and set up for the exit to straight. It looks like you were more focused on kart (right) ahead.
Narrow exit suggests you had someone alongside, pinching you a bit. The defense seems to work as you make it down straight without being passed.
4:29 âwork with meâ. Curious to see what you chose. My intital instinct was same as yours in that he had lost pace and itâs time to go. But, the pass attempt at 4:43 was, unfortunately, not successful. You went or were forced too far left into the subsequent right and had a weak exit. He over/undered you in response.
I think this was, in retrospect, probably a better idea to bump draft him a bit and look for a better pass. But, in the moment, we have to make decisions.
Ok so, next, you do just that. And, the two up front start fighting. (4:50) So, you guys gap up! Yay!
Big round turn at 6:44 looks very well executed. You also had a series of turns immediately after the 4:29 bad turn that was really nice and efficient, btw.
As you chase 425, you also appear to be defending here and there. But, you hang on. You are on 425 nicely and are positioned to make a move when it arises. I am curious to see wether he cracks.
I gotta jump for now but bbl.
Continued: The subsequent laps are very interesting. You remain close and start pressuring after a few laps of patience. Around 8:40 it transitions to more of an attack/alert status. Itâs time to have some stuff go down.
At 9:14 the kart 2 spots ahead makes a mistake. Screws up his turn to straight. You and 425 have been close but after this, itâs on his bumper time. You both are gonna train him.
At 9:43 the guy ahead of you both messes up again and itâs showtime. The slight gap is now gone. Three cars on this train and the back two are impatient.
10:26 He screws up and goes wide. 425 gets alongside and battles 42 sidepod to sidepod with 42 holding his ground. You, however, snuck past 42 as 425 shed him. Bravo!
But we arenât done. You tuck in behind 42 and show him the error of his ways in the big upcoming turn. You take the inside as he sets it up and beat him to the apex. Again, Bravo!
The next bit appears to be a blur of prolonged rib pain while you try to race to the next two that had been battling ahead of your pack. I think there was likely a bump of some sort at 10:53 but you managed to hold the track.
Itâs our pal, 425! He managed to pass 42 and challenges you down the straight. This pass was made easier by rear ending you a bit, screwing up your exit onto straight. 
He passes at 11:08ish.
You drive a lovely final lap and finish 4th. Beautiful race. Now go rest for 3 months.
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Felipe, nice drive!
To me, this represents a significant step forward compared to the video you posted in September. You are no longer initiating turns and then scrambling to react to what happens next. This drive looks like you are calmly and confidently âmanagingâ the process of negotiating each turn⊠and clearly youâre no longer 0.8 seconds off of the leaderâs pace. 
This step towards managing your driving (instead of âdoingâ it) indicates that you (probably unconsciously) have realized that there is an inner/intuitive/subconscious part of you that should be allowed to do the driving, because itâs the most effective part of you for accomplishing that job. Itâs the same as the inner part of you that walks, or talks. You donât âdoâ those things, you decide you want to go somewhere, or say something, and automatically âthe walkerâ takes you there, or âthe talkerâ generates the sounds/words without âyouâ having to do anything.
MANY new drivers struggle with this âleap of faithâ of turning control over to their inner driver, and moving their consciousness/intellect into a âmanagementâ role. Instead, they distrust the inner driver when it pokes itâs head out, and so they continue to try and âcontrolâ or micro-manage everything, which interferes with, and generally screw up, the natural driving process.
Another important thing that happens when âyouâ set objectives/goals, and then turn over execution to your inner driver, is that âitâ starts deciding how best to accomplish your goals. Often times the inner driver understands WAY more about driving (the process, cause/effect relationships, etc.) than your intellect.
I might be wrong, but Iâm guessing that you didnât intellectually decide to take certain approaches to different corners, but instead you were just doing what felt right (to your inner driver). For example:
4:05 - You are taking a slightly tighter entry to the turn, are turning a bit earlier, and are taking a slightly earlier apex than the kart in front. Also, you are not forcing your kart all the way down to the apex curb; instead you are letting it ârollâ through the center of the turn. He is working his kart harder to drive the ârightâ line. While you are feeling what the kart/tire/corner combination wants. As a result, you pull back some time on the following long straight/curve section.
4:14 - You take a much tighter (less round) entry into this turn (by maybe 1/2 - 3/4 of a kart width) than the kart in front. This is an excellent technique for managing corner-entry oversteer, and for managing how quickly, and how aggressively yaw rotation forces are generated as the kart approaches the apex. As before, the driver in front drives the âclassic lineâ, but to do so, he must sacrifice speed on entry because the rounder entry line will have the rotational energy building quickly and on the edge of stepping into oversteer. As a result, you gain a lot of time on entry, and keep or increase that advantage down the next section.
Anyway, this is getting too long (as usual), but watch back your video and pay attention to how your approach for each corner differs from the guy in front⊠note where you gain, and where you lose time, and then think about whatâs happening and why.
Congrats on a strong first year of kart ownership! I recommend trying Race Walking to keep the progress fresh and growing over the off season!
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Awesome analysis!! I rewatch the race while reading it. Iâll be back later to add some answers and comments of my own! But thanks again for taking your time and helping me! To be continuedâŠ
So this â You canât take any lateral loading and itâs hard to drive well if it hurts each time you change directionâ was the worse part! I thought it would hurt on corners but on the main straight were the kart was moving on its own due to the speed was where I was feeling the most pain ouch! And here is a new fact: it was not only one race but three heats!! The one that Iâve posted was the second one. The results were P7, P4 and P5 out of 18 cars.
Back to the race: Iâve seen the 425 racing before and he is quick but never shared the track with him so when I saw him looking erratic I thought âok thatâs my chance he is distracted and ainât gonna offer too much resistanceâ boy I was wrong and the number 4 (another quick driver) was right behind me waiting for me to make a mistake. So yeah, after my failed attempt to overtake I get my mind to think and started to follow him.
Iâve spoke to 42 after the race and he said that he was having braking issues and started to lose pace⊠he then congratulated me for that overtake saying that was totally unexpected that I would keep my kart going stable after that corner.
About that final lap: I thought âok just keep the paceâ but when 425 came side by side with me (due to his gently touch at the exit of the corner ) I felt like he was about to do something crazy to keep the position and that could ruin all my efforts so far so I deliberately choose to get behind him once more and try to overtake him at the last corner in case he went wide or something. But as you saw he didnât.
It was a rough first season! Knowing that was the last round and knowing that I was eager to get on the podium I overcome the pain and gave my best!! It was worth it. Iâve finished P8 on the championship 
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Hello!
So yeah, Iâve worked a lot on my skills since that September video. All the things youâve said helped me a lot to figure that I was fighting too much with my kart and myself while driving.
â I might be wrong, but Iâm guessing that you didnât intellectually decide to take certain approaches to different corners, but instead you were just doing what felt right (to your inner driver).â
You are absolutely right!!! I was driving in a way that I felt right since the first practice session. My teammates said it looked kinda wrong but I somehow knew it was the right approach. Very interesting to hear that from you.
â Congrats on a strong first year of kart ownership! I recommend trying Race Walking to keep the progress fresh and growing over the off season!â
Thanks Iâll definitely check this race walking technique with a lot of attention.
Thanks once again.
You donât know how happy I am with your response. Really thanks for taking your time and watch my race. Iâll be back soon to answer you properly.
I call this my âStigâ. This is a very real phenomenon. Perhaps itâs in the nature of what I do (lots of repetitions), but there exists an inner karter who is the best and most skilled version of you. He is intuitive and smooth: he never feels anxiety and he never second guesses his instincts. You trust him absolutely, you hand over control. You just keep an eye on things at a high level and try to stay out of his way.
The problem is getting him to show up and drive for you. I find that he occurs when I am mentally distracted from my driving such that I am not âworriedâ about it. In this state of mind I am usually engaged in a dialogue with myself or a friend about something in my head. Thatâs what I am focused on, not the upcoming braking zone. In this state, things just happen automatically. You wake up from it mid lap typically saying, âholy crap I flew!â.
Some might call this the zone. Whatever it is, there is a place where your attention is divided and you multi-task. In this state, your trusted Stig pilots for you, and you provide him the visual markers.
@KartingIsLife
James, can you consolidate into racer video thread? This should go there. I am not sure how to move threads and donât want to nuke it accidentally.
Iâm pondering a separate category for videos⊠we have enough volume to warrant it and I think it would help with the discussion around them
Thoughts? @moderators ?
Well the racer vid thread seems to be working. Could just continue that. Seems like folks peep it and comment.
Congrats on your first season!
I thought you did very well this race. Yeah after the first sloppy pass attempt you got your head screwed on good and tight.
I think your final lap was quite lovely and you did exactly what needed doing. You were positioned to take advantage of last second oppty that did not come. So be it. The fact that you stayed on task and did not mess it up by trying to make a miracle happen is a good sign. Shows that you get the bigger picture.
Finally, you kind of got robbed of a position in that race but whatever. Stuff happens. Personally Iâd think to myself in the back of my mind that it woulda been different without the rear contact while turning onto straight. Probably accidental and it was a good, clean race overall.
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Hi Felipe,
Iâm happy to help! In my previous reply I forgot to mention a couple of other things from your video:
10:31 - 10:43 - Two nice passes in here; first one was intelligent and opportunistic, and the second was aggressive and well executed, using your tighter entry technique.
10:53 - 10:57 - After getting into 3rd, at the next corner it looks like you may have over-driven the entry a bit, resulting in a large moment of understeer on entry, which then progressed into a small snap oversteer on exit. It looks like this impacted you speed down the next straight and made you vulnerable at the next corner.
This is very common; as the perceived âthreatâ of potential loss increases (whether it be related to potential cost, injury, or loss of position), it becomes increasingly harder to keep intellect from jumping in to âsave the dayâ. All too often, when this is allowed to happen it messing up the âflowâ you have going, which often turns the perceived threat into reality. Anyway, next time you make a pass like this, take a deep breath (sore ribs permitting ) and remind your intellect that letting feel & intuition handle the driving has gotten you this far, so stick to navigating or the other driving tasks it is good at.
11:00 - It looks like you got more oversteer in this turn than in previous laps. From the video itâs not clear if again, you were trying too hard to get a safe distance from 4th place, if this was the result of the âtouchâ you mentioned, or a combination of the two.
Anyway, now that youâre using your brain in the right way for driving, next season you can work on using the significant mental resources you have freed by not intellectually âdoingâ the driving, and refocus those resources on increasing sensitivity, and on becoming your own coach.
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Hi!! Yeah, I missed P3 due to those conscious acts, despite being touched I think Iâve tried too hard to hold the position and end up getting slow and then overtaken.
Glad I could learn a lot from it.
Canât wait to be back on track and start training harder for next season but for now I must heal from my rib injury
Until then ill keep studying your material and practicing the Race Walking thing.
Take care!!
I was reflecting on this, this am as I walked briskly through Penn Station and Central Park.
I was wondering to myself wether it would be possible to ever get to the point with driving as we do with walking.
You donât think about your feet when navigating a space. You donât watch where you place your feet. You donât consciously think about balance. You donât have to set yourself up to turn right or left, mentally:
You just do.
I am hoping that someday I have driven enough that I can achieve this level of separation from the act of driving.
I think itâs possible.
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Appologies in advance if the following goes too far off the deep end. 
I believe it is absolutely possible drive like you walk, and walk like you drive. However, I think it will happen more quickly if you understand walking and driving a little more deeply. I think the âinner walkerâ analogy is useful from an overview perspective, but when you look a level or two deeper, real walking is more complex than just automatically strolling from one place to another. Walking is not a single thing or task; it is a process, or perhaps multiple integrated processes, that uses multiple brain systems, nerves, muscles, etc. For example, once we decide to walk to a destination (and there is a whole conscious and/or subconscious process underlying that decision), at least the following is going on:
- A desired path is identified (or a default path is selected if itâs a known environment).
- A desired pace is identified (or your default pace is used if there is no need to walk faster or slower).
- Your walker and itâs related balance system/process kicks in, and off you go.
But wait, under the hood, your walking process also includes:
3a) Gathering and processing visual information to verify that your âwalkâ is staying on target, no obstacles have appeared, etc. Adjustments are made if required. (small adjustments probably happen automatically, while larger adjustments may be automatic, or consciously influenced).
3b) Gathering processing and evaluating tactile information to âabsorbâ, or compensate, for whatever you might be wearing on your feet. E.g. nothing = probably pretty grippy, socks = probably pretty slippery, shoes = could be anywhere from very slippery to very grippy, and can also change your CG height and position a little or a lot. Your commonly used foot coverings are probably well profiled in your brain, and are and automatically adjusted for. However, have you ever bought new sneakers, wore them out of the store, and hopped into your car to drive home? Uncatalogued foot coverings feel strange for a while until your brain automatically âprofilesâ, and adjust for, their characteristics.
3c) Continually monitoring both ground/floor conditions and traction (the interaction of your feet or foot coverings to the surface youâre walking on) to ensure sufficient traction is available⊠that is, to ensure you are not slipping, on the verge of slipping, or are about to encounter a ground/floor condition that could cause you to slip in the near future. (Predictable âslipâ is OK if itâs been programmed into the walking/foot-covering/walking surface âprofileâ, but unpredictable is considered a dangerous situation).
So, when most people walk, 3a,b,c are mostly automated. However you can exert some influence over the process, like by âmanuallyâ adjusting your speed, or path (for example to avoid an obstacle). Also, an automatic process may automatically draw your attention to something important (as in the new shoe example above). However a âmanualâ input can also influence an automatic process. For example, you are walking quickly around a corner on a smooth floor, with dress shoes, and you see a guy holding a wet mop. In that case you manually put your âtractionâ and balance systems on alert for a potential loss of traction.
Do elements of the above remind you of any things we have to do for the sport we love?
Anyway, the point is that we were not born knowing how to walk; itâs a skill we learned by trial and error as toddlers. We have practiced that skill for our whole lives, so it has become automated. Driving is a skill that we must learn by trial and error, but itâs a skill thatâs hard to practice regularly on track. You can practice on sim, but sim and IRL are not quite the same.
The only way that I know of to train continuously for driving is to Race Walk. I started doing it as a kid, and at 61 years old, I still do it every time I walk somewhere. For me walking = driving, and driving = walking, and I firmly believe that my exceptional car control skills (media and racing schoolâs words, not mine) came from Race Walking training my bodyâs balance system to take over âcar controlâ as part of itâs job.
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