Yesterday I was thinking about stuff as I am wont to do pre-race, and I posed the question
“What’s going through your mind in the pits as you sit there waiting for the track to clear and the race to start?”
What I personally find surprising is how oddly I am able to contain the anxiety and excitement. Mostly I think about the potential of the race, what will this look like? How will it play out? In the week or so leading up to race, I’m a basket case but in the saddle I am quite calm.
All the work is done well ahead of time. To the extent that I can. I ran, I simmed, I talked and read. What comes next is the output of all that in the wildly variable world of racing, I understand that each race is unique and there’s a significant chance that I will DNF for some reason or other. That’s not something you can control.
Basically I go dark, sorta. I guess I’ve learned that my natural anxiety is counter productive and that control is basically an illusion. What will be will be. Adapt, improvise, and just race.
So, in the minutes before the start, what’s percolating in your noggin and does it hurt or help?
That’s interesting. In masters I don’t have to worry about being punted intentionally. Sounds like your strategy partly involves expecting chaos and trying to premeditate the likely outcome. I too expect chaos but in a “let’s just survive this” way.
Masters are old guys. We race at age 40+. It’s another way of saying we’re a bit less in it to win it (but not much less). And I have given up on having a pretty kart with nice stickers!
I imagine that big fields like yours can get pretty nuts. I’ll pay attention to starts and see if I can glean info to try to capitalize on. That is a good idea.
My excuse is that my x30 needs a lap to get going compared to all their nasty and noisy rotaxes.
That’s 100 life! I forgot to add I often think “why am I doing this?” and have a semi-existential crisis. Racing seems furthest from my mind. Then you get out and you’re ready to go of course. But the moments before a race I just chuckle and the ridiculousness of it all.
I do the same as Luca pretty much. Just try and visualize all the scenarios that might play out on the opening lap and prepare a loose plan for all of them. Note the drivers around me and use what I know about how they drive to prepare specifically what I think they’ll do on the start.
Then it’s visor down, try and relax and focus until the engines fire.
On the out lap, I try and get some tire temp and “light it up” as @Terence_Dove notes in his book. This has been a big help mentally, as well as performance-wise. My issue has always been getting tire temp in the early laps of the race, it feels like it takes me a few laps to get into my rhythm, so really chucking the kart around on the out lap feels like it helps with that, and it helps me feel all the kart’s limits right away. It’s a bit like stretching before you run. Get everything nice and loose and warm.
Then the green flag drops and all hell breaks loose and it’s about reactions and survival for a few laps.
Thanks for the insights TJ. Ok so far I’m the only one who effectively plugs his ears and tries to tune out and inwards.
All y’all is thinking about the other guys.
Ok so that in mind, I bet Tony gonna try to get inside me on turn 1. He tries that every time and usually he goes for it turn 2 as well. So maybe I take a line that is slightly wider than right on apex. Give him a reason to go there and close it off?
Honestly, I try not to think too far ahead.
I can’t control much what the other drivers do, so I don’t worry about it. I will keep in mind who is around me, for skill levels and what I know about them personally.
I’m like TJ, on the outlap. I like a good slide and wiggle in the kart to help get tire temperature and to get a sense of the amount of grip. Also it’s good to psyche some guys out.
I try to push to about 70 to 80 percent of what I’ll end up doing in the race to feel tires and see what the other guys do around me on the opening lap.
Many drivers take similar lines and mistakes on the outlap, just at slower speeds, so I pay attention to see what I notice about their technique.
Then it’s a deep breath and focus on driving my own go kart.
Normally I can’t wait to get in the kart. It’s the area that I have the most control of the situation.
Honestly looking back at my races, I don’t think I really think of anything sitting on the grid. It’s just blank. I assume it’s similar to what people do when fishing, I’ll sit in my kart, visor cracked open a bit, staring ahead.
I do make note of which drivers are starting where before I get into the kart like TJ said, but I don’t think of much. Planning my race is usually done in the pits before I even get to the grid.
On the starts, I have the same issues as TJ. Being as light as I am and mostly lower body, I sometimes have trouble on opening laps with really low tire pressure. I tend to really chuck the kart around as much as I can up until we form in the grid, sometimes even coming along the front straight if we still have time before speeding up.
How long do you heat up your tires?
I always cook them when I try to ‘‘light it up’’ so I can only do it for one or two corners, but I might also just overdo it.
Maybe it has to do with different tarmac?
I’m sure it has to do with pressure/temps.
I drive on mojo d5 with otk and for the race (7 laps) we leave with a tire pressure around 0.55 bar in the rear and 0.60 in the front. When i get off track they are around 0.65 in the rear and the front stays 0.60.
After around 10 laps of normal practise, when there isn’t so much rubber as on the race weekend they can easily rise to 1 bar in the rear. Front never has problems.
I’m going to the track today and if we have some extra time I will try and see how much I can heat them up in one lap.
