Okay, so you’re getting ready for the race and you’re looking for a structured pre-race routine that can help you get more focused and warm up yourself so that you are going to have a better performance while you’re driving.
So, here are the tips that I suggest you to follow based on my experience and based on what I have tried and tested on myself. I guarantee you that if you follow them, it’s going to at least change a little bit the way you prepare your races in terms of concentration.
Do some Rope Jumping
So, let’s get started with the first step which is to do some rope jumping.
I like to do some rope jumping, because it helps me to warm up physically. And also, with my reflexes, it’s pretty good. But most importantly, gets myself into the rhythm that I will keep once I will get back into the Kart.
So, I suggested to try to do a little bit of rope jumping, and let me know how it goes.
You shouldn’t do too much, of course, three, four minutes maximum and that’s it. That’s again just to help you out to be a little bit warmer once you get in your card, to make sure that you are ready to go.
Drink Some Water
So, tip number two is to drink some water. Keeping hydrated throughout the day is really important. And it’s also important to drink a little bit before driving. Now what I like to do usually is to drink some water, not so much, of course, because you don’t want to be too heavy.
Like a couple of glasses of water and then go to the toilet, so that I can be clear and ready to go.
Do some stretching
Now, tip number three is to do some stretching. Usually when I am in the pits getting ready for the race before putting my helmet on, I like to do a little bit of stretching just for my leg or my arm.
And that really takes 10 seconds. But it’s usually pretty good for me, you can try yourself, do it for your leg and you can do it for your back a little bit. And that surely will help you.
Clean your Helmet and Visor
Tip number four is to clean your helmet and visor. I used to do this all of the times in between sessions. Because first of all, it will help you to have a better visuality since you are going to get clear of insects and all of the waste you might have on your visor so that you can have a better view once you get back in the track.
But most importantly gets you into the rhythm. It allowed me to focus a lot and started really making a mental visualization of what I was going to do.
So, it really is like a sort of action that allows you to get more focused. And so, I really encourage you to do that. It also shows a lot of professionalism inside your team. When people that see you clean your stuff, they’ll be looking at you in a very bright way.
And I can tell you that not so many people do this, like probably two, three drivers out of 10 are doing this thing.
Oftentimes they just let their parents do it. But I encourage you to do it yourself. Because this is going to really affect your attitude and gets you more focused for the race, for the session.
Prepare a mental strategy for the race
Now, the tip number five is closely connected and it is to prepare a mental strategy for the race. This is really crucial. You don’t have to spend an hour doing that, it just takes a couple of minutes. And you can either do it in your head mentally or you can also write it down.
And to me this is really helpful especially when you need to do some races starting from the back of the grid or maybe you have to recover some places, or maybe the first corners are very tricky because the track is tricky or maybe it’s wet.
So, whenever you have some more complicated scenarios, I would highly encourage you to do this sort of mental strategy. But to be honest, if you can do it all the time, it’s going to become a like a routine and it’s going to get you so focused.
So perhaps you can say okay, now I’m going to warm up the tyres so much. And when the race starts, I’m going to go inside and I’m going to try to overtake one driver per lap for the next 10 laps so that I can finish top three, something like that.
Maybe I can say okay, since everybody is going outside, I’m going to try to overtake them and turn two on the inside, anything that can be. So please try to write down a mental strategy so that you can be so much better than your competitors.
Conclusion:
So, having said that, these were my top five tips for you so that you can improve your pre-race routine. And I highly encourage you to try them out.
Let me know by sending me an email. I’m definitely going to respond to you.
See you soon!