The Mental Aspect of Racing, A new appreciation for keeping sustained concentration Options

[nine14cats]

I was at Buttonwillow for a PCA-GGR Time Trial this past weekend. Ran practice all day Friday and Saturday and half of Sunday. The weather was hot ~106 degrees and the pyrometer on the track surface said 120 degrees. I stayed sharp all weekend and was able to post personal bests each day. I had Hank Watts ( a zoomy guy here in Northern California) ride with me for one session and after a few tweeks I dropped 2.5 seconds off of my personal best! So now I'm stoked. A fellow driver from Porsche Racing Club is in attendance as well and both of our cars are built to the same spec class rules. He's running 2:10's flat and I'm running 2:10.05's in traffic, so I'm a happy camper since I normally run ~1 second faster during a time trial.

After the morning sessions I'm all set to go. Car's been running fine in the heat but then I start to get a headache, not bad, but a headache. And I start to feel tired. In essence I start wilting from the heat ever so slightly. My competition from PRC is in the immediate run group in front of me and runs a 2:08:05! I run in the 2nd run group and run a 2:13:02! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/barf.gif)

During the run the heat bothers me and the track conditions have changed as the temperatures climb. Instead of making adjustments, my fun time trial becomes work. I lose my "edge", I just put down 2 consistent, "ordinary" laps and get the hell back to the trailer. A somewhat disappointing end to a great weekend.

The car was fine. The track was hot, but fine. But my competition was metally tougher than I was and I basically backed it off. It really gives you an appreciation for the road racers such as Scott Pruett or others who just hit their lines every time and have the mental toughness to lock in and go.

Ah yes....I still have so far to go.... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Bill P.