STAYING ON TOP #4

We see it in all forms of sport. The field now chasing Max Verstappen as he appears near untouchable in his Red Bull Racing car, Jonathon Thonon during his dominant KZ seasons, and even after all these years, Davide Fore is still able to perform at an unbelievable level in his mid-40’s. How do these athletes achieve sustained success? The first thing these top athletes ooze is confidence. You can’t make it to the top without confidence; albeit it in yourself, your equipment and the team around you. Every time you hit the racetrack you need to believe you can win. Now this might not always be possible, as motor racing has other factors that can be out of a driver’s control, but race winners, if they want to maintain their position at the top need to assert themselves every time on track. Walk to the grid with a confident stride, pass fairly, but aggressively to assert your dominance, and don’t look back when you’re in the lead to show your competition you’re not worried about them. The second aspect to staying on top is remaining focused and not listening to outside noise. Time and time again we see the other competitors or teams trying to intimidate or make up allegations to put the leading athletes off their game. They want you to lose focus, as all it takes is a slight drop in performance for them to pounce.
So, our mindset needs to be rock solid and entirely focused on what you can control, yourself. I recall a race at the Florida Winter Tour in the USA where I qualified fastest on a circuit I wasn’t familiar with. The local competition, both North and South American drivers, gathered before the race and started to collude a plan against me. Their tactic was to ruffle me up in the formation lap to unsettle me. I was being knocked around in the side and back constantly, enough to break my radiator bracket (luckily it stayed on for the duration of the final) to try intimidating me. As I was already a seasoned campaigner, I took this in my stride, knowing the only way they could beat me was if I let them get to me. So I made sure I didn’t retaliate, put my head down for 25 laps and was able to win comfortably. But in my younger years, I would’ve engaged in their behaviour and quite possibly could’ve crashed, and let slip on remaining focused and not getting caught up in the games of other drivers trying to bring me down. Another area the top drivers want to concentrate on is to keep pushing yourself to be better. As soon as athletes get complacent, their competitors are looking for a chink in your armour. It’s important to double down; train harder, practice more, learn new techniques, so no matter what the competition throws at you, you’re up for the challenge. So, there you have it, just because you won a championship in 2022, doesn’t mean you’ll be able to replicate it this season. Work hard, be confident, improve your skills and stay focused.

Kart Class is giving our Vroom Academy a boost for the new 2023 season with great tips on how to maintain the focus and stay sharp at the top of your game. Dave Sera continues to share his vast experience of more than two decades as a record 18 times Australian karting champion and accomplished international racer. 

KART CLASS offers online tuition that allows anyone to easily access ways to improve their own driving and racing skills. Follow his advice and make sure you check out the previous Vroom Academy columns until now if you have missed them. There are even more options available to follow online and programs of different levels of competence

“LEARN TO WIN” 
with KART CLASS – ONLINE To improve your performance on track, visit KART CLASS online now and discover more ways you can develop your own driving skills by following the advice of David Sera. Kart Class online programs, videos, E-books, worksheets and diagrams can be accessed from any mobile device. Simply create an account, choose the program suited to your experience level and have 24/7 access to the content. The main objective for Kart Class is to offer world class coaching to drivers anywhere in the world, anytime of the day at a fraction of the cost. No extra travelling, track fees, race team fees and the challenge of accessibility for good coaching that some race tracks can’t offer. There’s also free stuff! If you have a question that you would like to ask David Sera, send him a message at Kart Class with the subject “VROOM Q&A” and we will be selecting some of these to publish on Vroomkart.


Check out the Kart Class website www.kartclass.com plus the YouTube channel and Instagram