top of page

4 Step Success Strategy For Struggling Race Drivers. Act now before you're out!

Here is the audio/video version of this blog, narrated by Enzo.

Has your season got off to a bum start? Are things not going plan?

It’s one of a drivers worst nightmares when you start a season with all the motivation you could ever need, you have your sponsors in place, you have the team and car you want and your scene is set for you to have a big year….only to find out at the first race weekend that it falls flat on its face.

You arrived at the weekend positive with your sights set high into the sky only to be looking down when you leave the track.

When this happens it often then bleeds into the next race weekend where you again underachieve, then you start to push too hard, you make mistakes, you have ‘bad luck’ and things just don’t go your way.

This my friend is a racing driver’s equivalent to hell.

It feels like a nasty and dark place to be and you cannot see a way to escape.

Even with this the struggling drivers do have some high points to a season, usually you start to get you head around the issues and things start to improve, but guess what? It’s the end of the season now, it’s too late.

That’s what this weeks post is all about. It’s to take action now before the rot sets in.

Time to Hit the Emergency Button

If this sounds like you then it’s time to hit the emergency button. I don’t mean the panic button here, it’s not panic time, it’s action time.

Make today your turning point, make today the start of your quest to sorting things out in the most aggressive way as you possibly can.

Due to the way things are working today in motor sport you don't get much time to shine it's like audition time you need to perform on demand and straightaway. There’s 16 year olds coming up now that can impress enough to get to F1, how the hell can you compete with that?

One major way is to not spend too much time struggling.

If you're spending a long time in 10th, 12th or 5th position or whatever and you are seen as a mediocre driver from the outside then believe me you are not going anywhere.

Far too many drivers are so laid back, they say “Ah it will be ok I will still get a career” even though they are consistently finishing 7th or 8th positions all the time, they got no chance.

Why the hell would a manufacturer put you in their car if you are not really a top driver?

You have got to turn heads in this industry, so if you are hardly ever on the podium then you are going nowhere.

Ok there are some exceptions when a mediocre driver get a good race seat but there is always more to the story, they will be bringing a ton of money or some other business to the team which is all well and good but this is not sustainable.

On the flipside, speed and results are very attractive to a manufacturer. If you are the sort of driver that is professional on the outside and winning on the track then you have got a career. Congratulations, it’s done!

But if at the moment you are not showing people that winning capability, you are not giving people that belief in you then you’d better act fast. This is worrying.

You have to make huge waves in this industry in order to get a chance. But if that’s not happening, you are failing in front of all these people, then you are finished. The end is coming and when it hits it will be a shock and you won’t know what to do with your life.

You have got to treat these lousy results that you have just achieved as a wakeup call you gotta get your but into gear right now.

No matter how safe you think you are in racing, it is all an illusion and if you are not providing value then your backers will pull the plug.

The 4 Step Success Strategy

So let’s do this, let’s take some strategies that I’ve learned from some of the world’s elite individuals from business and sport and use them to help turn your situation around. This can be referred to as the Success Strategy.

Step 1 – Expose.

You have to first get very clear on what the real issue is here. If your driving sucks, if your skillset is not good enough then face up to it. Do not hide from the truth, do not blame traffic on track when you know deep down that you are not good (at the moment) in fast corners, or in the wet, or in slow corners, etc.

Expose what the true problem is.

Even if you do not know the issue, just investigate it every day until you come up with the answer. Never give up on finding the truth.

This is an ego driven sport but please keep away from that approach, just find out the truth and deal with it. That’s how you become a champion.

Step 2 – Get Disgusted.

Yes get disgusted with your current affairs and where you are.

Don’t settle for it, amp things up by taking pen to paper and writing down the answer to this question - If I carry on like this, in 1 year how bad could my racing life be?

Make this as distasteful as you can. Then write out ‘In 2 years time’, then ‘In 5 years time’, etc. Create a very dark picture. This is called motivation. This is called facing reality of what could happen if you do not buck your ideas up now.

Now let’s move to the positive side, write down - If I resolve this and start winning what could my career look like in 1 year?

Again go further into the future to 2 years, then 5. Make this as attractive as you can, feed that side of the deal. This is the carrot and the stick which is the essence of human behaviour.

You now know what needs to improve and exactly why you need to do it, next we get to the How.

Step 3– Get the Best Solution

Yes its solution time, we need to ask the right questions to get the right answers.

“How do I improve my driving”, “How do I improve this part of my personality”, etc.

Nowadays we have solutions everywhere, you can ask other drivers, teams, coaches, talk to your engineer, read books, study, watch videos to helps you, past data and the list goes on. The answer for your problem has already been answered by someone out there.

Just get out there and find out ways of improving your particular issue, make this a daily activity for anything you need to improve.

Step 4 – Evaluate and Adjust

Once you have applied a solution then evaluate if it is working or not. Apply and evaluate. If it’s working then keep it going but if it is not making you improve then change to a different solution.

As you can imagine this process never ends, if you're the type a driver who is dedicated to improving all the time (you should be if you want to be a champion) then you will find that this 4 step strategy is ongoing and will take you wherever you want to go.

Final Word

Remember that this is all about you and your work ethic. No one out there is going to improve you if you just sit back, you are the one that must instigate everything, you run the show.

No one else cares about your driving as much as you do (if you are in it for the right reasons) but they also have their own stuff to sort out in their lives, even your manager who has bent over backwards to help you has his or her own issues to deal with at home, like the boiler leaking or loved on in trouble on the phone.

There are always people in your personal team that want you to win and will help you but you must be the leader because you are the one that is really effected if things go pear shaped.

Your goal is to impress the pants off people at the next race weekend, make them talk about how much you have improved and are dealing with things. This alone will set the ball rolling and actually make people want to help you in your quest.

Stick with this 4 Step Success Strategy and watch it deliver what you want.

Good luck and let me know how it goes

Enzo

RSS Feed
SHARE OR COMMENT
If you would like to share then please click the links above.
Or you can leave a comment below.
Thank you
bottom of page