Overtaking Aggression in Karting
I used to spend a bit of time with some F1 types scouting around for prospects ( I was the karting tour guide!). They weren’t naïve obviously, so ‘prospect’ mostly meant loaded driver - but they were still racing people with the right instincts.
One memory that sticks with me is the reaction from this old F1 PR guru gentlemen. We were supposed to be watching a ‘prospect’ but he had his eye on another driver, who pulled off a divebomb lunge for the lead where nobody passes (last corner at Rye House):
Jesus! Now THAT’S a driver!
It was an involuntary outburst in front of everyone, one of those ‘elephant in the room’ moments. I spat my coffee, more at the outburst than the driving on display!
But the point is that when a driver throws themselves into a high risk move, it hits us all hard. So hard that someone who knows better than to lose the plot about the wrong driver, can’t help himself.
We love to see the aggression and the risking it all on the roll of a dice. Well, ‘love to see’ is an understatement - we go into an ecstatic hero worshipping frenzy is more like it.
But from the driver’s perspective, is it actually aggression towards the opponent?
If I ask what a driver needs to make the next big step, aggression is usually the answer.
From the outside, we see aggression and dominance. But thinking back to driving myself, I don’t think I needed to feel aggression towards any driver - yet we ask drivers for it all the time.
What kind of aggression is really needed for bold overtaking?
If any aggression is needed at all it is the kind that you would direct at yourself. If overtaking doesn’t come easy then you have to exert some enforcement over your instincts that create the resistance and hesitation that makes overtaking impossible.
Clarity and decisiveness count first. So that you actually start making moves. Successful overtaking is something you learn by perfecting it, but you have to start with imperfect moves. Either way, you gots to make those moves!
Control your eyes, they decide the target. Eyes on apex means go - eyes on driver means retreat
Our eyes are really a bit naughty. We can consciously direct them, but generally they do what the hell they want, and we don’t worry because it usually works a treat.
But when we are driving, eyes can cause serious problems. We need them to pick our targets and direct us to them, but our eyes also want to find dangers and make us avoid them.
