When the Green Flag Drops the BS Stops

And what takes it's place? The execution of a plan...

You cannot accurately plan for the start of a race because it is totally unpredictable!

That’s what drivers hit me with when I say ‘what’s your plan for the start?’.

That objection is usually followed up with my I heard x driver say they don’t plan their starts and they win.

I can’t argue with that….

Except winners do plan the start! Just not in the way someone who can’t get a good start needs to.

I’ll tell you why:

A plan is an expression of will, desire, intention - that’s all. When I ask a driver to make a plan for a start what I really want them to do is form the will that goes behind it, rather than going to the grid loaded up with passivity and danger avoidance strategies.

The drivers who make great starts don’t have the same need to plan because they march to the grid possessed by an almost demonic will. If you catch their eyes before a race it’s best NOT to know what they are thinking; but you get an idea that it’s dark!

Some drivers look scary pre-race. This one has a weird double visor going on, I don’t know why!

So, to get yourself fired up to make a positive start put together a plan. Set your mind up to force things to happen, to impose your will on the other drivers. The best way is to verbalise what you are going to do to them. Express it to your team, friends and family, or just brew it up in your mind.

Make the plan ambitious, make it positive and most of all make it assertive. Make sure it means you will move first. You will act on your plan as soon as the lights go… maybe even before!

If you don’t act on your plan, if you don’t impose your will, then you will be subject to everyone else’s. That means moving out of their way, lifting and all the other things that send you backwards. Even worse than that, you will preempt their strong will and submit by leaving a gap to the driver ahead. Then the first lap spirals out of control and you are ten places back with no memory of why - just that it was them doing it, not you.

So, stir up your will and get yourself into the habit of making a start plan until you find yourself with such a strong will that you don’t need to anymore.

All the best

Terence