Exposing Your Mental Limitations, Trail Braking and More

This week on the Racecraft and Race Cars Roundup I bring you advice on how exposing your mental limitations will help you improve as a driver.

I also have advice on quantifying trail braking with data, fostering a productive driver-race engineer relationship and the future of Audi GT customer racing.

All this and more in the Racecraft and Race Cars Roundup on Motorsport Prospects. Its news racers can use.

Racecraft Tips & Techniques

On-Track

Exposing Your Mental Limitations, Trail Braking and More

The relationship between a driver and their engineer is key to maximizing the on-track performance of both car and driver.

Too often, the lack of constructive dialog leads to neither side getting the information they need. A driver needs to speak the same language as the engineer and vice-versa.

Last week, Andrew Marangoni, the Technical Director & Lead Motorsport Engineer at Pfaff Motorsports. Andrew was gracious enough to take some time from his busy schedule to discuss the importance of the driver/engineer relationship and explain how it should work for optimal performance.


Exposing Your Mental Limitations, Trail Braking and More

In this episode of OptimumG’s Performance Engineering Series, their lead performance engineer Bruno Finco delves into the technique of trail braking and teaches us how to use data analysis strategies to quantify it. You can watch his video above.


in his latest Ask Ross column, Ross Bentley of Speed Secrets answers the question, should a coach talk a lot or little when in-car with me?


Racetrack Notes

Podium Life looks at Racetrack Notes, an app that turns your tablet into a tool for scribbling thoughts and jotting down ideas directly on an image of a given race track hand-drawn with the utmost accuracy.

“The idea is that by sketching on the track with your own hand, you’ll remember details better—kind of like drawing your own treasure map that leads you directly to racing victory.”


Samir Abid of Your Data Driven offers up some lessons from a self-coaching racing driver. “A self coaching racing driver can struggle to work through what is needed to drive faster. Even if you are not a racing driver but a serious track day or HPDE driver, you can face the same challenges. In this article I share some experiences and lessons I had as a self coaching racing driver myself!”


Exposing Your Mental Limitations, Trail Braking and More

ASMotorsports offers up some Buttonwillow track tips in the video above.


Off-Track

Exposing Your Mental Limitations, Trail Braking and More

In the video above, Enzo Mucci looks at exposing your mental limitations. “Understand the things that are creating false limits and hit them one by one.”


In his article Kill the Sugar, Formula E driver Lucas Di Grassi explains his pre-race eating routine, a routine that works well for him. “People always ask me what do I eat before the races and the expected answer is pasta, carbs and so on. When I say I barely eat anything, there is always some crazy looks. I don’t blame them. This is common sense and the “experts” standard advice when it comes to sports. But my experience showed something very different.”


Do you think skipping out on proper sleep does not affect your performance? You will be astounded at how much it does. Grant Hayes. looks at what you need to know about sleep deprivation and its impact on cognitive functioning.

“When we don’t get enough sleep, our brains are forced to work harder to keep us functioning, leading to a range of cognitive impairments. In particular, sleep deprivation is known to have a significant impact on attention, memory, and decision-making.”


Autosport Plus looks at the physical and mental tuning helping Oscar Piastri acclimatize to F1.

“Young drivers require a different training regime than older drivers because their bodies are still developing and they haven’t accumulated as much training stress. An older driver with more base fitness can, for instance, have an occasional day off or decide they’re going to ride their bicycle rather than hit the gym – up to a point.”


Race Car & Series Developments

Racecraft & Race Cars Roundup

Rumors are growing that Audi could end its GT3 and other customer racing programs after 2023 as it plans to focus all of its energy on Formula 1 and to a slighter extent the Dakar.

“It is understood that the board finally issued instructions towards the end of last year to close its customer racing division following the conclusion of the 2023 season. Audi Sport Customer Racing includes the GT2, GT3 and GT4 variants of the R8 LMS as well as the TCR programme with the RS 3 LMS.”


The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will be trimming its five-class structure to four with the reassignment of LMP3 to its former role as a formula reserved for IMSA’s developmental series, the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge.

“The LMP3 class has contributed to the growth and success of the WeatherTech Championship since 2021,” IMSA President John Doonan said. “With that has come expanded fields at many events that can test the capacity limits we have at some IMSA tracks. We expect that growth trend to continue into 2024 and beyond, making it necessary to just have the GTP and LMP2 classes for Prototypes with GTD PRO and GTD classes for Grand Touring (GT) competing together going forward.”


In 2023, the SCCA Runoffs will take place Sept. 23-Oct. 3 at VIRginia International Raceway in Alton, VA, and the schedule has been announced featuring a bonus class and more.

With the 2023 Runoffs just five months away, SCCA has released the preliminary schedule for the weeklong event at VIRginia International Raceway. The event is currently slated to include three days of testing (from Sept. 23-25) and three days of qualifying sessions (taking place Sept. 26-28). These will be followed by three days of racing (Sept. 29-Oct. 1).

New for 2023, the Runoffs will include a special demonstration class, as permitted by the General Competition Rules (GCR), with the event acting as the championship season finale for the Spec MX-5 Challenge, often referred to as “SMX.” Frequently seen at SCCA Road Racing weekends, SMX will feature a single qualifying session, with two races during the Runoffs weekend. SMX will not be recognized as an SCCA National Championship race.

The SCCA Club Racing Board, in collaboration with SCCA Staff, however, is considering modifications to the qualifying day format. A virtual town hall to discuss potential adjustments will be held May 16, with an opportunity to gather feedback from the community before determining whether any changes will be implemented for the 2023 Runoffs.

Register for the CRB Runoffs Format Town Hall


If you were not able to watch it live, you can watch the SCCA President’s April 2023 Update Recap here.


Mark Boudreau
Author: Mark Boudreau

Mark is the publisher of Motorsport Prospects. As a former lawyer, he applies his legal background and research skills to assist race drivers by showcasing the resources they need to make their motorsport careers happen.