It’s that time of the year where championships are in sight and the race season is winding down. It’s important not to become complacent during such an important final push for the season. That holds true whether you’re a track day regular or a professional team fighting for a championship. You can take advantage of the rhythm you’ve established throughout the year to focus on small details without losing sight of the basics, allowing you to end the season on a high note.
I was recently at Road America with my good friends, who achieved some of their personal bests throughout the event.
I was recently at Road America with some clients who all achieved their personal bests for the season since they have been progressing all year long. They were able to jump into their rhythm quickly, giving them a solid platform to continue building their skills on. I said this already, but it’s worth repeating and remembering: in order to keep building and progressing, you’ve got to always cover the basics first en route to meeting your goals.
I’m heading to Laguna Seca for IMSA this weekend and Mazda Global MX-5 Cup the following weekend. For those competitors, this is the final stretch of their season, too. It’s important to those drivers to hit all of the basics correctly so that they are able to finish strong. Even professional drivers can get complacent and just go through the motions, but this is the time of year to be focused on the goal! From track days to racing, you should have clear goals and a roadmap for how to achieve them to help you stay focused. You want to keep accelerating to the end of the year.
Your strategy will partly be determined by your spot in the championship. Do you need to finish in a certain position to achieve your points goals? Or do you just want to focus on individual race results? Your goals might change for every outing, but that is good because it helps you keep your focus and measure your progress at each step along the way.
I’ve often witnessed drivers losing focus as they get closer to the end, rather than focusing on achieving the best results possible. This applies not just to the season, but even to an event weekend or a race. I wish everyone the best as your seasons reach their finale, and remember to say focused!