When I was younger, I often had to work on Sundays, so I’d take weekdays off instead and go to the track.
On weekdays, I often had the place practically to myself, which was the perfect environment for practicing.
Thank you, Takasu Circuit! How’s business going?
The best thing about having the track to yourself isn’t that you don’t get caught up in traffic and can always get a clear lap… not that any of that matters.
It was just such a relief not having to worry about other cars passing me.
I’m the type who’ll happily let other people go ahead of me, even on public roads, so when there are other cars around, I start worrying about getting in their way.
But of course, the track wasn’t always empty.
And when it wasn’t, I’d get nervous.
“Oh, there are other people here…”
And there I am, trembling like a little rabbit in the corner. Haha.
And when I got like that, I just couldn’t put down a good lap time.
It wasn’t because I got stuck behind another car. I was just using up too much mental bandwidth worrying about the other cars, and that made it harder to drive smoothly.
If I realized I was nervous—”Oh no, I’m getting nervous”—that was one thing.
The real problem was when I didn’t realize I was nervous myself.
Especially when I was thinking, “Okay, I’m nervous, but I’m going to put down a good lap time anyway!” I was even less likely to notice that I was tense.
Then everything started falling apart.
My sense of speed was all over the place. I’d lose my feel for the grip. Even when I turned the steering wheel, I couldn’t tell whether I was doing it right or wrong.
The whole lap just turned into a complete mess.
“What? Why can’t I drive properly?”
Well, duh! It’s because you’re nervous!
I was spending too much of my brain’s processing capacity worrying about other cars instead of focusing on driving. No wonder I couldn’t drive well.
Once I started paying attention to my mental state, the problem was solved.
“Ohhh, so that’s what was happening. Man, I’m an idiot!”
Lesson Learned
Don’t get nervous.