Our last blog post highlighted the latest sim upgrades I’ve made and covered some of the initial benefits I’ve experienced. With the changes being overall positive, one tends to forget that you are racing. This might be stating the obvious, but racing to me means more than just churning hot laps. It’s about fighting, tactics, defense – it is war.
Due to work travel commitments, I’ve unfortunately missed out on a few weeks of events. This did, however, allow me to reflect on the past few races. Apart from fearing some “ring rust” when returning, I thought about how one can improve race craft. A few key incidents caused me to lose places, so I drilled this down to three topics I (and hopefully you) can use to improve.
Eyes forward
One of the mistakes I made in karting, when pushing to break away from a driver behind me, was to look back. Although my intention was to stay aware of what was going on around me, the issue with this is two-fold.
First, as my karting mate and “coach” told me: “Every time you look behind you, you give the driver behind you hope – he sees you’re worried about him instead of what’s going on in front.”
Second, you lose concentration and make mistakes.
In sim racing, the rear-view mirror, while obviously useful, can easily become a distraction. Focus on hitting your marks and growing the gap.
Keep fresh air… fresh
In recent races, there were two occasions where positions lost on the last lap weren’t only down to the decisive move in a specific corner. The issues started a few corners, or even a lap or two, earlier defending when I shouldn’t have.
Understanding where a car behind you is, and learning how to foresee a potential move, will help you avoid defending “fresh air.” In other words, if you cover a line without an actual move being made on you, you compromise your own entry into the corner. Do this at the wrong time and you’re simply giving away lap time long before you really needed to defend.
Consider race evolution
It might sound contradictory to the tone of this post, but knowing when not to fight for a position is just as important as knowing when to fight for it.
When pit stop strategies come into play in longer races, hard defending and increased lap times can leave you well down the order. Alternatively, knowing when to defend is also key – especially if you’re confident the drivers around you are on your pace or slower. In those cases, track position is everything.
Conclusion
Battling on track is a multi-faceted exercise that requires foresight, discipline, and adaptability. Whether it’s keeping your eyes forward, defending smartly, or playing the long game with strategy, success comes from making the right choices under pressure. At the end of the day, race craft is just as much about restraint as it is about aggression – and mastering that balance is what turns laps into decent results and hopefully victory.
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