Speed Secrets: My Sim is My Friend

In the past few years, I’ve coached and trained more and more sim racers. When I’m at the track, I often hear real-world drivers complain about “these sim racers” who come to the real track, saying that they take too many risks, attributing it to their world where there are no consequences for making mistakes. “They don’t realize they can’t just hit Reset, here,” is a frequent comment.

While the “I can just hit Reset” mindset can lead to risky driving behavior, this can be flipped around and turned into a positive.

My friend Don Kitch, Jr. (who co-drove with me when we won the LMP2 class at the 2003 Daytona 24-Hour race) gives us insight into how simulators can be used for far more than just learning which way a track goes. They can be used in a positive way to influence one’s mindset. When Don first told me about getting a simulator, I could hear a change in his voice. There was a lightness in the way he talked about driving his sim; he sounded like one of the thousands of new drivers he’d introduced (addicted!) to sport/performance/race driving at his ProFormance Racing School over the past three decades. There was nothing holding him back from continuing to learn (something that’s at the core of who Don is).

I’ve heard from many drivers whose position or role within an organization (for example, instructor) has had a negative impact on their own driving performance. This can lead to two different reasons for driving at some level less than the ideal:

1. As an instructor, the driver gets too caught up in “doing things right” — they’re too focused on the details, on doing things “by the book.”
2. As an instructor, they believe they have a reputation to live up to, and therefore should never been seen to have made a mistake.

I’ve experienced this myself. There was a period in my driving career when I was afraid to make a mistake. This fear led to tension in my body, not sensing what the car was telling me, and… not being as consistently fast as I could have been. When I changed my mental programming, and “let go,” I performed better.

Enjoy Don’s story here!