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Developing your racecraft: Preparing to go the distance

Article Number: 143 | Rating: Unrated | Last Updated: Tue, Feb 15, 2011 at 9:59 PM

If it ever seems that your lap times during Practice, Test, Time Trial, and Qualifying sessions are fine, but your performance falls off dramatically during a race, you may want to remember that how you practice will affect how you race. Even if you're able to do great for 10 practice laps, you might still find yourself lagging just past the halfway point of a 20-lap race simply because you lack the stamina to go the full length.

To ensure that you're ready to go the distance, try this as you prepare for a race:

1) In offline solo practice, try to run the number of laps equal to a full race length uninterrupted with no "offs", and try to get to the point where you can turn in consecutive laps that are close to your qual laps our your personal best, and/or;

2) In Time Trials or Qualifications, try to make your run as long as the number of laps equal to a full race length -- make it a goal to turn in an uninterrupted number of laps equal to a race length with no "offs", and try to get to the point where you can turn in consecutive laps that are close to your qual laps our your personal best, and/or;

3) On a practice server with other cars on the track, try to put in an uninterrupted run equal to the number of laps in a full-length race (again, consecutive laps with no "offs"), and try to get to the point where you can turn in consecutive laps that are close to your qual laps our your personal best (I tend to think of this as a "final preparation" step, because if you can do this with traffic around then you're dealing with near-race conditions).