Why focusing solely on lap time hurts performance
Oct 19, 2020
Laptimes are not the end all be all of racing. A fast laptime, while important, does not guarantee a win. Average laptime is really the determining factor in success in a racing environment.
A lot of times when I'm working with people coaching, I see that they are target fixated on a lap time they want to achieve. It's good to have a target to be working towards and a measurement to put yourself up against, however it should not determine whether or not you've "succeeded" at your day.
Track conditions are continually changing, they can change as much as 1 second in a day! If you are solely focused on laptime you'll end up over driving the car and not performing to the highest capability in that moment in time.
I work hard to focus on improving driving skill in each outing. The goal in driving around a track is to improve. Focusing on skill helps achieve the laptime goals, and makes it more repeatable and consistent. Going back to the initial point, in racing it doesn't matter if you run one fast lap time and the rest of them are slow. You've got to be able to be consistent in your driving.
