Track time is key.

Yes, you heard me well, track time in karting is absolutely essential to win races. Why?

Well, as in any sort of skill in life, not just sports, but any skill in life, if you want to be good at that, you need to increase the amount of repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition. You need to do as much of that specific skill as possible, and that is going to make you better off.

Why Is Track Time So Important in Karting?

Think about if you are trying to become a piano player or a guitarist. Of course, you want to play those instruments day and night, basically. But same with any other sport in the world, if you want to become the greatest tennis player, you will have to spend way more time practicing than any other tennis player, as well as if you want to become the best football player, you want to basically be playing soccer every single day, but like 5, 6, 7, 8 hours a day, like the kids in Brazil. They are playing on the streets and they become the best players in the world, for example. They are absolutely obsessing about it, and that is what makes them the best.

Competition is high nowadays in any sort of sport, but in any skill in life. So in order to become the best, you need to practice 10 times, 100 times, 1000 times more than anybody else. Now I understand it sounds impossible to train as much, but that is really what separates the greats from the rest of the players and the rest of the drivers in the karting space, for example.

So this has nothing to do just with karting. This is about any sort of skill, any sport, etc. So in this guide, I will give you a full perspective of what it means to double down on your track time and how to improve also the quality of your track time.

Why Is Track Time the Most Valuable Training Tool for Racing Drivers?

Well, it is all about building that muscle memory. You know, that muscle memory that really separates the average drivers from the legendary drivers. The muscle memory basically is what your body is going to do when you are not thinking about it, in a way. So it is like you are going to drive on autopilot mode, on a subconscious mode, and that is how you win. That is how you get pole positions.

When you are so used to driving that specific track or in that specific kart, it becomes like a glove. You become one with that, and that is basically what is going to make you become unstoppable, in a way. So I feel that the highest amount of track time is going to make you drive unconsciously. And that unconscious, subconscious way of driving is really what is required in order to have so much mental space available to process other information that may make the difference in your driving and your races.

The basics like hitting your apexes or braking points are going to be basically taken care of by your automatic system, and all the other things are going to be left to your conscious mind, which is going to basically let you drive way more chilled and way more in the zone, I would say.

How Does Repetition Actually Improve Driving Technique?

Well, I have read a book about it, and it is called The Talent Code, and it is such a great book because it really tells you how any skill gets developed.

The point about that book is that when you are repeating that specific skill, that specific action, that specific task, you are essentially creating a sort of insulation. So you are creating what is called myelin in your nervous system, so around your nerves. You are basically going to create this sort of insulating layer that is going to make you recall that action and repeat that action in exactly the same way that you want to repeat it.

So yeah, it is a bit of a complex topic, but at the end of the day, you have to think about it like this: any time you are practicing a skill, you are basically firing specific neurons. For drivers, it could be braking using your left foot, then going to throttle using your right foot, but then all the coordination between those as well as the coordination with your steering, perhaps your coordination with your body. All those sorts of things are going to create different paths in your brain, and obviously are going to fire different neurons.

And by firing those neurons multiple times in the same way, you are going to basically create this insulating layer, and that insulation is going to basically give you more of an automatic repetition of that specific skill.

And as I said, it applies the same for karting.

How Many Laps Does It Take to Get Good at Karting?

Well, I believe this is such a broad question, and it is so hard to address. Of course, the more laps you do, the better. But it is not just about the quantity. It is also about the quality.

If you are spending thousands and thousands of laps on a very old and worn out kart that does not have performance or actually behaves in a totally unpredictable way, or you are driving on completely worn out tires, and for example, you are driving on a super slippery circuit, but then when you go to the race you have the opposite scenario where you have so much grip and your tires are going to be new and stuff like that, then it is almost a negative way of training. Because yeah, you are driving and you are getting actually good in a condition that you do not really want to race in.

So yeah, it is important that you are able to replicate as similarly as possible the laps that you are doing to the races that you will be doing. So yeah, the training quantity is important, but also the quality is extremely, extremely important.

If you ask me again how many laps are required to get good, I mean, the more the better, honestly. If that is 10,000 laps, 20,000 laps or 50,000 laps, I do not know exactly. But for sure, I see a positive correlation with the more laps the drivers do, the higher the results. So more laps equals better results. More days on the track equals better results and better lap times in general.

So yeah, I know it is not just a matter of pure determination, but it is also something related to cost and time. Unfortunately it is expensive to go racing and go driving a lot, and also the time required is high. But I feel that overall it is just important for the drivers to go for it, and when they have the chance, both in terms of time and money, to drive as much as they can if they want to really get good and have a shot at becoming a professional racing driver.

I can give you an anecdote from my career. When I was little, especially in the period from around 9 till 13 or 14, and even actually up to 15, during the wintertime especially, when we did not have many races, I would basically get out of school at lunchtime, and I would drive basically the rest of the day for five sessions. And that was rinse and repeat for two or three months in a row in the winter, for example.

And then, you know, I was lucky to live, and still live, 20 minutes away from Lonato, South Garda Karting, which is basically the epicenter of the karting universe. And I would always find the track grippy. I would always find competition. So it was very good for me, because I could really train myself to become the best driver, and it really served me very, very well to essentially become one of the most successful karting drivers, with a World Championship and eight WSK wins in my bag.

What Should Drivers Focus On During Practice Days?

They have to focus on obviously getting the highest amount of quality track time as well as quantity. Ideally they should go out and have a goal in terms of improving a specific corner, or trying to be more consistent with the lap times, trying to hit the apex in a certain way based on what they saw on the video or what is on the data.

So I feel that just overall trying to improve the driving every single time that you go out on track is really the goal. You are not just going to be driving randomly. You need to really drive and all the time aim at getting better, better, better. That is really what you want to be looking for.

Why Are Data Analysis and Onboard Videos So Important for Driving Skill Development?

Well, think about it, if you are not using data or videos, you are basically driving kind of blind. Yeah, I mean, back in the day, we did not really rely on video or on data as much as nowadays. But that does not mean it was the right way.

Of course, we used to rely a lot on feeling, and nowadays yes, you can still rely on feeling, but at the same time have the tools that can give you really an idea of what is going on when you are driving out on track. So I really feel that it is just an amazing tool, both telemetry and videos. They are two great tools that you can use to always know what is going on when you are driving, and always know what to improve when you are driving, so that you can always get a little bit better, a little bit faster, a little bit quicker and a little bit more consistent.

So it is really all about that. It is really all about getting a bit faster every time you go out on track, so that you can get better and better and better.

How Do Professional Drivers Maximize Their Practice Sessions?

With my 20 plus years of experience in karting, I came to realize that you really want to have a plan. You want to know where you want to improve in terms of driving and also with the kart. To know where you want to really improve, that is the starting point.

You know that maybe your weak area is, I do not know, let us say the braking. So you want to improve your braking efficiency. So every time you get on track, you try to improve your braking efficiency. Or maybe you may have the goal to get a later apex. So knowing that, you will try to turn later and get a later apex, and try to get better exits. Or maybe you will want to try to improve fast corners. You will try to get faster through fast corners and get more confidence, or stuff like that.

So you need to have an idea. And also with the kart, if you want to make the kart more free in the rear or have more front, then you will try to make some setup adjustments and try to feel whether that has improved or not.

So all these sorts of things play a massive role. And yeah, just having an idea of where you want to improve. Maybe it is not about setup, and maybe you already are the fastest on the track. Maybe your only goal is just to improve the consistency. So knowing those things will take you to that place where you want to basically get to, which is maybe better consistency, maybe better braking, maybe better steering inputs by being smoother, maybe later apexes, etc.

So it is very, very important that you get used to that, you practice that over and over again, but again with an idea of what you want to improve. And that is why relying on video and relying on data is super important to give you the feedback that you need to improve when out on track.

Conclusion

So I hope this guide was useful. I feel that track time is really key, not just in terms of quantity, but also in terms of quality. If you can maximize both your quantity and quality track time, there is nothing that is going to stop you. I am a firm believer of that.

So you really want to double down on that and try to improve your quantity and quality of track time. If you are trying to get more quantity, then ask your parents to go out driving more often. Maybe you can buy your own kart instead of relying always on a team, that may be more expensive. So you can just get your kart, whether new or used, and just get out there and drive and drive, driving, repeating and repeating, doing sessions and sessions, laps and laps. And you will see that sooner or later, you will find lap time, you will find pace, and I am sure that it is going to ultimately make you a better driver and a faster driver.

That is what I had to go through. That is what Max Verstappen had to go through. That is what Ayrton Senna had to go through. Every driver became great just by practicing. And obviously talent is required, but I do not feel it is that much of a factor when it comes to performance. I think talent is a very small fraction of performance. I think most of it just comes through repetition, repetition, repetition, and obviously knowing what you need to repeat.

Obviously you want to repeat the good things, not the bad things. Otherwise you will be good at doing the bad things. You want to be good at doing the good things, right? So that is why quality is crucial, and that is why I put a lot of attention on that.

And yeah, overall, I just feel that you need to try to get as many laps as you can, especially when you are preparing for a race on a specific track. You want to spend a lot of days and a lot of laps driving and driving and driving and driving, even if you are on used tires, even if you are just on a test engine and the engine is not good enough. Your only goal is to get out there and drive, because your only goal is to get good. Your only goal is to improve your lap times, and then the rest will follow.

Do not stress too much about the performance when you are testing. The only goal is to build those neural paths in your brain, that insulating in your nerves, that myelin that is really what is going to give you that subconscious driving on autopilot mode when you are out on track and you almost do not have to think about it.

So yeah, it is really what you see when drivers like Ayrton Senna are driving in Monaco. You will see his onboard and it is like driving in a tunnel. It is like driving unconsciously and not really consciously, because if you try to drive consciously at that speed with all those decisions you have to take, when to brake, when to turn, when to shift down or shift up, it is never going to work. So you need to be so aligned and immersed in what you do so that you can do it at a subconscious high-performance level.

So I hope this guide was helpful. I believe track time is super, super key. If you wish to get an onboard video coaching analysis, you will basically send me your onboard video and I will reply to you with a proper video analysis of where you can go faster. Otherwise, if you really want to go all in, you can apply for the six-month training program, where I feel I can really give as much value as possible to shape you into a race-winning karting driver.

So I feel that this is it. Remember to keep sending it. Bye bye, ciao.