Mental Skills Coaching in Motorsport
"Drivers, riders and teams at the pinnacle of their sports, use mental skills development and 'tuning their minds' to gain that extra edge to help them compete and succeed at the top levels of their professions."
The Missing Skill?
Drivers and riders aim to maximise their potential training hard, with physical preparation in the gym.
They also hone their driving and riding skills in testing, in simulators and by analysing telemetry and data.
However, training and tuning their mental skills is the often forgotten skill. This can be the "difference that makes the difference". Developing the racing psychology or motorsport or racing 'mindset' of a driver or rider can be the missing element and make the difference between success and average performance.
I work with drivers and riders and even teams and crew on their motorsport 'racing' psychology, maximising their racing mental skills.
Calm, Relaxed & Confident
Being able to feel calm and relaxed, and be able to concentrate and focus fully is the key to being confident and performing consistently at the top. What top psychology professor Mihaly Csikszentmihaly described as being in a "flow" state or as drivers and riders describe it "being in the zone".
Learning the tools and skills to quieten what some refer to as "the monkey mind" or a 'noisy head', and focus on the present moment, focus on the process of riding or driving is the key to mental performance.
I teach drivers and riders the "tools" they can use to master these skills, and help support racers throughout the season, both on and off the track.
I integrate my own skills and knowledge and expertise with decades of experience and knowledge in motorsport taken from my years of collaboration with my own colleague and mentor.
I help racers deal with issues ranging from confidence and self-belief to sleep problems and performance anxiety, to enhanced visualisation, focus and concentration.
Development & Support
I provide personal 1:1 coaching sessions and support to maximise the potential and to help drivers and riders in all types of motorsport tune their minds, just as they tune their bodies and machines.
Mental skills coaching can help a driver or rider get over a specific "mental block" or issue, or it can be whole season support as part of their development, knowing that there is always room for improvement and development no matter how long someone has been in their sport.
I work with all members of teams not only the drivers and riders, but also pit and support crew and factory personnel, all the way to team mangers and team owners.
At times they all need and benefit from assistance and support in improving their mental skills, or help dealing with mental challenges.
Mental Skills...
I teach and coach mental skills appropriate and relevant to the individual’s particular challenge, these can include:
- Teaching skills to improve concentration & focus
- Teaching proper relaxation and calm
- Dealing with emotional issues, i.e. performance anxiety, anger management, stress and anxiety management
- Improving motivation and drive
- Effective Goal Setting
- Improving performance through proper mental rehearsal and visualisation
- Drivers, riders and teams at the pinnacle of their sports, have used these mental skills “tuning their minds" to gain that extra edge to help them compete and succeed at the top levels.
...The Foundation of Your Performance
Your mental skills, mental strength, mental resilience, your ability to think clearly under stress and pressure and to maintain your focus, concentration and keep calm is the thing that will allow you to maximise your performance.
You can be the fittest driver or rider with the best endurance.
You can be the best driver or rider, technically in the best car or on the best bike.
However, if you don't have the mental strength, the mental focus the mental resilience and the mental skills to put those other skills into action, all the time spent in the gym and on the sim and testing can be wasted resulting in poor or inconsistent performance and results despite being physically and technically prepared.
Is Your Mental Performance Limiting Your Performance?
If when you're under pressure across a race weekend..
- Your overdrive under pressure?
- You become reactive?
- You get emotional, angry, frustrated?
- You lose focus?
- You lose concentration?
- You start looking behind?
- You "overthink"?
- You start repeatedly blaming others and "bad luck" ?
- You start making more mistakes?
- You notice in warmup and practice you have the pace, you find the 'flow' and "rhythm" but in qualifying or the race you just don't perform as well?
If you recognise any of these, it's time to focus on your mental skills.
If your mental skills, focus and concentration are letting you down in your racing performance then you need to train them in the same way to get the best out of your technical and physical performance and improve your results on and off the track.
DEVELOPING MENTAL SKILLS
- Listening & discussion
- Teaching Concentration & Focus, "Mental Tools", Techniques and Strategies
- Teaching Stress and Performance Anxiety Management
- Maximise and Use Visualisation techniques for best performance
- Personal audio recordings to improve performance
- Develop Self Awareness and Learn State Management
- Structure, Planning and Goal Setting and Accountability
- A wealth of performance improvement, belief change and mental techniques
- Functional Breathing Instruction for better mental and physical performance
- Trackside Support
- Ongoing Support and Development
- Using HRV technology to improve HRV and master Emotional Self Regulation and improve Performance
Experience & Knowledge: Greg McColl
I work with drivers and riders and teams in series including as FIA Formula 1, Formula 3, GB3 & 4, Extreme-E Racing, Formula-E, FIA WRC, British GT, BTCC - British Touring Cars, US Indycar, ADAC GT4, Thai Asia Super Series GT, SxS Racing USA, BSB - British Superbikes, JWC - Mini Challenge, WSBK - World Supersport, AMA Arenacross, Karting - WSK / CIK & Super One, FIA European Rally & World Rally Championship, Porsche Supercup & Porsche Carrera Cup, ELMS -European Le Mans, European NASCAR, Britcar, Coolfab and Enduro, Formula Vee, Caterham Race Series. Rotax & IAME domestic and International USA, UAE, Italy Karting series, helping to develop young racing talent's mental skills.
I have also worked together with several Formula 1 teams, other motorsport series and drivers, the British Racing Drivers Club (BRDC) and also Premiership Rugby Teams, PGA Golfers, Darts players and I've also provided coaching support for firearms officers via The Police Firearms Officers Association through their welfare support program.
I am a regular guest motorsport podcasts as well as invited guest speaker on stress and performance at the prestigious Oxford University Students Union and a guest speaker at the UK Hypnosis Convention.
I am a NLP Master Practitioner Coach in addition to a Certified and Accredited Hypnotherapist, as well as Qualified Nutritional Coach and Mindfulness Coach. I am a HRV Certified Heartmath Practitioner & Firstbeat Technologies Provider & also a Certified Functional Breathing Instructor.
GET IN TOUCH
Contact me for a confidential, informal conversation
Find out more about how I can help you to increase and develop your mental performance.
motorsportmind partners:
motorsportmind is pleased to partner with David Sera and Kart Class.
Success and progress can be a team effort and Greg and David share their specialist knowledge and skills with each other's drivers.
Karters looking for additional coaching or getting the very best from their performance can also improve their performance and get world class insights, feedback and coaching with Kart Class and David Sera.
David Sera is Australia’s leading kart racer of all time, winning an unprecedented 18 Australian Championships and a 2nd place finish at the Rotax World Finals and the SKUSA SuperNats on multiple occasions.
Having amassed an extensive amount of knowledge over his 25 years in the sport, Sera has now turned his focus to the next generation of stars via coaching.
The core of the Kart Class programs is to fine tune drivers skillset in race craft, driving techniques and mindset with the help of our UK coach Greg McColl.
From corner entry to throttle & brake modulation, to overtaking your competitors and getting the best jump off the start line, Sera’s experience, provides drivers with the necessary tools to get to the front of the pack.
All the Kart Class programs are accessible 24/7 via mobile, tablet or PC with video tutorials, diagrams and worksheets to fill in to cement the knowledge to racers.