Psychology Of Motorsport Success
by David Finlay (21 May 2008)
Some time ago there was a certain motorsport competitor (can't give names, sorry) who developed a reputation for being very quick, but whose erratic performance prevented him from achieving the results he seemed to deserve. His team manager decided to do something about this and sent him to a sports psychologist. The following season he became a superstar, and for the next few years he utterly dominated his form of the sport. If you want an example of how attending to the workings of the brain can be of benefit to a motorsport career, I don't see how this one can be bettered.
It so happens that Dr Paul Castle was not the psychologist in that particular case, but he is one of a few people doing similar work with racing drivers (and bike riders) in the UK. His book, Psychology Of Motorsport Success, shouldn't be assumed to have all the answers - for that you would need one-to-one sessions - but it's an excellent introduction to the subject.
There is absolutely nothing in the book about how to drive a racing car, which is just the way things should be; you wouldn't want a non-competing doctor to talk about that kind of thing any more than you'd want to hear your engine builder's views on suspension set-up. Instead, Castle concentrates on the mental side of the sport, discussing physical matters such as fitness and hydration only to the extent that they might affect the driver's psychological health.
The very word "psychology" can send people scurrying away, since it's so easily (if wrongly) associated with ideas that there is something wrong with you. In fact, Castle makes a point of saying that any problems you may have, such as anxiety or lack of self-confidence, can actually be treated as positives, since you know what they are and can therefore devote effort to improving them and becoming a more accomplished competitor as a result.
I have no professional psychological training myself, but I've been involved in motor racing for long enough to be able to recognise a lot of what Castle says, and therefore to trust him when he talks about things I don't know. For example, I had an immediate positive response to his comments about focussing on process, not outcomes - you don't concentrate on winning, you concentrate on doing the things which allow you to win.
Similarly, Castle is absolutely right when he talks about belief. People with absolutely no experience of racing have told me that it is vital to believe you are going to win, but this is simply not true. I have raced against rivals who believed that they would win, and they were easy to beat.
Confidence, backed up by skill, is certainly extremely important, but belief that you will win a race is about as sensible as believing that you will win at roulette - in each case there are outside factors which are completely beyond your control, and it is vital to recognise this. As Castle says, it is also important to acknowledge when you have performed well even though you haven't won, for example if you have finished the race on slick tyres on a wet track without crashing.
For all serious racing drivers and riders, this is an exceptionally important book, and of course it will be equally useful to rally drivers, hillclimbers, autotesters, drag racers and indeed anyone who competes in any kind of motorsport. For that matter it must surely have relevance to most other sports too.
I can also see it being of benefit in entirely non-sporting contexts. From personal experience of both activities I know that racing and music performance, despite their obvious differences, involve very similar psychological processes, and I have already been delighted by the results of quoting small sections of this book to inexperienced musicians. And if Castle's work can help musicians, it must surely be able to help other performers too - I would recommend it, for instance, to anyone faced with the prospect of having to speak in public for the first time.
But most of all I would recommend it to you if you're a racing driver . . . unless, of course, you're going to be racing against me at some point in the future. In that case, forget the book, convince yourself that you're going to win, and leave it at that.
Psychology Of Motorsport Success: How To Improve Your Performance With Mental Skills Training, by Dr Paul Castle, is published by Haynes at £19.99. ISBN 978 1 84425 495 8. More details at www.haynes.co.uk.
