Racing fear ?

Question

me and a friend of mine started racing couple of months ago, anyway i was afraid the first couple of times but now i know how hard i can push it, but i still have this fear of pushing near the limit , my friend asked me is the fear gone ? i said most of it is gone. does this fear go away ? because i heard some drivers say the day their not afraid is the day they'll stop, and i heard some say they have no fear.

Answer 1

If your going to race you CAN"T be scared. i race quarter midgets and ya i was a little scared but i got over it REAL QUICK. it sounds like racing won't be your thing for too much longer if you are kinda scared it definelty affects your racing. if you don't get over it I'm sorry to say but racing costs A LOT!!! of money lol and you don't want to waste your money if you are scared you have to be 100% committed to racing

Answer 2

Dude, you better stop. To be a race car driver,a good one, you cannot have any fear. You think these winged sprint car drivers that drive on 1/2 mile dirt tracks on two wheels sideways full throttle around turns are afraid? I don't think so.

Answer 3

"There is nothing to fear but fear itself"

Rosevelt

Fear does not go away..you have to overcome it.

Answer 4

There's a difference between fear and nervousness. If you experience fear, please get out of the car now. I've been racing since I was 9 in go carts. It was never fear. Now I'm 21 and racing late models. The second I feel any fear, I'll quit racing. Have I been nervous?...h**l YEA!

Answer 5

Fear...real fear of what you're doing, of the inherent danger in racing....

...I tend to get that BEFORE the race, and maybe when I'm thinking about it....

...I tend to get fear that a particular move I just made might result in a crash, and that would be expensive and ruin my day....

....but in the car, with the visor down, no, fear is not a part of that mode at all.  Racing is inherently dangerous.  Once you put the visor down and pull out of the pits it's way too late to be afraid.

EDIT -- Fear will guide you to have good safety equipment, and to make sure the belts and seat are mounted correctly, and to get the best helmet and HANS and suit you can.... DO NOT SKIMP ON THIS STUFF!!!  Buy the best you can afford, even if you have to skimp on new tires, a trick head, whatever.  It could save your life, and it will definitely give you peace of mind when you're racing.  That alone will shave as much off your lap time as the go-fast gadget would have.

Answer 6

whats fear?

Answer 7

You can't be afraid. Mindful of the dangers, yes, excited, yes. As soon as fear creeps in, it takes over. That's when you get hurt.

Answer 8

While I have certainly managed to scare myself over the years with the occassional Off Track Excursion and narrowly avoided shunts, I can not really think of any moments of fear when I've actually been racing... even in a shunt.

Before racing?  I've been on recon laps and often found myself thinking "I'll have to be really careful there" or "I should hold back here because..." or such... but even at those spots, while I do modify strategy and line, when the green flag is out, the focus becomes entirely about the drive.

Fear is healthy, but in my own experience, if you are being distracted by it while driving, you are not as focused as you need to be in order to avoid something bad.  While there is some truth to the fact that getting a truelly great laptime often means going at a pace where you may scare yourself, this is more in relation to your skill level versues how fast you are trying to go (ie, with skill and experience you will do that time without going 100%... and 100% being faster still).

Afterwards, the main fear is after something that has taken me out where I am still shaken up... though this only becomes a lingering issue when I am not able to fully understand just why it happened.

So to a point, if you are having fear, yes, it does go away... continued improvement and eventual success demands that you trade it in for focus.  But awareness of the dangers should always be there and something that plays a part in your preperation and analysis... and when you when you discover that your tires have had one too many heat cycles when they completely let go as you head to the apex at a highspeed corner, you will have a definite blast of fear (though usually I think this comes after things have come to a stop as those first few moments are just too frantic in trying to figure out if you shold try and save it or taking into acount everything, just try and make sure you go off in a straight line).

Answer 9

Fear is a part of it.  It's the rush people get from it.  

As you get fast and closer to the edge and always come back.... that when its awesome.  When you could say "oh man... that was really close".  Thats it.  Thats why you do it.

There is so much at risk.  Your expensive car and your life.  If you can't handle losing anyone of these than maybe its not the sport for you.  Just don't kill anyone else.  

Think of it this way.  Crashing isn't an "if" thing.  It's a "When" thing.  

If you're just whimping out try these things:

-Buy a cheaper car you don't mind destroying.

-Buy the best safety gear out there.