I kicked off my New Year by heading down to Sebring, Florida, to do some driver training and testing with Ashton Harrison. We were there to help her stay active in the driver’s seat during the off-season of course, but we also wanted to continue fine-tuning race craft development. The off-season is the perfect time to reflect on what aspects of your driving are your strengths, and what aspects you want to improve.
As a coach, I find that as drivers continue to develop, and as their pace picks up and becomes very competitive, there are other components that make a good racing driver great. There are aspects like car setup knowledge, race craft skills and coming up to speed quickly during a race event that help take a driver to that next level.
Identifying what areas that you as a driver want to improve upon in the off-season lets you work on strengthening them long before the new season begins. The goal of our time at Sebring was to do just that. Ashton really worked on her race craft skills and passing drills, focusing on various racing scenarios that she can expect to find herself in this coming season. Of course, we also reviewed data after each session to learn where we could find more speed around the track, which is an additional benefit of off-season seat time.
We were lucky to have beautiful, sunny, warm weather and a really productive couple of days. I’m looking forward to helping Ashton continue her progress throughout the winter so that she will be in tip-top shape at the start of the season. If you’re looking to improve your skills this winter, too, then don’t forget to check out my new Coaching Archive!