How to CONTROL your Nerves??????
 

Hi guys,

some poeple might think that this thread is worthless because it has no technical issues or quetions but i think controlling your nerves and stayin cool while racing will help alot. who doesn't sweat, feel sick, shake while going up the drivers stand for an important heat/ sub final or a 60 minutes Amain?? i know i do :) i try my best to keep everything under control but man its hard.

i would like to know how you guys stay cool and calm yourselves down before a race?? my first international race experience was the 09 FEMCA in Kuala lumpur and man i shaked like an earth quake:lol: i messed up the first 3 minutes of each heat because of this.

any suggestions, advices, tips??

cheers

Ali

I can feel your pain!!!
I usually do really well my first heat and get progressively worse as the day goes on!

I race my best when I have no chance of winning!
Once I know I dont have any chance at winning I turn some of the best laps of the day but I just cant get rid of the nerves until there is no hope :(

Ativan....ask your DR.

+1 that stuff works, but the best medicine is jsut being prepared and having confidence in your equipment. If my engine is tuned and my car is working top notch them I am always cooler and much more prepared. Another thing I like to do is to drive the track a few times and then walk the track paying special attention to where I am having problems. The track can look completely different from the drivers stand than when you are on the ground walking it. Show up to open practice the day before and get your car dialed in setup, tires, engine tuning etc. The best way to calm the nerves is to be prepared and find confidence in it. If all else fails take a deep breath and pray. :cool:

man thats what am talking about, sometimes its only a control practice but you still feel the pressure rising and rising and no way to cool down, i know its the idea of racing, the adrenalin rush and all but sometimes it gets overwhelming so you start driving like $h.t and loose postions, and after its all messed up, you start running like you normally do, we need to know how to run at our top from the beggining. am not a full time rc driver neither at the same level of some of the guys in here, so i think i could learn from you guys alot of things to manage this issue.

cheers

ALi

Talk sh!t on the drivers stand maybe that will help. JK

It wouldnt be as much fun without the adrenaline pumping (nerves) What you need to do is figure out a way to enjoy the adrenaline and still drive good! Me I cant drive good no matter what, but I'll be damned if the Rush isn't the best part

yea thats always fun, just start joking and bullshitting with your buddies or whoever.

Hey Frank,

ill ask about the Ativan, and thanks for sharing your experience. and about the breathing thing, sometime i breath deeply where other drivers find no more Oxygen in the air :lol:

man the rush is there the night before the race so dont worry about loosing that part of the hobby.

yea i get the rush espially in 1/8 nitro buggy and i just stand on the drivers stand and think of something to relex me and take my time around the track,
and afterwards when im tune espially when its a close battle i my hand will shake but it does run in my family .

+1 You got it right....... for me it aint about winning, its about getting the adrenaline going even if I get rattled on the stand. Winning is nice but it aint what Makes me happy. It's about that rush of getting in the groove and staying in it as long as I can.

Staying Cool Calm and Collective on the stand comes with Year's of experience and not much more....some do it regardless of the skill level that are at....but most do away with the hand shakes and nerves after the first year or so i would say.

Not appropriate

yea but u can get addicted to that if u try that but i know what u mean i used to smoke when i was a teen

I chew gum...lol,and no matter how long you have been racing if you are in a tight ass battle you will get the nerves going.....

A good crank in the toilets always calms me down before a big race, :nod: nothing like knocking the top off then all calm and race ready :nod:

Remember there are young kids on here who need to know there are better ways to relax than using alcohol. Reefer is a natural plant that is controversial because of the tax dollars generated by Alcohol. If the govt. were to legalize "reefer"there would be a lot of space in the prisons for child molesters. now we wouldn't want that would we??? If you want to know where the sex offenders are you can find all of them in your neighborhoods, not prison. They have to leave room for people who sale a plant. You know a lot of cops think Alcohol is cool and "reefer" is bad ????? Aint that some sh-t?????? Sooooooo how do I feel about "reefer"??? Stay tuned for the next great adventure of REEFER MAN, and find out why the stars twinkle!

That Works.....:nod:

I'd like to know who doesn't get nervous.
It's funny how about 1.5 to 2 years ago I could run flawlessly in warm up, but as soon as the race started, I'd always get into a bad wreck on the 2nd or 3rd lap, and I'd spend the rest of the race catching up.
But then a not so funny thing happened to my family, Basically we found out that my dad was Dieing of End Stage Liver failure. The thought of losing my dad was inconceivable before then. After finding out about this I started thinking about my father a lot more, and how he has impacted my life. It also turns out that I did most of my thinking right before a race, and even though It almost brought me to tears to think about him, it helped calm me down and get rid of my race Jitters. And believe it or not I have knocked off several flawless runs this year with little to no mistakes. My Father passed away 11 months ago and I still think about him before every race, but instead of holding back the tears, I let a few slide out, I claim it's because of the Nitro fumes if anyone asks.:lol:
It's too bad that this was the way I was able quash my race jitters, but I like to think my dads watching me all the time, so I like to put on a show sometimes.
It's a special time in my life right now, I'm expecting my first child, he's due to arrive sometime next week and in Honor of my Father, I've decided to name him Paul Anthony Leibman.

Sorry to get all mushy on you guys:cry:

I'm gonna have to go find some Texas football fans and talk some smack to make up for this display of Un-manly-ness. Go Huskers!!!!

its all good man^^^^

I can honestly say I don't get nervous but then again I shot competition archery for a number of years and shaking was not good for hitting what you are aiming at so I jusy do the same thing u I did shooting archery block out everybody and everything and concintrate on what I have to do

I lost my Dad the same way in 2000. Sorry for your loss.If it helps you feel better sometimes talking about it will help make it almost enjoyable thinking about him at some point. As far as un-manlyness, I can tell already you are a real man and soon to be father! P.S. I'd rather hear a man talk about his Father anyday than Football.

Thanks, I appreciate it. anyway, sports threads get alot more heated then rc threads. So I stick to posting in rc threads, and just reading and laughing at sports threads.

Honestly, i bit put my lower lip between my teeth, and as soon as it starts, i probably bite it the whole race. I know, after the Proline race in October, my lip was hurting for a good week. It sucks, but it helps when i start driving stupid.

ETA- I learned to race in the moment. If you wreck, that moment has past. Just drive for that time, and dont worry about the past lap. Dont try to make up time, you will only cause more problems.

Drinking water during the race day def. helps compared to downing Mt. Dews.
Also selecting a nice playlist on your ipod works great too.

http://www.zoloft.com/

Dont ask how I know..............:blush::blush::blush::blush:

yea exacty some people act like its like the end of world if there team is losing
etc and its in rc to with people talking to seriously lol hint onroad electric hehe

everyone at our club seems to have a different way of dealing with the "pressure" of racing. some take it out on the marshalls quiatly and others do it loudly. some swear constatly and others wait until after the race and go and swear at they car. me i like to listen to music after a race and consentrate on my setup during a race. this helps me

you basicly just have to find your own way of containing those nerves. if you like you can try a different way of doing it during or after each heat. this will allow you to find out how you carm down and relax.

I also chew gum during a race, i never walk on the stand without some gum in my mouth, just seems to help me with nerves, and also having great mates around you at big races realy helps, talking sh#t is often a good destraction from the racing.

Not to sound like a smart behind--

But breathing steady helps. In and out, in and out. Normal pace. Keep's you smooth.

Partially agree here as experience makes it easier but does not take it away. 25 years into this hobby choose the non DR help, the only addidction i get is cant wait to the next race. Walking a track is great advice not only at the begging of the day but also between rounds as you see hows it evolving. A fully preped car & engine takes away those worries but hec during the heat of the moment when its all going write they still return, to be honest know thats when its going well. Normally im concentrating so hard i hold my breath, the shakes are a reminder to breath before i go blue & pass out. Think you will find we all do it even the super stars, its just the bodies way of showing pressure & arrenaline.

Drink lots of captain

Sombody sounds like a mama's boy

You can never be the best forever. One may be be the best for now but that will never last. You can only do your best. If you've done your best then you can't do anymore. What I've found helps is don't give a $h!T how you do. Don't expect yourself to be better than the other guy. If you are better than the other guy or if you finish well great but don't have those expectations of yourself. The nervousness for me was me letting myself down. Nervousness for me was performance anxiety. I was nervous that I was was not going finishing as well as I expected myself to finish or letting other drivers that I thought wasn't as good as me finish infront of me. If this doesn't work then imagine all the guys around you on the driver stand are wearing dressess and you're the only cool one there.

My legs aways shake when I'm doing well. I don't usually notice how badly, until the end of the race. There's been a few times where I nearly fell over because they were shaking so bad.

I have always had a small shake once I get on the stand. I usually calm down by 1-2 minutes into the race. I do small things like just saying something to the guy next to you. Even if he doesn't respond, it allows you to take your mind off the driving for just a second. It also helps me to remind myself to blink every time I come down the straightaway. It breaks up the thought process preventing me from worrying too about what happened last lap.

woow, i guess i'm not the only one shaking :)

i want to thank you all for your ideas and advices, i'm leaving on monday to Thailand for the Nitro party race, untill today, 204 racers registered with alot of big names, Hara, Savoya, Degani, Hudys, Bertin, Osaka and the list goes on and on.

i will use some of your advices there, specially the gum and the talking $h.t on the stand :lol: not a big fan of drugs so i wont be taking any anti dipression pills.......

thanks again

Ali

+ 10 on the gun a good sweet piece always clams me down :spidey:

There have only been a few times where I was "nervous" during a race. I'm not a nervous or anxious person at all. I'm generally very confident in myself and what I am doing.

I do get the adrenaline rush every time I'm on the stand, more so during my main.