How to Structure a Kart Practice Day (Stop Driving Empty Laps)

Driving empty laps on a kart practice day, it's just a huge crime that I don't want my drivers to do, and I don't want to do myself. I mean, you should structure your practice days in a way that you know you'll have improved and you'll have learned massively at the end of that day.

If you are not practicing like that, are you really practicing? Are you really improving?

That is the question I ask myself, and that is the question I ask my drivers. Every day you should have a goal on what you should work on, on where you should improve, on which areas to improve.

What's the goal for today?

If you're learning a new track, obviously the first goal would be to just, you know, get out there and drive around the track and find the reference points, the racing line, and then obviously push your limits further and further so that you go beyond the limit and then you eventually get back to the limit. Of course, that's one thing you want to do on a new track, but let's say you're driving on a track you've been driving already multiple times, either you're preparing a race the upcoming week, or you're just driving to keep yourself in shape and ready for whatever race coming up. So you always need to have an idea of what you're looking for.

Are you just trying to train to get your body in shape for an upcoming race? Are you trying to train to find a new setup for that track? Are you trying to train to find an engine setting, or trying a different engine and comparing against your other current engines? Or the same could be on the chassis. Are you trying some new setup that you're trying to fix based on the previous races, and trying to come up with a solution to maybe your common problem, which may be having too much grip, or maybe you're sliding too much, or not enough front grip, or too much front grip, etc.

You should always have an idea of what you're working on. Of course, the track conditions are rarely going to be the same between the testing and the race day, but you should have an idea of what you should work on. So when I see drivers, I repeat, that are just driving empty laps on the track again and again, clueless of what they're doing, clueless of what they're working on, if they know they are working on anything, obviously that's going to be wasted opportunities, which will take many regrets later on.

Two ways to pick the day's goal: reactive or pre-planned

Okay, so how do you even structure a day, and what are you going to be working on? So one of the way to do that is to react to where you're currently losing time, for example. So after the session one, let's say you notice that you're losing a lot in the slow speed corners because, you know, you're braking early, either just by evidence of the data, or maybe just your mechanic or your coach is noticing that, because obviously you may not be able to get the data from other drivers. So if that's one thing that you notice, okay, and they notice around you, then, okay, that's gonna be one area that you should be working on, the slow speed corners, probably because the braking is not late enough and hard enough. So that's one of the things you should work on, based on how you have the first session or two. So that's kind of like reacting to what's happening in the sessions, early sessions, and really having a reaction approach to where you're currently losing. So that's one way to do that.

Or you could have a pre-planned approach of practicing that day. For example, you can say, okay, you know what, in the previous race that I did, I wasn't very confident on the brakes. I felt like whether it's me or the kart, I just couldn't brake as late as I wanted to. So my next practice day is, I'm just going to focus relentlessly on building that confidence on the brakes. And so that's going to be on my priority list. I'm going to just drive myself into the grass, out-braking myself as much as I could, to build that, let's say, braking skill, that braking muscle, by building that muscle memory and that confidence in the kart, in myself. So then I can go to the race and have way more confidence. So that's one way to pre-plan the work.

You know, for example, I am going to probably compete at SKUSA SuperNats in Las Vegas, and obviously the track will be extremely low grip. So what I'm planning already, even though the race is in three months, is to go and practice in tracks with very low grip, because I know that Las Vegas, since it's in a parking lot, is going to be very low grip too. So I'm going to try to adapt myself in driving in those conditions, which, of course, I can't go and train in parking lots anywhere. I need to just try to find the track here in northern Italy which has very low grip, and try to drive around that, try to do many laps, and try to really find the, you know, lap time. But not only in terms of that, I'm just trying to build that skill, that muscle memory skill, let's say, of driving in low grip conditions, because I'm preparing for a race that is going to have extremely low grip conditions. So that's basically one way to structure a training day towards your goal.

Using setup as a training tool

You know, I've also had another day where I focus on reducing my center of gravity massively, because I would want to reduce the drag on the straights, but also to reduce, like I say, the grip level. So I just mounted a seat which put me very low on the seat, and, you know, reduce the air drag but also to reduce the grip level. And, of course, it was quite extreme, because it made me slide so much. But I knew that was just a, let's say, learning, it was like a training for me, to then drive in a track that had a lot of grip, and I would just be used to kind of sliding in a way, so that I knew, when the track would arrive with more grip, I would have a setup that would be way better for that high grip conditions, because my kart would be nice and low in terms of center of gravity.

So, of course, I also moved the seat forward in order to free up the rear. So I had very little traction, but I knew that I had a lot of rotation. And I also knew that I could generate, you know, not so much grip as I wanted to, but at least I knew that the moment I would go new tires, or the grip level came from the track, I would find so much performance in myself, because of just the way that the kart was designed in terms of setup.

So, when you have a clear idea where you want to work on, based on your current weakness in a way, or maybe not really weakness, maybe you just really have to adapt your setup because maybe you're very tall, or maybe because you're very short, or maybe because you're a bit heavy, and so we need to kind of like find a way to tune the setup specifically for your body. So yeah, that's one way to look at, you can go driving on a random track day just to practice driving on a different setup, so that you can kind of get used to it and build, let's say, familiarity, and that muscle memory, in like knowing that you'll have to drive a slippery kart, so that when the grip comes you are at the advantage. Or the vice versa: you need to build a bit more grip in that kart, so that when the track slides you have a bit more performance.

I like to have always like one kart that has a bit more grip, one kart which is a bit more, let's say, free.

And that's a good way for me to just go and practice, because, you know, it's, uh, based on what I need, I'm gonna use that kart. But also I need to practice different grip conditions, so I always like to have two karts with different setups to test and practice on.

Training the body: race fit, not gym fit

But let's say we're not working on the setup, let's just say we're working on the driver, on yourself. As I do on myself, for example, if I want to just train my body, you know what I will do is I will strap some weights on my helmet, so that I artificially make my helmet heavier, and so it makes it way harder for me to drive without helmet, and I feel like I'm gonna, you know, lose my head every lap. But then that kind of builds my neck muscles massively compared to just driving with a very light helmet.

So, you know, if your goal is exactly to just build some conditioning, and, you know, stamina, and, you know, just like sport-specific training, well then you can just go and do laps, almost like doing empty laps, and just trying to obviously get some, as I said, conditioning for this sport, because, you know, you don't want to be gym fit.

You want to be race fit, you know, and it's really hard to get driving fit. You only can drive to get driving fit.

Yes, you can do some forearms training, some, you know, core stability training, and obviously some really very helpful full endurance training: running, cycling, swimming, etc. But at the end of the day, you know, you can't really train all those muscles that you train in the kart unless you're driving. So training the neck, training the forearms, but training also the rib cage muscles that basically support you in the seat and support you holding you up against the G-forces. So, I mean, all these muscles, you're not going to train them if you drive on the track, and you can't really train them much on the gym.

So if your only goal is to get fit ahead of a race, then fine, I mean, just go out and just do laps. But the goal would be to have at least, you know, one more goal. For example, okay, fitness is one, but the other should be at least like trying to get as close as possible to your theoretical best, trying to do more laps within the, you know, optimal lap time, trying to get that consistency, you know, as high as possible, therefore reducing the standard deviation number.

Reflect at the end of every session

So you should have multiple goals, but obviously not too many, like, okay, the fitness always run in the background in terms of fitness goal. But you should always, in my opinion, try to, at the end of the session, reflect on your session, and be like, okay, how good was that session? I mean, how close was I to my theoretical best? Did I optimize and use everything I could from my kart, from the tires, from the track? You know? And how many laps was I able to do that, was it just one lap by chance, I got lucky, or am I able to replicate it again and again? You know, that's really the goal.

So you also want to see, at the end of the session, is my lap time fading? You know, is my stint getting worse, or is it getting better? If it's getting worse, most of the times it's going to be you getting tired, not the kart getting slower. Yeah, sometimes the track gets worse. Like, mostly it's not the track, it's like, the karts, maybe the tires get a bit worse, the water of the radiator gets a bit too hot. But the reality is that most of the time it's just the driver just, like, kind of collapses. And, you know, especially the drivers who are not very experienced, who are not very fit for the track, they see that after 10 laps they're kind of dead, and they start to drop off their lap times. They started making big mistakes. They need some cool-down laps. As it's my case, you know what, I'm not driving for a long time, but it's like for everybody, especially in the hot conditions, but it's a bit like what everybody has.

Take note of your progress

So if you have a day like that, where you're just working on something, you need to take care of your progress. Have a look, how good you're getting from session to session. Of course, if your only goal is fitness, you know, you can't really track it from session to session. You will have to track it on a daily or a weekly basis. You know, you're always going to get tired during the day, so your end of the day will not be as fast as the beginning of the day most of the times, unless the track obviously gets much better, or you're going on your new tire.

So I normally see that the sweet spot is at the end of the morning, in terms of lap times, for most drivers, because then they start to get a bit tired in the afternoon. So if you want to go on your tires, better go at like 11 a.m. instead of 3 p.m., because then it's too late. Yes, you may have more performance from the kart, but you will have less performance from the driver. So the goal is to hit the sweet spot with everything: driver, tires, kart, etc. So if you can always track your progress in a day that you're driving out to achieve a specific goal or to get better at anything, you know, you will never be perfect.

If your goal is to train low grip conditions, you're never going to be perfect. You're gonna probably be better at the end of the day, especially if you push yourself to drive in those low grip conditions, but you won't be perfect. So you have to try, even though it's hard to track. How can you track your improvements on low grip conditions? Not really possible. But maybe you can track your, again, consistency, because the more consistent you are, it means the less mistakes you make, and so it means the more familiar and better you are in those conditions.

Or if your goal is to improve your braking, in terms of, first, being able to brake later. Okay, okay, if you are able to brake later than other sessions you did, you can easily track that on the data. Have I managed to brake later the other laps in general? Did I still manage to make the apex? Did I still manage to make the corner? Yes or not? Okay, well, we have that possibility on PURPL, to see your braking repeatability, so in terms of how hard you brake, but also in terms of how late you brake. So you can have all that view, it's really cool. So you can have a clear idea of what you need to work on, and whether you are actually progressing.

But yeah, again, you won't be perfect at the end of the day. Even if you practice 150 laps braking the latest, braking the hardest, and the most efficient, and try to also be as consistent as possible, it's not going to be perfect. At the end of the lap you will see, how do we work on that other days. You're going to be like, okay, I'm done, my skill is, uh, maxed out, I don't have to improve anymore. It's not true, you will always have to improve. So you can't really be like, oh, I'm at the best of my braking skill's ability and I can't improve anymore. No. And, of course, there's a lot of adaptability required in this, because every day, every session, every track condition is going to be different, so you won't be able to brake at the same time every session or every lap. But that's why it's so important to be flexible and adaptable. But anyways, try to keep track of all your progressions and on the areas that you're trying to work on.

Practicing racecraft on a busy day

I like to always, always have a day with a purpose, not really an empty laps day. If you want to practice racecraft, and you have some other driver on the track you want to do that with, you can do that. Or if you just want to practice improving your overtaking technique by getting as close as possible to the drivers on the brakes, well, you can easily do that by just picking a busy day on the track and just brushing the other driver's side pods every time you overtake, even though you may not need that.

But you need to get used to that. You need to get accustomed to overtaking and opening up the lines, because that's what you will need when you will try to win a WSK or CIK-FIA race. You will try to overtake, losing as little time as possible, so you can catch the other driver in front instead of losing one second for an overtake.

So that's really a superpower, a meta skill that you need. And how do you develop it? I mean, by not just thinking about it, by actually going out and doing it.

Of course, if you drive on a track day where there's nobody on the track, of course it's going to be hard for you to even work on that overtaking technique. You probably won't be overtaking anybody. So if you can get yourself in the mix of a bunch of drivers, for sure it's way better than if you're driving alone. But also, when you're driving alone, there's still lots of things you can work on, and still lots of ways to get faster and improve as a driver.

It compounds

So remember, you don't want to drive empty laps with days that you're clueless of what you want to work on. Everyone has things to work on. Even F1 drivers, they have to work on their driving, but they also know they want to improve their car. So, you know, you may have to work on both things at the same time, and that's totally fine. That's basically what I try to all the time. I try to improve myself, trying to improve the kart. I every day come up with ideas on how I can improve the kart. And at the end of the day, it just compounds. And at the end of the week, and at the end of the season, it just compounds into solid gains and driving improvements, which takes you to the other level and puts you apart from all the other drivers on the paddock, which ultimately turns you into an alien, a driver who sets purple sectors and laps every single time.

So go out and try PURPL, get busy, start seeing your sessions coming alive, and enjoy that. Let me know how it goes. Remember to keep sending it, and go purple. Ciao.