Once you have done all the hard work of Preparation of your car, as well as preparing yourself, then by raising your level of Fitness and Skill, you will be approaching your first event with enthusiasm, with an expectation of some level of success. However, to achieve success, and to continue to excel, you will also need to be highly Motivated. This applies to any Sport or Competition, but especially to those peak activities like Driving in a Race.

"Motivation is the psychological and physical drive that pushes you to pursue your goals and dreams. It is the urge to do what feels right and to make it happen no matter what it takes. Being motivated means putting in enormous physical and mental effort towards reaching your goals.

The two main types of motivation are extrinsic and intrinsic motivation.

Extrinsic motivation means participating in racing because you hope to gain prestige, social support and some sort of tangible reward in the form or prize money or a trophy.

Intrinsic motivation means participating in racing because you enjoy the sport immensely and the satisfaction you gain from performing your best.

So, are you more extrinsically? or intrinsically? motivated, or both?

Depending on many variables, there may be times when you are more extrinsically motivated, and other times when you are more intrinsically motivated.

For example, there may be occasions when you are getting pressure from sponsors, fans, family and the media to win. Or there may be occasions when you are under financial pressure. To cope with these external pressures, you may shift to being extrinsically motivated.

If this situation persists, you may disregard the meaningful reasons why you started the sport of racing. Furthermore, you may compromise your driving performance, and your perception of your capabilities is likely to decline.

To stay on the track of success, it is advantageous to be primarily intrinsically motivated and to value winning (extrinsic motivation) as a demonstration of the meaningfulness of effort, sacrifice, and victory.

Encouragement from family, friends and your race team goes a long way in boosting your motivation (extrinsic). However, if you are driven within you will attain more inner satisfaction from the benefits of skill development and the joys of competitive racing.

Some of the qualities of highly motivated and champion athletes are determination, patience, discipline and confidence. The inner motivated athlete has the capacity to handle failure as a challenge or as an opportunity for change.

In spite of the fact that the best athletes are highly paid, prestige or money does not motivate most. Instead, they are motivated by their passion to excel beyond their perceived capabilities and to experience that feeling of doing one’s best over and over.

This spectacular inner feeling is referred to as being in a state of optimal performance, or having a peak performance, or being in the zone or in the flow.

In this state, momentarily you switch off everything except driving on the track. All of your senses are in tune, and you and your car are working together harmoniously. You are alert and confident.

Because you are so immersed in driving well and having fun, you are neither bored nor anxious. Your concentration is so focused that there is no opportunity to think of potentially dangerous situations, winning, losing, or impressing others.

• difficulty coping with the pressures of competition • fear of failure or success

• feelings of worthlessness • calling yourself "lazy", "hopeless"

To know your motivation, take the time to answer these important questions.

Your responses will serve as a reminder to fuel your motivation in difficult times.

0 1 2 3 4 5
none very high

In general, if your arousal level is too low, that means you may be bored, over-confident, or need stimulation —thus, an unmotivated, flat performance.

If your arousal level is too high you may be very anxious or tense —thus a poor performance.

When your arousal level is just right and you are driving optimally and having fun, you are experiencing a "peak performance". Depending on the type of sport, athletes vary in their level of arousal and in their level of performance.

The relationship between racing performance and arousal

Adapted from an article in the Autumn 2000 "CAMS Report", By Patricia Concha, Psychologist, (Sports Psychology Consultant) E-mail: zoot@acay.com.au