Use many cues to avoid trouble on track.
Experts in practically every activity, including performance and race driving, are better at pattern matching than non-experts.
The best racers do not get involved in as many crashes as others because they recognize a pattern that says, “I’ve seen this before, and it usually turns out bad, so I’m going to position myself in a way that allows me to adapt.”
A newly-licensed 16-year-old doesn’t recognize the pattern of a car on a side street not slowing, and gets T-boned when the other driver runs the stop sign. A driver with decades of experience (assuming they’re not looking at their phone!) would notice the lack of deceleration from the other car and know what’s likely to happen.
A friend who had been very successful in business (founding and taking two tech companies public) once told me that his ability to see patterns in things led to him making millions of dollars. I coached him when he started racing in his 40s, and I noticed a pattern, myself: drivers who learn quickly are good at pattern-matching. In some ways, learning is really just a form of pattern-matching.
I’ve noticed another tendency with the drivers I’ve coached: pattern-matching is a skill that can be learned and improved. Okay, I would not be surprised if there is a gene in some people’s DNA that makes this skill easier to access and use, but I’m also sure that certain activities develop it.
I used to play a lot of tennis. When I was about to receive a serve, I would notice how the ball was being tossed by my opponent just prior to it being hit, indicating which side of the service box it would land. Depending on the angle and arc the head of his racquet followed as it struck the ball, there would be a clue as to what type of spin the ball would have on it. When added to the picture of where the ball was heading, I would begin to move in one direction or the other, while preparing the backswing of my racquet. With a ball approaching at 100-ish MPH, there was no other way of reacting quickly enough to return a serve. It was my anticipation of where the ball was going to go that made this even remotely possible. But I had to recognize the pattern, and that was something I couldn’t do when I first began hitting fuzzy yellow balls over a net. I developed whatever pattern-matching skills I had, and got better and better at it.
A couple of years ago, my wife and I were fortunate enough to attend Wimbledon, and were incredibly honored to have been given tickets to sit in seats directly behind Center Court. From my seat, I could see Novak Djokovic on the opposite end of the court almost as if I was about to receive serve from him. I found that this pattern-matching skill had not completely left me, even though it had been decades since I’d used it in competition: I could still, most times, predict where the ball he was serving would go, just as he hit it.
When I wasn’t playing tennis as a kid, I was at a race track. Okay, I did go to school, too, but that’s not important. And more accurately, when I wasn’t at a race track, I was playing tennis (and working on cars in my dad’s shop, or playing other sports). From the age of five to around fifteen, most of my racing experience was spent spectating at short ovals, from quarter- to half-mile tracks. One of the great things about that type of racing is that, as a spectator, you can see everything. The entire track is within view, and if you pay attention, you can begin to predict when a particular driver was setting up a pass, and in what corner, on what lap, it was going to happen. I recognized these patterns by the time I was a ten-year-old, often annoying any nearby adults by verbalizing what was going to happen before it happened.
How does this happen? It starts with desire, a strong one. If you’re casually watching, some of the cues that make up a pattern will sink in, but not to the same level as if you really, really, really… want to notice it.
I wanted to notice the patterns so that I could then put them in my mind at night and dream about doing the same things. It mattered. I wanted so badly to race cars, and mostly, I wanted to be prepared. Obviously, being only half-way to the age of being able to race, I didn’t know what I was doing; I didn’t realize I was deliberately practicing to do something that would prove to be so valuable to my racing career.
There were drivers who were faster than me when I raced professionally, but I was able to beat many of those faster drivers by “out-racing” them. In other words, my racecraft — the ability to set up and make passes, strategize the positioning of my car in relation to others — was better, resulting in finishing in front of faster drivers. It all came down to pattern-matching, something I’d learned from watching hundreds of oval track races.
You will never be good at pattern-matching without first being aware, and again, this is a something that can be practiced and improved. I’ve challenged drivers I coach to practice this when driving on the road. Admit it, there are times when your mind is not fully engaged in the act of driving when commuting from home to your workplace, or just about anywhere else. Sure, sometimes it is, but sometimes it’s not. Think about what percentage of the time you’re thinking about work, family, vacations, hobbies, the music playing or driving on track when you’re driving in the city or on a freeway.
Now, flip that. Deliberately focus on being more aware of every little thing going on around you, and notice when there’s some kind of pattern. Look for them. They may not be obvious at first, but they’re there. You just have to pay attention to see them.
Deliberately predict what other drivers are going to do, all around you. Are they hugging one side of a lane or the other; are they moving from side to side? Is their speed consistent, or varying unpredictably (but you’re beginning to predict the unpredictability)? What are the drivers behind you doing? Is it obvious (even slightly so) that one or more of them want to pass you, or seem happy to stay there?
But you knew all of this already, didn’t you? You’ve noticed the patterns.
Ross Bentley
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Ross Bentley has spent a lifetime helping drivers go faster. He’s the author of the Speed Secrets books (the best-selling racing series ever), is one of the most sought-after driver coaches in the world, and runs SpeedSecrets.com, the largest collection of driver development resources anywhere. Want more articles like this? Subscribe at RossBentley.Substack.com.
