The Red Helmet

“Grand Prix racing is primarily a mental contest… it’s a battle of strength of wills by the combatants. Perhaps in this ‘theatre of speed’, F1 is a metaphor for life itself”

THE RED HELMET

THE MIND, THE “TOP TWO INCHES” OF THE GREAT GRAND PRIX DRIVERS

"There are only three sports: bullfighting, mountain climbing and motor racing; all the rest are merely games."
- Ernest Hemingway

"The driver is expected to explore the inner places of his desire by taking everything to this limit...to translate it into a sublime peak only he can reach; but the trouble is they're all doing it.... on a narrow ribbon of track, together."

- fine writing by Christopher Hilton in his fascinating book Inside the Mind of a Grand Prix Driver,
Haynes Publishing 2003 (first published as a hardcover in 2001)

"All drivers are united by a passion for what they do. They express it in different ways, as you would expect, because they are fiercely independent and ambitious men drawn from every continent and every background. But the message transcends everything."

Submitter’s Note
This “work, this true labour of passion and love” follows on my other e-books on motor racing and specifically Formula One (they are ‘The Mind of a Grand Prix Driver, Stirling, The Prize, The Grand Prize, The Formula One Mind, God and Formula One, The Winning Way, The White/Red/BlueYellow/Silver, etc Helmets.

Obsessive or WHAT!.

Here are some of my notes from research into many books about the very best Grand Prix drivers (of all time). Other (many and varied) sources are from racing magazines, newspaper cuttings with quotes from drivers, many unknown . Enjoy my shared "true labours of passion and love".

"We share what we know, so that we all may grow."

craig
*
THE MIND (MINDSET) OF THE FASTEST GRAND PRIX DRIVERS ON PLANET EARTH

"It's like a cure for everything. It doesn't matter what problems you have - financial, in your personal life - and it doesn't matter, if you feel really ill. All that goes away and only you sitting in this protective cell, this cockpit remains. I have never felt anything like this in any other way and only driving at the limit gives it to you."

- former Swedish Ferrari F1 driver, Stefan Johansson from 'Inside the Mind of a Grand Prix Driver' , a most interesting (and fascinating at least to me!) book that I’m currently reading and researching

Does the racing driver think in a different way from us “ordinary people”?

They are not like you and I...yet we can ALL learn from them at the very pinnacle of achievement...

GREAT GRAND PRIX DRIVERS ALL have:

* Great DESIRE and passion

"I realised the thing which made me tick was the winning."

“The desire to win is very powerful. It starts as a hobby that they become very good at, and then it becomes a profession.”

“You have the desire and the passion.”
“Those who lack mental resilience fall away.”
“The struggle is a measure of the driver's desire.”
"I think of all drivers as pie charts. That can be determination, sheer natural talent, technical understanding, PR, personality, whatever. You can have massive reserves of natural talent; but it's the hunger, it's the need, that's the dividing factor."

How much do you want this?

“And if you don't want it that much, you're automatically eliminated.”

* Excellent mind-management skills

“This was the reason why I was so strong in my head. There was no mystery: you can do it. But how you prepare your brain and yourself to do this all the time, that I still don't know.”

"In his mind he was so strong. Ayrton had the invincibility in a slightly different way, because he was religious and he was protected by God."
- Johnny Herbert

* A rigid self belief - no doubting one's self.

“Before you believe in anything, you have to believe in yourself.”

"Every driver believes he is the best."

I'll keep adding to my notes in this "true labour of love". Enjoy

craig

17th Jan 2011

“I don’t want to live a balanced life. Racing is all I want to do.”
- Mario Andretti (World Drivers Champion in 1978)