How to improve your results in a regularity time trial
Practising? It helps, but without overdoing it. To get satisfaction in regularity time trials all you need to do is to keep a few simple things in mind
The news is that there are no textbook rules. Much less miraculous methods or secret shortcuts. And it matters little if the expert I asked for advice from has shown at first glance a great predisposition for this discipline and has won two Italian regularity championships – in 2016, in the “Alternative Energies” category, and in 2017 in the “Topcar” category: Fabio Loperfido, 42, is adamant. “Everyone with their own personalities and attitudes must look for the technique of passage on the pressostats that best suits them”, he decrees without any possibility of appeal. And he has certainly not been slow to find it, his technique: in 2010, when he was just starting out, he had already won the Italian Trophy Regularity Group Cup. Not to mention last October, when at his first time at the Mille Miglia he arrived 15th, with co-driver Simone Calosi, in a spectacular 1934 Fiat Balilla Coppa d’Oro.
A matter of chemistry. And for those who don’t have the ambition to win a championship but simply want to enjoy their classic car without embarrassing themselves at rallies or in a regularity trials? “The results depend on many factors. The affinity, first of all: if driver and navigator don’t know each other or don’t have a good chemistry, everything becomes difficult”, Fabio explains. “It’s also a matter of vibes, besides the fact that the other person must have the same vision for the trial as you and the same goals. You need everyone to be on the same page, trust each other and make sacrifices together. Then slowly you get to know each other”.
The power of the mind. According to the enthusiasts, “in this sport, it is very important to develop one’s own personal psychophysical path over the years, because 50% of the result is obtained by working on oneself. During a regularity time trial, the mental input lasts for several hours, with peaks of maximum concentration. That’s why you have to know how to dose the effort. Also because if there is a secret, it is to be “regular”, as the word itself says. Out of 50 time trials, for example, you can score 49 zeros and maybe a 300 on one trial, spoiling the final result. It is better to have 50 good, regular time trials, and in the end you’ll get good results. Employing an obviously reliable and well-tuned vehicle”.
The fleeting moment. And the technical part? “With time you learn how to use the tools, everything is to be studied step by step. And the great thing is that everyone can improvise, be inventive. The aspect that I appreciated the most about this sport is that you can be 18 or 70 years old, but you alone make the difference”, explains the expert from Taranto. If you want, the rules require the use of “viewfinders” that help you feel safer when passing over the pressure switches. They are simple strips of adhesive tape placed at a point where they can be seen well – usually on the window if the car is closed – and that help to intercept the precise moment in which the wheels pass over the tubes. “They are useful, I use them, but the fundamental thing is to develop an exact perception of perfect timing. You learn it with patience, and it’s precisely patience that must be at the base of the course because the achievements don’t come immediately”, the enthusiast continues. “Another quality you have to arm yourself with is determination, because even when you don’t improve you have to persevere. Everything depends on perseverance and commitment: never as in this case does the rule of “will is power” apply”.
More confident to the finish-line. One of the worst things to do while aiming to improve regularity time trial achievements is diving into a training overdose: “The aim of the training is acquiring a repetitive and confident way of acting during the trial in order to initiate all actions without the need to improvise. It’s not important if they don’t happen perfectly, what really matters is feeling self confident as only with that, can you achieve the necessary calm to do the right things and in the best way. To not so so would have you arrving at the start repeatedly hesitating and thinking about what to do. While if you do a lot of practice, it means that you are immediately searching for a good result but the more you do that, concentrating on detailed execution, the more you do everything in an innatural way”. Fabio, who combined regularity with his passion for historic cars, doesn’t have any doubt: “Instead of overthinking about what doesn’t make you perfect, it’s much better to acquire a technical flow during practice, in order to easily apply it in all competition conditions. I recall that as a beginner I used to have a lot of anxiety, which made me do everything very quickly because “If I make a mistake, I need to recover”, I used to tell myself. Therefore, I was always starting with the terrible thought that I was going to make a false move, while now, compared to how I competed at the time it feels like I am taking a relaxed stroll with my car”.
© UNAUTHORIZED REPRODUCTION FORBIDDEN