5. Under pressure, people rely on the judgement they've already built

I’m a pretty ordinary driver, but my race car was a forgiving old thing - it would move underneath you, chattering constantly to tell you what it was up to as you tried your hardest to push the limits. And now, through the slow right hander, the car was wriggling gently as it struggled to put its power down.

​

But then it twitched.

 

And in the moment, I wasn't consciously thinking, or analysing the situation. There wasn't time. My hands had already caught a slide before I'd fully understood what had happened. Years of experience had recognised the problem and found the right answer. I corrected the car, backed off, cut the engine, coasted and pulled over.

​

I was soon out of the car and it didn’t take long for the problem to reveal itself. The left rear wishbone had a great big crack in it. Not yet snapped in half, but nearly.

​

And as I stood there watching the rest of the race roar past, it struck me how little conscious thought had been involved. The decision had already been made before I'd mentally caught up with it.

​

Playing the incident back afterwards and trying to understand what happened and more importantly why showed what years of previous experience had already built. That under pressure, I didn't rise to the occasion. And I didn’t fall apart either. I just fell back on the judgement I'd already built.