[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:06] Speaker B: You're listening to the Motorsport Prospects Podcast.
Hey, it's Mark from Motorsport Prospects and welcome to the Motorsport Prospects podcast. This is where we dive into the world of motorsport with the people who live and breathe it. From driver coaches and sponsorship experts, to team owners, pro drivers and more. You'll hear real stories, practical advice and insights you can actually use, whether you're just starting out or already chasing success on the track. Now, I've been asked why I started Motorsport Prospects. I found Motorsport Prospects in the Verified by Motorsport Prospects designation after hearing the same question time and again from drivers, aspiring drivers, their families and advisors. And that was who? Who can I trust? Many have struggled to find reliable guidance, so I created Motorsport Prospects to help them make informed decisions. The professionals I feature on this podcast represent that trust. If you work with drivers or race teams, building trust is one of the most important things you can do. Over the years, I found that being clear about what you offer, following through on your promises and genuinely caring about your clients goals makes all the difference.
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My guest today is Enzo Mucci. Enzo is a long standing motorsport mental performance coach who works in all levels of the sport from karting to F1. He's the founder of Base Mental Fitness, a modern system for training the mind like a muscle so it performs as required and it launches this year.
Welcome to the Motorsport Prospects Podcast. Enzo, thanks so much for taking the time out to speak to me.
[00:02:02] Speaker A: That's great buddy. And you've actually done your research, it's up to date. Yeah, yeah. Like you say, the base is, is my baby. It's, it's the thing that I'm spending most of the time on. But it's not launched yet. So you've got your finger properly on
[00:02:14] Speaker B: the pulse and there's, and there's a couple of them, we'll chat about this. But you have a couple of things the go that, that I want people to be aware of. But yeah, base is your big one coming up.
So let's start with the very simple, but as I always like to say, not always straightforward question and that is based on your experience and expertise as a motorsport professional, what would be the one most important piece of advice you could offer a current or aspiring race driver?
[00:02:46] Speaker A: Okay. My advice is more to do with the driver that sat in the seat at the time, rather than a global thing. It's very precise, but it is really applicable. And I keep speaking about it every day is learn your craft, go deep into your craft in terms of learn how to drive. And it sounds so damn basic. And like, yeah, obviously, but. But you'd be surprised at the amount of people and drivers, nearly all of them, that are so worried and obsessed, if you like, about the result and being P1, and am I doing good? Am I good enough? What's dad thinking? And all this, that they're not keeping their eye on the actual skill of driving a car. And it's surprising, but this is all the way up F1, down to Carting. Like I say, as soon as they get anxious about their level, oh, I'm too old. I'm 17. And Max Verstappen was already in F1 by then. As soon as they start to do all them kind of things, it's nearly game over. And they put pressure on themselves to rush and they haven't got the patience to actually be good at what they're supposed to be good at. And honestly, it's what I'm seeing more and more of now. And I. And I don't know if it's a generational thing or maybe it's always been there, but going around a.
A parking lot that was empty, just practicing gear shifting was something you did back in the day, right? And you just pound it and just put some cones out and stuff, because you really want to get the basics down. Now it's all about, I need to be as fast as the top guy, otherwise I'm going to blame the team, right? And I constantly see it. And obviously they've got pressure from parents and everything, so why are you not P1, you know, used to beat him in Carlton and things like this. So I think most of my time now is like, right, let's. Let's bit Mr. Miyagi. Let's go and paint the fence for an hour, right? Because what you'll learn is really going to help you. So that, honestly. And it. It stands for life itself. I think that's why it's a bit deeper than just the person, the driver, focusing on the actual brake shapes and things. It's more like, let's just get your head at doing what you've got to do in front of you. Get lost in the process and really go deep and be good at what you do. Because no matter who you look at in the world if they're at the top of their game, whether it's an Elon Musk or whoever, they're not just good at marketing. They are so specked up on their industry and what they're doing.
And that's the difference I see with Max.
When you look at Max, he is. I think he knows way more than all of the drivers combined about how to get the best out of a car, not just how to drive it, but the engineer inside, right. And Kimi Raikkonen was the same, so it's something. And Schumacher as well. They're like engineers on wheels.
So sorry, it's a bit long winded.
[00:05:28] Speaker B: No, that's.
[00:05:28] Speaker A: But really, it's like, come on, get your head on the craft and really spend your hours not going to the gym, but actually learning what you've got to do and getting good at it. And it pays dividends at the end.
[00:05:40] Speaker B: And I wonder if that, if that ties into one of the things that I've noticed is. And again, I don't know if it's a generational thing, but, you know, some drivers, once they're done qualifying or whatever it is at the track, they. They hightail it out of there. They're either back at the hotel, back at home, whatever it is. And then there's others that actually stick around, offer to help the mechanics, just want to be part of the team and do what they have. And you see videos of stuff like this where you'll see drivers, you know, high level drivers actually helping out, working on the cars and just being a kind of a. Almost like a gopher. Is that part of that as well?
[00:06:25] Speaker A: Yeah, I agree. It's linked. Yeah. It's kind of when they're just worried about where they're going to eat tonight, like where's where we'll have dinner. And I'm like, well, we haven't done the proper debrief yet.
So it's. It. You get it all the way up and it's kind of. It's a bit of an escape. You know, some of them, they work really hard when they're there and the windows are there and they just need that escape. So, okay, you have to. It's case by case.
[00:06:47] Speaker B: Right.
[00:06:48] Speaker A: But in general, if you've got someone who is staying behind and not even out helping the mechanics, they're more like going through their own data, wondering what they did on that lap, just picking the brains of the engineer now and then. It just shows they, they care. And when you care and you're putting Them extra one hour a weekend in. It's amazing how that stacks up. Right, right.
So some, some teams will go, go, you know, get out of the way. We don't want the customers here. We want to work on the car. Fair enough. But, yeah, it's. It's how much time you put into it, and that's usually a good sign for how much they want it as well.
[00:07:21] Speaker B: And how does this tie in? We mentioned at the beginning, your base mental performance, how much does that tie into the. The mental part of this?
[00:07:30] Speaker A: It's. It's massively linked, actually, because the. The base mental fitness is basically. It's very different to what I'm sort of known for in terms of getting drivers to the top.
If you. If you keep peeling back the layers and see what I actually do with the driver, it's different. Designing the mind so it's more applicable for the goal. So we find out what their goal is, which is usually F1 or whatever it is. Then it's like, okay, who's the person that can achieve that? What's their personal skills and how do we train them every day?
And that's really what I do. So I started off as a general driver coach in the 90s, and that was more turn here, you know, apex there. But I noticed probably in the early 2000s, and for my own driving, it was more what's in the head that makes the big difference. And that's when I started to really get deep in that and learning the science, as many methods as I could. And eventually you come up with your own little method.
And so what I came up with was, I want to treat this like physical fitness.
So you get the goal, you know what they want. Someone wants to lose weight, someone wants to get muscly, whatever it is, planning for a marathon, you bring that to anything in life. What is it you want to achieve in life?
And okay, now we've got to not build the body, we've got to build the brain that can do that. Like, what are the main skills? What are the personal things that hold you back? Confidence or whatever. We call them mental muscles. So everything is from this, from. Taken from the physical training world and put over to the mental training world. We use reps, so they do reps every day of that particular muscle. They're growing. And everything's basically towards body bodybuilding, but for brain building.
[00:09:09] Speaker B: Oh, okay.
[00:09:09] Speaker A: So that's what Bass really is. So some people may be my concentrations. Crap. Okay, let's put in a training program that every single day trains the, the concentration and the focus. And they just do one or two reps per day. One's a mental rep and one's a physical world rep to train it. And then after each week, we do a debrief. Is it better? Do we need to change the reps? So really it's fitness training for the rain.
So it's. It's everything I do with a driver, but it's for everyone.
[00:09:36] Speaker B: Okay, very cool. Now, we mentioned at the beginning, I mentioned that that is launching this year. Do you have an idea of when people could look forward to. To the launch?
[00:09:48] Speaker A: The launch is. The book is now done. I did it like literally last night and I've been through it three times. I keep finding things that I'm not happy with, but now I'm saying, right, it's done. And today I was actually putting it into a proper book format, you know, six by nine for a bug and all that. So I'm doing that bit. So I'd say the. It could be released within two weeks. That's the start of the whole thing, really, once that's out. The thing I'm waiting for now is the app. And we're kind of three quarters of the way through that because the book comes with an app that holds you accountable challenges. So I can't release them without one, without the other.
[00:10:20] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:10:21] Speaker A: So I reckon it's going to be April.
[00:10:24] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:10:25] Speaker A: I would say, yeah, that would be the good thing because it's just about testing the app, breaking it, making sure that the loops are all okay and then it's ready to go. So that's really what it's waiting for. The service itself actually exists is what I do with drivers.
[00:10:37] Speaker B: Right.
[00:10:37] Speaker A: So it's Enzo doing the calls, holding them accountable. But the other stuff it's open to everyone in the world is basically it's the book and the app.
[00:10:45] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:10:45] Speaker A: And then everything's built back of that.
[00:10:48] Speaker B: So now if people have read my news Racers can use blog, they will be very familiar with you because almost every issue I. I have a. I link to one of your YouTube videos.
[00:11:02] Speaker A: I did see that.
[00:11:03] Speaker B: Yeah. So, you know, they're familiar with that background. They're familiar with what you do. And so you got a lot of stuff that you have available that's really helpful for drivers. I don't. Do you mind just mentioning, for example, your. Your main website, you know, you've written a couple of books.
What kind of things do you have out there?
[00:11:22] Speaker A: Yeah, the race driver coach website is obviously that's where its portal is. It's. It's a basic website, of course, but I did three books and the first one was on sponsorship. Get the drive, then the warriors mind, which is all about the mind, of course, but for race drivers and then one for the parents. And I thought, once I've done them three, they're pretty much the main areas that people struggle with, should we say, that I'm seeing. So all them three books are on that website. But I don't want this to be an advert, obviously. But it's that. That's kind of like. I don't think there's any more motorsport books I need to bring out, really.
[00:11:56] Speaker B: Right.
[00:11:56] Speaker A: You know what I mean?
[00:11:57] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:11:57] Speaker A: That's why the bass is the proper big thing.
But I would say that sponsorship is not. Obviously. I'm not a sponsorship hunter. I used to do my own stuff and I see what drivers do. That was more. Okay, let's make the. The driver more of an entrepreneur, a race entrepreneur, where they can go and get sponsors, they know what to offer. So it's, it's all the information that I've seen drivers use and agencies use. So it's sharing information.
And then obviously the mental side was easy because that's what I do. And then the parents one was more just allowing or showing them how to coach their kids and get the best out of their kids. So sharing the coaching techniques, if you like. Because it's not easy being a parent of a driver.
[00:12:41] Speaker B: No.
[00:12:41] Speaker A: There's plenty of different challenges you can imagine.
[00:12:43] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:12:44] Speaker A: And it's quite, it's quite a cheeky way of doing it, to be fair, in terms of saying, I can see what you're going through and giving them the. Because obviously parents don't know where to place themselves when they're overstepping the mark. The kid won't listen to them, but they'll listen to the coach saying exactly the same thing. So really it was talking to them saying, don't worry, this is how to handle it, because it is difficult.
[00:13:06] Speaker B: And I will link to all of this in the show notes. So anybody listening can absolutely get a hold, find out all that information to order the books, you know. Yeah, look, I. It's fine being an advert only because the, the information is. Is. Is really valuable. That your YouTube, personally, I think, is brilliant. One of the things that I like how you put through the information is you're very aspirational in that you're, you're, you know, you're very. You encourage, but at the same time you're realistic And I think sometimes that's an issue people run into because, you know as well as I do, there's. People often get frustrated. You know, budgets are high, sponsorship is hard.
You don't shy away from that. I mean, it is, you know, it is all that stuff, but there are always ways that you can.
There are always ways to. To. To make a bit of a.
To advance, you know, there are, you know, and I think that's what's key, and that's what people.
I think that's what's important to understand is there is always a way, as long as you're willing to put in the time and the effort. And it's a lot of work, you know, it's just a lot of work.
So, yeah, I highly recommend Enzo's. His books and his. His YouTube. Now, you mentioned that.
Are you. Are you coming back this year with your. With the YouTube series?
[00:14:35] Speaker A: I think I am. I mean, I've got to make a mind up because it's two weeks away when I normally start. But I was like, right, I want to do mental training, but I can't, I can't. Something inside me doesn't want me to stop doing the race driver, coach. So it's basically. If I feel like people want to watch it, then, ok, carry on. So I've got to make my mind up because I think it is. I just. I know I've said the same thing about a thousand times over and over again, and you get conscious of that.
So I'm playing with the idea of not bringing the season out, but also I feel like. Hang on a minute. All your subscribers, they want that. So, yeah, I think I will. But it. I usually start it in just after Melbourne, that kind of time.
[00:15:14] Speaker B: Right.
[00:15:15] Speaker A: So I'll. I get back from Melbourne actually on the Monday and I usually do it Mondays, so I've got to make my mind up what to do and when to do it.
[00:15:22] Speaker B: Now, people probably are wondering when you say you are off to Melbourne, you do work with a. At least. Yeah. You work with a driver that's in F1 right now. Ollie Berman.
[00:15:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:15:33] Speaker B: And that's it. So, yeah, so look, Enzo walks the walk, as we. As I like to say.
[00:15:41] Speaker A: Yeah. And it's a bit of a tough one this year because I just came back from Bahrain, the test, and obviously the top four teams are gone. They're down the road. They're like a second quicker at least. But it's not as bad as we thought. We were kind of thinking, okay, new car, we probably had two Months to work on it. They've been working on it 10 months. And even though you've got their kind of their engine, it's still your software that you have to program. And because the cars are so technical now, it's ridiculous what a driver has to do and what the team have to do now to harvest and keep charging that battery during a lap. And if you slightly wheel spin or a bit of headwind gets you, you've just lost some battery. So now you haven't got it down the straight. It's crazy now what we have to do. So I'm quite glad that we're not four or five seconds off, but I'm still not counting our chickens till we get to Melbourne and see when Mercedes and Light really turn the wick up. It will be at the minute it was all right. The car was solid and it was handling really well. Ollie was over the moon with it, saying, this is more secure than even last year's car. You know, it's not snapping on him, so at least he's got. That's solid.
And now they just have to. It's going to be a development war.
[00:16:51] Speaker B: Perfect.
[00:16:52] Speaker A: You know, a race. So they. Some teams might even find. I don't know, I'm guessing, but they might even find half a second between now and Melbourne. You never know.
[00:16:59] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:17:00] Speaker A: Because of a new update. So we're going to see a lot of that updates for the first year. And then obviously, as a generation goes and they hit a ceiling, that's when the small teams will start to catch up again. But. So it could be a bit wild this year and hopefully not.
Hopefully it's still a spectator sport.
[00:17:17] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, well. Yeah, it'll be. It'll definitely be interesting and I'm sure there's a lot of mental issues that you're gonna have to deal with with such a challenge.
Final question.
Favorite racetrack, current or historical? What would yours be?
[00:17:36] Speaker A: I would say it's always a historical. It's always Spa and Monza, because I don't know what it is. But when you go back to a place that it's not the new type of circuit, where it's flat and all these runoff areas, even though they've got quite a few runoff areas in them now, there seems to be a different sense when you go there. And even if the corners, some of them are not great, it doesn't matter. You just feel different. Imola's another one right now. Imola is probably one that got me. I know I'm saying quite a few Here got me in the heart because of Senna obviously.
So when I go there, it's a bit more special on that side. But I'd say driving wise Spa because it's a good racetrack as well. So if you're having a bit of a battle, you can there.
[00:18:16] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:18:17] Speaker A: Monza as well. Monza just crazy. It's like an oval basically if you're, if you, if you've been there.
[00:18:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:18:23] Speaker A: So I think anything that's got history to it and you can still do wheel to wheel, I'm all for it.
[00:18:29] Speaker B: Yeah. I, I mean historical tracks, there's a lot of new fans out there and maybe they don't always understand the history of the sport, but yeah, I think you nailed it. Those two tracks, they're, they're, it's, it's history, it's speed, it's, yeah, it, you can go to those tracks and if you, you know and just kind of close your eyes and think of all the incredible history that has been there and the, and the history that continues to be made. Great. Thank goodness that spies still on the schedule even though it's rotating. But yeah, no, I, I and the
[00:19:06] Speaker A: weather, the weather's all over the place.
It's just you've got, you're pre loaded with loads of emotional ties to it. Right. Because you remember things going on.
[00:19:14] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:19:14] Speaker A: And when you go to a new circuit, like say if you go to Qatar, it's just a track.
Like there's zero emotional romanticism about it when you're there and I think that's what tips it over the edge.
[00:19:26] Speaker B: Right.
[00:19:26] Speaker A: And when you think about like proper tracks, that would be fun to drive. I think Laguna Seca would be one that comes to my mind.
[00:19:33] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:19:34] Speaker A: So anything with a bit of undulation and you don't know what's going to happen on the other side of that corner. Yeah, anything like that is good.
[00:19:41] Speaker B: Absolutely. Well, really appreciate the time and so to chat with me. I know that you are so busy as, as a person who is, who loves your content. I obviously are voting for keep the YouTube series going for anybody out there that is a subscriber, you know, just maybe give them a little nudge and let them know.
Yeah.
[00:20:07] Speaker A: What's the kind of topics that like you are more interested in?
[00:20:11] Speaker B: Well, you know, quite honestly the, the two for me are always the mental aspect of it, you know, because I think that is a. Tends to be.
People tend to underestimate that importance. They really understand the importance of physical fitness, they understand the importance of racecraft. But they tend to not understand the importance of mindset. And, and that is. It's a lot of work. And that actually can get to become a mental issue where you're just drained. You're just, you know, I've had enough. I think those. That's a really important. And obviously, the, the one, you know, the, The. The other one is always sponsorship, you know, ideas about sponsorship. How do you know? I. You know, how to.
It seems like such a big.
Such a big issue that one of the things I like is you often break things down into chunks. You know, how. Where do I start? And sometimes it's not.
Yeah. And if you just kind of immediately think of going to a massive sponsor, you know you will.
And you know, it's also mental because you're going to get told no more often than you will be told. Yes.
And that can be mentally.
[00:21:24] Speaker A: Just think about what you're selling as well. What you're selling is near impossible to sell because there's zero value. Yeah, it's, it's. It used to be hard, like, yeah, people. You could at least sell your house and pay for driving back then. But now when you think of these kids spending over a million on F4, you're like, wow, that's the entry level. Okay, interesting. Not everybody is. If you're doing a regional championship, only you're not. But if you have to go for the European Championship, then you have to do UAE and you have to do like 40 days of testing in. It's straight up there, straight away.
And it's so difficult because you're like, where do I start? I'm literally.
I'm living as a, you know, working class and that's where it's really hard. So you think. I even think sometimes I don't know how kids are going to do it, but the grids are full.
40 drivers here and 50 drivers there in that championship. And they're having to have heats and finals and things. See, like, wow, not everyone's got that much money. And you do see the odd person, like, Ollie really didn't have much money compared. You know, they've got money now, obviously, but they don't need it.
Liam Lawson was working class. His parents couldn't even come over and fly to watch him because of the cost of the flights. So it does happen. But then he like, okay, if Liam was starting over again now and he didn't have that chance meeting, or should I say, he didn't do that race where somebody saw him, he wouldn't. We wouldn't know his name.
[00:22:46] Speaker B: Right.
[00:22:46] Speaker A: So it's re. To recreate what someone's done and do it again.
It's. It's hard.
[00:22:53] Speaker B: Yeah, hard.
[00:22:54] Speaker A: Probably got just as much talent, so it's hard to say, just do this, this and you'll be fine. Right. It doesn't work like that because it's life.
[00:23:00] Speaker B: Right. Hard but not impossible.
[00:23:02] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:23:03] Speaker B: You just need.
[00:23:04] Speaker A: If you. If you've got speed and charisma, really, you know, you win people over, that's two big things. And you just got to keep going until something happens.
[00:23:13] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:23:13] Speaker A: And then someone's like, you know, I like this kid.
I'll charge the teammates a bit more money to subsidize their drive. I know a sponsor and the team can make it happen if they really want you, so. And there's more sponsors now coming down from F1 to F2, so I've never seen that before. Yeah, we've got one actually sponsoring Ollie and he's also sponsoring an F4 driver now because they're like, oh, actually, I like this sponsoring drivers thing. So it's kind of. They are bleeding down, which is good because the top is so healthy.
[00:23:42] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:23:43] Speaker A: But that's the first time I've seen. So that's more opportunities. So, yeah, it's. It's a deep one. It's not easy when you're in your bedroom wondering what to do.
[00:23:51] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. But, yeah, like I said, it is possible, but at the end of the day, it just. It's. It's a. It's a massive amount of work. And I always say people need to be adaptable. You know, your dream might be F1, but you need to be open to any opportunity that might come your way. Because ultimately, if you want to be a professional race driver and you get an opportunity to race in a sports car or a touring car or whatever that might be, you need to be able to pivot and take advantage of whatever opportunity comes your way.
[00:24:22] Speaker A: Yeah. Race anything you can to be fair. Doesn't matter what it is. If it's on wheels, that's fine. It's better than doing nothing.
[00:24:27] Speaker B: Yep, absolutely. Well, yeah. I really appreciate it, Enzo. Thanks so much for taking the time.
That's it for this week. This is Mark from Motorsport Prospects reminding you to stay fast, stay focused and keep chasing that checkered flag.
[00:24:43] Speaker A: Love it.
[00:24:46] Speaker B: Thanks for listening to the Motorsport Prospects podcast. For insights, advice and the latest news racers can use, visit motorsportprospects.com.
