130R Performance takes an athlete-centred approach, ensuring that performance goals and an appropriate development path go hand-in-hand to fulfil the aim of #DrivingTalent in motorsport.
Our focus is the application of mental skills training and sport psychology within motorsport, as although sport science and driver preparation are now a key consideration for many teams, this still tends to focus on physical rather than mental readiness. With young drivers being ever pushed to more rapidly progress through the junior formula, our expertise in development through talent pathways can ensure that as well as drivers performing to their best ability, their progression is appropriate and furnishes ongoing enjoyment of the sport even at the highest pressured levels of competition.
High level races create a multitude of distracting factors that a driver may not have experienced before, and which training in a simulator or non-competitive test session can not fully replicate. The effective use of psychological skills to aid relaxation, focus, and stress management can be pivotal in determining whether athletes are able to successfully or unsuccessfully manage these key transitions in their sporting lives. Our aim is to train and prepare you to devise your own 'toolkit' of key mental skills, so that you can manage distractions and focus in any sport-specific pressurised or stressful situation. Devoting time to training mental readiness alongside physical preparation can ultimately improve consistency, minimise mistakes, and ensure you can perform at your absolute best; in every session, at every race.
Matthew Swindells
Founder
Holder of a BSc and MSc in Sport Psychology, I've worked in the corporate world, academic research, and both grassroots and high performance sport. Alongside published research in the areas of talent development and athlete preparation, I've accumulated over twelve years of experience in the field of talent development in sport. This has incorporated working directly with athletes on academy pathways in cricket, rugby, track & field, triathlon, and motorsport.
I'm passionate about motorsport and an advocate of talented drivers being given the time and tools they need to deliver, as opposed to being rushed or pressured to climb through the junior formula as fast as possible. We know from research and applied experience within sport psychology that there are a wide range of factors that influence the development of athletic talent. The negative commodification of junior athletes on development pathways was a central component of my Masters thesis and subsequent research study in academia, with findings recommending a more holistic approach to the nurturing of talented athletes.
Every athlete is different, and while the high-profile rapid rise of drivers like Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsonoda create the notion that talent can be 'fast-tracked' to the top levels of the sport at ever younger ages (with financial backing), there is equally no disadvantage in taking a more measured route through junior formula. Many drivers benefit from peaking in the sophomore year of a championship after using the first or rookie season as a learning and development year. With the high financial costs of motorsport sometimes not allowing this flexibility however, training in the use of mental skills can be an incredibly valuable tool in ensuring that a drivers' track time is maximised through facilitating consistency, focus, and minimising costly errors.
