“Leader Messenger” – Tea Tree Gully
Reproduced with permission

Holden Hill's Paul Trengove recently returned from a trip to the Australian Institute of Sport, in Canberra, where the 23-year-old Formula 3 driver took part in a driver training camp:

‘Cutting Corners’

The first session was a psychology one that dealth with relaxation techniques and stopping negative thoughts.

When something goes wrong in a race car, such as an accident - it hurts.

But while the damage can be expensive - think $5000 per corner of the car usually - it can also leave the driver lacking confidence and some find it difficult to get back in the car and do it all over again. We followed this up with shuttle runs - for aerobic fitness - reaction tests, media training and then nutrition.

That was interesting for me, because on raceday I get very nervous and struggle to stomach any kind of food.

It was brought home to me just how important it is, in a sport as physically demanding as ours, to keep carbohydrate levels high before a race.

Otherwise you can end up with mental and physical fatigue - so learning what foods can help me in a race is critical for my racing career.

That's a career that started when I was seven when I raced go-karts. Now here I am at 23, in my first season of Formula 3.

At the moment I am competing at Level 2, which is with cars built before 1996. Although, having said that, my car is one used by (current Formula 1 driver) Jacques Villeneuve during his days in Formula 3.

I'm doing pretty well at the moment. I'm currently in second place in the championship, and if all goes well we could be going to the last race - in October on the Gold Coast, as warm-up to the Indy race there - with a real chance of winning the championship.

After that, who knows?

It costs about $50,000 a year to compete at Level 2 and that would probably go up to around $150,000 to compete in Level 1 where the cars are newer (1996-2001).

If I'm going to be realistic about the sport I have to accept that I'm probably not going to break into Formula 1. You really have to have done that by my age but I would like to see how far I can go in Formula 3 - which basically are the same cars as Formula 1, only a bit smaller.

And if I could win the Formula 3 championship then you get an invite to test drive in Europe, so who knows what might open up for me?

Look, if that doesn't happen, then I'm more than happy to continue my career here in Australia.

Personally, I prefer the open-wheel cars that I am currently driving in but Australians seem to love their V8 Supercars, and the rivalry between Holden and Ford, so maybe that would be an option in the future.

And before you ask - I'm a Holden fan.

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