Motor racing: The stresses and strains

With the 2012 Formula 1 season fast approaching it seems appropriate to investigate some of the work that goes on behind the scenes.

Anyone who has driven a simple go-kart will have an inkling about the strains that the body goes through. So, fitness is not an option for today’s top talent, it’s a must have. In this piece I am going to look at the different areas that a driver needs to focus on in order to compete at the highest level. I will also try and demonstrate just how fit today’s drivers need to be.

Yesterday’s heroes also needed plenty of stamina, and in some ways they had a harder time than today’s athletes as they battled against the elements and the intoxicating smell petrol and burnt rubber. However, modern slick tyres and an extensive use of aerodynamics has dramatically increased the forces the body is subjected to.

It is worth putting the changes in car performance into perspective. A Bugatti Veyron accelerating from 0-100km/h in 2.4 seconds would exert a force of 1.55g on the driver, or, in an emergency stop a BMW 3 series will exert the same force. A Formula 1 car will exert over three times that force in the braking zones on every single lap, and far more than double in the high speed corners. Apollo 16, on re-entry peaked at only 1g more than a Formula 1 driver will experience on every single lap of a Grand Prix.

So, we know that driving a racing car is hard work, harder than you may have thought in fact. What is then important to understand is that the physical side is a facilitator rather than the whole story. What do I mean by this? Well, you must be an athlete to drive a fast racing car for any distance, but the fitness is what allows the driver to do his job, rather than being the job, like a 100m runner. It is important to be able to think just as clearly at the end of the race as at the beginning, despite 2 hours of dehydration, suffocating heat and extreme forces being applied to the body.

I will look at the physical forces and the training needed to overcome this, the pre race regime needed to last the distance and the mental strain involved. Motor racing is just driving round in circles, right? The guy with the fastest car always wins, correct? Well, as you’ll see, there is a lot more to it than that.

Mental

Of course, physical fitness is important, but it is also a given in today’s professional motor racing environment. It is also quantifiable and can be improved by simply doing the right kind of exercise.

Valentino Liuzzi agrees with this assessment. He says: “fitness is a very important thing in Formula 1, but I have to say it is more of a mental thing.” Why would he say this? How hard can it be? After all, they have all of life’s little (and large) luxuries. Increasingly Formula 1 has started to take a mental strain on drivers as media, sponsors and fans have required more of a drivers time, especially in this media rich world where a driver’s every move is monitored. If a driver is not ‘right in the head’ then how can he be expected to perform at the top of his game in a grueling two hour race? Especially when called upon to adjust minor elements via the increasingly intricate steering wheels, or feel minor alterations to trye degradation and fuel load.

Alexander Leibinger explains that the physical and mental fitness are linked, with the physical fitness being the basis upon which the rest is built. He says that a driver is expected to do a minimum of 20 hours cardiovascular and muscular training per week before the mental side even comes into the equation. During the winter the average driver may increase his training to five or even seven hours a day just to build the base. Even aspects such as amino acids are controlled so that a driver can focus on driving.

In order to understand just how strong an F1 driver is, try thinking about this: Every time a F1 driver jums on the brakes hard, that could be ten times a lap,  he has has to exert 220 pounds of pressure onto the brake pedal. Meanwhile, he has to modulate the brake pedal as the speed reduces in order to avoid a lock up. This takes a lot of leg strength. It also means that drivers have to train for specific types of work, legs, for instance, need to be able to apply bursts of fast and explosive power.

During a race the typical heartbeat of a driver is between 140 and 150 beats per minute. This is plenty, especially when you consider that the average Formula 1 driver has a very low resting heartbeat, probably in the 40’s. The only major sport where the heartbeat stays higher, for longer is the marathon. In fact, many driver’s compete in triathlons, marathons and cycling in the course of their normal training.

Of course, the best training is time in the car, which is a physical work out in itself. The only problem is that today, with the RRA trying to reduce costs and the testing ban that comes with that drivers must find more inventive ways of getting to peak fitness.