So you want to be a racing driver?
Well, you have to be extremely fit due to the stresses and strains of driving.- Drivers train not only aerobically but resistance training is also required. A racing driver is actually fitter than a premiership football player and his stamina is compared to that of a championship boxer.
- On some corners drivers can be subjected to 5Gs of force - equivalent to four and a half baby elephants pushing against them.
- A driver's pulse rate must stay elevated for hours at a time. Most human's resting heart rate is 70bpm, whilst training at the gym this can rise to 160bpm. During a race a driver's can hit 200bpm.
- Temperatures can rise to 50°C inside fire proof racing suits and drivers can lose an equivalent of four and a half pints of water in sweat.
- Top drivers have a body fat ratio of 7% pretty close to that of a long distance runner just before an event.
- Drivers have to build extremely strong neck and shoulder muscles. His head weighs 6kg, the helmet 1kg and when he goes around a corner this feels like 40kg. That's a small child or 40 bags of sugar sitting on your shoulders.
- Drivers can experience cornering speeds of up to 300km/h - that's twice as fast as the highest drop (91.4m) from the world's tallest gravity based roller coaster.
- Michael Schumacher, who many say is the best racing driver ever, started driving a kart his father made for him when he was only 4 years old.
For an update on the Dunlop Race Academy visit Race Academy Qualifiers.
