Category Archives: Fitness

Bowen Therapy – Injury Recovery

10 Sunday Feb 2019

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An unfortunate (and thrillingly unique – but that’s another blog…) part of being a racing driver is that you’re going to be involved in a crash.

Thankfully, Motorsport UK are continually doing a great job to make sure we all walk away from accidents without too much physical damage.

But there’s always a chance you’re going to pick up an injury – or, like me, you’ll pick up an injury away from the track which affects your racing. Then what do you do?

After my motorcycle accident in June, I underwent a course of physiotherapy, which got things moving again but left me with near-constant pain and a body that just didn’t feel right.

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One of my managers at work told me about Bowen Therapy, which had helped her after a nasty road accident. I figured anything was worth a go, and so booked up a session with a local therapist.

I deliberately looked into what was going to happen to me as little as possible, so that I wouldn’t have any expectations. I’m also a firm believer that even a placebo effect gets the job done, so all I had to lose was the £45 per session it would cost, for a minimum of two sessions.

My main problem is lower back pain which is made worse when sitting in a chair or standing up. Somewhat ironically, I’m only really pain-free when strapped into my race seat in the Formula Vee! I also have a lot of upper back issues and my neck got ripped up pretty badly by the whiplash of getting hit in the side by a two tonne car and then slapping off the tarmac. My broken rib healed, but ribcage on that side felt twisted, my whole body was generally weak, and I’d hurt my wrist a bit.

This means my fitness program ended right there, as did the karting I was doing between races.

I survived the rest of the season with deteriorating fitness whilst unable to train, and clearly can’t have been driving my best.

I turned up at my first Bowen Technique session with Julia Foster, having filled in a brief questionnaire on my injuries, and chatted to the friendly therapist to give her some idea of how to treat my plethora of injuries.

I was told that rather than focus on my lower back as my traditional physiotherapy had, she would treat and balance my whole body, as the source of my pain may actually be elsewhere in my body. This made sense to me, but I was determined to keep a healthy dose of cynicism and just see what happened.

Laying on a massage table is where it all gets a bit tricky to explain. The moves where almost like a massage at times, but more of the gentle pinching motions. Then there was some pushing of areas of my body, a bit of prodding and poking, some laying on of hands, and stuff I have no idea about.

It’s not quite massage, not quite acupressure, not quite pressure point meridians and not quite fingertip massage. Overall, it’s a very gentle and relaxing experience with some brief, mild pain, and many more ticklish moments where I was trying not to giggle and flail about!

I was told to drink lots of water over the next few days, and booked in another session about a week later. And to work a little on my posture by doing things like not standing with my wight on one leg.

I wasn’t disappointed as I left the session, as I did feel generally better, but it wasn’t some mindblowing jump back to health – although I had been told it may take a few days to take full effect.

I thought I’d be needing some full-on chiropractitioner crack-and-snap treatment to get my bones back into alignment, but after the first Bowen session the difference was fantastic – especially given that the touching was so light!

Sitting at my desk the following morning I was surprised to find the pain almost gone, although this had been masking another nerve-type pain in the same area of my lower back. Either way it had definitely reduced my pain and increased the time I was able to sit for.

I have also been doing a pilates class for the first time ever, to help get things moving. This had also shown up several issues such as not being able to lay flat on my back because my ribs felt twisted. At my next pilates class I found this was greatly reduced, and this improved my performance overall.

Going back to the second Bowen session, I was completely honest about all this with the therapist, and we got down to more of the same. She did comment that my alignment did look much better, and I had been paying attention to her advice on posture etc.

After another hour on the table we spoke for a while about what else she had found, and I booked up a third session.

I now found that the nerve pain in my lower back had gone, too – but the next layer of pain was slightly higher up in my back, plus something going on with the back of my ribcage.

I noticed I was performing much better and stronger at my pilates class, but this was followed by a couple of days of the new back pain at pretty nasty levels. Again, it seemed to be caused by sitting and standing.

Speaking to Julie before my third session, we reviewed all of my progress, and then it was more of the relaxing work.

Right from the start it did always surprise me how she could go straight to the problem area – not finding her way by my reaction to the touches as most would do. I gave very few clues as she worked, just relaxing myself and letting her do her thing.

Whilst I do understand a bit about energy within and around our bodies, I’m also a cynic of it all. Whilst this can make me a tough customer, I try not to let that colour my thoughts on the end results – and without a doubt the Bowen technique has helped me a lot.

I’m not completely cured just from this, but it’s given me enough of a stable base that I will be able to ease back into some heavier training. I’m sure a lot of my remaining pain is due to the weakness of my muscles over the months I’ve been affected. That and the fact I’m getting older and don’t bounce so well!

Would I recommend Bowen therapy to anyone else? Absolutely!

There’s definitely something there that makes sense and works. It’s quite likely that I’ll go back for a ‘top up’ at some point, and if I do get banged around in any racing incidents I’d also expect that Bowen could do something to help me.

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Getting Back On It For 2019: How to get fit

29 Tuesday Jan 2019

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I lost half a stone in the month after my motorcycle crash last June.

Unfortunately, my injuries (especially my back) then meant I couldn’t really do anything training-wise, and when I went to a medical appointment in December I found I’d gained a stone since then!

More importantly, my fitness was screwed.

I’ve been doing Pilates (and another therapy I’ll do a blog on) to keep things moving, but I can’t class it as ‘real’ exercise – that is, it’s not exactly the intensity I’m used to! Don’t get me wrong, it’s great and has helped me a lot, but you’re never going to hear an interview where a boxer has used it to train up for his next fight…

So what to do, now I feel I can start to push things again?

I very nearly joined a “Couch to 5k” course. 9 weekly sessions to get you from nothing to being able to run for 5km. I love the idea, and know that running is the ultimate exercise – but I don’t actually LIKE running. So that came and went, along with all the Park Run events that you could follow it up with… not for me!

Should I join a gym?

It’s great if you can motivate yourself to go, but I know after 3 months I’m going to be bored with it and make excuses. Plus it costs far too much for my budget! I’m still open to it, and may pay for the odd single session – I actually will run on a treadmill, weirdly. Not that I run weirdly – I mean, for some reason I don’t mind doing that.

It’s a fact that if you’re doing something, it’s better than doing nothing. So, short sharp bites to wake things up again.

Years ago I used some Billy Blanks workout videos. He does Tae Bo – like kickboxing but more focused on your aerobic fitness. Or like less poncy aerobics, if you prefer.

Image result for billy blanks

On YouTube, he even has some “10 minute” fitness vids. You’d think this would be a nice, mild workout to fit into your day, and you’d be half right. Give one a go and you’ll soon see that they’re anything but mild, though!

How hard is it to get yourself up off the couch for 10 minutes? So I have an alarm set and I’ll be doing this on a regular basis.

There are actually a load of 10 minute workout vids on YouTube – so there’s enough variation there not to get bored. And remember it’s all free!

Sure, if you want something even easier then drop and do 20 push-ups, 40 squats, 40 seated leg raises but you will get bored of that quickly. And Billy Blanks is actually quite entertaining!

And speaking of entertaining, Karting has to be the most fun training – and it is very hard work. OK, so it costs a bit, but there are usually offers around the ease the pain…

The best thing is you’ll be using the actual muscles you use for racing, so will strengthen all the right bits, and it is an awesome workout for your heart and breathing.

After finally going for it, I’ve also found out that the one part of my back that it doesn’t make ache is the damaged bit, so I’ll definitely be doing more of that!

I feel a bit like I’ve been beaten up and was starting to make some very strange noises around the hairpin turns towards the end of the second session, but it’s good pain! I also set a personal best lap at Teamworks Halesowen, so there’s still life in this old dog, yet! And more motivation to knock off the few hundredths of a second that will drop me into the 22 secs… And of course it keeps that competitive edge nice and sharp!

There will be some sim work before I race again, and I’ll cover that in another blog.

What are you doing to keep you race fit? Any interesting revelations that you’d recommend?

Ban The Grid Girls!

01 Thursday Feb 2018

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Today, the motorsport world has been divided as the top level formulas have banned grid girls.

The Brolly Dolly, a staple of just about any televised motorsport, will now no longer be a thing in Formula 1, and this will no doubt cascade throughout all forms of motorsport.

I can kind-of see why the decision has been made, but think the reasoning misses some huge factors, and rather than stopping degradation of these women will only hurt them.

First off I should say a few things. Formula Vee does not have any women on the grid holding umbrellas for us. If there are women around the cars at all, they’re normally driving them, friends and family, or taking pictures. There is no point at our level, as grid girls are purely employed to look good and promote a brand.

Despite how everyone these days tries to be politically correct, sex still sells.

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And let’s face it, standing holding a flag on a grid isn’t exactly grinding on men in a shady club where they’re at risk of being groped.

Are they being objectified? Maybe – but they’re also earning a lot of money and every single one of those women are there through their own choice because they want/love to do it!

They work hard staying fit and taking great pride in their appearance, and although there will always be a few idiots, most of us respect them and what they do.

These grid girls are feminists and feminine – some are mothers and some hold down high level careers away from their modelling work – some begin or boost their careers by doing grid girl work.

It sounds to me like a lot of the people crying to ban grid girls think by doing so all the girls will suddenly become racing drivers, mechanics, team bosses, marshals etc, or whatever they deem to be a ‘more respectable’ job/hobby/position.

They won’t, because there are already women doing all those things, and grid girls just want to be grid girls.

And they should be allowed to do what they want without being shamed for it, and especially not told they can’t do it by someone who isn’t doing it themselves and probably has no place supporting the motorsport industry anyway.

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This is only my opinion, and please feel free to comment whether you agree or disagree – I just feel bad for the girls knowing how excited they get about being given the privilege of appearing on the grid supporting their heros or whatever their reasons for doing it.

By banning grid girls you’re not empowering these women – you’re just putting them out of work and potentially destroying their career.

So who is that helping?

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Fitbit from Croft

06 Monday Jun 2016

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Fitbit from Croft

After the interesting heart rate readings from Brands Hatch, I once again wore my Fitbit for the races at Croft.

Qualifying was my first ever lap of Croft, and with the rain absolutely clowning it down, you might expect me to be a bit excited about it all.

Unfortunately, this was before I started to enjoy the rain, and so I just trundled around without even trying to kill myself – and this seems to be reflected in my heart rate:

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So, much like I thought of my own performance in that session, it’s a bit ‘meh’.

But then things dried out for the afternoon, and for my first ever dry lap of Croft I’d have to be at full racing speed with no idea what the car would do in the extremely fast corners.

As you might imagine, this one told a different story:

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So we have a new record at 172 bpm peak!

A lot of the back of the circuit is foot to the floor, and then just turn the sucker in and hop you’re on the right line. I like this sort of thing, but it’s unsurprising that it would get the old ticker beating a bit faster. There was also frustration at not getting 2nd gear, and Darren Lomas filling my mirrors waiting to pounce on any mistake.

And, of course the huge moment when my Z-bar broke and I put 2 wheels off and had it all got a little bit skew-whiff…

Race 2 saw the return of rain with a vengeance. I’d sworn to push, whatever the conditions, and couldn’t actually see much of the track, corners, or other cars because of the spray.

And I was taking those same flat-out sections as fast as I dared in those horrendous conditions.

So you’d expect, if my heart didn’t stop completely because of me being dead, or something, that my heart rate would be through the roof, right?

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What the…?

OK, so this is the same pattern as Brands Hatch, but this time the high heart rate seems more linked to high speed than being inches and split seconds from disaster.

In that second race I was enjoying myself and having fun, but I’m pretty sure I remember having a bit of a whoop inside my helmet in the dry race, too.

Is it that I’m more used to the track and so much more relaxed for that second race? Because the pressure is off to get the car back safely for another race?

At Mallory Park the qualifying session and both races are all on the same day – so will this same pattern repeat, or will the hear rate get higher and higher like it has done on the first day of a race weekend?

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A FitBit in a racecar!

04 Wednesday May 2016

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A FitBit in a racecar!

It’s worth saying from the start that I am not the ‘fit bit’ in the racecar.

For those who don’t know, a FitBit is a bracelet type thing that keeps track of things like heart rate, how many steps you’ve taken, how much sleep you’ve got, and any exercise you’ve done. There are a load of cheap ones on the market and the main thing missing is the heart rate monitor, but I chose he FitBit HR because it has this and works on Windows phones.

For £100, they’re very clever pieces of kit that can be use to set and track a lot of health targets, even including calories burnt and helping with a diet plan. My main interest, though, was to find out what happens to my heart when I’m racing.

For the Brands Hatch round of the 2016 Formula Vee championship, I wore my FitBit, and have taken several screenshots of the heart reading that I got from the weekend.

My normal resting heart rate is around 66bpm. Based on age (220bpm minus your age), my maximum heart rate is 181bpm.

Arriving at the circuit on Friday afternoon, it seemed like a good idea to take the racecar to get scrutineered (officials check the car and your kit are safe and within the regulations) ready for the weekend.

A ‘formula’ racecar is a bit of a beast. It has one sole purpose in life, and that is to go fast. Two – if you count “trying to kill you”. The point is that even being around one will get you going a bit.

I jumped in the car and drove about 200m up the hill in 1st gear, just to save us pushing it – and then checking the heart rate logs my pulse went up to over 120bpm just doing this!

I’d asked people on Facebook and at work what they thought my max bpm would be – and this showed that a few would be way off the mark!

The following morning was where the fun really started, and I strapped into the full 6 point harness, donned my helmet and HANS device, and rolled out onto the circuit to complete the qualifying session.

As you’ll see from the graph below, whizzing around a track got my heart pounding up to 152bpm! Perhaps unsurprisingly, this peak was early on in the session, where the fear and excitement are strong, and your brain readjusts to thraping a car around at over 100mph.

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What is something of a surprise, is that my heart rate dropped to almost 110bpm in the middle of the session as I settled into a rhythm and got used to things, before rising to around the 150bp mark again as I gave a push to find a decent lap time.

Then came the first race of the weekend.

30 cars all trying to pile into the first rollercoaster of a corner on cold tyres is a thing to behold. Even getting to the grid and waiting for those red lights to come on is pretty stressful – your visor steams up, and your adrenaline is in overdrive.

When the red lights switch off, and you try to get the power down faster than everyone around you, you’re already in that deep calm state.

The only thing I can really compare it to is a fist fight. All the fear leading up to it lasts until you get that first punch in the face – then you’re just into the battle and you find everything slows down for you. You start to think and plan and the blinkered tunnel around you starts to open up again.

If you’re not the violent type, then the next best example I can give is all the excitement, fear and worry as you get ready to go up on stage (in a band, for me). One you play the first few notes you forget the crowd and just concentrate on playing the music…

Calm as this all may seem to you, this is when your body is working the hardest:

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Boom! 171Bpm!

As you can see, my heart rate was pretty high the whole time, but that 171 peak was undoubtedly when I lost the back end on the last lap around Surtees. To me, this was massive, and I felt the back come around, snapped on some opposite lock, and then found I was headed off the track at a very high speed. I thought it was an accident, and it would be a big one, but by luck or judgement I’d got the amount of correction on the steering wheel so exact that somehow still got it turned into the following corner.

Of course, on video, this looks like nothing. Quick twitch, carry on, no drama.

Anyway – that was the peak of the weekend.

You can see slight patterns, but I don’t think the FitBit is sensitive enough that you’ll be able to see stuff like: 156bpm around Paddock Hill, 148 at Druids etc.

I tried harder in race 2, without question.

I also had a large can of Monster energy drink about an hour before I got in the Vee.

And so this result surprised me:

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Yes – that’s a peak of a mere 134! So much for energy drinks increasing your heart rate!

I find this pattern very interesting. The initial peak is that start and then the lull is waiting on the grid after the race was red-flagged.

You’ll not that on the restart, my heart rate rises, but is even lower overall, and with a big dip.

The spike will have been from a battle, and then the dip from when I was ‘in the zone’ chasing after another driver. The peak will be me catching him and pushing hard to do so.

And so what does it all mean?

I do concentrate hard on my heart rate in the gym – how to control it and lower it. It seems this kind of training is well-founded!

The 171bpm peak isn’t entirely unexpected, as we’re all doing something pretty stupid out there – and trying hard to do it, too!

We’re inches from death.

We’re also experiencing life like few others ever do.

Because of that I’m wondering if this pattern will be the same at every race? I suspect the lower heart rate in the second race is a lot to do with the body and mind getting used to being exposed to extremes. It’s more used to it, and copes better each time you do it.

There’s less fear, less excitement, and less stress. It’s like building up a tolerance to eating hot chilli’s – what you used to think was unbearably hot is now a mere tingle on your tongue.

One thing is for sure – time spent on aerobic exercise is time well spent for a racing driver!

I’ll be hoping to use my FitBit at all the races, and will post screenshots for those in the future.

Until then – don’t forget to breathe!

My First Race! Silverstone International 22/08/15

24 Monday Aug 2015

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My First Race! Silverstone International 22/08/15

Race time.

This was the peak of my fear. This was all unknown. What if I miss my place on the grid? What if I stall it at the start? I’d never even practised a race start in the dry, and even the wet ones after spinning last week were on my time and not to a set of lights!

I started my engine, took a couple of deep breaths, and followed the other Vees out of the holding area onto the track…

As I pulled up to the grid the marshals pointed my into place, showing me the exact line to stop at. I was calm and in the zone, but as the 5 second board was displayed my visor fogged up as I realised I was breathing quickly and heavily.

I got control as the red lights came on above the start line, keeping the revs up and slowing my breathing and heart rate down, and dropped into the zone as the lights flashed out.

I reacted so quickly that I actually hesitated because nobody else around me seemed to be moving. I got an ok start, but had to lift almost immediately as I couldn’t get around the car ahead.

37 cars piled into the first corner with wheels hanging out everywhere, twitching as everyone tried to find a gap.

I stayed out wide and drove around the outside of the track, having to drift wide to avoid people, and finding some bugger had put traffic cones there! I smashed into one with the left front suspension.

I kept the throttle open and the cone flew away, and the suspension looked ok as we all piled into the next turn.

The rest of the race is just a blur. I settled into the racing lines and found I was getting faster every lap. Total confidence in the little old Sheane as I pushed harder, braked less, turned in faster.

I stuck a few overtakes on people, and avoided spinning cars.

I found my car came out of the corners really strong, and after I passed people I could reel in the next car ahead even down the Hangar Straight.

I was enjoying it, cackling madly as I nailed a corner here and there. I was battling with names I’ve been watching racing Vee for years, and coming out ok!

I pulled in Nick Brown, and as he got sideways onto the Hangar straight I got a good exit, passing him into the braking area, and he switched back on the exit to regain his position, but then lost the back end through the next turn.

I had nowhere to go, and flicked the wheel right to try and get around the back of him and straight into the gravel trap.

The nose cone took a battering, but I missed Nick by millimeters, and got back on the track in a shower of gravel, shaking the wheel and hoping none had got into the calipers.

I got back the places I’d lost and found myself with a clear track ahead. Knowing it must be near the end, I got my head down to make sure I dropped the cars behind me – I was having this one!

One of the things you can’t appreciate from the outside is after the chequered flag, as you do your cooling down lap, the marshals wave to you. This actually makes you feel really special, and I almost got emotional as I gave them all a thumbs up as I passed.

We were guided into park ferme where I jumped out and chatted to Glenn and the other drivers excitedly.

I’d done it!

I learned that I’d actually taken 17th place overall, and 4th in Class B – massively exceeding my own expectations, and at last I felt like I should be out there, and had proved that. Better still, I was only around 3 seconds a lap off the pace of the leaders!

Race 2 was more of the same, but with a slightly worse start, and I knocked another half a second off my best time. I found that I could trail brake into corners and slide the back end out just enough to get me through the faster turns quicker, then get straight back on the throttle. You have to get these cars sliding to be quick.

I won’t go into more detail about the races, as this has been far too long already, and you can watch the onboard videos for yourselves!

I found I’d got myself up to 18th place and 5th in class – but better yet was passing Ed Lowndes into the very last corner. He’d been the car 20 seconds ahead of me that I couldn’t even see in the first race!

To top off an already awesome day, I was given the Driver Of The Day Award!

I know I can go faster, and so can the car, so there is more to come. With a bit of luck, I can’t see why I can’t get a top 10 place with the Sheane.

Glenn has a few modifications he wants to make, and we’re working together very well changing set-ups (told you my time playing Forza 4 wasn’t wasted!).

So that was my first ever race. It’s still all a bit surreal.

All the drivers and crews are a great bunch, and I can’t wait to get back out there!

I hope you enjoy the videos, and thank you all for reading this and your support. I hope this blog has helped show people that you CAN go from nothing to racing driver on a very limited budget, and you can live your dream.

And seriously, get out there and do it! Now I’ll be keeping you updated on the equally as hard progress forward from here, to try and climb up the order and see how far I can really take this.

I still have a Hell of a lot more to learn!

***EDIT***

Onboard videos of both races here:

Mounting cameras on a Formula Vee

08 Monday Jun 2015

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Mounting cameras on a Formula Vee

When I had the Donington test last year, my mounting bracket hadn’t turned up in time, and so I went with the easy option – I put a bit of foam underneath the camera (a Mobius Action Camera in JooVuu waterproof case) and duct taped that sucker to the roll hoop on the Sheane.

Whilst this does work, and is very secure, it does come with a few problems.  First, we found I’d taped over the LED that shows if the camera is switched on or running, so we had to guess whether it was working.  It also means it’s hard to take the memory card out or charge the battery up.

For this year I’m going to make use of the bar clamp mount from JooVuu.  It’s not perfect because it’s a bit too small for the 32mm chassis tube – but as I came to find when testing things out, the tube isn’t exactly round everywhere, either, so that makes things a bit tough.

The previous run with it taped on top of the roll hoop gave a good picture, but a lot of the screen was filled up by my behelmeted noggin.  This is hard to get around, but with this proper mount it should raise the camera a good few centimeters up, which might make all the difference.

The best camera view will show as much action as possible – both outside and inside the car.  This means mounting it on the right hand side, so you (hopefully) get a view of the gearshift and the steering wheel, and maybe even the pedals.

I may be able to get around this even more effectively by mounting the camera on the side of the roll hoop, although the mount that I currently have limits this, as you can’t have the mount in place with the camera horizontal…

This is probably what I’ll go with at first, but it’s no problem to unbolt and move the camera around a little.

As Glenn rightly pointed out, if I put the car upside down it could cause a problem for the camera with these mountings, but then I will be hoping not to do that, anyway!

We also need to consider getting into and out of the car – in a single seater it’s an even that requires an almost Olympic level of strength and contortionism, without having to worry about knocking a camera.  And we need to ensure there’s somewhere for them to put a tow rope if we end up getting towed off circuit again!

I will hopefully experiment with rear-facing cameras (providing there are going to be other cars behind me on the track!), but that will need more thinking about with types of mount, heat from the engine, and vibrations from bodywork.

If the test day goes without drama, then I should have a bit of time to rethink what we’re doing with cameras, and make improvements where we can.

Back In A Kart!

12 Monday Jan 2015

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Back In A Kart!

When a few mates over Christmas suggested we should go karting, I realised it had been over 2 years since I last went to my local track!  This wasn’t good enough, so this time we actually sorted it out, and turned up at Birmingham F1K to take advantage of a £20 deal for 30 mins of track time.

Last time I was there, I’d done a few sessions close to each other, and was convinced that my 27 second lap time was as good as I could drive, and my weight was the only factor left to bring my lap times down.

That said, when I’m karting I’ve always used the brakes as a bit of an on/off switch.  This worked to get the kart sliding and drifting, but, as I hope we all know by now, if your tyres are sliding you’re almost certainly going slower than you could be.

On previous sessions I’d worked at making sure I’m hitting the right lines, and there’s less than an inch between me and the edge of the track so I’m using everything I can.  These things alone will help you carry speed through corners – which is vital in a kart that goes ‘off the boil’ the instant you release the loud pedal.  This time, I was determined to have a go at using the brake pedal a bit more lightly and progressively.

Video here:

I was a lot faster than the others on the track – which made the passing fun, but didn’t actually give me a whole lot of clear laps.  And it was all just a bit of fun, so I do like to get majorly sideways and full on the throttle through a few of the corners on the track! I also wasn’t going to shove the others out of the way and ruin their enjoyment, knowing I wasn’t going to get stuck behind them for long.

I was here to work a little and get some benefit from it, though…

I remember getting a good exit onto the start/finish straight, looking over to find the track ahead clear for most of the lap, and thinking “Right, let’s get a quick one in!”.

I scrapped the drifting, and used very delicate braking for the whole lap – just to see if I could get a faster time.  This was Lap 9 – and I smashed my previously ‘unbeatable’ (for me!) time by a full second!  And I still weigh the same as I did, then!

The other few clear laps I had I did the fun way – which felt faster to me, and wasn’t far off that time (a few tenths in it), but never bettered that Lap 9 time. 

So, experiment concluded – keep it all in line for the best times!

Of course, I’m once again convinced that I’d need to lose weight in order to beat my best time – so it’ll be fun to go back again soon, and see if I can get under 26 seconds!

HANS Device – Should we all have them?

17 Monday Nov 2014

Posted by in ARDS Test, Fitness, Formula Vee, Racing, Technique

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HANS Device – Should we all have them?

A HANS (Head And Neck Support) device goes over your shoulders and around your neck, and attaches to your helmet on each side by a short tether.

It’s an ingenious invention that has saved many lives.  Basically, if you hit something had head-on, the car stops dead but your head keeps on going forwards, rotating down towards your chest before pulling your spinal column out of your brain.  What you may hear referred to as a ‘brain stem injury’ or ‘basil skull fracture’.  And you’re dead.

A HANS device will stop your head going forward enough that your brain will stay attached to your spine, and you’ll live.

I’ve put that bluntly, because us drivers like to gloss over safety stuff, obscure them in technical language that makes it all sound colder and less personal, or we just ignore it and hope it never happens to us.

When the HANS kit first came into racing, one of the biggest opponents to it was one of the greatest NASCAR racers ever – Dale Earnhardt.  Somewhat ironically, when he hit the wall head on at silly speeds, he would have almost certainly walked away from the crash had he worn a HANS device to stop his fatal and instant brain stem injury.

From Wikepdia:

“Before this point, many drivers, including Earnhardt.,[5] resisted the HANS (and similar) devices, claiming them to be uncomfortable, more restrictive and fearing that it would cause more injuries and problems than it prevented. Some stated that the positioning of the device made the seat belts feel less secure or rubbed on the shoulders or collar bone. Earnhardt himself referred to the device as “that damn noose“, claiming the tethers would sooner hang him than save him in the event of a crash. The week after Earnhardt’s death, Mark Martin said Rockingham, “I would not wear one for anything. I’ll just keep my fingers crossed and take my chances”.[5] However, drivers were not willing to participate in the process of perfecting the fit, and endure the limitations imposed by such devices.”

If NASCAR is unfamiliar to you, you may know a few of these who also may well still be with us if they’d worn a HANS: Ayrton Senna, Roland Ratzenburger, Blaise Alexander, Gonzalo Rodriguez.

Many top level formulas from open-wheels to closed wheels now have HANS devices as a mandatory requirement.

There is always talk of making them mandatory in all levels of motorsport – and it’s pretty much impossible to argue anything against this ruling.

To surprise you even more, I currently do not have any plans to use a HANS device.

I mean, if I come into some money I’d have it on the list, but at present my helmet isn’t equipped with the ‘posts’ needed to attach the tethers (I’m told you can get these fitted quickly and easily to any helmet), and my budget doesn’t stretch to the £500 or so needed to buy the kit.

Yes, I am fully aware that I’m a fool.

I’m not trying to pretend to myself that it could never happen to me, or that the chances of sticking a Formula Vee face-first into a wall are too slim, or that we’ve done without them for years etc.

Having said that, finally forcing myself to write all this out, I’m now thinking about it… It’s pretty much one race weekend fees for something that could very well mean you’ll be able to do it all again next weekend…

Do you use a HANS device yourself?

If not – why not?

Hans Test Photo

Hans Test Photo

***UPDATE***

As soon as I posted this I’d really decided that I’d be using a HANS device myself for racing.  Plus my beautiful fiancee proved she does read my boring racing blogs, and gave me her ‘thoughts’ on the matter, too!

There are no arguments against using a HANS device.

Fellow Vee racer Ben Miloudi has also very kindly offered to lend me his HANS kit whilst he’s away from racing next year, so that sealed it all for me!  Cheers Ben!

***FURTHER UPDATE***

Well, well.  Today I saw from several sources that the MSA have actually made it mandatory for drivers of any single seater racing car manufactured after 01 January 2000 to wear a HANS device.  This will come into effect from 01 January 2015.

They’ve also made it very clear that they recommend them for pre-2000 cars, too (Glenn’s Formula Vee Sheane that I drive would be exempt), and added that from 2016 all single seater drivers will need to be using a HANS.

This is good for all of us, and fair play to the MSA and FIA!

Silverstone Single-Seater Experience Review

28 Tuesday Oct 2014

Posted by in ARDS Test, Fitness, Formula Vee, Racing, Technique

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Silverstone Single-Seater Experience Review

After the somewhat disastrous Formula Vee testing, a saving grace was that I had booked a Single Seater Experience at Silverstone.

The original plan was to do this before jumping in the Vee, and then I would have a benchmark for driving a single seat racing car.  I couldn’t book the day up until AFTER I should have had my first Vee race, but as it turned out, this all righted itself.

So I was up bright and early yesterday to be at Silverstone for 08:20 am.

The ‘Experience Centre’ is easy to find at Silverstone (just follow the signs to the right and over the bridge), and presenting a valid road license for signing on was quick and easy.

I’d taken my full race kit, but didn’t want to look like a Tit-Head, so decided to sign in and check out what everyone else was wearing/carrying.  Nobody had anything at all with them, so I decided I’d use my own helmet, gloves and boots, but my three-layer race suit would be overkill.  Silverstone provide gloves and helmets free of charge – but if you’ve got your own kit, you may as well use it!

There’s a half hour driver briefing with a video covering all the essentials like racing lines, flags, the track and braking and turning points/cones.  It’s very good for novices, but if you hold a race licence you should really know this stuff already!  The main difference from the ARDS test briefing was probably that you’re expected to do all your braking before you turn in to the corner. 

Also, you can’t overtake anywhere on the track apart from on the straights and only on the left.  The marshalls will show a blue overtaking flag to the car in front, who is expected to accelerate ‘more gently’ out of the corner to allow the car behind to pass safely.  This does work wonders for safety, as you know nobody is going to try to come past you on the brakes, or pull a block pass mid-corner.  The day works incredibly well because of this.

Next you go over to the Stowe infield circuit and meet the cars.

They’re special ‘Formula Silverstone’ cars – a 1.6 litre Ford Duratec engine and four gears on the right hand side, with treaded tyres and wings.  They look the part, and I noticed the bodywork was pretty heavy duty, which I’m sure is part of having reliable cars that any old numpty can jump in and thrape around a circuit!

The cockpit was quite spacious, and much easier to get into and out of than the Sheane Formula Vee, but you felt very safe and secure even just using a four-point harness.

It’s a full racing clutch – so pretty much an on/off switch!  You need to rev to around 5000rpm and very gently ease the clutch out until it punches you in the back and away you roar!

When I first slid into the cockpit I realised how much confidence I’d lost after spinning the Sheane.  I had a bitter metallic taste in my mouth from adrenaline, and realised I’d put myself under serious pressure not to cock this up, and to prove that I actually CAN drive a racing car.  I was much more nervous than sitting in the Vee for the first time.

All the cars went out in small groups, following single file behind an instructor in a Renault Clio.  I was the lead car in my group, so headed out at what felt like a very slow pace.

Much like a Vee, you only really use first and second gears to get going, and the whole of Stowe was third and fourth gear.

After a few laps slowly building up the pace, we came into the pits, a different lead car went behind the Clio, and we went out again.

This pace was actually pretty perfect for all levels of driver.  If you’re brand new to it all, you won’t be intimidated, and have plenty of time to learn the track and racing line.  Even for me, once again having my Tom Cruise ‘crisis of confidence’, it settled me right down so I could concentrate on getting the feel of the grip and the responsive throttle.

Once more we came back to the pits, and then were let loose for the last 20 minutes on our own!

When you push the throttle down properly, it all gets a lot more hectic.

With the revs up you’re instantly lapping the circuit in less than half the time, and having to really stand on the brakes coming off the straights.

Out the pit lane you come down to an awkward entry to a left hairpin, with a late apex meaning you feed the power in onto the longest straight.  Then you realise you’re being a wuss and squeeze the pedal more.

It’s a fair feeling of speed and a very bumpy journey as you ease the brakes on before you get to the ‘Brake Now!’ board, kicking yourself for not leaving it 50 metres later even as you slam it down to third gear and turn into the corner.

As you exit you drag it back to the left and dab the brakes again for a right hander, leading into a complex of corners all in third gear, some requiring a dab of brakes as you get later on in the session and pick up speed.

There’s another really awkward entry to the other hairpin, and it’s begging you to turn in too early, so you hold off and look for the yellow apex cone and bring it in to that, building power through a lovely left hander that snaps right onto the pit straight as you scream the revs up to fourth gear, braking hard but keeping as much speed as you can through a right-left s-bend back down to the first hairpin.

I was there to have fun, and pushed a fair bit with a few wiggles, but don’t think I ever strung a decent lap all together without hitting traffic (or missing a gear!), which I wish I’d concentrated more on, because in the debrief they hand you a printout of all your lap times!

I did ok, and I’m happy with my performance because I know there was a lot more to come.

As mentioned before, it ironed out some confidence issues both with driving itself, and also the big fear mentioned in previous blogs that my braking would be a major weak point.  It wasn’t, and I was very comfortable with it, and willing to push much further than expected.

On about the only clear lap I had, I put in a 1:04, and although I did get caught in a fair bit of traffic, it looks like I got lucky with a very fast group, so didn’t get held up nearly as much as I’ve seen watching other peoples videos.  That’s the chance you take with arrive-and-drive things.

So I’m feeling good about driving, and that should get me through to next years Formula Vee campaign.  Shame there weren’t any spaces in the next session, or I may have had another go…

The full experience is available from Silverstone for around £199 – but you’ll find loads of vouchers, offers and cashback around to bring that down to around £140 – I bought mine through www.buyagift.co.uk.  Then there’s the £20 damage waiver (it means you pay nothing if you kill the car), CD of top quality photographs for £20, and £30 for a full video of the day on a USB stick (plus you get £5 off the photographs with this).  Not cheap, but welcome to motor racing!