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Tag Archives: peak

A FitBit in a racecar!

04 Wednesday May 2016

Posted by jamescaterracing in Fitness, Formula Vee, Racing, Uncategorized

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Tags

charts, driving, extreme, fitbit, fitness, heart attack, heart rate, inches from death, peak, racing, screen shots

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.

bpm20qual_zps6wvb8qcm

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:

bpm20r1_zpsblwhtznn

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:

bpm20r2_zps26r6rlak

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!

Koden KSC25 Helmet Extras

14 Tuesday Apr 2015

Posted by jamescaterracing in Formula Vee, Racing

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Tags

advice, AGV, carbon, confusion, custom, extras, formula vee, helmet, helmet accessories, koden, KSC25, parts, peak, sheane, single seater, spolier

Koden KSC25 Helmet Extras

As mentioned in my previous blog, the brilliant Koden KSC25 Carbon helmet comes with a few accessories.

The peak is of no use to me racing an open single-seater, but I’m sure is great for rally drivers etc.

The spoiler, however, was of interest to me.

As a very good and very cheap helmet, I’m sure a lot of people will be buying these, but, not many will want to get them painted up because it’s The Law to keep your carbon weave on show!

There are absolutely no instructions with the helmet – perhaps unsurprisingly, as you probably shouldn’t be getting in a car if you can’t figure out which end to put your helmet on. This leaves a bit of a dilemma with these extra bits, and what to do with them, though…

The spoiler and the peak come with ‘sticky stuff’ around their edges, so you just peel the tape off and stick it onto your helmet.

Umm… where??

There are no images I could find online of a helmet with either accessory actually attached!

I’m sure the spoiler is more cosmetic than anything, but as a biker I appreciate the need to have vents and peaks and all kinds of nonsense hanging off your helmet. It just looks better!

Many helmets boast about their anti-lift properties (meaning the air won’t get under them and lift them up at high speed), and the Koden spoiler may have some kind of effect here. Looking at my trusty AGV Stealth motorcycle helmet, though, I suspect it’s more to aid the exhaust vents on the back of the helmet.

My AGV has a spoiler itself, but with ducting to channel air from the front of the helmet all the way back and past the exhaust vents. My best guess is that the Koden spoiler is supposed to be placed in a similar fashion, i.e. covering the helmets exhaust vents like this:

I’ve already seen a few weird and wonderful placements from races this year, and as I said, I don’t think it REALLY matters, but by my logic and experience, this is how it’s supposed to go.

I suspect most will just leave the KSC25 bare and not have to guess!

I am planning on a few small stickers with my name on to stick on the helmet – but am also conscious that scrutineers don’t like helmet stickers as they might be covering something up.

Oh, and please before you go sticking anything on your brand new helmet – SIT IN YOUR CAR!

You’ll be gutted if you go sticking stuff all over it only to find you can’t get your head on your head rest anymore!

If you’re driving a Sheane Formula Vee – you’re fine to use it.

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