KART
DRIVER PERFORMANCE
INCREASING
THE KART DRIVERS PERFORMANCE
There
is no substitute for good racing equipment, so take care
of that at your favourite outlet. The best karting equipment
in the World cannot have it's fullest potential realised
if the driver is not in top mental and physical condition.
It is more than waking up race day and saying I am without
a hangover, so today is going to be a top performance.
It goes much further to the fine-tuning of your body and
mind. These are secrets that all top Formula One drivers
know. It will not only help your racing and hone your
fine edge, but also benefit your general health.
The
benefits to you are increased personal performances, less
nerves and more stamina.
The
emphasis is on the whole body as a complete functional
unit from the food you eat, your thoughts and the nervous
system, which carries the messages. There are four important
areas. |
|
1.
FITNESS:
It was in 1976 that monitoring of the physical condition and
well being of race drivers while racing revealed the high
pulse rate three to four times their normal. It was found
that drivers who had not gone through fitness programmes are
prone to "mind Blackouts". They lose concentration
for fractions of a second at a time. It works as follows:
The more fit your body is, the less oxygen it uses under stress.
The relevance to the race driver is, the less oxygen the body
uses, and the more you have for your brain, thereby maintaining
mental alertness and lightning reaction times.
This is aerobic fitness that can only be gained by physically
participating in activities such as running, aerobics, etc.
2. STRENGTH:
It has become common knowledge that no driver can be successful
without proper physical training.
The high "G" forces of cornering can dislocate vertebrae
and place pressure on nerves, causing weakening of arms and
neck muscles. The Doctor or Chiropractic corrects this; he
is the expert at tuning your nervous system. The hands, wrists
and lower arms are very important to the race driver and therefore
must be in peak physical condition to produce the performance
required of them.
A single exercise using a 7kg weight suspended from a 25mm
round tube by a 1 metre rope is all that is needed. By winding
the tube with your hands it raises the weight, building up
important muscle groups.
Work your way up to 10 of these when at race fitness. Racing
and practice every week or two is important to keep ones general
race strength up. It is also important not to build up like
a body builder, this is because every muscle needs blood and
oxygen, the bigger you are the more it needs, and as a result
your overall energy needs are greater and you are under stress
sooner.
3.
DIET:
The kart racer has to school his body to husband vast reserves
of energy, especially with the longer race finals.
This means that his diet must be calibrated over the longer
term and monitored particularly closely just before the race.
Digestion is hard work for your body. If we feel sluggish,
it means blood is being used for digestive purposes with blood
being channelled to the stomach rather than the brain. If
you wish to sabotage your competitor’s efforts, fill
them up on some heavy slow digesting food, such as bacon and
eggs and coke before the race.
What is more important, and more difficult to achieve, is
a longer-term nutritional programme to enable the driver to
condition his body metabolism.
The idea is to eat complex carbohydrates easily digestible,
filling and high energy content, rather than heavier slow
digesting fatty foods. Especially the night before and the
morning of the race. Keep to muesli (without added sugar and
salt) and fresh fruit the night and morning before the race.
A carefully planned diet, particularly over the last 48 hours
before a race, could very well mean the difference between
winning and losing, all other things being equal.
4.
PSYCHOLOGY OF WINNING:
All
of the above are wasted if you are unable to get your head
together. What this means, is going over in your mind every
start, corner and manoeuvre before you race.
Not only the night before, but also every day go over the
race in your head. Research has shown the brain does not know
the difference between actual and vividly imagined experiences.
So you are reinforcing the winning actions every time you
think of it. The subconscious often has a stronger control
over the bodies actions than conscious thoughts, so by mentally
picturing your actions over and over well before the event
will help you when you are becoming tired or stressed during
the actual race.
For more information, read Denis Waitley's "Psychology
of Winning" book and the tape is ideal to listen to many
times before race day arrives.
It is the winning package that makes the difference.
Five points to winning:
1. Good equipment, well prepared.
2. Fitness - aerobic.
3. Physical strength - upper arms, neck, good nerve supply,
get a
Chiropractic tune up.
4. Diet - complex carbohydrates - low fats and low sugar.
5. Psychology - winning in your head way before the race day.
