This year’s racing season was marked by a shift in focus from the vehicle to the racing driver. Vehicle development was not sufficient to achieve the desired performance objectives. We had to look elsewhere for performance improvements; this is when driver development came into focus.

Vehicle engineering benefits from of a history of research. Notable discoveries in vehicle dynamics were studied as early as the 1930s with pioneers like Maurice Olley. In contrast, the case to study motor racing as a sport was proposed in 2013 by Potkanowicz and Mondel. Searching on Google Scholar for ‘vehicle dynamics’ shows 195,000 results; the term ‘driver science’ yields 228 results.

To study the driver in equal weight and importance to studying the vehicle would mean understanding the current state-of-the-art. This is when we relied on David Ferguson’s book, “The Science of Motorsport”.

Motivation

As a enthusiast at the amateur levels of motorsport, I wanted to know the following:

  • Why do professional racing drivers have superior vehicle maneuvering abilities?
  • What are the constitutive skills and traits of a good racing driver?
  • How can I help drivers achieve their performance objectives?

These questions are motivated by the quantity of anecdotal findings. The quality of these findings varies and corroboration with literature is necessary to verify their validity. While seat time is important, it is not sufficient; further development is required to achieve success within the constraints of the sport.

The increased visibility of driver development programs at the professional level contributes to this line of questioning. Professional driver development programs like the McLaren Human Performance Program are quite secretive, though their existence is suggestive their value.

The Book

David P. Ferguson’s “The Science of Motorsport” is one of the few books that addresses the importance of human performance using evidence-based research to support their findings. Its editor describes it as an ‘accessible and up-to-date resource’. I will agree with the latter, with the book representing a snapshot in what is known about human performance in motorsport.

The book is a 165 page paperback covering a wide range of topics from physiological demands, nutritional requirements, psychological considerations to track safety. Each chapter is written by a subject expert contributor and is supported by numerous external citations.

Each chapter is sufficiently structured to be read independently. However, they are ordered intentionally to build upon the idea of the driver-athlete to make the same case for team success and track safety. Human performance is not limited to just the racing driver, but to pit crews and safety teams working along side the racing driver.

“The Science of Motorsport” is not without caveats; there is no recipe for improving your driving skill and it lacks actionable tools described in many self-help driving resources. The reader is left to themselves to develop a program that best suites their performance objectives with the field being too young to have concrete recommendations. Arguably, this is an accurate reflection of the state-of-the art with many questions left for professionals, academics and amateurs alike.

What We Learned

The application of sports science and sports psychology presents a compelling new opportunity for improving performance and safety. By applying the lessons-learned from other competitive sports in a task-specific manner, we can train the racing driver in a more deliberate and targeted fashion that will enhance their driving capabilities.

Driver-Athlete

Anyone with a valid drivers license can drive a vehicle; however, the racing driver is an athlete who is subjected to wide variety of physical stressors. By operating a racing vehicle, the racing driver is subjected to high temperatures, carbon monoxide exposure, vehicle vibrations, and inertial forces.

This puts the racing driver under extreme physiological stress. In studies involving endurance racing drivers, it is shown that heart rate values reach >80% of age-estimated maximal heart rates. Physical strength is required to operate the vehicle controls under continuous g-force loading cycles. Additionally, the driver must operate in these conditions for the duration of their stint which can last towards 2 hours in certain endurance series.

Measuring Driver Demand

The pervasive use of data acquisition systems demonstrates its importance in performance engineering. With the rise of CAN and OBD-II enabled systems, the data acquisition system has become an indispensable tool for professionals and amateurs alike.

Interestingly, the same pervasiveness has not yet extended to the racing driver both on and off the race track. Both subjective and objective measurements can provide insight into human performance. Off the race track, conventional metrics can be used to assess physical fitness. These metrics include VO2max, lactate threshold, strength tests results and physiological measures.

Mental Skills

High-speed vehicle maneuvering is a cognitively demanding task that requires a high degree of concentration. The racing driver must process information in real-time and make decisions based on these observations. Concentration is the underlying mechanism that enables the racing driver to perform, but requires training to focus on task-relevant information in the presence of distractions.

Mental skills have been successfully applied to competitive sports. Goal setting and motivation are critical in long-term development and growth. Arousal regulation before a session can affect the driver’s focus and physiologic state, which in turn can affect performance.

Future Research

Determining how to apply the strategies in sports science is the kernel to realizing its value on the race track. Based on the current research and state-of-the-art, these are lines of investigation that could benefit all levels of motorsport.

Driver-specific Training

The driver-athlete is unique in that they are conditioned to cope with task-specific stressors. Because of the unique demands in motorsports, training needs to be task-specific in order to take advantage of the principle of specificity.

Driving specific training would involve developing a fitness routine that exercises the body under the same conditions as in the race car cockpit. Understanding the muscular and physiological demands that the driver experiences can be used to derive training requirements. Determining the task-specific exercises which are maximally transferable to high-speed vehicle maneuvering is primary challenge in improving fitness variables and performance outcomes.

Perceptual Training

A differentiating factor between experts and non-experts is their ability to process sports specific information. Unlike an aircraft pilot who relies on flight instruments over their senses, the racing driver must integrate perceptual information to plan and control the racing vehicle.

Improving the ability to perceive task-relevant information can be trained outside of the vehicle. Vestibular exercises are primarily used for concussion therapy. Can they be applied after periods of increased physiological demand to improve balance and coordination? Racing simulators can be used to emulate the visual and audio stimuli of high-speed vehicle maneuvering. The availability of high quality simulation programs means they can be integrated into a task-specific training program.

Optimal Control

With the rise of autonomous vehicles, can the same technology be used to bring insight into high-speed vehicle maneuvering?

Optimal control problems would yield a solution to the high-speed vehicle maneuvering problem without consideration of human factors. Autonomous vehicle control stacks are built on a control hierarchy similar to the perceptual-cognitive models presented for humans (ie. perception, localization, planning, control). These solutions benefit from an understood mathematical basis which could be transferred to human drivers to rapidly achieve maximum performance.

Conclusion

The complexity of high-speed vehicle maneuvering demands maximum performance from both the race car and racing driver. Understanding the necessary conditions for success forms the basis of an integrated and comprehensive driver development program.

There is no avoiding human factors in this sport regardless of if you are an amateur or a professional. Vehicle performance and track safety are dependent on the ability for humans to perform at their best. Driver science is an exciting new field of research that can help make the sport safer and more enjoyable for everyone.

“The Science of Motorsport” succeeds in bringing evidence-based research to the racing driver problem. Combined with existing literature in high-speed vehicle maneuvering, it presents enormous value by providing meaningful context into the sport; a must read for anyone who is serious about improving themselves as a racing driver.

References

  1. Milliken, William F. “Maurice Olley.” Milliken Research Associates. SAE Automotive Dynamics and Stability Conference, Mar. 2019, Troy, Michigan, www.millikenresearch.com/MauriceOlleybyWFMilliken.pdf.
  2. Potkanowicz, Edward S., and Ronald W. Mendel. “The Case for Driver Science in Motorsport: A Review and Recommendations.” Sports Medicine 43, no. 7 (July 2013): 565–74. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-013-0040-2.
  3. Leeuwen, Peter M. van, Stefan de Groot, Riender Happee, and Joost C. F. de Winter. “Differences between Racing and Non-Racing Drivers: A Simulator Study Using Eye-Tracking.” Edited by Jun Xu. PLOS ONE 12, no. 11 (November 9, 2017): e0186871. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0186871.
  4. Ferguson, David P., ed. The Science of Motorsport. New York: Routledge, 2018.
  5. “Airman Education Programs.” FAA seal, November 18, 2010. https://www.faa.gov/pilots/training/airman_education/topics_of_interest/spatial_disorientation/.