Fatigue – that’s a word you hear being thrown about a lot at endurance racing events. We know that as drivers do long stints behind the wheel, fatigue starts setting in and the lap times start to drop steadily. But the $64,000 question is how long can a driver stay out on track without compromising the performance of his/her car or the safety of the other competitors. People keep throwing around the statistic of F1 drivers having an average heart rate of 170 bpm for the 90 odd minute duration of the race. That data might be useful for a young fit F1 driver who spends the entire duration of the race on the ragged edge, but is not very relevant to the average Lemons driver who is generally older, considerably less fit, often drives longer stints and (speaking for myself) is generally well under the limit.… Read the rest
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Spinning out at 95 mph
I was at the NCRC trackday at Reno-Fernley Raceway last weekend when I got some first hand experience of what happens in a high speed spin. I was coming down the front straight at well over 100 mph and slowed slightly to take the esses that make up turn 1. Now on the track map they may look like fairly severe turns but in actual fact you just lift a little bit to settle the car at the end of the straight before flooring it though S bends. On this particular lap I came in a little hotter than on my previous runs and just after i made it though turn 1 (but before 1A) the back end came around and I flew off the track at 95 mph.… Read the rest