M13S

Check for Carbon Monoxide

pewpewpew3000

I actually wore an Apple Watch during Mid Ohio to get this data. My resting heart rate seems to be 60/70. In the car it seems to be 100, with jumps to 120, with one 173 bpm which happened when I unintentionally went sideways through turn 9. Working out max is 178 bpm.


I do find myself somewhat focused on driving the car still, so probably just need more seat time there. I have a nice sim setup so will try doing longer stints there.

txhokie4life

I do PCA sprint races and I also do endurance racing -- I've done it both in 944's and in Boxsters. I'm way more exhausted in a 30 or 45 min sprint race than an 1.5-2hr endurance race.

The sprint race averages 9/10ths the whole time. The endurance race is probably 7-8/10s. The difference might only be a couple or a few seconds a lap. I have found that over time -- what was my 9 or 10 tenths -- is now my 7 or 8.

There's a physical aspect to it -- but there is a lot mentally going on. I'm going to say there is a stress/comfort level nature to it.

I'm prone to motion sickness as well -- but not very often do I cause myself to get sick.

Zhao

A lot of people say it might be your in-experience. Possibly, I remember being stressed about getting in to a race car as how extreme it felt, stomach in knots and all tensed up, and it took awhile for that to disappear. I’d say with time eventually it feels almost as normal to get into one for a race as getting into your car to drive to work. Sounds like it might be a bit more than that and there might be some stuff that you can do that helps though.

I’m 40ish, car is PS rack converted to manual, no abs, manual. I don’t run any in-car cooling. Race temps are usually between 24-32c here (so sometimes nice temps and sometimes it’s a sweat box). I am not fat, but I am not in shape. So I’m ok physically but don’t do anything to prepare for it. My car isn’t on the easy side to drive on paper, but that doesn’t mean it’s difficult to drive. What I’ve done I find helps so I never have an issue is:



I drink only water and lots of it, I do not eat anything on race days until after the event. Even in a 24 hour enduro I generally do not eat anything except raw vegetables. I always drop 6-10lbs from sweating and not eating, but that makes sure I don’t feel weird over the day. The idea of eating normal food on race day just seems like a bad idea to me so I never do it.

I find having a car setup well helps mentally and physically. AKA not setup to rotate for a bad driver and kick out easily (if the car is unstable, and I’ve had to endurance race a car like that before, it is the worst experience ever). Don’t have a tiny steering wheel. Make sure your seating position is correct so the wheel is closer to you (less stress on arms and shoulders and body). So while my car is manual everything, it is very easy to drive mentally and physically.

I also find it necessary to keep the adrenalin flowing to stave off boredom + other stuff, so I sprint race the entire 2 hour stint trying to go as fast as I can go every lap. When the car feels good and I’m driving it like I stole it, I often need to be told my 2 hours are up, come in! and am then happy to jump in again, and again if need be. If you’re having fun and your mind is going 100% on a task your body will ignore a lot of other things.

and definitely check for carbon monoxide. Even just removing the hatch, or having the exhaust have a leak where you think would vent past the driver can be a problem. I remember one enduro car they took the hatch off a civic...... and it sucked all the fumes into the cabin. their driver didn't make it 20 minutes before he was in an ambulance. you might have a very minor leak into the cabin that doesn't vent and builds up over time.

shotor

How do you guys check the CO levels in a car?

Zhao

If you think it's likely you can get a CO meter.

Low tech way is to make sure the exhaust is completely sealed and exits outside the bodywork of the car at the back, and that the back is sealed so the turbulent air at the rear end of the car doesn't get sucked back into the cabin. Holes in exhausts are easy to find. after that make sure the exhaust has good gaskets to seal it at the joints. headers can be difficult to mate up properly on some cars, and loading and unloading cars on some trailers can scrape and catch the exhuast and cuase problems. I had a buddy rip my exhaust off my car once, and I've had a resonator blow a hole in itself too. I've known people who had infinite problems mounting a aftermarket header flush and having it seal fully. Race cars built in sheds with non factory parts often are less than perfect.

Mark Dreyer

If it’s a stress thing, have your doc prescribe a beta blocker such as propranolol. If it’s a motion sickness thing have your doc prescribe a scopolamine patch. Both those drugs have worked well for me in a hot race car environment and/or right seat instructing a not so smooth student.

pewpewpew3000

**Update**

Just finished two days of racing at VIR with WRL. I managed a 2.5 hr stint on Saturday and a 2.5 hr stint on Sunday, and could have gone longer.

Here's what I've done:
- One hot yoga class. This was helpful in general, going to keep doing it.
- Mezcaline about an hour before I got into the car, combined with an energy drink. Worked really well!
- Driver air naca duct. Massive game changer in the small Miata cockpit.
- Managed my diet. Very light breakfast before getting into the car.
- Motion sickness wrist bands.
- Ginger candies.
- Tums on the second day since I did feel some heartburn the first.


I don't know what actually helped, but I suspect it was mezcaline and driver air, in that order. Thank you all so much. I can't say how ecstatic I am to have been able to drive as long as I did without getting sick. Even picked up some pace!

fleadh

Awesome, have fun!

Tief Lernen

Hmm, do you mean meclizine?

Tief Lernen

For a CO monitor, don't waste your money with a ****ty one, you don't want to be doubting whether it's actually working.

This is what I use in airplanes:
https://inspectortools.com/sensorcon...ns-co-ind-pro/

Jabs1542

I keep a canary in the car. He’s not happy when I’m on track, between him and the cage bouncing around banging into things in the back it gets pretty noisy. As they say, safety first.

pewpewpew3000

Definitely meant meclizine, the anti motion sickness medicine, and _NOT_ mezcaline, the psychedelic hallucinogen with effects comparable to those of LSD.

mikew968

you guys are some real comedians!!!@

pjazz

I've been using these for years for motion sickness. Certain tracks just do it to me. NCM and mid Ohio for sure.