chrisp

As JimmiLew says, the drink is called Performance Drink. I know folks who use it and it works well. It's several levels of science beyond Gatorade.They make an off-the-shelf product, a slightly customized product, and a full custom which is driver specific and requires they test you during events to develop your formula. Also, as pointed out earlier, Gatorade is too thick for efficient absorption and for endurance use needs to be diluted. I consider Gatorade a non-carbonated soft drink. Hang out in a bike shop and you'll see some good fluid replacement products. Overall though they are both an electrolyte and sugar replacement whereas Performance Drink is a blood sugar stabilization product. Paul Booth is the founder/inventor and he would love to talk to anyone about it so ask for him when you call. Plan to spend $100-$150 a pouch. One pouch per session on track and it's not the type of thing you just use for races. It's intended to be used every session so your levels don't dip.

As far as fitness, the top drivers are fit...really fit. If you ride a bike hard for anywhere from 1-4 hrs a day, are 5%-8% bodyfat and have a weight lifting routine then I would say that you are at their level of fitness.

FGL28

As for keeping in shape get a hard core trainer, these people know how to get one to the lowest body fat. You guys get your cars tuned but you do not spend money to have an expert get you into shape?

I would take a guy who can power walk for several hours and does weight training over a cyclist who rides 30 miles several times a week. It is endurance sport.

Bill Lehman

After I had my MGB at minimum weight in the 70s, I decided that the driver could shape up. I eliminated coffe break donuts and reduced beer consumption to one six-pack per week (a hugh reduction). This worked, lost 50#.

Bull

Damn! I knew I should have patented that regimen when I invented it.

Actually, I don't like chocolate very much and never eat donuts. How do you think I manage to stay under 300lbs?????

Bull

Come on Larry! If you were VR would you go out on a bicycle? Think about the number of people who would like to run his *** into a ditch...and that is just in his neighborhood!

roberga

I do not remember who said it but:

I drove when tires were skinny and drivers were fat, now it is the other way around.

Mahler9th

Interesting topic. Years ago I read that F1 drivers were amongst the fittest athletes in the world... 3x resting heartbeat mostly due to "fear/adrenaline." I was an athlete in college at a pretty high level, but sadly don't work out much these days. My sport required low body fat and great strength to weight, plus like racing, a very high cognitive component. Loose concentration... get hurt. The cognitive aspect is often overlooked when discussing racing and fitness.

Cardiovascular fitness is obviously key for racing. Like many of you, I have been doing this long enough to have lost a few friends to MI's at the track. So regular cardio is important, along with check ups.

Hydration. Besides some regular regime of cardio exercise, I think maintaining adequate hydration is key. As a part of my job, I have been in touch with the world's foremost experts on heat illness and hydration. Medical, military, sports... you name it, they are now in my rolodex. The thing about racing and hydration is quite interesting because of the cognitive issues. We cannot afford too much of a compromise in cognition due to dehydration, yet it happens all of the time and we deal with it.

Gatorade/Pepsico is often slammed for the composition of its popular drinks, but I can tell you that they conduct and sponsor serious, meaningful research, and have worked with racers. The researchers there really do care about hydration. They even (co-) developed an in car drink system (G.I.D.S.), sold by BSR. Not suitable for our type of amateur racing though. Products like Camelbaks are sometimes used in our cars-- I have yet to try one, though hope to later this year. The CEO of that company is a college classmate, and I plan to suggest that they develop a product specifically for our sport.

As for what to drink, I have done a lot of reading on this as well. There are a lot of issues and variables, and preferences. I can tell you that it is a complex field. I know doctors and exercise physiologists who are serious endurance athletes and they all have different opinions and preferences. One growing concern is hyponatremia-- loss of too much sodium. Overhydration... typically with water is the culprit.

Cytomax has a sport drink mix with several good qualities. I do not care for the taste, but founder Greg Pickett is a longtime Trans Am racer, and his son-in law is Scott Sharp. So if you want to support fellow racers, try that drink mix!

By the way, my company is working on a device that will measure hydration status. Applications in sports medicine, occupational medicine, other types of medicine and perhaps eventually a consumer medical product.

Veloce Raptor

More true when you know. Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6 !!!!!!!

Azikara

Not sure they really are 5-8% - that's very low - but would be interested in your sources. However, I think that cycling is one of the better sports to keep you fit for enduros. Patrick Dempsey was just quoted as saying that cycling has improved his driving. I've just started this year and have 800 miles so far. It has doubled my cardio (as measured by the amount of squash I can play in a single event). I can now sit in the saddle for 3+ hours at 20 mph avg. and still feel good. I think that folks who run for 30 mins and the lift for 30 don't really develop much cardio. It would probably be better to run for one hour (about 6 miles) to get there.

As for drinks, there are some good ones as folks here have pointed out. I stay away from Gatorade etc. I use Accelerade currently (4:1 - protein carbs) you probably don't need this in a car because you are not really breaking down muscle (what the protein is used for) rather you want electrolyte replacement and good hydration. For a boost of energy on the bike I use Cliff gels. They are awesome and 90% organic. But again, not sure you'd need them in a car unless you feel wiped out. Then I would use the caffeinated ones. They rock.

C.J. Ichiban

top level racing drivers are absolutely at 5-8% bodyfat. In a sport where they're crafting titanium and CF pieces for everything the racing team bosses give the guys a lot of **** to lose as much weight as possible, as it's cheaper to get the driver to lose 10 lbs.

in-race heart BPM for f1 guys is routinely SUSTAINED @ 160+ and there's no way to do that unless you're in killer shape.

In the ALMS LMP drivers average around 5'8 150lbs. Check the media guide!

Hydration methods vary greatly depending on the length of the race, or the sport.- I've heard great things about the glycomax product for endurance racing.

In my professional sport- we deal with tons of heat, travel and grind out hours of mentally and physically draining exercise.

Personally, I drink endurox (which is like accelerade, 4:1 carb/protein recovery drink) in between sessions, or after workouts and stick to very diluted pedialyte, or my own pre-game gatorade concoction- 24 oz gatorade/vitamin water bottle with 50% sports drink/vitamin water, 30-40% water, and 10-20% red bull sugar free. I also take supplements that gear towards my heart and adrenaline production.

When I transition from baseball to racing, I plan on losing about 35 lbs and going from 10% @ 215lbs to 6% @ 180lbs. Each sport has it's own needs, and I won't need huge muscles to steer a car, just really strong stabilizer muscles in my trunk and core, and a ****-ton of endurance.

BrianKeithSmith

I'm at roughly 5' 8" 160.

The next time I hear someone say racing is not a sport, or doesn't require any athleticism, I'm going to refer them to this thread.

Good info guys, I appreciate all of it.

One thing I haven't found is the ingredients of Glycomax (just the standard issue version).


Brian

Larry Herman

You guys are athletes?

Veloce Raptor

Sort of like pro poker players.

Circuit Motorsports

Well the DH is....

C.J. Ichiban

anyone want to try and arm wrestle???