Someone enlighten me as to why people in motorsports are considered athletes.

I meant not weenies. I am failing at the multitasking of studying and this thread right now Let me fix it

 

Last time I checked you don't press something on a human and make them go

 

Bullshit Pete, if it's got wheels I can learn it, I ain't talking racing other drivers, I'd be a danger to them, I'm talking two days with a team and I'll learn to get it around the track without killing myself or wrecking the car, bastard looks like a handful that's for sure but I could learn it.

 

http://youtu.be/qyYOJnMpK6U

 

Light them on fire and they will

 

Not what I meant , but this is dumb

You're wrong , I'm right

/thread

 

Oh fuck rain man, no way, that's insane, dry pavement for me thank you, lost a couple of rides that way.

 

How about top fuel racing? They go so fast in such a small amount of time that they have to time there breath in right before the light just right or they can actually collapse there lungs from the G force of going from 0-200 in under 5 seconds. Top fuel is one of the highest physical sports in motorsports hell its probably even more physical then shit like golf lol

 

After the first day your neck would be destroyed. These guys train all year round just to be able to withstand the g forces that their bodies are subjected to let alone have quick enough reaction times to actually push the car to 80% it's potential.

 

I'm sure it would be, but Pete's point is I couldn't get the car around a track with out killing myself

 

Blah

An F1 car can accelerate from 0 to 160 kph and decelerate back to 0 in just four seconds.

 

I know the OP said that motocyclicts are exempt...but if anyone doubts professional supercross/motocross riders.

I will leave this here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=438zTcKh1Es

Pro MX was rated by sports illustrated several years back as the 2nd most physically challenging sport behind world cup soccer.

Pro motocrossers have been known to have the lowest body fat % out of any athlete on the planet, and during a race the average heart rate of a racer is 180 beats/min, sustained for between 20-45 minutes of racing, straight (depending on the style of race)

 

Damn you metric system!!! cant they both be physically demanding motorsports? top fuel and f1 are both amazing sports. I had a hard time keeping a friends NSX on the "track" at around 120MPH let alone 160KPH in a car thats two inches from the track.

 

So you just have to have a physically fit body, not actually being physically fit....?

 

Think you could time your breath within hundredths of a second if your life depended on it?

 

Actually the drivers immune systems are probably going nuts waiting for the light to turn, meaning shallow breathing, so yes.

Think any of these drivers can do a competitive vo2 max test or wingate test on par with the average professional athlete? I HIGHLY doubt it.

Which those two tests are used quite often to see if someone is even worth prospecting with in actual athletic sports.

 

The v02 im guessing is Max oxygen in the lungs? im not sure what a wingate test is.

 

Because you need to have a decent amount of strength and stamina and alot of focus depending on how long the race is, cause the entire time your racing you need to find the middle zone so to speak of adrenaline but calm and colectiveness and be aware of everything going on around you and make the right moves at the right time

 

No horse in this race, but from the TG vid, seemed much more about the guys mental state than his physical state.

There was a quick mention of his arms being tired/sore, but just quickly, and that was the only mention of physical stress. I would honestly chalk that up to not knowing how to drive an F1. I would think if he had several days to learn, the more he got used to the vehicle, the more relaxed he would be, and have less tension in his arms.

 

vo2 is basically measuring how much o2 your tissues use. Measures out going gasses vs in going gasses....pushing you to your max and some people dont even get there before calling it quits. Done by increase speed/incline/resistance on various things like treadmills and cycles with minute long intervals that get harder.

Wingate tells you how much power you can produce in a given period of time. Usually performed on a bike, so anyone who does not cycle will have a relatively low score compared to their actual fitness level. Basically pedal as fast as you can for 6 seconds and then drop (literally) a resistance from 7-15% of your body weight on the wheels and pedal as hard as you can for 30-60 seconds depending on how long you're testing requirement is.

I've never done the vo2, but have witnessed it a few times, and it looks pretty hard. I have done the wingate test...I bike, and that test, all 42 seconds of it, ruined my entire day and a half after that and it was done at 8am on fresh legs.


Back on topic.....


I doubt drivers can do either of those and hit the the average professional numbers.