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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sports Act. Living
Sec. Elite Sports and Performance Enhancement
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fspor.2025.1498686
This article is part of the Research Topic Motorsport Performance: Recovery, Training and Physiology of the Driver-athlete View all 4 articles
Physiological Responses of Race Car Drivers in Authentic and Simulated Motor-Racing
Provisionally accepted- 1 Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
- 2 Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, United States
Objectives The aim of the present investigation was to determine the influence of G-loading and psycho-emotional stress and competitive pressures on driver physiology between authentic and simulated racing during similar environmental conditions (e.g. a hot cockpit). Methods Authentic racing data was collected during the 2018 “Sahlen’s 6 hours at the Glen” race, where five male drivers (age = 38.0 ± 5.1 y, driving years = 8 y) competed in the IMSA GTD class in 1 h stints over the course of the race. In the simulated race, the same drivers wore a full protective outfit to replicate the attire worn in the authentic race for 60 minutes in an environmental controlled room that matched authentic racing. During authentic and simulated racing physiological measures of heart rate (HR), breathing rate, physiological strain index (PSI), skin temperature and core temperature were recorded. ResultsIn the final 50 minutes higher (P<0.05) physiological demands were observed in core temperature, PSI, and breathing rate for authentic racing compared to simulated racing. HR in the final 50 minutes was higher (P<0.001) in authentic racing (159 ± 23 beats·min-1) to simulated racing (112 ± 19 beats·min-1) with no increase in heart rate in the first 10 mins of simulated racing. In authentic racing skin temperature was higher (P<0.001) in the first 10 mins compared to simulated racing however, in the final 50 mins there was no difference (P=0.928) observed. ConclusionsG-loading and psycho-emotional stress lead to considerable increases in metabolic work and physical stress in authentic racing compared to simulated racing. A racing simulator does not generate the physical loads to drive the car or the psycho-emotional stress and competitive pressure of an authentic racing event.
Keywords: Automobile racing, driver science, thermoregulation, Simulated driving, environmental physiology
Received: 19 Sep 2024; Accepted: 21 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Holland, Davis and Ferguson. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Justin Holland, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
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