The rigors of V8 driving

[JumpNZ]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/motorsport/2336282/V8-drivers-tune-bodies-too

Every gear change is like a 40kg seated row with one arm, Winterbottom said. And every brake application is the same as a 90kg one-legged leg press.

Now I would be the first in line to admit these are some super fit freaks, but come on. Likening your gear change and brake applications to a 40kg seated row and 90kg single leg press - I call BS.

With 2300 gear changes each race and about 750 braking points, I doubt anyone could sustain that level of muscular endurance. Maybe a 15kg seated row and a 20kg single leg press would be more similar...

Thoughts?

[psi_brg]

i totally agree with you jump...

but when i was cart racing then went onto formula fords i thought it was quite hard...but then again i was a 55kg white boy with nothing on me...know i would throw those carts around like nothing...V8 racing with all their gizzmo's atm and the sequential boxes...10kg max

[Laver]

if you started pulling a gear stick for 40kg worth of seated row and pressing a break pedal for 90kg worth of press i think you'd do some damage to the car pretty quickly.

[teamfatboy]

I think there's more force involved than appears from the TV - a lot of folks talk about how strong the gearboxes have to be to handle the loads, so I would expect the loads on the lever to be higher than usual. Similarly, I've heard stories of races being lost when the driver pushed so hard on the brake pedal he broke the seat mountings....

However, to compare the gearshift load or brake pedal load to a row or leg press is a bit misleading - the gearshift 'throw' is measurable in centimetres, whereas a seated row moves the weight over a much greater range. Same with a leg press - the amount of force may be the same, but the amount of energy expended to move the pedal a centimetre or two, compared with maybe 40-50 centimetres on a leg press, will be way less.

Add in a working environment that's as hot as hell, the g-forces on the driver and so on, and yeah, I can see it'd be hard work!

[psi_brg]

yea definitly ahrd work when you take into the g'z cabin temp etc...but the hit the gear stick up.....pull it down no clutch involved for going up just changing down totally not a 40kg row...break on the other hand you can only push the pedal untill it wont go anyfurther any more pressure (hard enough) to break bolts is a given