Yahoo Autos Ford GT Drivers Prepare for Le Mans With a Workout That's Pure Insanity
Driving a race car is plenty demanding no matter how long you're behind the wheel. But endurance races, especially 24-hour endurance races like Le Mans, are demanding on a completely different level.
Drivers have to be able to handle 120-degree cockpit temperatures and up to 3gs of lateral acceleration. Acceleration and braking forces, meanwhile, approach 2.5 g. All of those factors take their toll on the body after a few hours.
Leg cramps, neck spasms, and dehydration are common. In that kind of heat, drivers are losing a liter of water per hour just from sweating. The solution? Plenty of hydration, along with intense cardio, upper body workouts, ab workouts, and even neck exercises.
And as you might imagine, drivers are completely exhausted at the end of the race regardless of how well they prepare. But as Harry Tincknell says, if you make it onto the podium, it's all worth it.
