See How Many G-Forces an IndyCar Driver Feels Over a Lap

From Road & Track

Driving a high-downforce race car is an experience unlike anything else. It's hard to understand what it feels like, unless you've been in one yourself. IndyCar put together a video showing the G-Forces acting on Graham Rahal over a couple testing laps at Phoenix Raceway, and it gives us mere mortals an idea of what these racers experience.

Amazingly, per a tweet from Rahal himself, the G-Force meter overlaid on this video doesn't quite capture the level he experiences. Rahal experiences an average of 5.18 g's through turn one with a spike of 5.38 g's. For reference, astronauts experience around 2 g's during a space shuttle launch.

What's most striking though, isn't the total force, but how violently the forces shift from side to side. During all these shifts, Rahal still manages to make fine adjustments on his steering wheel.

So, if anyone tries to tell you that racers aren't athletes, show them this.

via Jalopnik

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