Mistakes Not To Make #3
[ October 21st, 2008 ] By: Charles Smith Posted in » Tips and Tricks
Failing to sleep has a number of effects on the body that can cause you to lose it on your race day. For one thing it slows your reactions (eventually). However most importantly, at least in Rally, it makes focusing (not optically but mentally) that much harder.
Rally is an endurance race for both the cars and drivers. Physical demands aside, staying mentally sharp all day requires sleep. The focus this sport requires can be witnessed in such a silly way as the number of times a driver blinks. WRC Drivers are known for their few and far between blinks (Mikko Hirvonen anyone?). They blink about ten times less often than normal (while driving of course). That requires so much focus (on the road). Not sleeping will make you lose that edge way sooner in the day.
So rest up for you, your co-driver’s (they need rest too), your car’s and your wallet’s sake.
October 22nd, 2008 at 11:57 am
Hahaha, I read that as “Falling asleep blah blah affects your reaction times”. It most certainly would :-X
October 22nd, 2008 at 8:25 pm
Drinking lots of energy drinks is counter-effective, too…
While you may stay awake, you will not be focused, mentally, and will actually fatigue physically earlier. Caffeine is also a diuretic and in a rally car during a stage isn’t where you want to be when your bladder needs emptying every few minutes.
October 23rd, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Yep. You’ll notice that people sponsored by energy drinks are drinking water from bottles that look like the energy drinks.