The History of Speed by Martin Roach

Author:Martin Roach
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Published: 2020-10-29T00:00:00+00:00

It’s not just the release of hormones and chemicals that affect the individual at speed. With greater speed comes greater demands on the human body and senses. Land speed drivers have to cope with colossal forces on their bodies. At high velocity in a land speed car with the driver lying virtually prostrate, the blood rushes away from the legs and up into the torso and head, which can cause the driver to feel very dizzy – not ideal at speeds of 700 mph or more. Experts such as world land speed record holder Andy Green are able to tense certain muscle groups at exact moments, which helps to control the blood circulation in specific areas of the body, thus reducing the risk of fainting or dizziness. All the while they are doing this, they will also be handling all the technical demands of driving a land speed car travelling at extreme speed. If the blood pressure and physical demands become too much, then a process known as greying out first affects the eyes – then, worst case, it progresses to a blackout. Then, in the often sudden and extremely violent deceleration at the end of high-speed runs, the blood rushes back towards the legs, which can cause dizziness again. The dilemma is that if the driver tenses the wrong muscles too much or at the wrong time, there is a risk of actually increasing the chance of passing out. A further complication is what is known as somatogravic illusion, which is not related to driver seating. The inner ear provides us all with balance but, under extreme positive acceleration, the driver or pilot gets the impression that the vehicle’s nose is rising. There have been instances of aircraft crashes due to somatogravic effects misleading the pilot. Land speed record cars tend to decelerate faster than they accelerate and Thrust2 was an extreme example – losing speed between 5 and 6 G. The somatogravic effect under extreme deceleration can cause the driver to believe that he or she is heading downhill into the centre of the earth. Richard Noble was totally unprepared for this, ‘because you just wonder what the hell’s going on and, of course, prior to these top speed runs I’d got no experience of this, so it’s quite disconcerting but only for a second or two. The car was always safe as the brake parachute was giving us directional stability.’

Valerie Thompson explains how breathing is also crucial:

There is actually something of a contradiction because, in many senses, the fastest riders are kind of the slowest humans. You’ve got to control your heart beat when you’re on the starting line, you’ve got to breathe really well and in a controlled fashion. New riders are always coming up to me asking for advice, and the main thing I say to them all is: ‘Get your breathing right.’ That, and not doing a death clamp on the steering wheel!

Obviously, only an elite few ultra-high-speed racers experience such physical extremes, but

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