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Speed ratio but cabin temperature positively correlated with increased heart rates among professional drivers during car races

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Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine Aims and scope

Abstract

Objectives

The present study measures heart rate (HR) on a number of professional race-car drivers during actual car races through annual seasons to test hypotheses that faster relative speed and higher cabin temperature would induce higher HR.

Methods

Heart rates in fifteen male drivers (31.2 ± 5.5 years old) were obtained by chest-strap sensors during official-professional 13 races. Average HR was calculated while the driver was racing from the start to the end of each race.

Results

The average HR during races was 164.5 ± 15.1 beats min−1 and the average amount of time each driver spent driving per race was 54.2 ± 13.7 min. Average HR significantly and positively correlated with mean speed ratio (P < 0.001), but not with the average cabin temperatures (P = 0.533, range 25.6–41.8 °C) by the multiple linear regression analysis. Both average HR and mean speed ratio were significantly lower under wet, than dry conditions (151.9 ± 16.5 vs. 168.3 ± 12.5 beats min−1, 86.9 ± 4.4 vs. 93.4 ± 1.5 %).

Conclusions

The cardiovascular system of drivers is considerably stressed at extremely high HR. This high average HR positively correlated with mean speed ratio, suggesting that faster driving speed would induce greater cardiovascular stress to professional drivers during actual races. However, contrary to our hypothesis, cabin temperature was not significantly correlated with average HR. It is speculated that direct body cooling systems used in this professional race category work well against increases in HR by thermal stress under the temperature range found herein.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the GT Association Co., Ltd. of Japan, A Speed, AUTOBACS Racing Team AGURI, LEXUS TEAM SARD, LEXUS TEAM WedsSport BANDOH, MOLA, NISMO, TEAM KUNIMITSU and the Japanese Automobile manufacturers Honda Motor Co., Ltd., Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. and Toyota Motor Corporation for valuable support during the project. We also appreciate the assistance of S. Udagawa PhD for reviewing the statistical analyses. This study was supported by our institutional fund (The Nihon University School of Medicine). This report was previously presented, in part, at “The 82nd Annual meeting of the Japanese Society for Hygiene”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Hygiene, Department of Social Medicine, Nihon University School of Medicine, 30-1 Ohyaguchi-kamicho, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo, 173-8610, Japan

    Ryo Yanagida, Yojiro Ogawa, Ken Aoki & Ken-ichi Iwasaki

  2. Hokuranosato Clinic, Niigata, 942-0314, Japan

    Kiichi Takahashi

  3. Miura Clinic, Kanagawa, 232-0006, Japan

    Masaru Miura

  4. GT Association Co. Ltd, Tokyo, 141-0031, Japan

    Masahiro Nomura

Authors
  1. Ryo Yanagida
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  2. Kiichi Takahashi
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  3. Masaru Miura
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  4. Masahiro Nomura
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  5. Yojiro Ogawa
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  6. Ken Aoki
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  7. Ken-ichi Iwasaki
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Correspondence to Ken-ichi Iwasaki.

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Yanagida, R., Takahashi, K., Miura, M. et al. Speed ratio but cabin temperature positively correlated with increased heart rates among professional drivers during car races. Environ Health Prev Med 21, 439–445 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12199-016-0544-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12199-016-0544-0

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