For average human beings , “ performance under pressure ” mean sprinting to get to ferment on time , or skirt when mom call for if you ’re ever going to get married . But it ’s a whole other level for professional drivers who , under uttermost conditions , somehow execute near - impossible tasks that would reduce most of us to pool of perspiration .
Castrol ® EDGE ® is exploring that moral force with theirTitanium Trialvideo series , which get , well-nigh , the vivid challenges professional drivers regularly face in the real world , likedriving in a real dimout , or competing in a psyche - to - chief challenge .
We checked out a unrecorded prowler prevue of the most recent in the series , Titanium Trial : Clone Rivalwith super elevator car racer Christoffer Nygaard in NYC . It put our day Job into perspective .
Courtesy of Castrol
The set up
Castrol ® partnered with VR expert at REWIND to create a state - of - the art simulator designed to mimic just what it feels like to drive a Koenigsegg – a $ 4 million first-rate car – around a lap at Ascari , a 5.5 km track in Rondo , Spain , that recreates famous racing recess from around the world . Castrol ® then hired Nygaard , a professional Koenigsegg run machine driver , to thrum his best time around the course . But , this was n’t your mediocre personal challenge : Nygaard ’s everlasting lap covering was create in a eminent - tech VR simulation , and then he was task with beat his “ dead ringer ” out on the real rails . Like that was n’t enough , he could see via a HUD – or guide up display – just how superior his clone was at all meter . That ’s a unceasing stream of pallid burns sent flat from the future .
Watching the proceeding were neuroscientist Dr. Jack Lewis – an expert on how athlete execute under imperativeness – and Vince Wilfork , one of pro football ’s most immovable military force , and possibly the only human animated who could win a dancing competition while at the same time cooking rib . Our takeaways :
Muscle memory is key
Castrol ® and REWIND designed the simulator to mime how the automobile would reply to everything from impinge on bumps on the tarmac to flooring the engine . Why ? develop muscle retentiveness is essential for drivers at Nygaard ’s level , who can handle the bedrock of driving around a exceptional course subconsciously , while focusing on more strategic decisions behind the rack ( the sport stuff ) . Also , you ca n’t exactly take a $ 4 million Koenigsegg out on the track for hours to get a sense of how it feels around the turn , because even routine maintenance on a motorcar like that can cost upwardly of $ 20,000 . ( And you thoughtyourmechanic was cheating you . )
They literally have crazy amounts of adrenaline pumping through their bloodstream
The only difference between driving the simulator and hit the actual runway , Nygaard said , was that he did n’t get the same adrenaline spate that he gets when he ’s behind the steering wheel of an actual car . And that adrenaline rushing actually helps give pro athletes a serious bound . Pro athlete often build up enlarge adrenal glands that release abnormally high levels of adrenaline under pressure sensation , and react at lightning speeding . It ’s so much epinephrine that if us mortals experienced it , we would likely finger panic , and our public presentation would worsen . In professional , competitive sports though , this definitely gives the jock a leg - up .
You perform even better when you face your toughest competition
Just imagine if the knot you get in your belly when your high shoal frenemy gets a promotion in reality actuate you to greatness . grant to Dr. Lewis , that ’s sort of what happens with professional athletes when they face sturdy competition . Knowing that they are about to front the full provides even more of an adrenaline hike , and helps them vie even better . And that ace - high-pitched level of adrenaline set aside them the ability to not only put their muscular tissue on a hair trigger so they have firm chemical reaction times , but a narrow-minded focus into their competition ’s strengths and weaknesses . That ’s something Nygaard does when he faces other drivers out on the cut , but it try even more difficult to do re his own knockoff , because as he said : “ A racing driver always thinks he ’s the full ” – so identifying your own potency and weaknesses , then trying to out manoeuver them , was in particular ambitious .
The best athletes banish self-criticism on game day
Watching his dead ringer while he raced was like Nygaard in effect amplifying his anxiousness . always secondly - guessing yourself is n’t useful in sidereal day - to - Clarence Day life , and it ’s definitely a nemesis when it comes to competition – however , the safe athletes are their own harsh critic , and often will spend the days before a game re - watching bid and note all the thing they mess up , before still their intimate saboteur on game ( or race ) sidereal day and focusing all their mental Energy Department on the task at hand . It would sort of be like you acting out exactly how that first appointment should go in your head while you ’re getting quick , but then knowing that you ’ve got to shut down all those disconfirming thoughts and exude confidence once your date have in the car– that way you’re able to retrieve ready on your metrical foot .
Your brain actually does have a “decision-making” limit
You know how around 5 pm you require to face plant into your desk and take a cat sleep ? According to Dr. Lewis , that ’s because your mental capacity really does have a bound on decision - making and you just get hold of the cap . This is why pro - athletes flummox to a strict routine , and lean quotidian decision like what to eat for breakfast on autopilot . We do n’t know what he exhaust for breakfast , but when Nygaard had a split - second to decide how tight or punishing he should arrive at the break during theTitanium Trial ? He did n’t hesitate .
So, which Nygaard won?
regain out that a simulated knockoff could do your job better than you’re able to could wreak havoc on your brain . Luckily , the real Nygaard and his Koenigsegg , powered by Castrol ® EDGE ® beat out his simulation by a few fractions of a second . upright luck next time , technology .
Courtesy of Castrol
Courtesy of Castrol
