Physiological responses during racing kart driving

Physiological monitoring was carried out during the motor sport of Racing Kart driving. In addition to highlighting the importance of physiological measurement during motor sports, this study may have social relevance through its potential to contribute to decreasing automobile accidents in overload situations by using appropriate biosignals. The measurement quantities collected in this study were instantaneous heart rate, HR, vector magnitude of acceleration, G, blood pressure, BP, and core body temperature, T _eardrum. After giving informed consent 11 healthy male subjects (34.4 ± 7.7 S.D. yrs)were tested in the racing circuit. We successfully monitored the physiological variables during karting, finding a statistically significant decrease in BP(p < 0.01) and a rise in T _eardrum(p < 0.01)immediately after the driving period. In addition, we have confirmed that HR was maintained at approximately 150bpm, which, by means of time-frequency analysis, could be explained by sympathetic acceleration. Furthermore, it is strongly suggested that the rise in HR could be closely related to the G forces to which the drivers were subjected. These results clearly disclose to us one aspect of the possible physiological responses and the importance of physiological monitoring during motor sports.