Sydney, June 5 (IANS) Young, top-ranked motor racing drivers have superior and sharper vision compared to other sportspersons of the same age, says a new study.
‘The motorsport athletes came out on top across the entire range of tests,’ says Anthony Schneiders, senior lecturer at University of Otago’s School of Physiotherapy.
‘To be a top driver, it’s all often down to perceiving millimetres of difference to get the right line to take you efficiently around a corner or past another car. It’s a very demanding sport with uncomfortable physical conditions endured over long periods of time,’ says Schneiders, who led the study.
‘The drivers could identify specific objects that were only visible for 21 milliseconds, whereas the control group (of other sportspersons) were approximately 25 percent slower,’ he says.
‘It’s quite remarkable, considering all the factors, how extremely good these drivers are at focusing their vision,’ he concludes.
The University of Otago’s School of Physiotherapy and the School of Physical Education conducts testing for the New Zealand Elite Motor Sport Academy which has an annual camp in Dunedin for promising young motorsport athletes.
Up-and-coming race car drivers aged from 14 to 25 years come to the Physiotherapy School for specific testing in a programme organised by the New Zealand Academy of Sport-South Island.
Many of the young drivers tested for this study began racing from age six, driving karts.
By the time they reach age 14 or 15 they had had a lot of driving experience. But Schneiders adds that whether the superior acuity of their vision is innate or learned is difficult to say without further investigation, a University of Otago release says.
The research has been well received internationally. The Vodafone V8 Supercar team in the Australian V8 Supercar series have already expressed interest in the research, asking how it can be applied to their drivers.
