15 things no one tells you about being a professional racing driver
Being a professional racing driver is a dream job, but there are some things you just aren't prepared for before you live it.
1. You need better boardroom skills than Alan Sugar
Motor racing is very expensive - and it’s getting tougher and tougher to earn a living from. To fund my Formula Renault campaign I had five or six personal sponsors.
Sponsorship has changed from just having a sticker on the car. Now you really have to offer them value, you have to put the deals together - and obviously the stronger business case you can put to them, and the stronger it actually works in reality, the more chance you have of keeping sponsors for a long time.
Once you have them on board you have to keep them happy, entertain them at the track, keep them up to date with everything that you’re doing, get as much media coverage as possible for them - and make B2B introductions to try and generate more business for them.
You see some guys who have retained sponsors for 20 years over their whole career, and that’s what I’m trying to build.
4. You're not only a driver, you're also a runner or a cyclist
Every top driver has to be super fit and lean. Almost everyone I know is either a cyclist or runner.
I can be in the car for up to three or four hours at a time so I figure I need to be out running for at least a couple of hours and get that heart rate so of like 130/140 or even 150 which is what we’ve measured it to be in the car.
I visit a specialist racing drivers’ fitness facility called Pro Performance once or twice a week as they really know the specific fitness needs we have.
When I’m not with them I’ll be out on the road running every day, and I’ll do anything from 10k in 40 minutes to up to a half marathon distance.
8. There are lots of fun things you can’t do anymore . . . . .
The team does not want you getting injured and being unable to drive the car so they put it in your contract that you are not allowed to do various things like horse riding, white water rafting, scuba diving, hand gliding, para gliding, contact sports, bungee jumping and skiing.
Rugby is the hardest one for me. I played it at school and a lot of my friends still play but I have to watch from the sidelines.
It’s just not worth the risk of getting crunched and breaking an arm. It just doesn’t go down very well with the team if you can’t race because you were doing something stupid the weekend before.
12. You will end up buying a lot of doughnuts
There are more than 40 people in the team - I am just one of them, and without them I would not have a car to race.
I might do a race and hopefully get on the podium, spray the champagne and then get a flight home, but they will be there until the next day, packing away the garage and stripping down the car, before doing it all again in reverse at the next race.
It means just as much to them if we win as it does to me, so as a driver you work hard to forge that bond with them.
We have done things like karting challenges and paint-balling with them - even small things like making sure I always bring in a load of Krispy Kremes when I visit the factory. It all helps.
14. You will have to write your own encyclopaedia - yes really
After each weekend I make a note of everything that happened with the car: all the technical changes we made, how I drove each corner, what gear I was in - everything.
At home I have now got an encyclopaedia of all the tracks that I’ve ever been to, in all the different cars, and I know, for example, that for turn 1 at Silverstone I need to brake at 90 metres.
It might be three or four years before I go back to a certain track and and I’m obviously not going to remember what gear I was in at the third corner so I note it down, then I update it each time I drive the track.
I think a lot of top guys do do it too. The higher up you go, the more you have to try and find every little edge you can.
Complete list (DriveTribe.com)
Friday, June 16, 2017
Did You Know - Ebi (Shrimp) Edition
What Are The Different Types Of Shrimp Used In Japanese Cuisine?
Sakura-ebi
Sakura-ebi
- This translucent pink shrimp translates to “spring-season shrimp,” and it’s caught in the Suruga Bay of the Shizuoka Prefecture of Japan. It can be shipped fresh to NYC but only around May, as it is very seasonal. “Sakura-ebi can only be served raw when it is super fresh,” adds Kousaka. “It just does not last fresh for a long period.” So just how is it usually prepared? Saito lists dried or fried kaki-age (fritter) as the two most common preparations.
- Imagine a whiter, smaller, slimier version of ama-ebi and you’re envisioning shiro-ebi. The tiniest of all the species on this list — a single piece of sushi or sashimi contains multiple little shrimps — shiro-ebi “has been very popular among Americans recently,” reports Kousaka, who uses ones sent over from the Toyama prefecture of Japan. “Even when they are shipped frozen (with a special technique), they never get too liquid-y, which is a unique feature compared to other shrimp eaten raw.” Even more impressive? Each of the miniature shrimps is “cleaned piece by piece by hand before being shipped to the U.S.” Talk about exhaustive labor!
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