Best diet and supplements for motor sports athletes

[Laura55555]

Hi there, I am a post graduate student conducting research on the behaviours of motorsport athletes regarding consumption of supplements pre, during and post-race. I would hugely appreciate your help with this. Can you please tell me your diet for all stages and or if you take performance supplements and why? Thanks so much :)

[gadjo_dilo]

:confused:
Any motorsport athletes here??????

[Laura55555]

Isn't this a motorsport forum? :\\

[gadjo_dilo]

It is but most of the members are hardly motorsport athlets. :devil:

[MrJan]

This may not be what you're expecting but I do sprints and hillclimbs so will run you through a typical event.

My diet in a race day will usually be something like a Belvita breakfast bar when leaving the house at 6:30/7am (depending on where we are). After getting to the venue and getting through signing-on/scrutineering I will usually have a high fat/high carb/high protein meal, most commonly a sausage and egg bap, occasionally I have the hankering for some bacon though. I generally then won't eat until the lunch break, although may have a small chocolate bar or piece of cake before 2nd practice. Something like a Rocky or Club biscuit, with a cup of coffee to wash it down (white, one sugar). Lunch will depend on the venue and catering facilities. It might be something packed at home, a beef & mustard sandwich or chicken mayo, in some places I'll use the catering van and have a pulled roast pork bap (with stuffing and apple sauce) or chips with curry sauce. After that maybe a caramel waffle and, if I'm still hungry, an apple.

At the end of the day's racing I like to partake in a bit of liquid refreshment, but again depends on venue. My preference is to have some Otter, but that's only available when I compete at Wiscombe Park. 2 or 3 pints usually sets the evening up nicely. At other venues then I'll either plan ahead or pick up some lager on the way home (I don't drive to events so can binge on the way home).

I'd say that the majority of the people competing at my level (which is basically the majority of people that do motorsport) follow a fairly similar routine, for the most part we're not a healthy bunch of people.

BTW most of us on the forum are motorsport fans first and foremost. Some will compete but for the level that are serious enough to take supplements or do any real training probably don't use forums much. You may be better off getting in touch with a team or driver at a high level, most likely a younger one looking to progress to the world stage. Even in something like the BTCC I don't think drivers take fitness as seriously as is needed for F1. Something like the MSA Formula or F3 is probably your best bet for people that can help.

[Zeakiwi]

At an elite level a sports nutrition diet is usually custom designed to the individual athlete. Some of the top drivers in the Australasian region have been diabetic and coeliacs.
It depends on the motorsport too. Drag Racing versus long distance off road motorcycle riders have very different requirements.
You could probably sit in on a UK Academy talk on nutrition to see what is currently being advocated.
https://www.msauk.org/Development/MSA-Academy/Performance-Master-Classes
That page also has who has taken courses so you might be able to do a follow up to see how much dietary information is being used by the morosport people who have been course participants.

Motocrossers and enduro bike riders have long been looking for performance edges including diet and training, and probably more openly discussed them than other parts of motorsport. Diets/ training etc have long been written about in the motocross training books.
You might need to use other social media etc to contact potential participants.
http://eletewater.co.uk/blogs/testimonials/tagged/motorsport#.V1uXy_l96Ul

[Laura55555]

Sorry for the delay in my response. Thank you all so much for this. It's much appreciated :)

[bar23243]

This may not be what you're expecting but I do sprints and hillclimbs so will run you through a typical event.

My diet in a race day will usually be something like a Belvita breakfast bar when leaving the house at 6:30/7am (depending on where we are). After getting to the venue and getting through signing-on/scrutineering I will usually have a high fat/high carb/high protein meal, most commonly a sausage and egg bap, occasionally I have the hankering for some bacon though. I generally then won't eat until the lunch break, although may have a small chocolate bar or piece of cake before 2nd practice. Something like a Rocky or Club biscuit, with a cup of coffee to wash it down (white, one sugar). Lunch will depend on the venue and catering facilities. It might be something packed at home, a beef & mustard sandwich or chicken mayo, in some places I'll use the catering van and have a pulled roast pork bap (with stuffing and apple sauce) or chips with curry sauce. After that maybe a caramel waffle and, if I'm still hungry, an apple.

At the end of the day's racing I like to partake in a bit of liquid refreshment, but again depends on venue. My preference is to have some Otter, but that's only available when I compete at Wiscombe Park. 2 or 3 pints usually sets the evening up nicely. At other venues then I'll either plan ahead or pick up some lager on the way home (I don't drive to events so can binge on the way home).

I'd say that the majority of the people competing at my level (which is basically the majority of people that do motorsport) follow a fairly similar routine, for the most part we're not a healthy bunch of people.

BTW most of us on the forum are motorsport fans first and foremost. Some will compete but for the level that are serious enough to take supplements or do any real training probably don't use forums much. You may be better off getting in touch with a team or driver at a high level, most likely a younger one looking to progress to the world stage. Even in something like the BTCC I don't think drivers take fitness as seriously as is needed for F1. Something like the MSA Formula or F3 is probably your best bet for people that can help.

Oh, thank you very much for your help, it's very useful information!