Preparing for the 24 Hours of Zolder: drivers, training and diet

When it comes to diet and training two small bells immediately start ringing in the Belgian motorsport world. Anthony Kumpen and Bert Longin. The PK Carsport drivers do everything in their power to remain as fit as possible before every race. And for these 24 Hours both drivers have prepared themselves fully.

"You could compare our training schedule to that of a tri-athlete, not in length but in diversity. Reinout van Schyulenberg, my trainer is a real wizard in this field. Under full guidance we carried out a programme in an acclimatised room at the KU Leuven and the university professors also worked out a well balanced diet for us so that we are fully prepared on all fronts ", Bert Longin commented.

Another type of training is exercising the eye muscles. For quite a while now Longin has been working with Sportvision. "Just about all the information we absorb comes via our eyes. This is why they must be in top condition. These training sessions are pretty tiring! But they do work. I reckon that I'm now three tenths of a second faster per lap, purely thanks to these trainings, which also have an increased concentration effect."

"My programme runs in a similar fashion to that of Bert", Anthony Kumpen adds. "I concentrate mainly of hard training sessions, in other words: long distance cycling. It is important that the upper body and the heart are well trained, to be able to handle the heavy conditions in the car. Fast racing not only involves lots of concentration, but also enormous energy. The lower your heart beat the fitter you are, and therefore you waste less energy. You also need to keep an eye on your diet. My blood corpuscles are constantly checked. Should a specific substance be lacking we try to increase same through a dietary supplement. We have a pretty hard programme, what with travelling between Italy and Belgium, but we have full faith in it."

We find another type of training with Markus Palttala. The highly likeable Finn has another vision regarding training and diet: "It goes without saying that we need to keep an eye on our diet, because we need to perform well. But the follow a heavy diet to me seems too much of a good thing. Sports people automatically keep an eye on their diet; it is more of a lifestyle than preparing for a long race. For me the only thing that changes is my drinking habit. As a build up to an endurance race I started drinking loads of water, allowing my body to rid itself of waste products."

"To stay in top condition I work out everyday with a fixed training schedule. It is important that all muscles are up to handling the heavy loads. But this is not only for a 24 Hours race. Anyone can clock a fast lap, you don't need to be in top condition for that... but to be constantly fast is another story. Especially when you need o drive double stints. This also applied is to test days. Giving feedback, long driving sessions, and you also need to handle the car in the way that the team asks you to. My approach might be different from that of Anthony and Bert, but on he track you won't notice the difference ", Palttala told us.

"In addition I try to avoid eating red meat. Red meat uses up energy when digesting, and stays in the stomach longer. For a driver this is obviously deadly. The best is merely a combination of pastas and vegetables. When it comes to preparing for the 24 Hours I recommend mountain biking. This is somewhat like a simulation of long stints. It might just be a psychological aspect, but for me it seems to work. Before a stint I do a few stretch exercises. Blood circulation is definitely not optimum when you're in a bucket seat ", the Finn jokes."To recuperate I also sometimes use diet supplements. You obviously mustn't exaggerate. I only use products that I have tested, and which I know will have a positive influence on my body. The most important though is to drink sufficient water. Dehydration is the biggest enemy in a hot cockpit."

VZW 24u.be - Gordon McKay on Saturday 8 September 2007 at 12:27.