Taking on the World of Motorsports

Fueling the extreme demands of one of the fastest sports on the planet

Picture this… your heart has been beating over 150 bpm for the last 2 hours, you’re fighting dehydration, it’s over 100 degrees, your appetite is low, and you feel your body and your brain starting to fade.

Sound familiar? Now image all those things but stuffed inside the cramped, loud cabin of a race car.

Race Car Driver Hydration Needs

Some may wonder, ‘why do we need to worry about race car drivers' hydration needs?’

Let’s start by breaking down the various stresses that a racecar driver goes through while inside their car. There are the environmental stressors; the weather, the heat of the cockpit, the travelling, the close quarters. You have the competition stress of having other cars around you that are driving at high ranges of speed. Then there is the cognitive stress of having to make fast decisions that could affect your day, your overall outcome, your safety, or another competitors outcome and safety. Not to mention the muscular fatigue, cardiovascular changes that happen so quickly, and G-forces trying to rip your head off.

Taking all these things into consideration, you can imagine that the driver's body is under a lot of stress. If not handled carefully, drivers can quickly deplete their energy stores, their blood sugar can start to drop, and they can become dehydrated.

This is detrimental to the drivers and others around them because if you start limiting the drivers ability to think quickly and make proper decisions you’re risking their safety and performance in the car. When you become dehydrated and tired, your reactions and your brain slow down. In a sport where one small mistake can end your day - or much worse - it is imperative drivers remain hydrated.

Now you may be wondering, ‘Where does INFINIT fit into this?’

PitFit Training

After 10 years of building a relationship, INFINIT Nutrition is excited to start the new decade as an Official Partner of PitFit Training. We are starting off the new decade, working hand-in-hand with the experts in human racing performance to make the racing experience safer for drivers through proper nutrition and recovery.

PitFit Training is the leader of the motorsports performance industry, covering the primary areas needed for racing series athletes. The elite performance training facility specializes in preparing NASCAR and Indycar drivers for the various stresses experienced in the race car through neurocognitive, fitness, and postural programs.

The team of experts at PitFit know the importance of hydration and recovery in preparing race car drivers for the cognitive stress experienced in the car. After dabbling in different drinks and hearing the pitches from multiple other nutrition companies over the last decade, PitFit kept returning to INFINIT and their simple formulations designed from evidence-based research.

INFINIT's Michael Folan Sits Down with PitFit's Jim Leo

“Making racing blends specific to the needs of a racecar driver so that drivers have a blend that is specifically made for their needs, not just some random energy drink off the shelf.” — Jim Leo, PitFit President

Working hand-in-hand, we are determined to make the racing experience safer for drivers through state-of-the-art training backed by proper hydration and recovery. This includes the development of the PitFit Formulas designed for the needs of motorsport athletes.

The Official PitFit Formulas are situationally formulated for drivers and athletes training and competing in a variety of conditions. From long races to short races, the PitFit Blends can be customized to fit the drivers preferences based on the needs for that particular race.

• High sweat rates and humid conditions
• Night time racing and alertness
• Races longer than two hours
• Needs of female motorsport athletes & more

Building a Safer Sport

Unlike other sports, where you can train specifically in that sport, drivers don’t necessarily have that luxury all the time. Even using a race car simulator is not going to replicate the same stresses you have in the race car. PitFit experts prepare drivers with hydration and nutrition in the gym so that they understand the importance of being hydrated in strength-based, endurance-based, cognitive-based, reaction-based, vision-based, and efficiency-based decision making.

Fueling champions is nothing new for INFINIT and it is something we take great pride in whether it be on the bike, in the car, in the pool, or on your feet.

About the Author

Ashley Mulkern, is INFINIT's Sponsorship Director and Event Coordinator. Ashley recently graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 2018 with her Bachelors Degree in Dietetics and plans to graduate with her Masters of Nutritional Sciences in 2020. When she's not in the office she can be found kickboxing or baking something yummy!