1. ride and train again tomorrow. There’s a big overlap with
the endurance element of their sport.”
Other methods of training for V8 Supercar drivers
include gym sessions, with core strength vital for long stints
in the car, as well as swimming. Some drivers are known to
even play squash, which is very effective for developing
hand-eye coordination.
Michael Caruso, Kelly’s Nissan team-mate, was
introduced to cycling as a means of building his fitness
through former Garry Rogers Motorsport team-mate, Lee
Holdsworth, three years ago while racing Holdens. “The
majority of the drivers in the field do a lot of cycling so I just
thought I’d get into it and loved it ever since,” the 31-year-old
explains. Caruso, who splits his time between Sydney
where he grew up, and Melbourne, is now an ambassador
for Bikebug and rides a Colnago C60 anywhere between
150 and 250km each week. He tackles Arthurs Seat a few
times each month depending on his racing schedule, which
covers 15 events across Australia and New Zealand.
“For me cycling is the best form of not just only fitness
and endurance, but it’s a nice way to spend your time when
you’re training because you’re able to relax,” said Caruso.
“When you want to make it difficult, you can.
WHYRIDE?
>>
#
67 29
PHOTO: Andrew Pearson
Hitting the brakes is the equivalent of a single leg press
somewhere between 80 and 100kg. At 6.213km long, the
Bathurst circuit contains 23 corners and within the
two-man teams that contest the iconic event each October
the lead driver is likely to brake close to 1,000 times and
rotate the steering wheel just under 2,500 times. Ford
Performance Racing’s David Reynolds shattered the V8 lap
record at last year’s Bathurst race, setting a new mark of
2:06.3714 during practice. Lap times during the race itself
on the Sunday are a good second above that.
Adding to the challenge is that in 2015, with
strengthening the long-term viability of the sport in addition
to cost-cutting currently a focus, just three compulsory test
days are permitted within the schedule and two of those are
in the pre-season in February.
Up until recently, there were eight testing days per year.
Put simply, driving a V8 Supercar is not something you can
train for and that’s where cycling comes in.
“The only way you’re going to get a four-hour training
session is on a bike,” says Klarica. “You can’t go for a
four-hour run; you can’t go for a four-hour swim; you can’t
go for a four-hour weight session and get up the next day
and be normal. When you’re fit you can do a four-hour bike
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#67
Klarica has worked across AFL and tennis, but also
cycling and the highly successful Holden Racing Team that
dominated the Australian V8 scene with six driver’s
championships between 1996 and 2002. Current HRT
drivers Garth Tander and James Courtney are both active
cyclists and it’s a common hobby up and down pit lane, so
much so that Klarica says that the thrill of two-wheeled
racing is now “ingrained” in the V8 culture.
“For a number of teams cycling can be a bit of an
equaliser,” he suggests. “It’s non-weight bearing. It’s
something that everyone can do. For example, a lot of the
pit crews will also ride with the drivers now. You get a lot of
other people from the team, who don’t usually get to spend
a lot of time with the drivers outside the race weekend, they
actually ride together.”
It has been known to be the source of a few headaches
for V8 Supercar teams, especially around Tour de France
time, which tends to clash with the Townsville round of the
championship. Drivers have had to be reminded that staying
awake until the early hours is not ideal given the fatiguing
nature of their sport.
For a number of V8 drivers, cycling for fitness training
even led to triathlon in the cases of Paul Dumbrell, Will
Davison, Cameron McConville, David Reynolds and Tim
Slade. McConville, who raced the Kona Ironman last year
in a time just under 11 hours, is a new recruit on the
CharterMason masters team for 2015.
It’s a reciprocal attraction, with cyclists known to get
behind the wheel of a V8 Supercar. For Bathurst’s Mark
Renshaw the action is in his backyard. Matt Goss is a big
fan, and Cadel Evans as an ambassador for Holden enjoyed
a private test session with Tander and HRT at Calder Park
Raceway on the outskirts of Melbourne last year. (He’s also
been treated to hot laps at other race tracks around the
world, including Sydney’s Eastern Creek and the Zolder
circuit in Belgium.)
Most of us will get behind the wheel and drive a motor
vehicle over the course of our lives, just as many will ride a
bike, but when it comes to the elite level, it’s mental and
physical fitness and strength that determines how far we
will go. The attraction between cycling and motorsport
goes far beyond the need for speed and the fine line between
audaciousness and being overly prudent.
Motorsport legend Ayrton Senna was one of the earliest
proponents of a punishing exercise regime and controlled
diet. In the mid-1980s, a failed attempt at the gruelling Le
Mans 24 Hour Race saw Peter Brock give up cigarettes,
take up veganism (although he still consumed eggs) and
give greater consideration to exercise.
Driving a V8 Supercar is a physical, physiological and
emotional ordeal. While in race mode, a driver’s heart rate
sits at around 170bpm. Events such as the Clipsal 500 in
Adelaide and Bathurst result in the longest stints behind the
wheel, at around two hours in duration. Add to that heat
stress with temperatures inside the car pushing 65 degrees
and a driver’s core temperature rising to 39 degrees, and
performance is compromised by the resulting fatigue. While
driving a Formula One vehicle is more demanding, racing a
V8 Supercar results in G forces on the head and neck up to
20kg (double in F1) with a similar amount of weight in the
rotation of the steering wheel.
CYCLING BENEFITS FOR DRIVING
FROM BIKE TO V8 SUPERCAR■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
PHOTO: Dirk Klynsmith
From this hour I ordain myself loos’d of limits and
imaginary lines,
Going where I list, my own master total and absolute,
Listening to others, considering well what they say,
Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating,
Gently, but with undeniable will, divesting myself of
the holds that would hold me.
I inhale great draughts of space,
The east and the west are mine, and the north and the
south are mine.
– Walt Whitman, Song of the Open Road
* * * * *
V8 Supercar driver Rick Kelly is racing along
Melbourne’s Beach Road but he’s not behind the
wheel of his Nissan and the only engine he is relying
on is his own. “For me, the thing that motorsport
delivers is the competition – more so than the love of
cars or anything else,” Kelly tells me about his job.
He’s a two-time title holder of the jewel in the crown of V8
Supercars, the Bathurst 1000, as well as being the winner of
the 2006 season-long driver’s championship. “It satisfies
the hunger of competition and cycling is certainly very
much something that provides that as well – on the weekend
when you want to jump on the racer and head up and down
Beach Road. “It’s about chasing people and trying to beat
them and having a good old battle.”
His cycling is much like his battles on four wheels, albeit
at a divergent pace.
Anthony Klarica, sports psychologist and managing
director of Melbourne-based Elite Performance, believes
that athletes from the motorsport world became truly
invested in cycling in the late 1990s. “I started taking
bunches out for rides, a few of them were already riding
anyway,” he says.
WHYRIDE?
Racing bikes, or racing cars. Elements of freedom, high performance, aerodynamics and endurance all, out on the
road. The connections, at first, are not obvious but closer inspection reveals otherwise. Cycling and motorsport.
Motorsport and cycling. There are plenty of common threads. Many who drive also ride… and vice-versa.
By Jane Aubrey
FROM ONE SPORT TO ANOTHER…
Michael Caruso (right and below)
is one of many V8 Supercar
drivers who regularly rides his
bike because he can see the
benefits of cycling for his job.

2. #
6730
he says. “When I say ‘longer’, I’m never in the race car for
more than two hours at once so I do about a 64km loop
that goes from my front door to Luna Park in Melbourne
and then back and it’s about two hours.”
At the WorldTour level, pro cyclists have the benefit of
two-way communication back to their directeur sportif. V8
Supercar drivers have much the same relationship with their
engineer and perhaps their chief mechanic. To a certain
extent, you are in control of your destiny but then there are
the variables determined by what’s going on around you.
“When you’re racing on a bike you’re surrounded by
people and you’re not sure what they’re going to do,” says
Caruso. “That’s exactly the same for us in racing cars.”
Another constant across the two sports, says Klarica, is
an interest in componentry. It’s about precision, high-quality
equipment, data. Racing is a part of life. “Aerodynamics,
gearing, set-up, positioning, wheels – the bits and bobs. I
find that they all love the technical aspects,” he says.
While many enjoy the social aspects of cycling, Kelly is a
little different. It hasn’t always been the case for him but
time on the road or dirt is now a solitary exercise. When
he’s at the wheel of his race car, his inputs are constantly
measured back in the team garage. “Being able to just
worry about your own thing out on the bike is quite good,”
he admits. “I like the trip computer, but not Strava. It’s a bit
of a release as well and an opportunity to get away from
some of that strict measurement.
“I think a lot of the guys like cycling from a social point
of view,” Kelly continues. “Every time I ride, I ride by
myself. I’m quite strict with that and I’m quite strict about
not following everyone as well so I can get a true
measurement of my own fitness rather than the bloke that’s
towing me up and down the road. It literally is the
competition side of it – trying to catch people and pass them
and stay in front – that drives me, and the reason I like it.
You get back to your house after the ride and you look at
your average and try to improve on it.” n JANEAUBREY
HOW ALIVE ARE YOU?
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PHOTO: Andrew Pearson
PHOTO: Rick Kelly
“You can go and find some hills when you want to step
it up a little. When you’re driving, I normally sit in the car
with a heart rate between 150 and 160 on average. I can
replicate that while I’m riding and obviously the peaks you
can work on as well. When we’re in our race cars we’re
driving anywhere from an hour to two hours – riding fits
with that perfectly without hurting your joints or doing any
damage training-wise.”
“The majority of our riding is done in Melbourne along
Beach Road or down to Mornington,” said Caruso about
his usual routes. “It’s pretty cruisey. You can let your mind
run free and not have to think about too much.”
Growing up in Mildura, the open roads surrounding the
regional city became an obvious training ground for Kelly at
the start of his motorsport career; 2015 will be his 15th year
competing in V8 Supercars and he now co-owns the four-car
Nissan team with older brother, Todd. A second-hand bike
bought from a store in nearby Red Cliffs was his first choice
when it came to two-wheeled pedal-power, and he joined a
local cycling club. Kelly, 33, still rides around Mildura when
he heads back home for a few weeks every Christmas.
“I’ll do about a 60-65km ride around Mildura and it
will take me past all the places I grew up and through all the
vineyards,” he explains. “It’s a lot more challenging for a
couple of reasons – the temperature is so high but because
there’s no traffic lights, you can have the entire ride without
stopping at all. That makes a big difference when you
compare riding on Beach Road where you’re stopping every
two minutes. I hate it. If you leave early it’s not too bad but
if it’s 9.00am or 10.00 you’re constantly stopping.”
Kelly, for whom Giant Bicycles Australia is among an
impressive list of personal sponsors, spends time both on
and off-road and has participated in the Mark Webber
Challenge and the Tour de Cure. “I generally do one moun-
tain bike ride a week which has sort of replaced a mid-week
ride on the racer and I do one longer ride on the weekend,”
WHYRIDE?
BATHURST WINNER ON A BIKE…
Rick Kelly (above) may be part-
owner of a V8 Supercar team and
two-time champion of Australia’s
biggest race, but he’s also
passionate about his cycling.
Many in the motorsport family
have taken to riding bikes as part
of their fitness routine… and it’s
a vast collective from each team
as the photo below illustrates.
“
”
Hitting the brakes is the equivalent of a
single leg press between 80 and 100kg. At
6.213km, the Bathurst circuit contains 23
corners and the lead driver is likely to
brake close to 1,000 times and rotate the
steering wheel just under 2,500 times.