Camponeschi tested positive for the ol’ Devil’s lettuce a few years back and got a suspension for it I believe.
That’s less about enhancing performance and more about keeping real chill vibes though I think. 
Yes, he lost KF2 world cup, promoting Rowland to the winner. Got a 12 month ban then came back as a TonyKart factory driver.
Depends. My boardsports background will attest that many pro boardsports guys are excellent baked.
As I was an industry guy, I hung out with pros and wed go surfing, snowboarding, etc. More than a few of my pro pals would rip a few before we’d head out to Ocean Beach, for example. (Ocean Beach in SF is pretty gnarly btw, not chill at all. It’ll kill you five ways before the sharks get you.) So, I doubt they were doing it to chill out.
Edit: Come to think of it, it’ll kill you on the paddle out. You probably wont even make it out. We lost so many brave men there.
Double edit: I’m joking sort of. It is gnarly and can kill you easily but it was mostly tourists that would get swept away by insane currents. Mostly seals got chewed on but occasionally someone would get tagged by sharks, typically north of the bridge.
Thanks. Was just morbid curiosity. Wasn’t contemplating using moose antler powder or anything. It’s good to know it isn’t crazy like that.
Interesting. I recall that pro tennis had a moment like this. I wonder how the sports authorities are going to deal with ADD meds that clearly confer performance advantages but also have a clear medical purpose.
I wonder if PEDs would have a great effect on the actual driving? They would help with recovery and possibly muscle endurance. But, the driving itself? Unfortunately, as with any sport, I don’t know if it can be completely ruled out.
This a very interesting conversation about age and reflexes. I was listening to and reading information a while back the supports the idea that reflexes don’t actually deteriorate as we think. And it is more about the body and mindset. Older elite drivers state that actually loose motivation as they expand into latter life. i.e children and other activities that are less selfish. And hence they don’t work on these skill sets as much. Also there is a massive correlation between fitness and mental alertness, and as we age this is the real issue. We don’t have the natural fitness of the youth. You see I am really swinging on this as I don’t want to admit I an ageing.
. I work quite a bit on fitness and eye hand skills and I thus far would not say there is much in the 16year old me versus the 43year me. Not that I have anything to compare it to as I only start racing at 36.
I take adderall, and have for the better part of 15 years. I don’t think it improves my reaction time; however, I do tend to lose focus and overdrive the kart when I haven’t taken it - spins, off-track excursions, etc. So, you could call that a performance advantage; I think of it as something which allows me to be safer and allowing me a mental window to learn more.
The downside is that it elevates your resting heart rate - for me that’s about 90bpm; and on track i’d imagine i’m up around >180 for most of my on-track time which doesn’t feel great.
That worries me as well. I was noticing that nicks heart rate range is like 80 low 200 high versus my 40s/180. And he’s not using a stimulant med. (but still raise hr).
I used to pay attention to heart rate and karting more or less pins your heart rate to almost max immediately.
there’s probably not that much doping of the human in motorsports. But I can think of an object with wheels that is a prime candidate.
I wouldn’t be so surprised to see doping in motorsports - more physical endurance allows your brain and body to work better together. You won’t see the outright performance that you might see in cycling or marathon running; but, over time, each pass, each avoidance, each double-stint (endurance racing) you might slowly build that advantage.
I suppose you are correct. While we race in 12-20lap sprint races, the f1 guys are in their car for like 3 hrs?
1 Like
Marin,
Anecdotally, I feel the same way. I feel great as I get older here and that’s due to the desire to be faster.
I don’t specifically work on reflexes but I drive constantly. I get home from work and start working on sim.
I feel like my reflexes are still good. Am able to sit high up on the leaderboard. I take this as confirmation that I am still ok.
That being said, I am having a hard time getting sub 56. But, I am right there and improving each session.
From memory the CIK and WKA have some verbiage regarding doping in their rulebooks.
Coming from a person who was prescribed adderall for almost my entire life until age 26. I was a lot better when I didnt take it I race days. I would over analyze every little thing and it slowed me down and made my muscles ache more tha normal. I cant see any performance gains for add pills
1 Like
MH drugs affect people differently though. It’s an interesting topic… and a Pandora’s box.
The CIK and FIA follow the WADA regulations regarding doping.
1 Like
That’s an interesting observation. I find that personally, karting actually changed my body more “permanently” than anything I have done. I lost over 50lbs and kept it off. It’s actually such that with the lifestyle I live (thanks to karting) my concern these days is not getting lighter. And I’m not even in great shape these days as I haven’t really raced in two months and as such am not pounding out cardio/muscle stuff.
I started karts at 12, raced until 17. Came back at 35, still racing now 40.
Overall when I came back I honestly thought I would jump in and win my first race. But in humbling fashion I was close to last. That being said over the year I found my pace back and could run within a few tenths of the fastest guys at a national level in classes like TAG and be as fast as anyone in slower classes (yamaha, KA). Finding that last .2 - .3 in a TAG has been tougher. Is it age? I’m not sure. I think seat time is a big deal. All the top young guys nowadays seem to run 20+ weekends a year and I’m running 6-8 (marriage, life, kids, mortgage all that good stuff).
I think with age, wisdom, tuning, race-craft those all go up but raw pace is not as quick either with age or because of less seat time. I’m looking for the last .2 - .3 and won’t stop. We’ll see if I can find it.
Want to add on fitness, the faster you go class-wise the more physical. Tag pushes me but I think that can be overcome with a good fitness routine. Reaction time and reflexes def. go down with age which is I think more of a factor in the faster classes such as Tag, shifter, etc.
3 Likes
Thanks David for your thoughts and welcome! I agree on the classes. I run x30 because that’s sort of what we’ve got. It seems loopy to me that we don’t have a lower power class that people want to race in. That’s changing with the arrival or the aircooled 100 deals.
Personally I think it’s a bad idea to introduce folks to karting (40+) in two stroke. It’s just so physical that the average mildly sedentary adult will be pistol whipped by their first experience and just feel “old”.
It took me 6 months of hard work outs and diet to make my x30 stop trying to slowly disassemble all of my joints and muscles.
But. It’s amazing. Sigh.