Get your motor running

HOW FIT DO YOU HAVE TO BE TO TRIUMPH ON THE TRACK?

In a typical two-hour race, Holden Racing Team driver James Courtney endures cockpit temperatures of up to 60ºC, maintains a heart rate of 180 beats per minute and shifts a 25-kilogram gear stick while applying brake-pedal force of up to 100kg. It’s no wonder Courtney’s fitness was recently rated alongside elite footballers’ by Exercise Research Australia.

“It’s like doing a CrossFit session in a sauna with 28 guys throwing concrete blocks at you,” says Courtney, who won the 2010 V8 Supercars championship

In a typical training week Courtney cycles up to 400 kilometres and combines two weights circuits with boxing and swim sessions, plus multiple workouts on trainer Phil Young’s speed and reaction apparatus, the BATAK machine.

Get cockpit cut with this circuit performed three times a week. Repeat the circuit three times with two minutes’ rest in-between.

Photo by Getty Images Nov 16, 2011