Ayrton Senna - how he felt the car using his muscles
Discussion
While revising for my exams, I came across this video from an academic at Bangor University describing how Ayrton used sensors in his muscles to feel the car and perform at his peak (especially during 1988 Monaco GP).
The first four parts provide information on underlying theory about muscle sensors, but the link below is where he talks about Senna in particular:
https://youtu.be/2Go_Fv27av0
It's short but still pretty fascinating how he processed information in the car!
The first four parts provide information on underlying theory about muscle sensors, but the link below is where he talks about Senna in particular:
https://youtu.be/2Go_Fv27av0
It's short but still pretty fascinating how he processed information in the car!
tommunster10 said:
I love Senna, he's a God to me...but can't help thinking if you have been blessed with muscles we all use them to feel stuff.
I suppose whats being said in the video is that the way he used his muscle sensors (those things that detect force, stretch, changes of muscle length, heaviness in muscle etc.) to sense the feeling through the steering, the vibration through the pedals etc. allowed him to know that he was performing in the sweet spot. Once in that sweet spot, he did not need to think, he was (in his own words) 'just going going going'!I agree with you that some sportspeople are so in tune with what they feel from their muscles, they seem to be blessed! Senna was blessed with this sixth sense, which he refined through decades of practice going all the way back to his childhood.
Seems like a lot of time, effort and long words to describe 'feedback'...
Not detracting from Senna's ability, he was obviously very good at interpreting feedback but I believe most people who operate mechanical objects will refer to feel and feedback through the apparatus during use. Some people will be more in tune with that information than others.
Not detracting from Senna's ability, he was obviously very good at interpreting feedback but I believe most people who operate mechanical objects will refer to feel and feedback through the apparatus during use. Some people will be more in tune with that information than others.
He is talking about muscle memory, where you practice something to such an extent that you don't need to use a conscious thought process to carry out an action. That frees up your conscious processing for making decisions.
You see this in all walks of life, sports are more easy to notice. It's why professional footballers (especially the really good ones) spend hours on kicking technique, so when it comes to the game, they can use their brains to make decisions, the act of kicking the ball isn't conscious.
You only have to listen to Max to see it, Brundle did a great interview with him where he talked about his drive in Brazil, where he was explaining to Martin how he was able to watch what Vettel was doing and make decisions on that, rather than concentrating on his own car control, that was happening automatically.
We all do this to a certain extent, for example when driving at the limit of grip and the rear comes out, we add a dab of opo without even thinking about it, its a natural reaction to your sensors telling you the car is yawing. Someone who has never experienced that prior to an unexpected breakaway of grip is far more likely to crash because they have to think about it, which isn't fast enough a process.
You see this in all walks of life, sports are more easy to notice. It's why professional footballers (especially the really good ones) spend hours on kicking technique, so when it comes to the game, they can use their brains to make decisions, the act of kicking the ball isn't conscious.
You only have to listen to Max to see it, Brundle did a great interview with him where he talked about his drive in Brazil, where he was explaining to Martin how he was able to watch what Vettel was doing and make decisions on that, rather than concentrating on his own car control, that was happening automatically.
We all do this to a certain extent, for example when driving at the limit of grip and the rear comes out, we add a dab of opo without even thinking about it, its a natural reaction to your sensors telling you the car is yawing. Someone who has never experienced that prior to an unexpected breakaway of grip is far more likely to crash because they have to think about it, which isn't fast enough a process.
jsf said:
He is talking about muscle memory, where you practice something to such an extent that you don't need to use a conscious thought process to carry out an action. That frees up your conscious processing for making decisions.
You see this in all walks of life, sports are more easy to notice. It's why professional footballers (especially the really good ones) spend hours on kicking technique, so when it comes to the game, they can use their brains to make decisions, the act of kicking the ball isn't conscious.
You only have to listen to Max to see it, Brundle did a great interview with him where he talked about his drive in Brazil, where he was explaining to Martin how he was able to watch what Vettel was doing and make decisions on that, rather than concentrating on his own car control, that was happening automatically.
We all do this to a certain extent, for example when driving at the limit of grip and the rear comes out, we add a dab of opo without even thinking about it, its a natural reaction to your sensors telling you the car is yawing. Someone who has never experienced that prior to an unexpected breakaway of grip is far more likely to crash because they have to think about it, which isn't fast enough a process.
Yes, but the thread title is awful. You see this in all walks of life, sports are more easy to notice. It's why professional footballers (especially the really good ones) spend hours on kicking technique, so when it comes to the game, they can use their brains to make decisions, the act of kicking the ball isn't conscious.
You only have to listen to Max to see it, Brundle did a great interview with him where he talked about his drive in Brazil, where he was explaining to Martin how he was able to watch what Vettel was doing and make decisions on that, rather than concentrating on his own car control, that was happening automatically.
We all do this to a certain extent, for example when driving at the limit of grip and the rear comes out, we add a dab of opo without even thinking about it, its a natural reaction to your sensors telling you the car is yawing. Someone who has never experienced that prior to an unexpected breakaway of grip is far more likely to crash because they have to think about it, which isn't fast enough a process.
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