s'noJob

Why is it that some people can get motion sickness as a passenger on a road course, yet as a driver on the very same course at the same speed, or even faster, they're OK?

Is there some mechanism in the human body that prepares itself for turns, braking and acceleration because it's controlling the actions that cause the vehicle movement?

I can understand that, but if you've driven the circuit before, your body should already know the twists, turns and braking points. I can hardly believe that slight difference in driving styles could have such an impact in stomach churn, specially when a passenger can see it all coming.
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Short-Throw

A few things:

1) As a driver you know exactly what you are doing when driving and your body preps for it naturally.
2) As a passenger, despite knowing the track, your body doesn't have the luxury of preparing for the smallest adjustments and you can get that rocking the boat feeling.
3) Is the driver you're riding along with smooth or is he/she overdriving the car?


Next time you ride shotgun in a manual transmission car, notice how your head bobs on even the best shifts and the drivers doesn't.


A good way to avoid motion sickness when riding shotgun on track is to stay ahead of the car. What I mean by that is, when you see a left turn coming, turn your head to the left before the car does, your body will adjust much easier. This technique works quite well when riding roller coasters as well, no joke!


Mike

hungryhippo

Sometimes i make myself sick while driving. Especially after lunch.

joenationwide

I think you hit the nail on the head. The driver doesn't get sick because they are looking ahead.

We have a super twisty track (Summit Point Shenandoah) and sometimes when you sit in the right seat for 10 sessions at 25-30 min per session, you start to get exhausted, just holding your head up can be difficult, and when you start to take your eyes off the track, then you start to feel a bit queasy.

StreetSpeed

I had a student who was DRIVING throw up on me 2 weeks ago at Tremblant. Never had that happen before.

But to be fair, he went out as a passenger with an instructor the session before and felt nauseous. I guess driving put him over the edge.

I luckily don't get sick as a passenger, but I'll be reaching for the Dramamine as soon as that symptom starts to rear it's ugly head. I'm only 31 but I know a lot of young(ish) instructors who already use the patch for motion sickness. I also had a student with a GTR that same weekend - if that car doesn't make you sick nothing will!

s'noJob

I get motion sickness, which is why I asked the question. Before my very first hyperdrive, a fellow club member went out with another member who is an experienced racer.

He came back green - and I'm not talking about with envy.

My racer friend asked if I wanted to ride along - I said, No way, not before I go on the track myself - I didn't want to ruin my very first track experience.

Since then I have ridden with him on the highway. I made the right decision on the track that day.
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StKnoWhere

All this plus eyes up and look WAY ahead, keep your eyes on the horizon of where you are going.

sleeperstyle

dramamine- i only take one so i am not too drowsy. i was just at shenandoah this past weekend, on saturday i didn't even wait to get sick i just took one in the morning and had only a slight hint of nausea after riding along on an entire 30 min session.

my friend went for a ride with his instructor, then took 2 dramamine and he ended up napping in the back seats of his car (m3) between sessions.. tried telling him you have to take it before you get sick..

rithsleeper

This is funny because I got sick the first time ever as a passenger. Im and instructor and never had a problem till a few months ago. I went out with a guy in his gulf gtiR which has awd. He just put new brake pads and needed to bed them. That started it. Then we were doing scenarios to practice instructing and he had "drive like a soccer mom" and that put me not feeling good. Then he went too laps close to full speed and I've never felt awd and it was not a fun feeling. My brain was so confused with the traction and 4 wheel drift it didn't take long I told him to take it in. I got out and almost lost it. My fingers were tingling and they said I was really pale.

I now take dremamine to the track just in case. If you get drowsey at a race track you don't need to be there lol. Hopefully that never happens again. And I hope this doesn't sour me to awd...

DigitalWidgets

Interesting topic (and timely for me!): I was lucky enough to get some one-on-one instruction from one of the fastest Corvette guys at our local SCCA autocross practice (thanks again Steve!). We had done a few runs in my car...and then he was kind enough to invite me to ride in his car....which, to be honest, was a ride I was looking forward to all week. I hopped in his car and we slowly made our way up towards the start line. In the space of about 10 seconds, I went from totally stoked to "get me the heck out of this car." I just instantly felt sick....slightly nauseous and I'd just had a Del Taco breakfast burrito on the way in! I was like...."Steve, I don't want to mess up your run preparation...but I don't feel well and I gotta get out now!"

I thought "what the heck"....I've never felt like that before...and now that I think about it, the symptoms were pretty much motion sickness. And thinking about it further...one of the most useful pieces of instruction I was getting was "you should be looking way ahead at that cone...it's the apex cone"...and I recall looking back at his pointing finger and back out several times during the previous run. I'd just written the whole thing off as a bad burrito, but apparently, in my effort to soak up every little piece of instruction, I may have disoriented myself.

Nsomniac

I am one that suffers during ride-alongs, but not motion sickness. I suffer from panic attacks when I ride with other people during high performance driving. It hampers my ability to learn from other people's driving styles, but I have managed to fill the gaps by encouraging the best drivers to ride with me and give feedback on course. Now that I'm usually top time of day, I get a lot of people asking me to ride with them. No matter how much I try to make it sound like I'm not trying to be a dick, I still feel like a jerk when I have to explain that I can't due to fear.

rustyguns

If you guys can believe one thing...... believe in Ginger Root.

Fighter pilots give Ginger Gum to their passengers before/during a joy ride aka Senators etc.

It will prevent motion sickness! Absolutely amazing! I buy the cheap Ginger Root pills at wallmart. I take 2 in the morning two at noon, I run 4 sessions and teach four sessions in right seat. Never get sick! Everyone, and I mean everyone I convince to try Ginger is amazed!

I am amazed how folks do not want to believe me! People must want to be sick

You can take it in many forms. Even the ginger root at the vegetable section of the grocery store in a tea works great!

Damn good for hangovers too! lol G/L

Don't believe me? Google it!

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/21/he...real.html?_r=0

s'noJob

I can imagine few things worse than finding out you're prone to motion sickness your first day out in a Naval submarine.
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05dsom

meclizine (less-drowsy formula dramamine) works

Hat_Trick_Hokie

Funny you say that, I was at Shenandoah this weekend and well. I rode along with an instructor, and it was the first time I have ever been nauseous riding in a car (and I’ve ridden with instructors in all sorts of cars at SP Main, VIR, NJMP, Watkins, etc).

69autoXr

Hmm. My botle of meclizine says "may cause drowsiness" and I can attest that it does for me...

LFZ

Hopefully you won't get too sick this weekend David. Wish I could have joined you, but got family in town...let me know how it goes. Good Luck!

JeremyGSU

I've only ever started to get sick on time and it was after being on track for about 1.5 hours straight. I've done the opposite and instructed so long with two students that I started nodding off on them. Haha. Not proud of that one. I was exhausted.

I've had people get sick on me as well as throwing up in my cat at speed which almost made me puke in my own helmet. What really sucked was it was spare closed faced helmet which is now in the helmet graveyard.

I've met other people who can only drive and are not good passengers though. It's not uncommon.

jlutherva

If you are prone to getting motion sickness you may want to seriously consider an open-face helmet. I have an open face helmet for my passengers. I've had a number of passengers get sick including two seasoned instructors.

I've significantly smoothed my driving style, however, this season, I've still had two student ride-alongs fell ill.

Jim

rithsleeper

I read your whole post but before I started I said, "Billy Mays here with a fantastic new product!"