Nissan pioneers drone training

Fry-ups banned as firm plots mobile laboratory to ensure GT Academy stars are in peak fitness

Racing driver training was a bit different back when Johnny Herbert was in F1. "Nigel Mansell used to have a fry-up on the morning of the race. Now you'd be thrown out of the team straight away," he says.

Human touch from Herbert still important too

These days, Herbert tells us, drivers bypass the crispy bacon to run round the track ahead of the race as part of a frenetic training schedule. Ever busy, the ex-Benetton star has been taken on by Nissan to make training even tougher for its GT Academy and Le Mans drivers. Together they've come up with a wheeze to digitally analyse every last action by the drivers to improve their race performance including, possibly, whether they've snuck in a fried slice that morning.

The plan is to turn an ordinary Juke into a sort of driveable pit box with enough computer power to run a bank of computer screens out of the boot that'll display information ranging from the usual telematics data to biometric details. "It gives all the information the driver needs without being in the pit box, which is pretty crowded anyway," says Herbert.

In this way, the GT Academy drivers will be whipped up into a state of competitive anguish by comparing not just lap times, but how chilled out they are based on heart rates in certain corners. Not just on training laps but also at endurance races such as Le Mans, where this year former gamers Lucas Ordonez and Jann Mardenborough will race a Greaves-entered LMP2 car.

Drone's viewpoint helps with track position

The Juke will also get a very fashionable drone helicopter, which records and relays video of each driver's line round specific corners and can be landed on the roof. Nissan wants to throw even more gadgetry into this car, with Herbert mentioning displays to show drivers' brainwaves and even breath rates. "Into a fast corner, most people hold their breath," he tells us.

Fair enough. Nothing fires up drivers more than competition, even it is just that you've got better breath control than the other guy. We're increasingly seeing this competitive fitness in motorsport. For example at Porsche's Human Performance centre in Silverstone, where the likes of Mark Webber have trained, drivers are encourage to take the Grid Fit Challenge, dubbed the "ultimate physical test of a motorsport athlete".

What's more sinister, the drone or the Juke?

This is basically a timed circuit, starting with a mile run and including press-ups, tyre-lifts and rowing. And yup, there's a leader board. Champion as of last year with a time of 17min 49sec was Brit Moto GP rider Bradley Smith.

The challenge includes two sessions on the wall-mounted Batak reaction testing machine on which drivers hit pads as they light up. One session comes right at the end, to see whether all that running and jumping has slowed your reactions any. On the makers's website there's a video of Jenson Button getting all competitive with his engineer.

Herbert reckons the fitness training is as much about the mind as the body. "When you're fit you put yourself in a much more positive mood" he says. "At Le Mans sometimes you're in the car for four hours. Your mental capacity has got to be able to absorb everything that's going on."

Leaving the robot behind in a properly fast car

In a bid to get general punters more switched onto its motorsport activities, Nissan is asking for ideas on other gadgetry to fit to this Juke that'll help its GT Academy drivers become faster on the track. We're guessing our waffle iron suggestion won't make the cut...