The Effects On Driving Of A Band To The Head

[R500POP]

You may recall a couple of years back I took a bit of a kicking, which left me with a dozen of do fractures to the skull/face/jaw etc. Obiously I took quite a whack to the head during the time that my head was being stamped on. The physivcal effect are with me for life I'm afraid, but there's something else going on.

Now, I used to be a reasonably handy kart racer, no Lewis Hamilton, but at the local tracks I could set fastest laps, win charity events etc.

Since returning to karting havin been given the all clear by the dox 6months back, I've noticed that my lap times are around 1s slower than they used to be, I'm finding that the racing is no longer instinctive & that if, for example, I get the kart sideways, I'm actually finding myself thinking "it's sliding, opposite lock needed there".

It no longer 'just happens' it used to be natural, now it feels slow & ponderous, nothing has been picked up in the mant tests I've had, but the doc understands what I'm trying to explain but they just can't find anything.

Just wondering if antbody else has suffered something similar?

[Munter]

Sir Stirling described exactly the same thing after he knocked his head. Driving was no longer instinctive, and he had to think about it.

No help. But at least you are in good company!

[R500POP]

Munter said:

Sir Stirling described exactly the same thing after he knocked his head. Driving was no longer instinctive, and he had to think about it.

No help. But at least you are in good company!

Really? Off to do some research. Thanks.

M

[Munter]

It was mentioned when Richard Hammond was interviewing him and they were comparing how their knock on the head had affected them.

It think it was a specific program about Stirling, definitely not a slot on top gear but a stand alone program.

[R500POP]

Thanks, will do some googling & youtubing.

I've also recently been see MK1 MX-5's & found myself thinking "I quite fancy one of those", but that may be because I'm approaching time for my mid life crisis.

[BlackVanDyke]

How much karting have you done since? Might just be that you need to allow yourself some more time to settle in and have things become second nature again.

[redtwin]

R500POP said:

I've also recently been see MK1 MX-5's & found myself thinking "I quite fancy one of those", but that may be because I'm approaching time for my mid life crisis.

Nope, that is definitely due to the knock on the head.

[ApexJimi]

redtwin said:

R500POP said:

I've also recently been see MK1 MX-5's & found myself thinking "I quite fancy one of those", but that may be because I'm approaching time for my mid life crisis.

Nope, that is definitely due to the knock on the head.

brilliant (and I'm an MX5 owner)


R500, I remember your incident well, and I'm glad to hear you've recovered well

Sounds to me as though you could just be a bit rusty? Clearly I'm not discounting the effects of the beating you took, but equally, I'm thinking that it could just as easily just be the fact that you're a little outa practice?

ETA: I see BVD has beat me to it.

[Sticks.]

Similar here after a rta in 99. Facial recognition for me particularly. Fatigue too.

An incident like yours might knock your deep-seated self belief which might do it perhaps?

[The_Doc]

Complicated, but authoritative:

http://neuro.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full...


More simplistic and obviously not peer-reviewed or scientifically verified: (but helpful none the less)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-concussion_syndr...

As for Richard Hammond, I no longer consider him any authority on motoring after the SHOCKING discovery that he knows nothing about the Monaco Grand Prix. FFS. 288mph might have done something to him, but it hasn't lessened his ability to tell me anything useful about cars. I actually prefer him on Total Wipeout (aka The Laugh-at-unfit-people-with-no-sense-of-what-physical-effort-is Show)