Abarth says trackdays make you happier than gym
Does your partner think track days are pointless? Well, tell them to think again...
This story might have the faint whiff of a slow news day about it (it’s a slow news day, in case you were wondering) but it’s also quite a nice, feel-good story worth sharing. Especially if you enjoy a track day or two but are finding the cost hard to justify at the moment. Or perhaps you haven’t yet had the pleasure of a day at Oulton Park or Snetterton, or any number of circuits that will let you hoon around for a few hours for a fee, and need something to give you that final push.
Well, track days, apparently, are good for your mental well-being. It gets better, too. They’re more of a boost than hitting the gym, so you can cancel that sadomasochistic subscription as well. Actually, don’t do that. Exercise is good, too. And it’ll keep you so physically fit you'll be able to circulate on the door handles for even longer, by which time you'll be so happy you might actually burst.
Anyway, this isn’t me (an idiot) pontificating on health matters. This is intelligent people. People from Loughborough University, which is one of the leading Sports Science universities in the world (according to Loughborough University). And Abarth. Which, err, make fast Fiats. The nub of the story is, and I quote, ‘driving a car around a racetrack significantly boosts a person’s mood compared to a gym workout.’ How great is that?
They came to this fabulous conclusion ‘after exploring the differing emotional responses between a gym workout and driving around a racetrack.’ This important research was carried out at Mallory Park, with the participants driving, and being driven in, various Abarths. And what they actually found was that, on average, people were 59 per cent happier when driving an Abarth around a track compared with people taking part in a session at the gym. It doesn’t say whether an Abarth is imperative to this positive outcome, though. So I’ve done some quick sums on the back of a fag packet and it turns out that the square root of GT3 also equals much happiness.
The type of exercise makes a difference to the disparity between this gym and track happiness rating. If you regularly do cardio workouts, for example, then you will be much better off running around in a car than on a treadmill. To put a figure on it, the research found you’ll be precisely 116 per cent happier pushing the limits in a car. That's a big uplift. However, if you prefer to do weights, then your mood will still be better after a stint behind the wheel, but only by four per cent.
Right then, let’s apply some PH logic to this – although keep in mind that this didn't come from Loughborough University. It is therefore as scientific as watching an episode of Love Island and should be ignored, but... Is true happiness actually a track day without a trolley jack? Seriously, think about it. If weight lifting is also mood enhancing, combine it into your day – by lifting up the car to change a tyre using nothing but brute force. This could be the route to a completely pollyannaish life. True, it could also be the route to becoming a human Whac-A-Mole. You may end up with many hernias popping out of your ripped (as in, literally) torso, but let's not dwell on the negatives for now.
Precision driving is good, too. You’ll be 20 per cent happier if the track requires precision driving compared with a gym workout consisting of a cardio and weights session, and 63 per cent happier compared with just a cardio session. Which explains why F1 drivers love Monaco so much. There you were thinking it was just the beautiful people, the parties and the glamour, but no: happiness is enhanced by perfect car placement.
The study also found this track day happiness can be shared. Take your partner along and he or she will be 77 per cent more joyful just from sitting in the passenger seat. Even by not driving they'll be better off than flapping about on a cross trainer. It's a revelation. To be fair, that part of the research involved people being driven by a professional driver. You don’t have to be Einstein to work out that, were you to put the car on its roof in a gravel trap, the happiness score could slide.
Dr Dale Esliger at Loughborough University, who led the experiment, says: “It is widely reported about how important physical activity is, not only for a person’s physical wellbeing but also their emotional state. However, we know much less about how driving - specifically on a racetrack - can impact an individual’s mood. The preliminary data indicates that while both the track and gym activity had positive emotional benefits, in this case, the thrill of the track driving element undoubtedly came out on top in boosting the mood of the attendees.”
So there you go. Buddha was wrong. Enlightenment isn’t about giving away all material possessions and sitting under a tree. It’s about buying an Abarth, or an MX-5 or whatever takes your fancy, and sitting under a metal roof. In a bucket seat. Indeed, the Buddha once said, “Don’t run after pleasure and neglect the practice of meditation.” But it turns out that if you drive flat out then pleasure will run to you. After which you can always meditate, just to be sure.
ks. I’ve been lifting most of my life, I’ve also been doing trackdays since 2015. The gym is rewarding in a way the track isn’t, in that you are investing in your long term health, your life and your ability to do things, like driving a track car for example. Yes precision driving can be stimulating but there’s no comparison for me mentally. My mood uplift lift is better from the gym then driving.In fact, from experience, I see driving as a focus tool, not a mood uplifter, when I drive, or do MMA/BJJ, I only focus on that, because if I don’t fully, the potential to get hurt is high, but as a mood booster get a better buzz from the gym hitting a PR or beasting a session.
ks. I’ve been lifting most of my life, I’ve also been doing trackdays since 2015. The gym is rewarding in a way the track isn’t, in that you are investing in your long term health, your life and your ability to do things, like driving a track car for example. Yes precision driving can be stimulating but there’s no comparison for me mentally. My mood uplift lift is better from the gym then driving.In fact, from experience, I see driving as a focus tool, not a mood uplifter, when I drive, or do MMA/BJJ, I only focus on that, because if I don’t fully, the potential to get hurt is high, but as a mood booster get a better buzz from the gym hitting a PR or beasting a session.
Its a marketing puff piece, probably doesn't pay to take it too seriously....
The joy with the gym.exercise is really when its over in a lot of cases and comes when you see and feel positive changes, or in my case, stem some of the deterioration
ks. I’ve been lifting most of my life, I’ve also been doing trackdays since 2015. The gym is rewarding in a way the track isn’t, in that you are investing in your long term health, your life and your ability to do things, like driving a track car for example. Yes precision driving can be stimulating but there’s no comparison for me mentally. My mood uplift lift is better from the gym then driving.In fact, from experience, I see driving as a focus tool, not a mood uplifter, when I drive, or do MMA/BJJ, I only focus on that, because if I don’t fully, the potential to get hurt is high, but as a mood booster get a better buzz from the gym hitting a PR or beasting a session.
To each their own, I'm not saying you're wrong, but personally, I get infinitely more enjoyment from flinging a car into a corner at 100mph, than I do from picking up a piece of metal, then putting it back down again.
I did one a few years ago, then another, then modified car more and more for the track, then wondered if I was any good or if it was just car, so had tuition, then lots of tuition, then sold track car and got a race car and entered a series, then more series, now have different configurations of race car for different series and a trailer and a car that can tow a trailer and a house that can store a trailer, then a team to look after the race car…
In short one track day got massively out of hand! I love it though and the highs and lows are massive- from being picked out of a tyre wall in bits to collecting trophy on a podium.
Just beware track days only lead to addiction!
ks. I’ve been lifting most of my life, I’ve also been doing trackdays since 2015. The gym is rewarding in a way the track isn’t, in that you are investing in your long term health, your life and your ability to do things, like driving a track car for example. Yes precision driving can be stimulating but there’s no comparison for me mentally. My mood uplift lift is better from the gym then driving.In fact, from experience, I see driving as a focus tool, not a mood uplifter, when I drive, or do MMA/BJJ, I only focus on that, because if I don’t fully, the potential to get hurt is high, but as a mood booster get a better buzz from the gym hitting a PR or beasting a session.
I did one a few years ago, then another, then modified car more and more for the track, then wondered if I was any good or if it was just car, so had tuition, then lots of tuition, then sold track car and got a race car and entered a series, then more series, now have different configurations of race car for different series and a trailer and a car that can tow a trailer and a house that can store a trailer, then a team to look after the race car…
In short one track day got massively out of hand! I love it though and the highs and lows are massive- from being picked out of a tyre wall in bits to collecting trophy on a podium.
Just beware track days only lead to addiction!
It used to be all field around here you know...
tty parking and generally being a bit minging like the smelly muscly bloke who obviously doesnt wash his sweaty kit. But, pick your times its alright, daytime is great as usually its pensioners who dress in two different outfits, despite paying £50 a month or so they choose the nearest clothing they have to gym gear rather than a trip to Decathlon to spend another £50, so its either their gardening gear or the football kit they bought in 1984 for the Allied Dunbar inter branch 5 a side competition.I go for a drive to get to the gym or like tonight will get my bike out and do 20/30 miles. I love cars but I find a ride on the (pedal) bike as enjoyable, people go on about the connection between a car and the road and the sensations, you dont get much more connection than on a nice road bike.
I do think so many have decided they hate cyclists and cycling and miss out on a really enjoyable pastime, you dont have to choose one or the other.
I am not self conscious at the gym, though all those twenty odd year old girls in Lycra undressing me with their eyes gets tiresome sometimes
I've had some struggles with mental health before, and I've learned to self-medicate with exercise not pills, just really sets my mindset right.
I've had some struggles with mental health before, and I've learned to self-medicate with exercise not pills, just really sets my mindset right.
Does make you feel better, and being at home you dont have to weight for a group of 16/17 year olds stood fannying about for hours looking like some bizarre human/Alpaca Hybrid with their daft haircuts.
Does make you feel better, and being at home you dont have to weight for a group of 16/17 year olds stood fannying about for hours looking like some bizarre human/Alpaca Hybrid with their daft haircuts.
If I'm finished work for the day, and have half an hour spare before I go out, you couldn't go to the gym in that amount of time. But I can jam in a quick 25 minnute session, 5 mins getting showered and dressed, and ready to go.
ks. I’ve been lifting most of my life, I’ve also been doing trackdays since 2015. The gym is rewarding in a way the track isn’t, in that you are investing in your long term health, your life and your ability to do things, like driving a track car for example. Yes precision driving can be stimulating but there’s no comparison for me mentally. My mood uplift lift is better from the gym then driving.In fact, from experience, I see driving as a focus tool, not a mood uplifter, when I drive, or do MMA/BJJ, I only focus on that, because if I don’t fully, the potential to get hurt is high, but as a mood booster get a better buzz from the gym hitting a PR or beasting a session.
Growing vegetables would be more fun too. And more demanding.
Was the fiat on on track with other fiats ?
Are you equally happy after being passed by far older mx5, mini, Clio’s ?
Needs more track time to confirm findings, and if a university will fund my habit I happy to donate my body science
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