Sadly, the days of a young Bruce McLaren or Denny Hulme trailering a junior formula car around Europe in search of racing experience have long gone.
Young New Zealand drivers now have to come around with not only the ability to drive, but sponsorship savvy, extremely high levels of fitness and a mental game to match.
For several years now the University of Otago and the New Zealand Academy of Sport South have been working in conjunction with the MotorSport NZ Academy Trust to run the week-long Motorsport Elite Academy for up and coming young drivers. The latest one was held in July.
There has been something of a who’s who of promising Kiwi talent through the academy, such as Johnny Reid, Brendan Hartley, Emma Gilmour, Shane van Gisbergen and Daniel Gaunt, to name only a few.
Rather than training them on the track, the academy puts an emphasis on mental and physical preparation, teaching them the skills and knowledge they need to take an even more professional approach to their racing.
It makes use of the University of Otago Physical Education School’s Human Performance Centre (HPC) at which they are put through all sorts of tests, including the Cognitive Ergonomics and Human Decision Making Laboratory’s WOMBAT software, normally used for research into air traffic control and piloting.
They also put them on a driving simulator in the HPC’s environmental chamber, turning up the temperature and humidity to demonstrate the effect of heat on their physical and cognitive performance.
There is tuition in how to train specifically for their sport, instruction in cooking and nutrition, and the opportunity to develop their speaking and presentation skills. They even get to compete against each other in an indoor triathlon competition.
This year’s line-up of nine young drivers included young single-seater exponents Damon Leitch and Simon and Mitch Evans, as well as rally driver Josh Marston, who earned the highest score on the course, followed by Simon and Mitch.