Motion Sickness/Car Sickness

#1

So… I did about 5 laps as the co-pilot in a Lotus Espirit on Monday at a track day- and it made me sick as Dog. It was a bit cool so we had the windows rolled up - and I had my usual full face helmet on. We were only doing about 8/10ths - just barely squealing the tires. I almost lost my lunch - had to get out, walk around, fresh air really helped.

After about 30 minutes, I did 4-5 laps in my E30 - again maybe 7/10ths since this was it’s FIRST TRACK TIME EVER. I was driving this time and it was somewhat better - but I still felt kinda crappy from my earlier ride.

I’ve NEVER had this kind of thing in my open cockpit formula cars - now I’m wondering if I’ve got some kind of vertigo thing going - or if I’ve just built a track day car that I can’t drive without barfing…

I plan to try a few more laps in a few weeks - and no whataburger for lunch this next time…

Thoughts, comments, laughter ?

Jim

#2

Getting motion sickness when riding and not when driving isn’t an unusual occurrence. I know of a couple of instructors that have/had this problem. Part of the cause is that when riding one is more likely to make more rapid head & eye movements than when when driving. What I advise folks that have this problem is to limit head and eye motions to what you’d do if you were driving. While it can be distracting to the driver, it can help to go through the motions of driving the car. If you want to look away from the line of travel, turn your head slowly and look rather than holding you head still and looking with your eyes.

Recovering from motion sickness takes longer than you’d think. If you experience motion sickness riding and then try to drive a car (or ride) within an hour or two, it may return almost immediately.

#3

I had the same thing happen in a Lotus Exige at a PCA event, but I think it had more to do with the driver’s herky-jerky, connect-the-dots driving style than the fact it was a Lotus.

I’m with Jim. It takes me a long time to recover once I start feeling motion sick. I much prefer windows down regardless of the temperature. And I can’t eat anything heavy without it adding to the barfarama feeling.

But you can ignore this advice if you want to sell your car for pennies on the dollar.

My own driving makes me sick, but in a different way.:wink:

#4

+1 on the comments above.

I will add that as an instructor I do need to be careful and make sure I send to my brain, with my eyes, the same signal my sense of balance is feeling. I watch the road and watch my student with peripheral vision. Especially if he is jerky or I cannot anticipate his actions.

I am not a doc, but I do know that most people will get sick if the eyes are telling their mind something different then their sense of balance is telling the mind, and then it sends a chemical to the stomach that will mess you up for a while.

Interestingly if the student is really hauling the mail, jerky or not, I never get sick. It is usually when the student is at a much slower pace. I am sure you will be fine in your own car when the windows are down and you have not just instructed.

#5

++1

Once I transitioned over to the white knuckle seat the biggest improvement in stopping the “green blush” was getting my eyes up, way up. It tends to slow the inputs to your brain way down.

I can now spend a good part of a lap watching the students hands, footwork, eyes etc., and as soon as I feel the wooze coming on just look way up track and it settles back down.

Repeat as necessary.

#6

I frequently have this problem when riding with instructors. I think it’s the braking that hits me the worst. A month ago I was riding with Chi at Road Atlanta and he braked heavily to avoid running over a Corvette that got in our way. I completely lost my equilibrium for a couple of seconds - not fun. I definitely had to keep my eyes on the horizon to manage the motion sickness the rest of the session. I think the thrill (terror?) of the ride kept me from getting too ill, and the cool weather helped. I felt woozy for the rest of the day. I need to remember to take some Dramamine or something similar if I’m going to be a passenger. Not sure I’d be able to handle riding with students all day if I ever progress to that level.

Kevin (silver 1990 E30 track car)