Ford may use IV drips at Bathurst
28/9/2001 17:12 (V8 Wire - Jason Whittaker) -
The Ford stable may, controversially, employ the use of saline drips to replenish their stars during next week’s gruelling Bathurst marathon.
Kim Flanagan, a trained physiologist and Ford’s Health and Safety Manager, today admitted drips could be used to hydrate drivers after a long stint behind the wheel.
The Australian Football League have recently banned the practice, after the Brisbane Lions club was found to be hydrating their players intravenously at half time.
The AFL said it was a bad image for the game and, supported by a number of outspoken medical professionals, said it had possible health risks.
But Flanagan disagreed, saying it was the most effective method of re-hydration available.
"It's a sensible, quicker way of re-hydrating a person," he told AAP. "There's absolutely nothing wrong with it."
MediRace, a team of medical experts, will monitor Ford’s 26 factory drivers at Bathurst using the latest in sports science equipment.
"There are over 20 sensors on the cars' vital areas, but there is nothing on the most important area and that's the driver," Flanagan said.
"The drivers need to be 100 percent while in the cars and they must maintain that same level throughout two or three driving periods. We therefore need to make sure they are fully hydrated and oxygenated when they jump back into the car.”
MediRace will also provide assistance, including ergonomic and biomechanic knowledge, to race crews in pitlane.
"By combining the mechanical aspects with the physiological side of the equation, I have no doubt that all the Ford teams are set to see a marked improvement at Bathurst this year,” Flanagan said.
|
|
