Doping in Motorsport Dissertation

[jeddows]

It wouldn't surprise me if drivers of today or in the past were taking some sort of performance enhancing drugs. Pretty much every other sport has had problems with it in the past combined with the very lax drug testing it seems unlikely there has never been any instance of it. In professional gaming it has been long suspect that players (especially in the USA) would take Adderall or something similar to enhance concentration and reactions. A CS:GO team in 2015 called Cloud 9 was reported (by former team members) to be taking Adderall in major tournaments.

Aye, it's the problems that other sports have had that made me choose this topic (when I was selecting my topic the IAAF scandal had just started to kick off).
And I hadn't even thought that e-sports could have a problem, but thinking about it it makes complete sense!

[J.A.W.]

It wouldn't surprise me if drivers of today or in the past were taking some sort of performance enhancing drugs. Pretty much every other sport has had problems with it in the past combined with the very lax drug testing it seems unlikely there has never been any instance of it. In professional gaming it has been long suspect that players (especially in the USA) would take Adderall or something similar to enhance concentration and reactions. A CS:GO team in 2015 called Cloud 9 was reported (by former team members) to be taking Adderall in major tournaments.

Aye, it's the problems that other sports have had that made me choose this topic (when I was selecting my topic the IAAF scandal had just started to kick off).
And I hadn't even thought that e-sports could have a problem, but thinking about it it makes complete sense!

"e-sports"? X-box players?

I frankly, see the unwarranted intrusion by WADA - as the "problem" here..
..after all, how many past champions would've been needlessly excluded/banned - by WADA's puritanical/political dictates?

[jeddows]

"e-sports"? X-box players?

I frankly, see the unwarranted intrusion by WADA - as the "problem" here..
..after all, how many past champions would've been needlessly excluded/banned - by WADA's puritanical/political dictates?

That's one way to look at it! Something I unfortunately won't be able to go into in the dissertation
Though in motorsport there's always the safety argument- do you really want drivers competing when they're up to the eyeballs in stimulants?

[J.A.W.]

"e-sports"? X-box players?

I frankly, see the unwarranted intrusion by WADA - as the "problem" here..
..after all, how many past champions would've been needlessly excluded/banned - by WADA's puritanical/political dictates?

That's one way to look at it! Something I unfortunately won't be able to go into in the dissertation
Though in motorsport there's always the safety argument- do you really want drivers competing when they're up to the eyeballs in stimulants?

As I noted, those actually doing so - won F1 World Championships..
& such has been medically approved for many decades - as used by military aircrew in combat..

But WADA wants to hammer a competitor - even for having a spliff in the off season.. if it can be detected it in his hair sample..

& that's just too bloody lame - by any reasonable reckoning..

[charnwooduk]

There are also some of the newer "smart" drugs such as Modafinil or certain racetams (Piractam, Aniractem etc)

Modafinil in particular has been proven to improve concentration and "wakefulness" along with combating jet-lag, without any of the negative side effects of the more commonly know stimulants. (It is now used by the military in place of adderall/amphetamines).

I would be amazed if there were not a considerable number of team members/ pit crew, who were using this off prescription due to the extreme hours worked over a GP weekend.

[rjsa]

Ia have once seen a report by Barrichello that they tried beta blockers in the 90s to tame heart rate, finding it doing more damage to their 'edge' than helping with heart frequencies.

[strad]

As I noted, those actually doing so - won F1 World Championships..

J.A.W.
Can you show just who?
I mean back in the 70s the drug of choice was alcohol ,, copious amounts of alcohol followed by pot.
So are you talking Prost? Schumacher? Senna?
I have for some time thought that many modern drivers use something like Adderall

[strad]

J.A.W.
I am not try to start yet another argument with you.
It's just that even though I may have held suspicions of my own I have never heard a substantiated claim or any kind of admission or proof.

[J.A.W.]

Check a Fangio biography for a start, strad..

From the use of natural coca-leaf in South American endurance races to handing out 'bennies' to Sterling Moss in Europe,
-but of course these things were not forbidden then, by the law, or the FIM.. & WADA didn't demand Fangio's submission.

As for the 'playboy' S,D, & R&R lifestyles of the likes of James Hunt & Barry Sheene, I don't think they actually made a secret of it..

[strad]

But WADA wants to hammer a competitor - even for having a spliff in the off season.. if it can be detected it in his hair sample..
& that's just too bloody lame - by any reasonable reckoning..

I agree totally.
From your statement I thought you meant someone more modern than Fangio.

[J.A.W.]

Do you think maybe the West Indian wideboy in Hamilton would be down on a wee toke of de 'erb, then strad?

[anel2ka]

In a sport where there's millions at stake, the rational minded f1 peddler is always going to be tempted by anything that could drive competitive edge, no matter how marginal.

Does this mean that everyone of the grid is taking some form of Ped? Absolutely not. Though I'd be keen to see the results of stringent, random USADA testing. It's a very different sport granted, but random USADA testing has caught a lot UFC fighters out of late.