How Gee Atherton is using brain tech to improve his rallying skills
Downhill mountain biker Gee Atherton has already mastered the world’s toughest trials. Now he’s taking on rallying, and Ford have some amazing tech to measure brain data and maximise performance.
Gee Atherton knows a thing or two about success. The thrill-seeking cyclist has amassed an impressive collection of world, national and junior titles over the past decade, including Downhill World Champion and World Cup winner.
More recently, Atherton's turned his attention to four wheels, following in the tyre tracks of rallying buddy Elfyn Evans and taking on the world’s most demanding terrain at absolutely terrifying speeds. As his CV hints, the cyclist has no interest in pottering about; he wants to be the very best – and fastest – whether on two wheels or four. And that’s where Ford come in.
8 minGee Atherton drives a rally carWRC driver Elfyn Evans teaches mountain biker Gee Atherton how to turn his talents to rallying.
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In June this year, Ford gave Atherton the opportunity to hop behind the wheel of the M-Sport R5 rally car. This was no regular test, and the team also had a plan in place to help Atherton get the most out of his abilities, using cutting-edge tech to monitor brain activity and push his performance to the next level.
Unlike most people, Atherton already has a skill set ideally suited to rallying: he can pick the fastest line, has reactions that would shame a cat and can remain calm under pressure. And perhaps most importantly, he’s capable of completely ignoring a mountain-sized drop that would bring most of us to a quivering halt.
There’s still plenty of scope for improvement, however, and Ford firmly believe the mind is where races can be won and lost. This led to a collaboration between Ford, King’s College London and technical partner Unit9, with the teams getting together to create an EEG-integrated race helmet capable of measuring driver brain data.
It’s the sort of technology more regularly used to help better understand mental disorders like schizophrenia, but in this instance EEG signals are being monitored to help drivers like Atherton improve their mental performance.
So how does it actually work? King’s College neuroscientist Dr Elias Mouchlianitis explains: “The EEG helmet uses sensors that measure electrical activity from the brain associated with cognitive functions such as memory, attention, speed of processing and other states such as fatigue. We’re looking at the brainwave called ‘alpha’. This is a brainwave we know from years of research that’s associated with sustained attention. Keeping low and steady alpha across the track helps you to perform your best.”
Knowing Atherton’s baseline alpha levels was the first step of the process, so the biker was strapped into a simulator where Mouchlianitis and his team could monitor his brainwaves in real time. Once a base level was established, Atherton was put through a series of tests, followed by further simulator time, to see which helped most when it came to keeping that low and steady alpha.
I wanted to see what I could achieve when I really committed myself to pushing hard and taking risks
In this case, specific breathing techniques made the biggest difference, dropping Atherton’s alpha levels and, more importantly, boosting his performance in the simulator. Whether that translates into the real world remains to be seen – the helmet won’t appear on track until it has FIA certification – but it certainly gave Atherton an edge when he finally strapped himself into the Fiesta R5 rally car.
“I wanted to see what I could achieve when I really committed myself to pushing hard and taking risks,” Atherton says. “It’s always easy to call yourself back and not stray too close to danger, but sometimes you have to accept you’re going to go hard at something and throw everything you have at it.”
Atherton’s test is not the first time Ford have used EEG signals to try to understand what their drivers are going through, with the collaboration actually stretching back to 2017. Since then, Mouchlianitis and his team have monitored members of the public and hardened rally drivers, offering the best sample possible when it comes to understanding exactly what can be done to boost mental performance.
We discovered a few techniques that help me to relax and focus, and I will definitely be using them when racing bikes
While the research focuses primarily on getting the best out of drivers, it seems the results can also be applied outside of motorsports, with Atherton fully expecting to put his new breathing techniques into practice the next time he heads out on two wheels.
“We discovered a few techniques that help me to relax and focus, and I will definitely be using them when racing bikes,” Atherton concludes. “Anything that helps focus your mind at times of great stress will be a benefit during racing.”
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