JayG

That's a good trick while driving on the track

I blast music when I am doing AX and rarely on the track.
I do find some good rock and roll helps with my concentration in AX
kind of like when I used to ski the bumps with my walkman

inactiveuser7616

EXACTLY!!!!

Spyerx

I keep an iron maiden cassette at the ready in the antique. Gotta be period correct.

Kidding.

NO on the track.

RickBetterley

No - I barely have enough brain width to handle the driving.

neuroguru

Listening to music while doing microsurgery is pretty much par for the course for most of us surgeons. Familiar music and certain musical patterns help many individuals concentrate or reach a meditative state, which is really similar to the mindstate you want to be in when hyperfocused on driving.

I would not be so quick to 'outlaw' it. The right tunes may improve concentration and performance. There is ongoing research in this area.

I often joke about putting a stereo in the cup car.

Nevertheless, there is a lot of music that is clearly more distracting than focusing and does obscure auditory feedback from the car.

All the top manufacturers of rally intercoms have an audio input port and bluetooth for music players and cellphones built-in. Albeit, these are mostly used on transit stages. Unless you are tired of your navigator droning on about this "2 corner" and that "triple caution" ....

Gofishracing

There was an earlier thread on this. If it's one of my events where I have a say - I say NO. I think it is a safety issue

Hatzenbach

Same here, the music would distract me from texting while i am driving.
Gotta have some priorities here.

TXE36

Truth! One of the things that will down an operating room is if the tunes don't work. A down OR isn't making money and it lights a fire under the service people very quickly. There are docs who will not operate without their tunes and those tunes run the entire gamut of musical taste.

I don't listen to tunes in the car, but I discovered Camille and Kennerly recently and picked up one of their albums. They are twin sisters and do classic rock covers on, wait for it, harps. I developed an ear worm from White Wedding while driving to the track and I swear it settled my mind as I was lapping on the track. The harp brings out the preciseness of the music and I was trying to be just as precise with my driving.


-Mike

NaroEscape

I think it's a personal thing...

For racing? Hell no.

For and advanced DE driver that's just out for the fun and enjoyment of driving on the track (not being instructed)? Sure, why not. As said, many people can concentrate better with music. I know a lot of people that can't study or focus on a task without some music in the background. It's not for me, but as neuroguru said, many surgeon's listen to music while they perform surgery that is WAY more complex and difficult and requires INFINITELY more concentration that driving around a track in a DE...

jscott82

For me personally: Music is great to have in the backround when I am doing repetitive tasks that I know well and can kinda do on autopilot. If things start to get difficult or out of control, I want silence...

If an operation starts to go bad, do you keep the music going or switch it off?

stownsen914

I'm with jscott on this.

For me while on the track, engine noise is my music. I love the sound, and I'd find regular music annoying and distracting.

RSRRacer

Even allowing for the possibility that music could support a meditative state which somehow improves driver performance, which is a huge stretch, driving a car on track demands that you listen to your car and the cars close to you.

And hey, most race car drivers have never been called brain surgeons :-)

NaroEscape

Chris, the OP mentioned SOLO drivers, not race drivers... so there really shouldn't me many cars close to you (been a while since you've done a DE huh?? ) and lets be honest, many of the newer cars nowadays in stock form you can't really hear anything anyway.

jscott82

Not only do I not listen to music, I wear earplugs to squelch exhaust noise too. For me: the loud exhaust raised my "excitement"/anxiety level... With earplugs, things are more calm and serene.

The interesting thing with good motorsports earplugs is they just clip the high end off a bit, I can hear squeaks, rattles, and the occasional locked up tire, better than with unmuffled ears...

NaroEscape

well, that explains why you drive like your on a Sunday trip to church!