Hardware

Training Coordination and Reactions: Batak Pro

If we were to define what SimRacing is, we could describe it as the adrenaline and competition of the motor racing world brought to the comfort of your home. One thing is clear, just like in reality, everything happens very quickly. Simracers with the best reflexes will have more chances of success. Good training is one of the keys, but not the only one. Greater or lesser visual agility also determines winning or losing those crucial tenths of a second.

I’m sure we’ve always been told to look far ahead when driving on the track, but it’s not just that; you have to look at many more things. It’s much more than looking straight ahead; it’s looking through the apexes and looking where you want the car to go because, as you know, the car will go where you look. So, imagine approaching a curve and quickly turning your head through the apex toward the exit.

Have you ever wondered how drivers prepare for the start? How is it possible to dodge cars in a split second when they accelerate from 0 to 230 in 4 seconds with 23 other cars around them? The secret is called BATAK, the famous device we’ve seen time and time again in race previews.

Today, all teams have one. It is part of the drivers’ training. It consists of a panel or support with 12 lights that randomly light up one by one. The driver stands just two feet away from the panel and has to touch the lights as they illuminate. When touched, the light goes off, and another one lights up. In this way, coordination between the eye and the hand is enhanced. The test is usually done in one-minute intervals.

“BATAK training is very useful for the start but also for overtaking,” says Jenson Button, McLaren driver and 2009 world champion.

In F1, there are not many opportunities to overtake, and you have to be always ready to take advantage of the slightest space. With this machine, we manage to cut our reaction times,” explains Jenson Button. Indeed, acting a couple of hundredths faster than the opponent can make a significant difference.

Jenson broke the previous record (56, set by Arshia Shahriarhi of Iran) with an impressive 58, to claim the official Guinness World Record, something he is understandably excited about.

“It’s always nice to add a new trophy to the collection, and furthermore, an official Guinness World Record,” said JB. “I set my unofficial record in my 20s, so it’s great to see that I still have it, 20 years later.”