INDIBA is pleased to accompany the SRC-KAWASAKI FRANCE in the renowned Motorcycle Endurance World Championship: The 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans motorcycle race. This endurance race has been held each year since 1978 at the Bugatti Circuit, Le Mans, Sarthe, France. Organized by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO), this race is an important part of the Endurance FIM World Championship.
Patrick Joud, physiotherapist and osteopath of the SRC-KAWASAKI FRANCE team, (leading team, 2019 world champion and multiple winner of this legendary event) has chosen INDIBA technology to treat the riders during this high-performance race. Here Patrick shares key insights from the race and discusses how INDIBA helps to promote a faster recovery for riders.
“The use of INDIBA ACTIV AT7 was very positive during this event. Using the reference of tecartherapy (TECAR) devices in my practice seemed interesting to me to use its capacities during a very high-level motorcycle endurance event: Le Mans 24 hours.”
Patrick Joud, Physiotherapist and osteopath of the SRC-KAWASAKI FRANCE.
Motorcycle endurance: What is it?
- 8 to 24 hour circuit events.
- 2 to 3 riders taking stint during the event.
- Stint times ranging from 50 minutes to 1h15 depending on the circuits and weather conditions.
- Stint that can be doubled: the rider then chains 2 stint!.
- All this on a 1000 cc motorbike with about 230 hp.
Le Mans schedule
- Monday: Installation of the team and workspaces.
- Tuesday: Private tests. The pilots test and make the first adjustments.
- Wednesday: Day devoted to technical verifications and administration.
- Thursday: Free practice and qualifying1, night practice.
- Friday: Qualifying practice 2.
- Saturday: Warm-up (short practice session to validate the racing bike); 12 noon: start of the race.
- Sunday: 12 p.m : finish of the race.
Organization of treatment care during the 24 hours of Le Mans
- Wednesday: important and long session for each driver, so that they start the race in the best possible conditions. Physio / osteo session, aimed at solving existing problems (crashes, training, …) and optimizing physical and mental capacities.
- Thursday: Very big day for the riders! Free practice in the morning, qualifying in the afternoon, at night in the evening! It is necessary to ensure the maintenance of the capacities of the pilots, to make a session “recovery” at the end of the day if necessary.
- Friday: The afternoon is devoted to the riders: a new physio / osteo session for each rider. Recovery, preparation.
During the race
The rider gets off the motorcycle at the end of his stint.
- Quickly he debriefs with the technical team, undress leathersuit.
- Physio / osteo session: we anticipated the problems all week. If all goes well, it’s a recovery session, focusing on areas with high stress.
- He will then rest, eat, shower, …
- 20 minutes before taking over, it must be ready in the box.
The sessions are therefore linked for 24 hours, because I have barely finished a rider than the next one arrives!.
The rider only has about 40 minutes to rest.
INDIBA Activ AT7
Using INDIBA Activ AT7 was very useful:
- Recovery sessions during the race are relatively short. The use of the AT7 made it possible to be very quickly effective in the management of muscle recovery. This made it possible to free up time to be able to manage other requests, and thus to be more complete in the session.
- The treatment of muscle tension, joint pain was very effective.
This efficiency was noticed by the riders and the device was acclaimed.
Drivers in good shape, perfect teamwork: third consecutive podium at Le Mans with a nice 2nd place!
