Taming Speed (2022) - full transcript

When experiencing speed, your body

spurts adrenaline into your system.

Your blood pressure

rises instantly.

Your heartbeat races,

your body temperature rises,

and your limbs start to tingle.

This sensation is fascinating

to some, frightening to others.

Considering my old job

as a grand prix driver,

I fall into the first category.

And Coulthard wins in Monaco!

But I also know that speed...

can have consequences.

In any case, speed seems to come

natural to Aksel Lund Svindal.

Two Olympic gold medals,

five world championships,

36 world cup race wins,

most of them in speed events.

But the question is,

does being great in one category...

give you an edge in another?

And what does it take

to tame speed?

Should I...? No. Just clap? Okay.

It's incredibly exhausting

to be a top athlete,

and maybe especially

in high-risk sports.

So I'm actually

quite happy that I'm done.

When I think about speed,

I think that...

the higher the speed, the better.

And there's an intense rush.

It's almost like

you get a different personality

in the minutes

when you're competing.

And you have the process

of getting better and better.

And I miss that a little.

TEAM PRESENTATION

STOCKHOLM

PORSCHE CENTRE DANDERYD

6 DECEMBER 2021

-Hi.

-Hi.

-How are you?

-Good.

-How are you?

-I'm good.

This will be cool.

That's the most important thing.

Yes, it is.

-You know all of this.

-A little.

-You know it better.

-No, you're a downhill skier.

So you know speed, at least.

-Yeah, but you have to turn, too.

-Not much.

Ingemar Stenmark

and Aksel Lund Svindal, welcome.

It's a huge honour for us

to have you with us here today.

We are here today because

both of these guys will drive

Porsche Sprint Challenge Scandinavia

next year.

Let's welcome them, first of all.

I've always been a fan of racing.

It has fascinated me.

I never thought

I would ever drive a race.

But it was really easy to say yes

when I got the chance,

precisely because there are

some elements that are very similar

to alpine skiing,

and downhill in particular.

I've never done this before,

but now that we're doing it,

I want to do it properly.

First of all,

the team is super professional.

And we have two legends.

Ingemar Stenmark

is the alpine skier who

has won most world cup races.

Teammate number two

is Carl Philip Bernadotte,

who has raced for ten years.

I can learn a lot

from his experience.

What's your goal?

I think I will start out...

-You're an athlete. You want to win.

-I think I'll start out in the back.

The goal is to get

a little bit better all the time.

I've only done one thing

that's measured

in hundredths, tenths,

metres, and first,

second and third place.

I haven't tried

to get good at anything else.

Personally, it will be cool to see

if I can get good at something else.

That it's not just one thing

and that I can get decent

at something else, too.

PRIVATE TEST, KARLSKOGA

GELLERÅSEN ARENA

A. LUND SVINDAL

The first feeling when I got in

and had to remember how

everything worked was one thing,

but the bigger surprise was

the claustrophobic feeling

of seeing too little.

How can I operate the car safely

without crashing?

The pit lane is free.

Go ahead and drive.

There are so many impressions.

It feels like

your head will explode.

You have to time

everything perfectly.

If you're going to do your best,

you have to push your limits.

And when you come into situations

you haven't been in before,

you lose control a little.

You get scared, because you don't

know how to handle the situations.

That was the first lap. Great.

The thing is,

when you're in control,

you can suddenly lose it

in one tenth of a second.

You need to get experience in order

to know what's happening.

I have a lot to learn.

I'm at the limit. I make mistakes.

I don't have a lot of experience.

That's what we're going to practise.

Let's look at the first corner.

There are 30 metres there

that we can work on.

At the braking point.

You have to get the car

into the first corner

and save those 30 metres,

and then you have to hit

the brakes harder.

In modern racing cars, every

single driver input is recorded,

not unlike a black box

in an aeroplane.

The output is telemetry.

Gear selection,

throttle and brake application,

outright speed,

time gained or lost.

Learning to use telemetry

to your advantage

is a powerful tool to improve,

as well as a link

between driver and engineer.

By overlaying the telemetry

from a particular lap

with another driver,

one can learn a great deal

from all of the scribbles.

The red lines represent

one driver,

the blue lines, his teammate.

Their braking points are similar,

but the blue driver carries

more speed into the turn.

Even though this causes

the blue driver to exit the corner

with a lower speed, the gain is

a few tenths on the red driver

through this section.

Onto the start-finish straight,

we can see that the blue driver

gets on the gas pedal earlier

and with perfect throttle control

and balance

gains just over 0.2

of a second on the red driver.

Now there are options.

The red driver can adapt

and adjust the entry speeds

and throttle inputs on exit,

and the engineer can help

by adjusting the setup.

A bit of both might do the trick.

They'll know

the next time out on track.

You're trying to find

the braking point

and brake later in the corners.

You have to go full throttle

until you hit the brake.

It feels completely wrong

to drive straight into a corner

and just wait, wait, wait

without braking.

It's the balance

between the right braking,

the right turn in, and how much

you should accelerate,

and I haven't found that balance.

It feels a little safer now,

because I have tried the car

in the environment

the races take place in,

and I have started to learn about

the different settings.

And...

When you get more information,

you can visualise what's coming,

and then it feels safer or better.

If you just practise,

you'll be able to drive quite fast.

It's hard to answer...

how you become good, but...

I don't think anyone stays

at the top level for a long time

without being the product

of hard work.

If you think you can do less and

with lower quality than anyone else

and still be better,

I think you're fooling yourself.

It can't be done.

I think it's several small things.

And when I say small things, I mean

small choices you make all the time.

It might be during practice

or a competition

or during a dinner with friends

when you decide to go home early

or you decide not to drink

because you have to practise...

If you have the will or the passion

that this is something

you want to achieve,

I think the chances are greater

that the choices

you make will be good.

And that doesn't mean

good choices in life generally,

but good choices for becoming

a good downhill skier.

OFFICIAL TEST, MANTORP

MANTORP PARK, 28 APRIL 2022

This might get scary.

I saw a video online,

and there are curves here

where you have to drive 150 kph.

It's always exciting

to do something new.

Oh, yes.

Morning.

There's more throttle over the crest

and a higher speed over the crest.

After the crest,

should I hold the brake a little

or just touch the brake

and then release it?

Yes. And if you see there,

you will brake soon after the crest,

or maybe even on top of the crest,

but you can brake even later,

and as you say, it's just a touch

to calm down the car.

Try to stay with each other.

Try to stay behind him

and see his lines and braking.

It might be hard

to keep up with Carl Philip, but...

In that case,

I'll stick with Ingemar.

You can go.

Very good pace, Aksel.

-That's good.

-He's doing well.

In alpine skiing,

you will rarely achieve good speeds

or a good performance

if you're struggling a lot.

You need to have a flow.

If you're struggling

against the forces of nature,

you'll go slower

than if you find a rhythm

where you're at the limit

but find a flow.

Amazing, Aksel. Only three tenths

behind Carl Philip.

-Great driving!

-Thanks.

-Awesome!

-Thanks!

-That was great!

-Damn fun!

-Great, Aksel.

-Thanks. This went well.

You're an expert.

I almost kept up with Carl Philip

in the beginning.

When we got new tyres,

I got a confidence boost,

so it felt better immediately.

It's like having sharp edges

on your skis.

In everything you do,

the higher the level is,

the more demanding it is

to get better.

Just being able to do it safely

doesn't require a whole lot.

But being able

to do it competitively

requires a bit more.

And being able to compete to win...

requires a whole lot more,

especially if you're competing

to win every single time.

In the beginning,

you get a really fast progression

with a low amount of effort,

but at a certain level,

the effort, the time

and the difficulty level

go straight up.

It gets a whole lot harder.

But you don't progress as much even

though you spend a lot more time.

It's hard to improve,

and it requires a huge effort,

both to become better

and to stay at your current level.

QUALIFYING PRACTICE, KARLSKOGA

GELLERÅSEN ARENA, 5 MAY 2022

It's the last test day.

And then we'll drive a race

at Anderstorp.

We have to get good at qualifying.

Achieving one good lap

and feeling when it's perfect

and when to do the good lap,

that's probably one of

the most important things you do,

and that's what

we're going to practise.

The pit lane is free. Go ahead.

You're going to do ten laps.

In alpine skiing, the differences

are hundredths of seconds.

And on the skis, you can adjust

the angles of the edges.

0.3 degrees. 0.5.

And then you have the stiffness

of the skis, the width, the sidecut.

There's a lot to test,

and most of the time,

you're testing tiny details.

Some things feel good,

and some things feel bad.

If the difference is big,

you'll know,

but in the end,

your time is the deciding factor.

In a one-make series,

such as Porsche Sprint

Challenge Scandinavia,

all cars look the same.

But that doesn't mean

they are the same.

Golfers have different swings.

Ronaldo is right-footed.

Messi is left-footed.

Rafael Nadal is right-handed

but hits with his left.

And racing drivers

have different driving styles.

A driver will have

to adapt his style

to suit the car or circuit,

just like a tennis player would

when switching

from grass court to clay.

But a race car also needs

to be set up

to get the car suited

to the driver.

The setup possibilities

are basically endless.

Wheel angles, throttle response,

gearing, tyre pressures,

roll bars, wing angles...

I could go on.

If a car is set up correctly

for the circuit

but not for the driver...

Well, I'm sure

Nadal can hit a tennis ball

with his right hand too,

but probably not as well.

It all has to do with confidence.

Confidence to push the car

and yourself to the limit.

When the equipment

works perfectly,

it helps make your driving

technically perfect.

Both in terms of how you move

and in terms of the line

that gives you the highest speed.

The timing is right, and it feels...

The equipment flows.

I think I'm finding the setup that

makes it a little hard to drive,

but not so hard that I make a lot

of mistakes. I think I've got it.

The range is a lot smaller,

and I need some small adjustments,

but I think I've found a setup

that suits me well.

It's been both good and bad.

I think the lap time in itself,

if you put together

different pieces, is very good,

but what Aksel hasn't really managed

is to unite the pieces in one lap,

and that's going to be

a challenge for him to do.

In downhill,

you have some practice runs,

and on the race day,

you only get one try.

So it should be more similar

to a qualifying than a race,

but it took me about 20 years

to get to the level

where I know where the limit is

and I can push it to the limit

on that one try.

But knowing where the limits are

and being able to push them...

I'm nowhere near that yet.

RACE, ANDERSTORP

ANDERSTORP RACEWAY, 14 MAY 2022

My name is Riccardo Ceccarelli.

I am a medical doctor specialised

in sport medicine.

I've created Formula Medicine,

which is a company

nearly fully dedicated

to motorsport.

That's why now

it's the leader worldwide.

Every year,

we see like 200 drivers.

We train the drivers, and we

assist the circuit in every category

from go-kart to Formula 1.

I was bringing

some instruments for you.

Okay? We can take

a measurement of your stress.

I was invited to assist

and to work with Aksel.

The challenge is to see

how a champion from the ski

can adapt to a car.

What exactly will you measure?

It's possible to see

the heart rate variability,

which is an index of the stress.

It's possible

to see the breath rate.

And with some algorithm,

we can have also

like a kind of commitment.

So what we try to understand is

how much you have to put of

energy, of commitment, in driving.

Because the goal is

the best balance

between brain, body and car.

So we say maximal performance

with less energy consumption,

because every time you think

too much, you are slow.

If you think too much at the point

of braking, you become slow.

I think I understand

what you're talking about,

because now, from just

driving four days, I already feel

that it's less stress

and a little more automatic.

So I can...

It's easier for me to lift

and look ahead.

I can focus

on what's coming more

because this is happening

more naturally.

I assume that being in a race mode

and having the right amount

of tension and things like that

are things that are comparable

in alpine skiing and motorsport.

So I assume that he will see

some patterns that are good

but also several things

I will have to work on.

Porsche Sprint Challenge

goes over two days.

The first day is the qualifying.

On day two,

there are two 20-minute races

where the starting order is

determined by the qualifying.

QUALIFYING

ANDERSTORP RACEWAY

There's a lot

to think about in qualifying.

One thing is

to find the right setup for the car.

You have to feel the tyres and check

that there's no traffic in front.

Get the tyre temperature up, Aksel.

It's time to push it, Aksel.

You have time for three laps.

At first, I was a little stressed

because it was raining.

But once I knew

that I had three laps left

and it was drying up

and I had to get a good time,

I just felt really focused.

I was a little more in the race mode

that I would like to be in.

That's good, Aksel. P2, P2.

-Yes!

-Impressive!

I knew I drove quite fast

because I could see the times,

but you don't know

how the others are doing.

But when I passed the goal flag,

I heard that it was P2,

so that was actually perfect.

-Nice!

-Congrats! Really good!

I had three quite similar laps.

I think it was

your second-to-last lap.

In racing, time is everything.

It's a measurement of how well

or how poorly you're doing.

0.2 of a second in the grand

scheme of things is nothing.

It's a blink of an eye.

It's this beep.

The average speed of the fastest

lap in qualifying

was 147.8 kilometres an hour.

Aksel's was

0.4 kilometres an hour slower.

A mere 11.2 metres

if you look at the actual distance

over the finish line.

Not much considering

the Anderstorp Raceway

is slightly over

four kilometres long.

But let's complicate things

a little.

Being two tenths behind

over a race distance of 20 laps,

that gap will then grow

to 5.5 seconds

and 225 metres.

Suddenly,

0.2 of a second isn't nothing.

It's a significant margin.

RACE 1

ANDERSTORP RACEWAY

Welcome to Porsche

Sprint Challenge Scandinavia 2022.

The series that started last year

is back in a new version

with a new dream team

with Aksel Lund Svindal

and Ingemar Stenmark.

Thank you.

I'm nervous,

because I've never done this before.

It's the first time

I'm driving a race.

I'm especially nervous

because I'm feeling really good.

The practice went well, so I know

that I can perform really well.

-It's all okay?

-I'm okay.

I'm a little bit nervous,

but that's normal.

-It's how it should be.

-Yeah. Has to be.

Without adrenaline,

it makes no sense.

A little close now.

Once the race starts,

I think it's going to be tough.

I've driven in traffic,

but now,

there will be cars all around me.

That will be a new experience,

so it's a little exciting.

Go as fast as you can, Aksel.

The first Sprint Challenge race

has begun.

Good start from Ludwig Ellhage.

He tries to overtake

Aksel Lund Svindal on the inside.

Svindal hopes Kenneth Ahnelöv

is in control as Svindal brakes past

on the way down

to the second corner.

Great, great, great. Good.

Svindal is back

in William Siverholm's slipstream.

He tries to overtake on the inside,

letting the ABS work all the way.

He squeezes past on the inside.

A daring manoeuvre from Svindal.

Great, Aksel! Amazing! Keep going!

2.30 left on Anderstorp Raceway

for Ludwig Ellhage.

Look at the car... Ludwig Ellhage

wipes out in the second corner!

Down from first place!

Ludwig Ellhage!

-That's great!

-It's P1!

Final lap.

There are a few drops in the air.

Aksel Lund Svindal

in front of William Siverholm.

One lap to go.

A key braking point

for Aksel Lund Svindal.

He presses hard

and makes no manoeuvre to move.

A small blink from the headlamps

heading down to the second corner.

Siverholm is closing in

on Aksel Lund Svindal.

The final corner.

He brakes as late as he can.

The goal flag is in front,

and Aksel Lund Svindal wins

his first race

in Sprint Challenge Scandinavia.

Fantastic, Aksel!

Yeah!

-That was cool.

-Damn great!

Damn cool!

P1!

Yes! That was amazing!

-It was a real fight, too.

-It was damn great!

Hey!

I don't believe

it's the first race.

It's not the first race.

Come on, tell the truth.

You did already ten races.

That was damn cool.

-And it was a real fight, too.

-A really good fight.

Hey!

Aksel Lund Svindal!

Winning the first race

was just perfect.

Especially after all the action

and the overtakings.

Winning a race after a lot

of fighting is especially cool.

We'll have to wait and see.

-Should we...

-Yeah.

The second race

will be more difficult

because it's difficult

to get back to the focus.

I'm trying.

I told him it's like slalom

with the second match,

and normally, between

the first and the second,

you are completely focused

on yourself.

It's back to the focus,

because he was very distracted

by many things, so...

-No problem.

-Yeah.

The lights are still red.

And the race is on.

Clean start with

Janne Gustavsson on the inside.

Aksel Lund Svindal has room

to squeeze past.

Svindal is on the outside.

Krister Andero is far out

and loses ground to Stenmark.

He tries to overtake Ludwig Ellhage.

Siverholm collides

with Janne Gustavsson!

Safety car, Aksel. Safety car.

It will be exciting to see

what Aksel can do.

He had a fast car

before this happened.

The safety car is spinning laps.

The cars are led into the depot.

But not Aksel Lund Svindal.

No, no, no, Svindal!

What's happening now?

What's happening?

You have to get off the track.

Svindal made a mistake.

-You have to go into the depot.

-Into the depot?

All the cars follow the safety car,

and when the safety car

drives into the depot,

or whatever the safety car does

when the lights are on,

you have to follow the safety car.

Rookie mistake,

but it's still really annoying.

In my head, I just thought,

"Restart, restart, restart."

So I went from a complete focus

on just looking ahead

to feeling like I screwed up.

I lost the race,

and I also broke the rules,

so it feels twice as bad.

We're just running laps

towards the goal flag,

and we can declare that

Kenneth Ahnelöv will win this race.

-What a shame.

-That sucks, Aksel.

-It wasn't even a race.

-No, it was nothing.

I made a rookie mistake

in the beginning.

I think I just have to get

more experience

so I do more things automatically.

I feel I've learned

a lot this weekend.

That doesn't mean I know everything.

I probably only know 10%.

But it was a big step to go

from practice to a real race.

-We'll take it.

-Yeah.

So now, when I go back home, I go

to Formula Medicine with my crew.

We will analyse all the data

just to find the best suggestions

to give to him, how to optimise

his results for the next races.

ANALYSIS AND MENTAL TRAINING

VIAREGGIO

FORMULA MEDICINE

11 JULY 2022

I think many of the same qualities

you need

to be a fast downhill skier

are the same

as when you drive cars

and drive races.

I think I have

a good starting point.

All right.

Everyone has a different

relationship with speed.

As I say, either fear

or attraction.

When we train our brain

to be faster,

the speed is relatively less.

So it's something

that can be trained.

We can analyse now the data coming

from your race in Anderstorp.

So, your first race.

I can show you your heart rate

and what the instrument gave me as

a feedback of the level of stress.

But the most interesting is,

in my opinion,

before the first race.

You had a heart rate under 100.

Before the second race,

you were always around 100.

I remember I saw you less focused.

And I told you.

You arrived late to change.

You were more distracted.

And then,

when the safety car arrived,

you did the mistakes.

In my opinion,

because it was more difficult

to stay focused. It was

more difficult to stay in the race.

It is also, you know,

a new situation.

When you're driving, you think

about only a few things.

-Yes. You limit.

-Exactly.

And with the safety car,

you think about many things.

For me, it's important

to have the awareness

that the overthinking

can be a stress,

can be something that can cause

tension and mistakes.

That's what you learn

as an athlete, sometimes.

It's to find, you know,

"What's my right tension level?"

And you can control this yourself,

but sometimes, it's much harder,

because there's

so much outside impulses,

and then it gets much harder

to control the tension level.

The thing that impresses me

is how much you are quick-learning.

And I'm interested to see

the same things

in the mental gym, probably.

-It makes me a little bit nervous.

-I'm creating pressure.

We will see. Exactly.

You're creating pressure.

Talent is necessary,

but it's not enough anymore.

So the prototype

of the new athlete

is just the person

which is like an engineer

before the action

and then very pure instinct,

an animal, during the action.

For us, what is important

is not the result, it's the feeling.

The rhythm.

Now you better manage also that one,

in particular after mistakes.

And again, we have this peak

at the beginning

from your heart rate.

That's probably linked

with the mistakes.

We work like the engineer

on the engine.

More horsepower,

less fuel consumption.

We take the brain of the driver,

and we train

to give more horsepower,

reducing the consumption,

which is the quality

of the champion.

They are able

to manage the emotion.

They manage the pressure.

They are not affected.

So that's why

they don't waste energy,

because if I go to drive

and I have many doubts,

many emotions, many pressures,

I'm not performing

like I could do.

If I am completely out

of this pressure,

I'm driving like

I'm able to drive,

so I perform like I can.

So that is the difference.

This is the mental economy

training philosophy.

Ready? Three, two, one, let's go.

You learn about how you react,

and if you get stressed,

your performance drops,

and how you can find a good mindset

to do the exercises properly.

What you learn about that

is more important than the results.

It's interesting

what our analysis shows,

because we saw that you are

very analytical, very rational.

You want to have the full control,

and that means good analysis.

You understand what to do,

how to do,

and then you can highly perform.

This is what I have been thinking.

That in general,

but especially in skiing,

that the one thing that I felt

was a little bit different with me

is that I was very analytical.

And that means

the first time I try something,

I'm not so good,

but then I analyse,

and if I can practise

a little bit,

I can get much better

pretty quick.

The only thing

that I can suggest to you...

You should know your target.

If you say, "I don't care

what I do, I just go for driving",

okay, but I think

you're not that kind of person.

You think that when you sit in

a car, you want to be the first one.

-I agree.

-Yeah.

Because in my opinion,

what you show,

you can have a chance

to be professional in motorsport,

depending on

if it's your target now.

I think many people,

if they get the chance to practise,

can reach a very high level.

So I feel relaxed about that,

but at the same time,

it means there is a chance, and...

when something is fun,

it's exciting to play with the idea

that there's a chance

to do more of it.

And just the experience

I have got so far

makes me ten times

better equipped and prepared for it

than I was six months ago.

I think I did

some of my best driving in Fällfors.

I drove really well there.

Carl Philip was better,

but I placed second and third.

Aksel Lund Svindal

takes second place.

Then we went back to Anderstorp.

I drove well in the first race,

so I placed fourth and seventh.

After race number two

in Anderstorp,

I went to the doctor

because I wanted to check something.

But I didn't think

it would be a big deal.

But it was full alarm

and straight to the hospital.

It was testicular cancer,

which is easy to operate,

so everything happened quickly,

but in the span of one week,

I got the diagnosis,

I got all the analyses, I got

the surgery, and I was discharged.

I was told quite early on

that it was looking good

and that the spread was minimal,

and everything

has gone well all the way.

So I was lucky,

but it was also a period that...

puts your life in perspective.

I didn't think I would die,

and I understood early on

that I would get through it,

but I didn't know if it was

a matter of weeks or months.

So...

I was lucky,

and it took weeks, not months.

During those weeks,

I didn't think much about

racing and driving cars,

but on the other hand,

I thought quite early on...

This was about three weeks

before the race at Rudskogen,

and I needed something

to look forward to,

so I thought quite early on

that I wanted to be there,

almost no matter what.

PRIVATE TEST, CARRERA CUP

RUDSKOGEN

RUDSKOGEN MOTOR CENTRE

17 SEPTEMBER 2022

I got the chance

to test a Carrera Cup car,

which is quite a big step up.

What we're driving now

is a race car.

The Carrera Cup car

is a brutal race car.

I'm excited

about how it's going to feel.

If it's in

a completely different league,

so it feels really far away

or if it's an idea I could play with

and try in the future.

The Porsche GT4 Clubsport

is a fast race car.

It's faster around a circuit

than practically any supercar

you might see on the road.

But a 911 Carrera Cup car is,

depending on the circuit,

eight to ten seconds faster

per lap than the GT4.

And in a significantly faster car,

everything happens quicker.

You have less time to react,

and you need to adapt.

One key factor is to lift

your eyes and look further ahead.

Something that's easier said

than done.

When approaching a corner,

an ordinary driver is looking for

braking points and where to turn.

A professional has already

processed those inputs

and is as focused on the corner

exit and the one coming next.

By doing this, the brain has

more time to process and react

to all of the information

thrown at it.

You start with braking

and things like that.

That's what creates the rotation

as early as possible.

Once you get started

with the braking,

the rest will follow.

You'll get a good rotation

when the braking technique is right.

So just go ahead.

It's cool to see Aksel drive around

and try the GT3.

It's a new experience.

And of course to coach

and help where I can

to make his progression

as fast as possible.

This weekend, I'm driving

Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia.

It's always extra stressful

to see the car I'll be driving

being driven for the first time

by a new driver.

Very good, Aksel.

The first lap is over.

Good and even downshifts now.

It's like there's no filter.

Everything is rawer.

The sounds and the feeling.

The steering is more grippy.

It feels more brutal,

especially if it slips.

There's almost no warning.

Suddenly, you've just lost the grip.

When you know it's like that,

your heart rate is elevated

and you're almost a little scared.

It's a lot harder to lift your eyes

and focus on the track

and not think about everything

that could happen to the car.

You have to be more aggressive

with a car like that

because everything is faster.

That's one

of the biggest differences

between a GT4 and a GT3.

You have to push your limits

with the grip you are given.

-How was it?

-It was...

-Different?

-It was a lot.

-What was the biggest difference?

-That it's a lot more nervous.

-Very good start.

-It went better...

I was a little more confident

the second time.

#82 AKSEL LUND SVINDAL

-How was it?

-Exciting.

I was almost...

I was quite nervous, actually.

What is it you say? It's a monster.

We have seen

how you've been driving this year,

and you've been very fast.

You've been in the top.

That's not just about

driving fast and safe.

You have to learn to race

against other drivers.

But that's why

this feels like a natural step.

We would like to see

if we can do more of this next year.

But it has to feel right for you,

of course.

I think it sounds

like a lot of fun, so...

I think we should...

We should keep thinking about that.

QUALIFYING

RUDSKOGEN MOTOR CENTRE

If I want to drive

Carrera Cup next year,

I'll have to drive well.

It won't look good if I don't drive

fast in Sprint Challenge

but still want to drive Carrera Cup.

It would be perfect timing

to drive well here

and in the finals in Mantorp.

Two, and then three.

-That's good.

-Yeah, we'll take that.

We're at Rudskogen Motor Centre,

Norway's own motorsport gem.

It's the Porsche Festival

with a huge crowd,

and it's time for Porsche

Sprint Challenge Scandinavia.

-Can I get your autograph?

-Sure.

It was a little bit undercover

that I would drive Sprint Challenge

until I won at Anderstorp.

Then it became a big deal

that people talked about

in the motorsport scene,

and there are a lot

of motorsport fans here,

so I feel a bit of pressure.

-Good luck.

-Thanks.

The race is on.

Jonas is right behind Erik Sandell.

Great start for Jonas Sjöström

and Svante Andersson.

But William Siverholm

and an attacking Isabell Rustad

are in the lead.

Rustad, Siverholm, Svindal

heading down the hill.

William Siverholm fights

against Isabell Rustad.

Aksel Lund Svindal puts pressure

on Isabell Rustad.

Aksel has a great speed.

This track seems to suit him.

Svindal pushes hard and goes all in.

Aksel Lund Svindal on the way

over the line in second place.

But he gets a penalty

for a false start.

He gets a five-second penalty which

sends him down to fourth place.

False start for Aksel.

Five-second penalty.

-You had a false start.

-Did I? For real?

Five-second penalty,

so you came in fourth.

-Really?

-Sorry.

I came in second place

and thought it was a good race,

and then they just waved me on.

False start? I mean,

I was behind Siverholm.

It can't have been a false start.

When you rolled forward,

you moved to the side, like this.

You can't cross your middle line

before the lights are off.

Okay, but can you show me a video

so I can see how far over I was?

It turns out that once

you're in the starting field,

you're not allowed

to cross the middle,

so you have to stay

on your side of the track.

And out of the corner

into the starting field,

Siverholm pulls

slightly to the left,

and like we've always done,

I just followed him.

You're over here already.

Quite far in the other direction.

You see that

you're in your own field.

The others are like this.

But am I over here? I'm not.

You're sure I was too far over?

Do you have a better picture?

No, I don't have another picture.

I saw it myself live.

Because when the race starts,

I'm not over, right?

No, but it's the whole formation

before the start.

-Yeah, but...

-The big problem is here.

But look at this...

I'm not going to protest,

but it feels quite unnecessary

when no one

has mentioned it all season

and it doesn't give me

an advantage and I'm...

Unfortunately, with a false start,

I can't judge whether or not

it gives you an advantage.

I'm a little annoyed.

I think it's really unnecessary.

It's annoying but mostly comical

that it's suddenly a thing

when we're nearly

at the end of the season.

RACE 2

RUDSKOGEN MOTOR CENTRE

-I'm keen on revenge.

-Yeah, right?

-See you on the podium.

-Yes.

We're getting ready for the last

Sprint Challenge race here.

Great start for Isabell Rustad.

Siverholm is right in front

of Aksel Lund Svindal.

Svindal dives into the first corner,

but Isabell Rustad takes the lead,

just like in the first race.

Siverholm is

on the outside of Svindal.

Svindal pushed the line hard

in the first corner.

Aksel Lund Svindal's line

is far from optimal.

He loses Siverholm and Ellhage.

Sjöström overtakes him too.

Andero is Svindal's next threat.

Svindal is a master

of psychological warfare.

He brakes really late

and pulls in over the curb.

Svindal gets a good run

on Jonas Sjöström and overtakes.

A slight oversteering,

and Sjöström loses Svindal.

What will Jonas Sjöström

and Aksel Lund Svindal do now?

Another contact.

There goes Sjöström's radiator.

Just as Svindal

was about to shake things up.

Jonas Sjöström is sliding around

in his own coolant right now.

I got hit. Flat tyre.

Aksel Lund Svindal has a problem.

His warning lights are on.

The day is over for him.

-I have a flat tyre.

-Yeah.

Did he drive into you?

Or did you block him?

No, he braked

and hit me in the back.

It's especially fun

to do well at home,

and it's especially hard

to do poorly.

-Can I take a selfie?

-Sure.

-How did the race go?

-I crashed, unfortunately.

Or someone crashed into me.

Are we ready?

Right now, I feel quite tired,

but that's normal

when you have a bad break.

Especially if it feels like...

you tried your best,

but it just wasn't your day.

I look forward to Mantorp. It would

be perfect to finish with...

a really good position.

MANTORP

MANTORP PARK, 1 OCTOBER 2022

It has gone by fast.

It's been challenging

but really fun.

It has given me

some competition nerves

and the feeling

of wanting to perform well,

which I have missed, since it was

an important part of my life.

Great!

-You're three and four.

-Three and four? Yeah.

Formula Medicine is visiting us

this weekend.

I'm curious about that,

actually, because I have...

I've wondered if I have an advantage

because I was a downhill skier.

I think I'm used to speed,

and if you're used to speed,

it's not as scary.

You can tame it.

So I'm excited to see

the answers they give me.

Welcome to the end

of Sprint Challenge Scandinavia

here in Mantorp Park

in Östergötland.

-The last day.

-Yeah!

Everyone is coming around.

And we're off! Good start

for Kenneth Ahnelöv.

William Siverholm is squeezing past

and touches Andero!

Contact between

Siverholm and Andero!

-Carl Philip Bernadotte in the lead!

-Svindal also has a poor start.

Here come Svindal, Ellhage

and Andersson. Sjöström is gone.

Svindal is also forced to break.

Something has happened

to Sjöström and Svindal.

Yes, it works. What happened?

I got hit once here and once here.

Look at this.

Carl Philip Bernadotte wins the race

at Mantorp Park.

He flashes his lights,

crosses the line and gets 25 points.

Congrats. Good job.

When I was an alpine skier, I was

also disappointed and pissed off

when I wiped out. It happens,

but it shouldn't happen too often.

Especially not twice in a row. So...

That's a little annoying.

But you can't do anything about it.

Skiing is better

because no one collides with you.

That's true. In the last few races,

I got hit twice and had a flat tyre.

When you're skiing,

you're all alone.

-That's what I mean.

-There's no one behind you.

So sometimes, that's better, but...

What do you think

it's like to drive a regular car?

It's hard to figure out

how I should drive.

But at the end of the race,

I was harder on the throttle.

This car has big back tyres

and a lot of traction.

But next season,

you're driving Carrera Cup?

It's not definite yet, but...

You've been fast in those,

so it's promising.

It's easier with a proper race car

that reacts more to settings

and things like that.

But since it's more direct,

there's no filter.

-Drive hard.

-Good luck in the second race.

It's time to decide this season

of Sprint Challenge Scandinavia.

It's going to be

a spectacular and intense finish.

It would be cool to get two people

from our team on the podium.

Keep my cool and drive a good race.

The race is on.

Janne Gustavsson

is threatening Fredric Blank

between Svindal and Siverholm,

and there's a crash!

Ellhage, Ludwig Ellhage,

goes straight into the tyre wall.

The safety car picks up

all the cars.

6.5 in the brakes.

What will Aksel Lund Svindal do

now that the light is green again?

Good start for Bernadotte and

Gustavsson, leaving room for Andero.

Svindal is overtaken

by William Siverholm.

Come on!

Svindal overtakes Siverholm again.

Down in the Paris area,

Svindal bites back.

Siverholm on the outside.

This can't end well!

And it doesn't for Siverholm,

who drives onto the grass.

Svindal comes up

behind Gustavsson.

He gets a better exit

and overtakes Janne Gustavsson.

Give it your all, Aksel.

Janne Gustavsson is fighting Svindal

for the last place on the podium.

It's the final lap of this season

of Sprint Challenge Scandinavia.

It's tight!

Prince Carl Philip

wins his second race this weekend

by a tiny margin,

but he wins against Krister Andero

and Aksel Lund Svindal.

Come on, Aksel!

-Yes!

-Yes!

Yes!

Damn good!

When we started this project,

from thinking, "Would it be

possible to participate",

we soon started thinking,

"Is it possible to win?"

And it's cool when things go

better than expected.

I have confirmed

that I am competitive,

and even though

it's not a world championship,

when you do a serious job

and the team does a serious job,

a competition is important enough

that you have to do your best.

It was really cool

to have you on the team.

-I hope I'll see you again.

-Just let me know.

You're going to drive more, Ingemar?

I can tinker a little, at least.

It was cool to finish at P3,

and especially when Carl Philip won

because the mood in the team

was so great,

and both of us were on the podium.

It was a good way to end the season.

-Hey, Riccardo. Good to see you.

-Ciao, Aksel. Nice to see you again.

I was also, Aksel,

analysing the data

from my collaborators.

From the data, I was comparing

the first race and this race.

You have, like, in free practice,

in quali and race,

making a comparison,

you have ten bits less,

which means saving energy.

And also, the indicator

of the stress is less.

There are more moments

that you recover,

that you go not on the line

of the stress, but you recover.

So you have more confidence.

You know better what you're doing.

So there is an economy,

an economy which is growing.

Compared to the first race,

you are more confident.

You have better self-awareness.

What it means to be a driver,

not only a champion on the skis.

Yeah, I mean, for me,

everything is new, right?

So in the beginning,

it's a lot of input,

and sometimes, it's like your

brain is almost going to explode,

and then, as the season went on,

I think it felt...

I mean, not completely natural,

but a little bit more natural.

And also, it's fun, because

the more natural it feels,

the more I also enjoy the driving.

And the good is

that you drive better,

your performance is better,

and this is exactly the feeling

that you have driving.

It's the one

that we see in the data.

Aksel is the confirmation.

I can understand why he won.

Apart from the talent,

he has the right mental attitude

of the champion, and that's for me

a confirmation

that top in skiing means

you can be top

also in another sport,

especially if there is pressure,

stress and difficulties,

like motorsport.

I feel that it's safe to say

that this went better than expected.

I can't imagine that

there is something else that I have

apart from a lot of experience

with downhill skiing.

That's what makes me unique,

if I'm allowed to say that.

That has to be the difference.

It can't be anything else.

-Now I have a question for you.

-Yeah?

What is the future now?

I think there is

a very good chance

that I maybe step up into

the Carrera Cup class next year,

and that, of course,

is a new challenge, a big challenge,

but I think that's how

you learn quickly,

when you get new challenges.

I have to say

that it should be great,

because it's a big step, but...

This is an opportunity

that I should seize.

If someone asked me when I was 18,

I would think it was insane.

So 18-year-old Aksel,

if I had said no now,

he would have been pissed,

because you can't say no to that.

And I think it's

a good confirmation

that this is something

that I want to be a part of

when it's something

you can look forward to

when things aren't going well.

If we have to answer

if it's possible to tame speed,

the answer is yes,

because speed is

a relative concept.

It's not an absolute concept.

So what the athletes

of this age are able to do

in skiing, motorsport,

probably 20, 30, 40 years ago

the human being

was not able to do.

The human being

is always moving the limit,

and that's also in terms

of capacity to manage

and control the speed,

and this is how the sport,

in my opinion,

reproduces our characteristic,

which is evolution

of the human being.

The more you keep high speeds

and do things at high speeds,

the more used you get to it.

When you're going really fast

without thinking about it,

when you automatically

look 50 metres ahead,

the speed doesn't feel very high.

Based on what I've learned

this season,

I believe with 100% certainty

that it's possible to tame speed,

but it demands a lot.

And every time

you reach a new level,

it demands even more.

Anything is possible,

but the higher your level is,

the harder it becomes to tame speed.