Why men are willing to risk their lives for adrenaline and victory on the track

The book “Ford vs. Ferrari” by journalist A.J. Baym about the confrontation between the American and Italian concerns in the garage and on the track was published by Alpina Publishers. This book tells about the all-consuming love for sports cars and competitions at high speeds.

There are almost no women among its heroes: motorsport in the 1960s was almost exclusively a male hobby. But is this true for our contemporaries? Together with psychologists we tried to understand why men are ready to risk their lives for the sake of adrenaline and victory on the track.

I don’t want to decide anything, I want to vroom-vroom

Sergei Milyakin

Consulting psychologist, coach, author of the “Reasonable Psychology” Telegram channel

The fascination with cars can be based on avoidance behavior.

Craving for driving is characteristic of situations when a man wants to escape from routine, sit behind the wheel of a car, turn on his favorite music and leave all worries behind. In addition, in this way he may seek to avoid unpleasant emotions, for example, a crushing sense of responsibility.

The desire to forget about problems behind the wheel of a car may be a reason to seek help from a therapist if a man is prone to unsafe, risky driving.

Of course, not all drivers and speed freaks are predisposed to take more risks than necessary. It is important to analyze their behavior and honestly answer the questions: Why am I doing this? Are my needs satisfied in other areas of my life besides my love of adrenaline?

Thirst for speed

Alexander Ryazantsev

psychologist, PhD in psychology (Oxford)

Competitive, competitive qualities are manifested in racing, men always want to prove that they are stronger, more powerful, more confident. Racing is adrenaline.

Adrenaline form of experience always adds strength, gives a person the opportunity to believe in themselves, creates a certain drive. A car is a kind of attribute of freedom and independence.

Adrenaline is a hormone that helps to react quickly to extreme situations and gives the body the opportunity to work at the limit of possibilities. However, regular release of adrenaline leads to the production of the neurotransmitter dopamine, an element of the brain’s reward system. You can get a dose of “joy hormones” by looking at the change of natural, urban and industrial scenery from the car window. This is also a special kind of pleasure.

Interesting routes for road trips see here.

In simple words, a man can get hooked on the “needle” of dashing driving, and it will be the fastest and most habitual way for him to get vivid emotions, and all the others will pale and fall into the background. We get dopamine from close relationships, delicious food, and many other things, but a man will prefer risky behavior to everything else and may eventually become addicted to it.

As with other forms of addiction, adrenaline hunger needs to be quenched with increasingly risky stunts on the road and high speeds, warns Sergei Milyakin. For example, there are shots of people driving like in a computer game, speeding up and avoiding cars on the Moscow Ring Road. Most likely, the high from such driving is connected with adrenaline release and social dominance: “Look, I can drive like this, but you can’t. You don’t allow yourself to ride like this, but I do”.

Vladislav Chubarov

Clinical psychologist and hypnologist, Gestalt therapist

For adult men, cars become a symbol of independence and self-sufficiency. Buying a car can be an act of separation, designed to separate from parents and prove their independence. Speed, independence, competition – all these emotions that are iconic for men are very easy to transfer to the car and racing.

Boys and cars

A conversation on the automobile theme can be one of the types of identification of a man as a “real” man, involved in the “real” male community. In Russia, the cult of the automobile has historical roots, emphasizes Sergei Milyakin. He recalls that in Soviet culture, men spent a lot of time in garages, where they socialized with friends and relaxed. For many men living in cramped apartments with their families, the garage was an opportunity to be in a safe space.

Men need support and frank conversation, and “cars” is a comfortable topic that allows them to hide their vulnerability and, conversely, to be the tough guy while satisfying their emotional needs.

Arseniy Tutlis, CEO of an engineering company, partly agrees with this view. He calls himself a petrolhead, a person who is extremely passionate about anything that has an internal combustion engine and can start and gain power: “I’m not a very emotional person in public, I’m not used to complaining. But I don’t think talking about cars is a substitute for socializing, more like a supplement. It’s really a comfortable topic for me, and more than once it was on the automobile topic that I made business contacts with difficult people.”

Indeed, since childhood, male socialization in Russia has been closely linked to automotive topics. “The car in the future and its symbol – a car in childhood – symbolize the expansion of space, mastering and “noting” new things, moving forward,” says psychologist Natalia Kerre.

For the vast majority of boys, the first toy is a car, the fascination with collectible car models is encouraged, and when boys become adults, the interest in cars is fueled by society’s approval. “In childhood, a car is associated with future conquests, self-actualization. The child does not yet understand anything about power and achievements, but loves cars for their brightness, shine, and sounds,” confirms Vladislav Chubarov.

A symbol of masculinity

The fascination with cars is stimulated by advertising, which transmits to men an image of higher needs. We are sold dreams, freedom, autonomy, masculinity, independence, sexuality. The commodity that implies all of these is the automobile.

In Ford vs. Ferrari, it all started when Henry Ford II wanted to buy Ferrari. In the ’60s, the American baby boomer generation found powerful cars attractive, and race-winning cars were sought after by wealthy motorists for city driving. By buying the fastest sports cars, men acquired the attribute of leadership.

But every sport has its “risk zones”. More on this was written here.

Men want to be sexy, strong, independent, and having a cool car helps to feel like that and demonstrate these qualities to others. This is normal, the main thing is that buying a car is not the only way to be the way you want to be.