Mike sets his sights on Formula One

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Now he believes his findings, which suggest racing drivers build up a special memory store that enables them to "steer with their head", will be of interest to Stewart's campaign to make the sport safer.

"I'm intrigued by how these drivers can perform when under immense pressure," says Mike. "It's something I'd like to do more research into."

He was approached by the Equinox series to help with a programme looking into how racing drivers stay in control of their vehicles at very high speeds without the use of computers. The producers had heard about his work on ordinary drivers and wanted to see if the same applied to professional racers.

He joined the programme makers at the Mallory Park circuit and carried out an experiment on Tomas Sheckter (right), who is racing for Jackie Stewart's Formula 3 team and is the son of Jody Sheckter, Formula 1 world champion in 1979. A special camera was attached to Tomas' helmet and tracked his eye movements as he did several laps of the racing circuit.

Mike found that the cues ordinary drivers use to negotiate bends, which are mainly the edges of the road at certain points and the apex of the bend ahead, don't apply in the same way to racing drivers. They are travelling too fast for the eye to take in that information.

The tracking showed that the driver's eyes looked at the apex, but another measurement showed that the driver moved his head to the precise angle of the bend before reaching it.

"It's as though the driver is using his head as a memory store," says Mike. "He's not doing it in response to the bend. He's doing it before he gets there. The more laps he does, the more familiar he becomes with the circuit and the faster he goes."

You can find out more about the visual strategies of a racing driver when Mike discusses his findings at the Neuroscience Seminar on Monday 20 November. It takes place in the Biology Lecture Room at 4.30pm.