Carbon motivation
- Thread starter cassius
- Start date
The Ring - guys actually cried when they took it off the F1 calendar. It had taken them Years to learn that place with its over 150 freakin' corners. Great vid and a great look at that circuit. The car looked Blisteringly quick, too. I kinda think if you're a likely buyer you likely know McLaren means F1 championships. Unless you actually Own fireproof underwear, you'll be Miles Over Your Head in that car.
The only people that aren't miles over their head in that car made their money in racing. Anyone else is just along for the ride and what a beautiful ride it must be. I had the pleasure of driving an MP4-12C and that thing blew my mind -- with 300hp less than the P1 :ticking:
Stig's quick, no doubt, F3 cars ain't no joke. TBH I'm not up on the lap times at the ring and now I have to go google some up to satisfy my curiosity.
Of course, I was exaggerating, but if if you don't have extensive racing experience you're going to drive that car at <70% or it'll put your balls in your throat. Drop most of the karters that haven't experienced junior formula yet into a P1 and they'll put it into a wall. I have been racing almost my entire life -- karts, NASA/SCCA, I even dabbled in open wheel before I realized I didn't have the balls for it, and it would take me months to give a P1 100% and even then a competent pro would put the hurt on me.
Very cool with the racing. That McLaren has scary limits and that place is crazy fast and yeah - just plain crazy even with the armco!!
I raced Formula Ford 1600 and 2000 for more than a few years. Was even offered a fully sponsored season way back when. I passed on it though because I was 29 at the time, married with a business, a kid and a mortgage and to be brutally honest... I'm an idiot at learning new racetracks.
Cool man, I definitely understand passing under those circumstances. You have to have iron balls and a little bit of crazy to go the distance. These days I almost enjoy building the cars more than racing them. Almost. I am hoping to have a little more time on my hands later this year so I can take the Subaru up to Newfoundland for Targa rally.
Personally I went the FF racing school route and most people feel that a rear engine single seater is the perfect trainer. Imo Bertil Roos has the best program because of the racers eye technique they teach - that shit Is the Key to the Kingdom. I also consulted with a Sports Psychologist who specialized in racers when I was a bit further along: great stuff there too. Fwiw, it's the type of sport (yeah its a real sport so you have to be in shape, driving a competition car at its limit is physically demanding) that breeds 24/7 participants - some dudes think about virtually nothing else. Good luck with your driving.
Depends what kind of racing you are interested in. Competitive racing is super expensive and time consuming. You don't want to just jump into a category and hope it is what you want. If you have a sporty car, the easiest way to see if racing is for you is to go do a HPDE or open lapping day at a local track. It is inexpensive, tons of fun and you will meet others with more experience. At a HPDE you can have an instructor ride with you and you will learn the basics very quickly. Then you can decide if you want to pursue racing and if so, what type of racing.
Start racing karts when you're like 4 years old. Isn't that how just about every pro did it?
Had the pleassure of getting 10 laps in on The Ring in October in this little guy, best lap was 9:57 up until my phone died:
I made sure I didn't get something with enough power to easily kill myself, killing yourself is already easy enough. There was at least 3 wrecks the day I was there, one was a porsche with the front end ripped off and the driver went to the hospital. I also decided to go with no instructor, I have hours and hours on a sim (a real sim, not xbox) on Nurburgring so I felt I would be fine. I also did a track day, not a tourist day.
Heres some video of me driving:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WQDhqyFebo]Nurburgring Lotus Exige 240s - YouTube[/ame]
I was supposed to do 16 laps but with all the wrecks there was no time due to the track shutting down. So I had some credit left with RSR, I decided to do a tour of Nurburg in a MP4-12C:
The tour consisted of me following a 900hp GTR and him on a radio telling us about Nurburg. The downside was it was raining and I couldnt get on it much.
Here are some of the other cars that day:
^^ this guy blew by me while I was pitting and I jumped out of my seat, literally.
My normal stomping grounds:
I made sure I didn't get something with enough power to easily kill myself, killing yourself is already easy enough. There was at least 3 wrecks the day I was there, one was a porsche with the front end ripped off and the driver went to the hospital. I also decided to go with no instructor, I have hours and hours on a sim (a real sim, not xbox) on Nurburgring so I felt I would be fine. I also did a track day, not a tourist day.
Heres some video of me driving:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WQDhqyFebo]Nurburgring Lotus Exige 240s - YouTube[/ame]
I was supposed to do 16 laps but with all the wrecks there was no time due to the track shutting down. So I had some credit left with RSR, I decided to do a tour of Nurburg in a MP4-12C:
The tour consisted of me following a 900hp GTR and him on a radio telling us about Nurburg. The downside was it was raining and I couldnt get on it much.
Here are some of the other cars that day:
^^ this guy blew by me while I was pitting and I jumped out of my seat, literally.
My normal stomping grounds:
Assuming you have a car you can track, sign up with a club like SCCA, NASA, Chin, Porsche Club, ect. When you go to your first event you will be assigned an instructor and the rest you will figure out.
There are plenty of other racing categories that don't have nearly the same barriers to entry as F1. Getting a seat in F1 is like winning the lottery and getting drafted to the NFL on the same day.