T Gardemeister

I'd kick Shoeys ****, for sure!

johnfelstead

No Offence taken. LOL

The only time i took my sport on "track" was last year when i went to the Nurburgring. I managed to pass Martin Hadland in his 550BHP Escort Cossie, plus pretty much everything else that went with us. LOL

That was mainly down to me knowing the circuit intimately and it was raining heavily so i could make the most of the available grip compared to others, any other track and that simply couldnt happen. (well against martins cossie anyway. )

Some of the most fun and learning for me was in low power, crappy cars by todays standards, my first rally car was a 998cc Hillman Imp, hilareous car to drive. If you learn how to wring the last MPH out of a low spec car it really helps when you get into a fast car, as you can then do the same with that and wipe the floor with less experienced drivers.

Dont be afraid to go and have some profesional coaching, i learned a great deal from Don Palmer in a days driving, even though i was more advanced than most before i met him. My wet weather driving improved hugely after spending time with him.

ScooBabe

"Some of the most fun and learning for me was in low power, crappy cars by todays standards, my first rally car was a 998cc Hillman Imp, hilareous car to drive. If you learn how to wring the last MPH out of a low spec car it really helps when you get into a fast car, as you can then do the same with that and wipe the floor with less experienced drivers."

Hear hear John. Not that I ever wipe the floor with anyone

I sort of love pushing crap cars! Ok, strange, I know

BTW John, I caught up with the crew at Red dragon, ta!

Adam M

iirc, schumacher had to do a penalty driving course in a rally car as part of his punishment fromt he FIA. Apparently he was lightning in a rally car.

then there was the time he went out in john clelands car set up for joh cleland and broke the lap record for a touring by over a second.

Not entirely convincable he is without massive talent!

On another note, I accept that the driver is the most important factor, but spend the money on driver tuition? yeah eventually, but no matter how good a driver I am, its not gonna enable me to feel greater linear accelration and thats what its about for me.

I cant drive for toffee, but I want the car to shoot forward as fast as possible when I hit the loud pedal.

Eventually I will learn to carry some speed round bends but I will cross that bridge (or smash through it whilst sliding backwards) when I come to it.

johnfelstead

Pleasure Amanda, hope it was fun.

LOL@Adam

RB5_245

LOL, Dam'd bridge, amazing the amount of brutality it's stood up to considering i'm sure most of us have hit it at one point.

L55 REP

iTrader: (1)

not a bridge but a big mound of mud in a mk3 ezzy1.3 <would have p!ssed it in the scooby though> lol

M3 Evo

Spending 2K on driving tuition from the likes of DP would make you far faster A to B than 2K spent on modifications to your car.

midget1500

tiggers - completely agree.

we all think we are good drivers until we get onto a track and see just how **** we really are.

i used to be very quick on the road A-B, but now, despite my driving being perceived as quick (i.e. on the straight bits) round the bends i drive like a girl , braking early etc. what brought about this change? a nice big crash that taught me the hard way what happens when you do lose control

funny at 22 that i can say how fast i used to drive...imagine what i'll be saying when i'm 70 if i make it that far!

Anonymous bob

Do you guys not see a bit of hypocrisy going on here? On one hand you blatter the nova boys for thrashing thier cars, then a few posts down are down memory lane about pushing crappy cars, when younger... make your minds up... You were doing exactly what the kids of today are doing when you were young... So quit bitching about em, and get on wioth looking down at other peeps in your 'superior' cars! I ain't a nova boy, and am not a fan at all of their neon strips, etc, but i bet one of them has given you as run for your money in a scooby, on the twisties... you just never post that stuff in here out of embarrasment...

L55 REP

iTrader: (1)

migget ditto mate lol

anno,bob,,, the people that "bitched" about nova,s havent posted any memony lane shtibox driving and then the people <including myself> who have posted about memory lane sihtbox driving havent "bitched" about the nova crew,,,,

so guess you need to have a re-read though.

i admit i used to drive sum real sihtboxs and now drive a scooby <sport> and i dont "bitch" about any GROUP of cars/people some nova/punto/fiesta drivers are top blokes that luve that car others are ***** but the same can be said about any group of car/people
dare i say it???? YES including scoobys,,,

tiggers

midget1500,

Yeah those kind of crashes do make you think don't they?

Last Novemeber some drunken fool caught my Elise a glancing blow in the wet due to the fact he was on my side of the road coming round a blind bend.

I assume he was drunk as he was llitrally swerving all over the road - I'll never know as he drove off. In the meantime my Elise started to spin so I applied opposite lock and some throttle to try and catch it (lift off at your peril in an S1 Elise in these situations). Anyway I wasn't quick enough and following three full 360's against a stone wall my car came to rest at 90 degress to the road with what was left of the front in the middle of the road and the rear in the wall.

I was unmarked, the car was a write off, but even though the accident wasn't my fault I still wonder if with better driving tuition I could have avoided spinning. That is why I am going to get myself some further tuition particularly about how to control cars in the wet etc.

It did slow me down for well let's see ... two maybe three days ;-) just kidding ...

tiggers.

RB5_245

I have to say, i won't complain about 'boy racers' but i will complain about novas, in my opinion they, and there drivers are the worst on offer, and how people spend so much money on them is a mistery to me...... and i'm only 21. I reckon owning fast cars makes you sensible very quickly.

dave_gt

A good way of gauging the ability of Schumacher:

I'd like to think I'm pretty competant behind the wheel. I can drive quickly and safely from A to B and produce lovely powerslides on a private road. However. as I watch Tiff Needel on TV his car control and speed when they've done motorsport bits is stunning; way better than me and probably most on this board. Put Tiff next to schumacher on a track in the same car and Tiff would look a bit embarrasing.

Funny thing with F1 is that no-one would pretend to rival Schumachers pace, but I bet a fair few people would rank themselves near the Minardi drivers, yet they are still the 20th or so best F1 drivers in the world, and only 1 second or so per lap slower (I think) than Schumacher - the rest is the car. A quick spell in pro karting makes you realise what F1 drivers do.

tiggers

Dave_gt,

In qulifying the Minardi's are usually 3 - 4 seconds slower than MS's Ferrari. Having said that F1 qualifying is no longer the benchmark it once was as fuel stratgey is now in play.

You're right though Justin Wilson and Jos Versatppen are both top class drivers and you or I would not stand the slightest chance up against them. The difference between guys like this and Schuey is not as great as many people think, but it's enough and for me it's what separates the greats from the good.

For an illustration of Schuey's abilities look back to the 1996, 97 and 98 seasons when he was in nowhere near the best car, but still won races and very nearly the 97 and 98 championships.

Regards,

tiggers.

johnfelstead

Shuey is reputedly around 0.5 seconds a lap faster than the majority of F1 drivers, doesnt sound a lot but when you have an 80 lap race, its a huge diference. The main thing shuey has over his rivals is his consistent speed, the guy is a machine. In qualifying he isnt masively faster, in fact his number of pole positions to race win ratio isnt that great, what he can do is keep up the pace all race, thats what makes him special.

I would still kick his **** unless he was in a very similar performance car on a track we knew equally.

M3 Evo

Hehe - my first car was a nova SR and now i drive a BMW!!!!!

Says it all really

C

Did you every watch that programme about him about a year ago?

They followed his life & his racing for a while plus carried out numerous tests in comparison to most other "world class" drivers.

His sensory input levels were off the chart & IIRC he was able to notice & digest twice as much info as David coulthard which is pretty damn impressive

They also put him on a heart monitor throughout a race & not only his he rediculously fit he seems genueinly unfazed by racing which is quite scary as well!!

IMHO there isnt a driver who can touch him - even in an inferior car he was winning races & pushing people to the limit of thier abilities (Mika Hakkinen crying cos he crahed out & all the pressure etc) & now he has the best car he completely dominated last season

Its scary that someone can be that good - he's almost like a machine

p.s. - im also another "cant drive for ****" people who makes up for it by making his car go faster, im just running from the truth really lol - time to invest in some track time me thinks

dave_gt

I agree he is the best. I have his book called the rise of a genius. A properly talented man - apparantly when they are racing everyone else on the grid manages to communicate with odd words. Schumacher can have a proper conversation with Brawn over the radio while on a hot lap.

johnfelstead

DC is crap though, he hasnt done anything special in all the time he has been sat in the best or at worst one of the best cars on the grid, Hakinen stuffed him, Kimi is stuffing him, the guy is overated big time and will never be champion. How many years will he continue to say before the season start "i am more focused and ready to win" tell it to someone who beileves in faries.

If you arent calm whilst driving at the limit you havnt got a hope in hell of being any good, the driving aspect should be automatic leaving you free to think about the non driver input things.

One of shueys strongest assets is his ability to control the politics in the team and get everyone focusing on him, he is a genious in this respect. A clasic example was when ruebens went faster than him in the spare car, first time in ages, so michael comandered that car and forced ruebens to use shueys old car. The guy is briliant at playing mind games.