Who is your favourite Race car Driver and Why????

[Kangaroo Boy]

I don't think we have had this..If so I hope TT and Jabba can lock this thread.But anyway, Who is your favourite race car driver and why?Is it shumacher bros,Damon hill, Kimi Raikkonen,Jenson Button or Mark webber?It doesn't have to be a Formula one driver either.

[geekdiggy]

the real question is


does it really matter?

[deth]

i think i would have to agree.....u dont really get to 'know' teh drivers.....IMO the F1 drivers all lack personality are are robots.....umm other than montoya...and his little outbursts.......

[blah]

Micheal Shumaucher easily. Micheal Andretti is cool too, and Rusty Wallace.

[twboy1999]

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER

he is my hero man

he broken so many F1 record, and think even if u put ppl in the same car as him, he will still beat u,, he is that good

[666fast]

I wouldn't say I have a favorite, but if I had to choose, it would be either Andy Lally or Spencer Pumpelly of Hazardous Racing in the ALMS. They are both talented and Spencer drives with one hand.

[Imre]

Markko Märtin(WRC car driver if somebody don`t know).He is estonian and he is simply the best.

[noosee]

Schumacher of cource
He is the greatest.
The only thing is he is not agressive anymore.

[draak666]

Jaques Villeneuve because he's cool as fuck.

[alondahan]

Does he have to be a current race driver??

If not than my pick is Gilles Villeneuve. because he was the best ever.

[stradale]

Of today's drivers: Michael Schumacher (perfection), Fernando Alonso (very talented and great driving style), Jean Alesi (not very consistant, but so entertaining) and Sebastien Loeb(smooth and aggressive at the same time). Being a dutchman I can't leave out Jos Verstappen of course. I wish he finally had a car in which he could prove himself.

My most favourite driver of all times is Stirling Moss though. Mille Miglia (1000 miles), 1955, Mercedes Benz SLR, Brescia-Rome and back again, on public roads with speeds of up to 300 km/h, in little over ten hours. That's an average of almost 160 km/h. After setting the record for the MM, he drove straight through the Alps to Stuttgart to notify the Mercedes board of his record.

Even six F1 world championships can't argue with that....

[stracing]

Michael Schumacher without a doubt

But my local fave would be Peter Brock. No one has won more Bathurst 1000 than he has and i doubt this record will ever be beaten.

[Kangaroo Boy]

Michael Schumacher without a doubt

But my local fave would be Peter Brock. No one has won more Bathurst 1000 than he has and i doubt this record will ever be beaten.
I agree with that,Peter Brock would be my favourite.He is a great guy.Proably the best touring car driver in the world at one stage.Peter Brock and Dick Johnsons would be my favourite drivers.They are 2 great blokes and they have done so much for australia touring car racing.

As for international,I like Mark Webber.What do I have to say???

[gis]

the real question is


does it really matter?

no the real question is can u ever be civil with people and not be a dick all the time

to answer the question IMO for the moment kimi raikonnen is my fav driver,i think he has good chance of bein champion next year,or the year after etc etc

he has a lot to learn but he is learning quick and doin a good job

[TT]

I see some many of us looking at F1, but like Imre, I'd like to name somebody in WRC :) I think a rally driver usually has MUCH more carisma than an F1 one.. F1 drivers are often difficult to understand, always so focused and so on, while WRC drivers are much more funny, playing with each other also during a rally, after after Leg 1 is not unusual to see Solberg doing fake interviews to Loeb or something like that ;) The only one that almost seems an F1 driver is Gronhölm, always so straight in his answers, like, "do you think you can win the championship?", "Oh well, yes." LMAO He still manages to be funny, and while in F1 nobody wants to say a true yes if they think they can win the GP (because they fear backstabs if they won't), in WRC the contenders always say yes :D and don't care about what can happen if they won't ;)

Anyway, between the current WRC driver, I'd go with Makkinen (just in time ;)), while overall, Ari Vatanen all the way :D

[draak666]

You're right about the 'cold' and reserved F1 drivers, TT.

In WRC, I choose Panizzi. He's a showman. :D

[SFDMALEX]

I'm my favorite race car driver. :D

From pure skill point of view M Schumaher. He's just so perfect with the car no one else is as good.


From personality point of view I'd say Richard Burns, he just seems like a nice bloke.

[takata]

Aryton Senna & Micheal Schumacher

definately the best of the drivers :wink:

[Ziploc]

Richard Burns

Makko martin

[Vansquish]

I guess the truthful answer is that I have several favorite drivers...currently Michael Schumacher, because he's such a maniac in the rain, Stirling Moss because he's amazingly cool and collected and...still racing even after his nearly career-ending shunt, Jacques Villeneuve because he's got the potential for greatness if he could get into a decent car, but above all of these, I think that Ayrton Senna was the best ever in F1...he was like the Alberto Tomba aka La Bamba of Formula 1, and Walter Rohrl has the most incredible talent in Rallying and now in testing for Porsche... I guess it's almost impossible to choose, but Ayrton has to win.

[takata]

oh, i also like V. Rossi and Panizzi

highly talented

[mendocino]

:D That is SO TRUE TT, I prefer wrc drivers to F1, even if on pure skill the F1 drivers are probably better, but it''s a very different way of driving. in wrc, I like britains burns and mcray but I'm sure loeb will be the next champion, if not this year, the next... :D

[SDK2003]

My Favourite race driver is without doubt the master of F1 - Ayrton Senna

During Sennas early years I was always wanted Nigel Mansell (his rival) to win the races and the Championship so I wasn’t a fan until late 93 / early 94.
However, since his death and watching all the F1 FIA reviews and Senna Biography videos it’s easy to see that he was the greatest.

Sure Schumacher has won more but it was during a time when there wasn’t that much other driver competition in F1 and had Senna not died he would have defiantly won the ‘94 & ‘95 Championship and if after that he hadn’t retired then even the 96 championship as well.

[heath]

Well I'd have to say my fav aussie driver is Brock and my fav international driver has to be Marko Martin, this guy is really starting to shine on the courses.

[jakaracman]

Petter Solberg. Not just for his driving, he's also very entertaining ...

[tekwar]

Schumacher is a great driver no doubt, but he lacks personality, he is "boring", he doesnt bring any fire or passion into the sport. Even Jacque is more interesting than him.

I love Senna too, now here was a man who loved racing, you can see it in his eyes and his driving. I miss him dearly, if he hadnt died, schumacher may not have gained the recognition that he has now. They are both great drivers, its too bad we all missed the chance to see both of them race each other in their prime.

Lol should change this thread to favorite F1 driver :P

[f0racer]

Mario Andretti, one of the most versatile racers around. Keiichi Tsuchiya, another very versatile racer.

[pedrohmb]

Ayrton Senna da Silva
He had speed in his veins

And Emerson Fittipaldi too
2 times F1 World Champion
Indy Champion
and Indianapolis 500 winner

[yg60m]

Ayrton Senna, he is a legend and was the greatest of them all.

[inso]

häkkinen was/is great, he did not loose his speed after that bad bad accident, when he came back from koma, he just asked dennis if it was his fault. salo was fast when had shumachers car for a few races, rosberg was f1 champion with NA engine against turboes. And yes Kimi has showed also that he is not actually not as slow as he is bad as a speaker. And his wife Jenni is quite a looker;)

In rallying old master Mäkinen with his Mini was very good against ferraris and porches of that time. Kankkunen came after Mikkola, Salonen, Alen and Vatanen, being very fast also 4times world champion, i would say the king of groupB. As is Mäkinen also with groupA, wrc is a bit different story and how to drive them too. active differentials make a huge difference for witch style to attack corner is fastest, to drift or not to drift. so who is the best racing driver(from finland), i like Janne Tapio a fellow from my hometown, baptised the same day as i am, very fast on snowmobile. But if you have read old performance car magazines, with interviews from juha kankkunen and stories about co-piloting him, he is my hero, the best racing driver of them all. Like one writer once said, he may have god like talent, but if you sit by him in a race car you´ll know he is the devil;)

[crasherror]

A little background info. This summer I went to the Monterey historic auto races. During the races I saw many racing legends, there were a couple of 356s a handful of 550’s, and 2 RSKs but what really surprised me was the amount of Bugattis that were there. Also the new 1001hpVeryon made an appearance, but the test driver put it in to the gravel in turn one at Laguna Seca, I am sure he got a stern talking to. (I will post some pics later).

Later on in the week I went to the in at Spanish Bay for some breakfast with my family. When I got to the restaurant I saw someone I would have never thought to see. Derek Bell, the 5-time Le Mans winner was sitting there with a smile on his face. I walked up to him and asked if I could get a picture with him. He said, “Sure I would not mind at all� in his British accent. Right before my brother took the picture he said wait hold on. He saw that I had a shirt with a Porsche logo on it and he said “make sure you can see the best logo in the world� showing reverence to the marquee that made him a motoring legend. He has to be the nicest international racing legend I have ever met. It is a moment in my life that I will remember for the rest of my life.
Thanks Derek.

[htfaber]

Petter Solberg,

nice guy and a fabulous driver! Always liked Eddie Ervine too. Always controversial, but I could always laugh hard about it.

Best..........eine herr Schumacher, sehr sehr gut.

[kramerman]

Colin McRae, and only because he drove a Subaru WRX and I just absolutely loved it. :) Now that he doesn't drive it, umm.. i still like the rex but maybe not the driver anymore...

Does Tiff count? heh

[coombsie66]

Adam Sharpe! Cus he's me mate, and succesfully scares me shitless everytime he drives! Oh and his teammate neil cunningham, he's great fun, a real piss taker, but at the end of the day bloody quick!!

[CLK-GTR]

Schumacher. He is the best ever (remember the cars are far better matched than they were back then), he is perfection when it comes to driving, regardless of his personality (which noone here truly knows anyway, its just what we are told by the media)

Also worthy of a mention is Ari Vatanen. It was far more difficult back then in those Group B cars and he was the top of the pile.

and also we will never know just how good senna could have been

[levensnevel]

Difficult one,

Despite the likes of Fangio, Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher I favour Ari Vatanen.
Great rally driver who also conquered Paris Dakar and Pikes Peak.

[NYCHonda]

Ayrton Senna was my favorite driver of all time. I love the way he drive. His aggressive style on the track. I've been a fan of Ayrton Senna for a longest time. At that time, I was only a kid and Ayrton Senna was my hero at that time. I was always dream to be as good as Senna.

As for current driver, well, no doubt it's Schumi & Raikonnen.

[snacky]

my favorite driver is ME, I'm better than EVERYONE

[yg60m]

my favorite driver is ME, I'm better than EVERYONE

Oh yes a have to agree, my favorite driver is you. :wink:

[X-ale]

Does he have to be a current race driver??

If not than my pick is Gilles Villeneuve. because he was the best ever.

same

[kawa22]

Juha Kankkunen kkk
because he won with soma cars,gr.b,gr.a and where were great drivers as alen,toivonen,vatanen.salonen,rohl, sainz etc.......and win 4 championhttp://www.freegaia.com/smileys/mefiants/mefiant3.gif

[FerrariKiller]

Gilles and Jacques.

[veilsidebr]

Ayrton Senna. Even without being between us nowadays, he is still the best. His driving made sports more "cool". I guess he´s one of the top 5 drivers in all Motorsports history.

:D

[sads]

senna was and still is da man

[rossc83]

Jack Brabham. The only man to build & drive his own car to the F1 Championship.
And of course Aryton Senna.....especially in the wet

[abarth]

I agree with you Kawa KKK the best rally driver ever, and henry toivonen.
i like too Colin McRae he is absolutley mad

[Garretts_turbo]

gotta go with schumacher....
he gets paid to drive ferraris, how can you top that one???

[italian_stalion_32]

definatly Michael Shumacher because he'll beet you even if he has a worse car than you and he kind of proved that last year because of the tires, he had bridgestone and the others had michelline, and the michellines had such an edge over the bridgestones but Shumi still won the Championship, and also Giancarlo Fisichella because he is does very well in not to good of a car (last year) and those two drivers are such smart drivers and drive so smooth
the way they drive is an art

[vincentq4]

[quote="stradale"]Being a dutchman I can't leave out Jos Verstappen of course. I wish he finally had a car in which he could prove himself.quote]

Yeah I agree... Jos the boss is one of those drivers that fell through the statistical cracks and never had a competitive car so he had to take agresive measures sometimes.....even though he did drive full-out all the time..like crashing into ppl from behind....that is effort in trying to commit to corners better than the strong engined cars in front of him over braking. He did an excellent job in Malaysia in the arrows in the rain a couple of years ago...or was it three years....I truely enjoyed that race...it showed that he is good to be in the top teams...!!!

[tanelvali]

Markko Märtin (Martin), M. Schumacher, Ayrton Senna (R.I.P.), Jean Alesi, M. Doohan. Also Kankkunen, Vatanen.

[PlayboyGene]

Best F1 Driver - Kimi Raikkonen & Michael Schumacher
Best Past Drivers - Walter Rohrl, Aryton Senna
Best Formula BMW USA Driver - Hopefully me if I can get the funding.

[kompak]

my favorite race driver would be my countryman which is Karamjit Singh.....he drove PERT Rally Team (Gr. N)....i like the way he drive....the quality of his driving is at the same level with most of the Gr.A rally drivers......right now he's one of the contender for the Gr.N championship title this year

[jpatino03]

Juan Manuel Fangio! Stuff like the legendary '57 German GP brings a tear to my eye. Gilles was also great because he was crazy. Those guys were heroes, much more so than Schumi or any other modern driver.

[crsbarnard]

I agree, Ayrton Senna was the best in F1 - he was the master of qualifying and his wet weather driving ability was unmatched. The first lap of Donington '93 showcased this. He passed Schumacher, Wendlinger, Hill, and finally Prost like they were standing still. All this before the end of the first lap. Amazing.

[brandonrambo]

There are 2 definitely for me:

1. Kimi Raikkonen
Because he's got an attitude that just separates him from all the rest. Bascially he's a driving machine and doesn't give a fuck about anything else really. His 1st row qualifying lap of Spa in 2002 still makes me shiver!

2. Jan Magnussen
He was the biggest thing since Senna when he broke on to the F1 radar with Steward GP. Broke Senna's record for most wins in a season of Formula 3. I've heard stories about him getting out of the car on a test day and lighting up a cigarette while going over the data. Just don't give a damn about what anyone thinks about him, but still an amazing driver who's got amazing feel for any car he drives.

[brandonrambo]

There are 2 definitely for me:

1. Kimi Raikkonen
Because he's got an attitude that just separates him from all the rest. Bascially he's a driving machine and doesn't give a fuck about anything else really. His 1st row qualifying lap of Spa in 2002 still makes me shiver!

2. Jan Magnussen
He was the biggest thing since Senna when he broke on to the F1 radar with Steward GP. Broke Senna's record for most wins in a season of Formula 3. I've heard stories about him getting out of the car on a test day and lighting up a cigarette while going over the data. Just don't give a damn about what anyone thinks about him, but still an amazing driver who's got amazing feel for any car he drives.

[Silvia_Drift]

Of course Micheal Schumacher and Ayrton Senna but I also like Peter Solberg (GO SUBARU!) and Keichi Tschyia(sp?).

[sameerrao]

Of today's drivers I would certainly pick Michael for obvious reasons.

But my all-time pick is the incomparable Tazio Nuvolari - 'Nivola'. The man certainly patented the four wheel drift and had an indomitable spirit. He was certainly not antiseptic like today's drivers - had a lot of bravado, spit and fire.

Enzo Ferrari who had the fortune of having several great drivers work for him - Antonio Ascari, Alberto Ascari, Fangio, Gilles Villeneuve, Niki Lauda, etc, - felt that Nuvolari was the greatest of them all.

The man was a fighter and drove competitively till his early fifties - through numerous broken bones (most famously in the Monza bike GP where he drove with a cast on both his feet), sickness (he used to cough blood in the later part of his career due to petrol fumes), whatever.

His victory in Nurburgring in 1935 shcoked everyone when he overcame the superior Mercedes and Auto Union cars with his Alfa that was pretty outdated by then.

[N.J.]

In Australia, I like Jim Richards, Mark Skaife & Peter Brock

In the UK, I like Timothy 'TIFF' Needell & Jason Plato (great drifters! :D )

In Germany, I like Walter Rohyl (Porsche Factory Driver) & Stefan Roser (RUF Factory Driver & star of the 'Faszination On The Nurburgring' video)



Overall, TIFF gets my vote - simply because I was always interested in Motoring, but HE is the one who got me REALLY interested.

In short, he put the FUN back into Motoring for me (back in '98 and I haven't looked back since)

[F360spider]

Michael Schumacher or no body

[nthfinity]

well, M. Shumacher is a close second til i see him rally...

as it seems that rally is one of the must unpredictable versions of motorsport, i would go with Petter Solberg as he is still on the up as a rising star... even though he won last years WRC. i suppose that helps a little :wink:

[niedi]

Walter Röhrl because he was the best rally driver.
I have a dvd with a clip from the special stage of Arganil (Portugal Rallye 1980) where he drives through dense fog at an incredible speed.

[N.J.]

Walter Röhrl because he was the best rally driver.
I have a dvd with a clip from the special stage of Arganil (Portugal Rallye 1980) where he drives through dense fog at an incredible speed.

Wow!!! :shock: :D

That sounds unreal!

I remember him being one heck of a rally driver.




p.s

That man is a freak because its normally recommended that before anyone goes and does a hotlap of the giant Nurburgring, they should do 100 laps there first to learn the 176 corners properly - Walter was confident after 2 laps!!! :D

[jorge]

Senna is the best for me, everyone liked him!!!

[McLarenboy]

A lot of people are talking about Michael Schumacher, but i don't think that he is that special - it's just his car which makes him shine, so put an equally talented driver in his ferrari and he/she wouldn't be far off

my favorite driver is Mika Hakkinen, class act all the way - the perfect gentlemen driver, shows his emotions from time to time, overtakes without hitting anybody,.... will never be beaten!

another thing about schumacher is that today he's driving on experience, not feeling - and now a days he just wants to beat every record there is, and that bothers me a lot
the point is to show your good at the game, not to be on top of the game forever - but the good thing is, drivers like schumacher are coming to F1 so in some time, he's name won't be at the top of the list anymore

[McLarenboy]

and don't nobody dare to compare schumi with senna
senna: manual gearbox while driving with one hand, no traction control, clutch management, no possibility to immensly change the setup of the car whilst driving,

schumi: power steering, traction control, shifting with both hands on steering wheel, launch control, speedlimiter, possible to change the setup from inside the car,

yea right, difficult to pick the most impressive driver

[Sm@ck]

Ari Vatanen... Great driver, imo. Even greater personality.

[5.7 V10]

Off all time.

Juan Manuel fangio, true legend.


http://www.artun.ee/~korc/pix/formulaone/gpr042-1957%20german%20gp,%20nurburgring%20-%20juan%20manuel%20fangio%20(maserati%20250f).jpg

[Ford Capri 2.8i]

In Formula 1 for me Ayrton Senna has been the best driver ever....in my opinion, we ve never been able to see the limits of him.....whereas rallying, i think that Carlos Sainz has been the best ever driver

[Apac102]

Patrick Long becuase he's my age (19) and he has raced in le mans and other top league races. Of course MS for F1, but for my underdog in F1 it would have to be Heidfield; he seems like he will be the next big name after all the other ones leave. For WRC, it is Colin McRae

[TopGearNL]

My favorite is Jenson Button, I like him alot and I think that there always should be a British F1 racer in the championship. :)

[fabro_s]

Senna, RIP, a Legend!!

[chipanggo]

it's michael schumacher for me. he is just unbelievable. dare i say, the greatest.

[ingko]

My favorite driver is Juan Pablo Montoya. Thats right haters. Just think, if he actually worked out like all the skinny drivers, he'd be even faster. Plus he is known to be faster than Schumacher...Ralf.

I'd like to see all the f1 drivers race in similar spec gokarts or cart cars just to see who is actually the best. And yes, I respect the wins that Schumacher has, but I don't respect the way his codrivers are signed to as his bitches.

As for all time, I'd say Senna with Rossi a close 2nd.

[abbor]

That have to be Solberg.. He never act like a robot, and often say funny things, like when he's asked if he can drive the 20 secs or something Groenholms is leading with, and say loud and clear in english: "No, he's got WAY too much lead..." Then he goes on in norwegian: "I'm only psyching him out, of course I can do it." Then he give full throttle, as he always does, and wins the rally!!!

[Ford Capri 2.8i]

As TT commented already.....and due to the similar reasons....i prefer the rallying rather than the F1(on the one hand i see the athomosphere in the race and the boxes as a race of robots against other robots, on the other hand...i see the F1 too focused on the VIP atmosphere as well)

Anyway...going for a rally driver decision, is difficult to get a rally favourite driver ever....but id go for Carlos Sainz.....just because i see that he is the only driver that capable of winning races, and championships in every type of surface during 15 years all together