When race drivers get scared...

[BADMIHAI]

Originally Posted by RC45 The Conch is up for grabs....

Up for grabs? Did both Ralph and Jack die?

I think there must've been something wrong with the car. I recall Sabine saying she was scared after driving the Ford Transit around the 'Ring. The Corvette seems to have the same effect on racing drivers as a Transit.

[ZfrkS62]

Maybe it was the thought that this is a street car that scared him? :bah:

[SFDMALEX]

ANyway RC what are you trying to say?

[RC45]

About?

[SFDMALEX]

The fact that the driver got "scared" in the Vette.

[RC45]

I'm not saying the driver got scared - I am saying the person reporting this "inside info" is confused at the very least.

I doubt he said "whoa that was a scary lap"... because if he did, it would mean the car was on the ragged edge - i am guessing he could easily have said "wow - thats a scary corner" or something along those lines.

[zondaland]

Wayne Gardner is probably known to most of you, however for those of you who don't know him he is a former 500cc motorbike world champion (87?). He also at one point crshed going through the crokscrew getting a spiral fracture all the way up his left leg, shortening it by 1cm. A few years later he did the same to the other leg. He is a guy who is seriously brave in a racing car, on Australias most fearsome race circuit in the wet (Bathurst) 2000 he grabbed pole and ran away from the pack during the first stint of the race (despite not being a regular driver in the series).

However what he and many other racing drivers have gone on the record as saying is that there is always fear in driving a race car (or in this case a street car at race speeds). Indeed it is this fear that helps you to find the limit of what the car can do, that prevents you from wildly spearing off the track at every corner.

I think that the Corvette would probably not inspire tremendous high speed confidence (as pointed out elsewhere) after all it is not a car designed around producing massive amounts of downforce. This probably exacerbates the normal fear felt with high speeds. To me even if he was extremely scared it takes nothing away from him as a driver or the car. Perhaps it means that mere mortals like myself would struggle to get as close to the time that he set as we would in say a CGT or any other car designed more around developing high speed stability.

[RC45]

Originally Posted by zondaland However what he and many other racing drivers have gone on the record as saying is that there is always fear in driving a race car (or in this case a street car at race speeds). Indeed it is this fear that helps you to find the limit of what the car can do, that prevents you from wildly spearing off the track at every corner.

Healthy respect and a responsible fear is not being scared.

Originally Posted by zondaland I think that the Corvette would probably not inspire tremendous high speed confidence (as pointed out elsewhere) after all it is not a car designed around producing massive amounts of downforce. This probably exacerbates the normal fear felt with high speeds. To me even if he was extremely scared it takes nothing away from him as a driver or the car. Perhaps it means that mere mortals like myself would struggle to get as close to the time that he set as we would in say a CGT or any other car designed more around developing high speed stability.

This is EXACTLY why I didn't want to name the car.

Where did you get this info that "the Corvette would not inspire high speed confidence"?

Having taken my car to the redline in 5th which is 173odd mph (278kmh) I can attest that even the 2001 C5 Z06 is rock solid and stable at speed... so the further developed C6 Z06 would not be a step backwards.(early 1997 C5 Coupes may well have behaved differently - I don't really care - it's "just a coupe" )

Oh well - it just goes to show, even a 7m40s is not enough to get anti-Vette folks to change their tune

It's just real frustrating when credit can't be given without a "but"

I will be the first to chastise the C6 Z06 if it turns out the car was so badly out of shape that it scared Jan as he lapped on the edge of death... -- but I somehow doubt it.

[Gnome]

Originally Posted by ZfrkS62 Maybe it was the thought that this is a street car that scared him? :bah:

I was thinking somewhere in the same direction. Maybe he ment scared in another way than afraid to get killed or injured?

Some people has said "scared shitless" here, but I don't think it was that bad...

And I understand why you kept the car identity secret, RC45. zondaland made your point, no matter if he's right or not...

[nthfinity]

no matter if he's right or not...

hot damn!
even a standard C4 w/out FX3 suspension inspires drivers to drive into a corner with more

anyway, back on topic;
Senna said something once in the context of driving at the limit about once you hit that limit, then you can do something more, and given that the driver is quite experrienced with both the track and the car i would say something about the lap being run at scary speeds... giving furhter respect to chassis development and end up being more inspiring... how else could such a fast lap be atchieved when higher-powered, and more expensive cars in the catagory arent as fast?

im quite sure that various corners are especially dangerious, when slight adjustements are taken, and higher entrence, and exit speeds are achieved... perhaps can be an adrenalen rush... and mabey scary is the wrong word.

to me, a race driver saying that something is scary would mean that the charactaristics of the chassis are unpredictable at, or near the limit, and for such a lap time, i dont think this could be true.

[exhausted mules]

if your not scared. your not going fast enough.

^number one rule on downhill racing.

it has nothing to do with the bike
(or car) in this sense but merely the rider or driver as i stated in my first post.

we all know the corvette is a sick car and in capable hands is capable of amazing times. (lemans anyone?)

to be not scrared is to be comfortable. and when your comfortable, your become lazy. its only natural to be scared flooring the pedal on a 400-500 horse power beast coming out of the corner at 120 mph.

if anything it goes to show that the vette (which from what i've heard) is a well manered car capable of comfortable driving at high speeds.

so maybe the jounalist or whatever didn't put it out of context when he quoted the driver being scared.

i think, rc, what your seeing "scared" as is a fear to the point where you dont want to be driving the car because of fear for your own life. but i see it as "fear" in the sense that your scared because you've just pulled off a 7:40 at the ring and you know you can go faster...

[SFDMALEX]

If your "scared" your not thinking right, if your not thinking right you aint gonna turn up a good lap.

this is were motrosports is different from other sports. Thinkking is as and even more important then just a physical ability to punch hard or kick the ball in the right spot.

[graywolf624]

"scared" your not thinking right

That depends on the definition of scared actually.

In fact one could define the michael shumacher slow down state as a form of scared living on the edge. Its in the eye of the beholder.

Id put money no persons truly scared under your definition when driving, cause a race car driver is smart enough to drive within the limits of the car... period.. Some of them just use more colorful language then others.

[RC45]

Originally Posted by exhausted mules if so maybe the jounalist or whatever didn't put it out of context when he quoted the driver being scared. i think, rc, what your seeing "scared" as is a fear to the point where you dont want to be driving the car because of fear for your own life. but i see it as "fear" in the sense that your scared because you've just pulled off a 7:40 at the ring and you know you can go faster...

First off - the person claiming Jan Magnussen said he scared himself the C6 Z06 went so fast, is a person that works for GM who says the support guys on the radio said that they heard he said that went so fast it scared him.

Who knows how many paraphrase revisions the comment has gone through though.

Second I am actually calling bullshit that JM or WR or anyone else would say a car is scary fast - UNLESS the car is somehow not behaving well at those speads.

Which is why my respone was, IF Jan did say he went scary fast to do the lap, and he meant he was scared - it would not be from the speed, but that the car was badly behaved.

Now we know that some sections of NS are "scary" in their own right - so a driver could say "Wow - that is a scary section - the car was behaving like 3 legged dog with a stick up it's arsehole and we almost died"

or he could say "Wow - that is a scary section - the car was behaving like an F1 and handled it perfectly"

...but if only quote half the sentence you don't know what he really meant - right?

[exhausted mules]

see this is where language does in fact become a barrier because "scary" (as i've plainly pointed out in my second post) can be read, interpreted, intended or understood in so many different contexts as to mean so many different things.

the keep the statement general as possible to be open to public discussion is the safest thing a company could and would want to do.

so as to mean "this car was unique in the sense that it delivers an experience that no other car can offer"

and that could apply to any car and by any manufacter putting out 7:40 times.

you say that parts of NS are "scary" but that's only subjective opinion. those parts could be seen as "fun" or "chalenging" by others. but again.. its all submissive the the fact that specific words in the english vocabulary mean only one thing but can interpreted so very differently by so many different individuals.

i only have "fun" when i'm "scared" riding my bike at its limits but i'm "scared" when i go beyond them. see? a sentance can be manipulated into so many general ideas that unless an exact statement or "conclusion" is included that original sentence can be taken in so many ways by so many different ppl.

"i only have fun when i'm scared riding my bike at its limits because its fast and going this fast shouldn't be allowed for the human body and mind, however, i'm scared when i go beyond this due to the fact that my bike could break and cause me severe pain."

the media (jounarlists in this case) are profesionals at this and exploit this in anyway they can as you've proven in this satement here:

"First off - the person claiming Jan Magnussen said he scared himself the C6 Z06 went so fast, is a person that works for GM who says the support guys on the radio said that they heard he said that went so fast it scared him." *quote rc45

so the only way to truly find out would be the have a few days alone with the original driver of the car who put down that laptime and just listen to the guy... with no subjective opinion, thought or even knowledge of the vehicle. the idea would be take whatever neccessary action to understand what the driver truly meant by "scared".

i understand exactly what your trying to say RC but keep in mind of what the other possibilities would be for the statement in question.


*edited a few spacing errors