Current Events > Does anyone here watch professional car racing?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Any form of it.

What makes someone a better driver than another? What skills sets the very best apart from everyone else?
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Nah, only amateur car racing.
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Wouldn't that depend on the type of racing?
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No-fear
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Sativa_Rose posted...

What makes someone a better driver than another? What skills sets the very best apart from everyone else?

Depends entirely on the series.

At minimum it's an understanding of the technical aspects of your vehicle and when to push it and let off coupled with patience.
Reaction time is key as well. Your entire race/season standings could be over in an second. Even worse your life.
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NES4EVER posted...

Wouldn't that depend on the type of racing?

Shrug, I am not sure if the skills carry over to other types.

Kastrada posted...

Depends entirely on the series.

At minimum it's an understanding of the technical aspects of your vehicle and when to push it and let off coupled with patience.
Reaction time is key as well. Your entire race/season standings could be over in an second. Even worse your life.

That all makes sense.

So as for a specific type, how about NASCAR and Formula One? Anyone know what makes a driver good at either of those?
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Not sure about NASCAR, but in Formula One, you have to know how to corner properly, take calculated risks, know the limits of your car, know your car conditions on the go and to decide when to go to the pit stop, etc.
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Sativa_Rose posted...

So as for a specific type, how about NASCAR and Formula One? Anyone know what makes a driver good at either of those?

Endurance. That's the biggest difference between individuals in most conventional team sports and most racing sports (auto racing, bike racing, etc...). You are theoretically driving/racing for hours at a time without much in the way of breaks and sitting in one position that entire time trying not to destroy your multi-million dollar vehicle.

The differences between the two though.
F1 is finesse driving. You are racing against one another but you aren't actively competing against each other if that makes sense? Like.....you aren't attempting to spin-people out. There is a sort of honor for it and Indycar too.

NASCAR is more hitting and banging with each other's cars and more physical. You have to know when to be aggressive and when to hold off.

F1 and Indy Car are speed skating.
NASCAR is roller derby. >_>
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davidg4l posted...

Not sure about NASCAR, but in Formula One, you have to know how to corner properly, take calculated risks, know the limits of your car, know your car conditions on the go and to decide when to go to the pit stop, etc.

Those are the same for NASCAR depending on track venues. But yeah more often F1 drivers have to learn corners moreso than NASCAR drivers. The rest of the stuff is the same for both series though. Pitting and car condition and risks, etc...
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whoever has the most stamina in their arms to hold the wheel to the left.
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F1 has a lot to do with the Manufactures as well. Like right now Mercadies is killing it.
The drivers at this point are almost born into it. You can find old videos of some of the best drivers today competing together as children in kart races.

But ya, knowing the circuit is huge. In fact I once saw a for fun video where certain drivers had to guess the track just from a line drawing of certain turns.

Also, the behind the scenes things that go on in F1 are crazy..wind tunnels and all that.

NASCAR is more about the spectacle. To me, it looks like traffic on the highway...and those cars REALLY need some form of downforce. But they like to push the crashes, so I don't see that happening.

WRC is cool as well. But it's all basically time trials.
I do fear though, that it is only a matter of time before some of the spectators get really hurt...they basically stand on the side of the tracks. ((Interestingly though, sometimes they help out when a car goes into a ditch or what not.))

MotoGP looks cool but I don't follow it.

And LeMans 24 hours, is a whole other beast.
It's basically a 24 hour race, where there a like three races all going on at the same time.
It might be the king of Auto Racing really.
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SiO4 posted...

WRC is cool as well. But it's all basically time trials.
I do fear though, that it is only a matter of time before some of the spectators get really hurt...they basically stand on the side of the tracks. ((Interestingly though, sometimes they help out when a car goes into a ditch or what not.))

It's already happened multiple times, fatalities I mean. There is usually one per decade I think?

SiO4 posted...

And LeMans 24 hours, is a whole other beast.
It's basically a 24 hour race, where there a like three races all going on at the same time.
It might be the king of Auto Racing really.

I thought it still was the end-all-be-all? Don't drivers from all over (NASCAR, F1, WRC, etc...) still compete?
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I would say rally drivers are the most impressive.

It's already happened multiple times, fatalities I mean. There is usually one per decade I think?

Ya, I'm sure it happened but sometimes I think something almost this bad could happen again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMoh5hZAaZk" data-time="

And Ya, Le Mans brings drivers from many types.
But also the different levels of cars all on the track at the same time.

Side note: It's too bad Fernando Alonso got shut out of the Indy 500 this year. This could have completed his triple crown. I actually feel bad for him.
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in addition to knowing everything there is to know about the car and yourself as a driver, there's also understanding everything about the track, the environment, and how it affects your car on that very day of the race

literally everything during a race can affect the outcome, and making just one turn wider or slower than expected can throw your entire run completely off

and this is coming from a guy who just barely, mildly got interested in racing at one point in his life, so, i'm not a big fan or anything. but it's clear to see how much can change not only between drivers, but between laps.
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NES4EVER posted...

Wouldn't that depend on the type of racing?

Yeah to a degree. I still like Formula 1. Yeah, if you live in a country that doesn't have one of the tracks on the schedule all the time it kind of sucks cuz you can't go see it live unless you catch a flight, but its worth it to go to Monaco or one of the tracks and see a race before you keel over TC.

seeing it on tv only gives you a portion of the experience.
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tag
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Thanks for the responses, I have learned a lot today.
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