I finally got around to watching Ford vs. Ferrari, which prompted this post, but I have thought about this for awhile.
Besides having courage, because it’s dangerous, and a rich sponsor for a car, what exactly is stopping a normal person from learning to drive a stick well and being able to do this?
Thanks in advance.
In: Engineering
I think it’s like most things that take skill, almost anyone can practice hard and dedicate their life to it and do well, but some people are just naturally talented at it.
Nothing is stopping you per se. With enough experience anyone can become a race car driver. But cars today are so _demanding_ that there is the concept of “getting behind the car”. Same thing with fighter pilots. You have to be able to think ahead of the car/plane because it responds so quick you don’t have the luxury of thinking “ok, I turned, now what do I do next?” because the car will already be at the NEXT turn and you have to be ready.
The perfect video to demonstrate this is Richard Hammond (of Top Gear fame) learning to drive an F1 car. Now here is someone who drives exotic sports cars _for a living_ and even [HE can barely keep up with the F3000 car (the “trainer car”), let alone the F1 car.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGUZJVY-sHo)
But having said that, if you had access to a car like that, with enough practise you could get competant enough to drive it properly. But there’s still a certain intangible quality that differentiates between a competant/good driver and a _great_ driver like Lewis Hamilton or Schumacher.
Race car driving requires making moves before the need becomes apparent. For instance, you may need to slow by half on a turn that in itself you could take faster, but you already need to be decelerated for another turn right afterwards.
On a closed track with enough practice, a normal person could get pretty good at this. However, when you factor in that there will be other drivers that you need to avoid crashing into and compete for position against, you now need to make adjustments to all those timings very instinctively.
It takes split second decision making, extremely good feel for the road through the chassis, brakes, and steering, and it takes a mind able to do all this while still controlling a car that is speeding around a track at the absolute limit of traction and controllability. In other words, if it’s easy to control, you’re not going fast enough. Top level race car drivers drive their cars right to the absolute limit on every lap of a race, or they get beat. Determining where that absolute limit is, and pushing right up against (and sometimes over) that limit is the challenge of racing, and it’s not easy.
My father in law was a nascar mechanic for 25 years. Everything is so precise that hundredths of an inch could throw a car from winning to getting 2nd.
Companies pour millions into certain parts to try and make the car a little lighter or go a little faster
The driver has to know the car inside and out. What every little vibration is. What road conditions are doing
Also, sitting in a hot car for hours must be terrible
Racecar driving isn’t difficult.
Being the best at anything is difficult.
It is not that different than, say, learning to play tennis. Just about anyone can learn what they need to know in less than an hour, they are just going to suck compared to someone who has spent their life mastering it.
In the race featured in the movie, top drivers averaged well over 100 mph, a good untrained racer would probably be in the 80s or 90s.
There’s a certain level of aptitude – reflexes, spatial awareness, being able to track a LOT of things happening both inside and outside, on your console, immediately around the car and off in the (rapidly approaching) distance. Even with practice there’s only so much any given person can achieve.
Additionally- check out videos showing the drivers control adjustments through a race. They’re making a HUGE number of course corrections and adjustments to the brakes, power train and so on every single lap for the entire race. Check out the [steering wheel](https://www.roadandtrack.com/motorsports/a26827434/2019-mercedes-f1-steering-wheel-explained/) – the driver is managing a TON of vehicle settings non-stop through the race while monitoring vehicle condition, at 150+ mph, while being subjected to huge G-forces, for an hour and a half with reflexes primed at all times. The mental drain must be enormous.
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