Motorsport needant be particuarly dangerous. Every risk can be reduced, including the chance of a mechanical failure (look at Lotus vs. Brabham and you'll clearly see which team built in a safety margin). Whilst going fast is one thing any of this bollocks I don't care if I get hurt is just stupid. Sure racing is dangerous, people get hurt and will return but risking yourr life you need your head checked and others is simply unacceptable.

Look at someone like Jackie Stewart, great safety campaigner, 3 time world champion and you can count the offs he had during his career on your fingers (and no one say he wasn't brave after the drive in the wet at the 'ring ). The difference between Stewart and pretty much anyone on todays F1 grid is that he didn't thrash the car and didn't push stupidly hard with no gain and knew when enough was enough.

Many people will say that in todays F1 cars drivers should push harder simply because an big off has no consequences. What I say in return to that is look at the stupid accidents which caused fatalities to marshalls at Imola and Melbourne in the last few years and as much as I hate to say it Senna's crash was just one silly accident to many

Quote from Clownpaint :

[.....all of it.......]

What a great post
Sounds like you had a great day. Croft is a great circuit, and it's nice up this part of the country, yeah ?
The instructor sounds like a complete numpty, but, after only 3 lessons (wow), he was probably concerned about your lack of experience with regards to car control and not necessarily the speed, but since you did'nt loose it once, and hit every apex etc, then it does sound like an odd decision. But, since he was only just older than you, then what do you expect from a 10yr old driving instructor

Let's hope they can somehow put you back in the competition, if not, then you'll just have to enter next year and win the whole darn shooting match

I take it you mentioned LFS in your interviews, if not then we'll have to see about getting your S2 license endorsed, or taken away, or something

Anyway, i'm really pleased you enjoyed it, and i guess i'm just a tad jealous, coz i'm far too old now for this kind of Tom-Foolery.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

You local too, Mazza? Where from?

Just up the road in Geordie land, Ye knaa what ah mean leik marra




[edit] rofl, Quote of the day i think, "I mentioned I'd never been this fast before and he just paused and was like "oh.. really? ok..." which is when I think a bit of pooh came out"

NFS, oh bloody hell, this just keeps gets worse

Well yeah, keep your fingers crossed, but just think about it, in one years time you'll have much more experience of driving "in the real world", in real cars (you are old enough to have a license arnt you ?)
And I'm sure i've raced against you before on LFS and you're stupidly quick there, so you should breeze through all the way to the finals next year So is it better to make it to the semi's this year, or win the whole thing next year

@ Clownpaint the format seems similar to the Channel 5 show and if you'll be getting a race in a TGP car it will no dobut have a gentleman owner who wishes to keep it free of budding racing drivers who will trash the car and be very hard on it. Also there may be problems fast tracking the winner through to an International B license (I'm guessing that's what TGP requires) if they are younger/don't have much experience.

The other thing is were you too hard on the car? I think they'd have likely been looking at this as much as actual speed.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

You look younger than I imagined.!?

The words " Pot, calling, kettle, black" spring to mind. If thats a pic of you at 31, then i want some of what you're drinking.

Mr Paint, It seems Ajp may have hit the nail on the head with his first paragraph, if it is indeed a TGP drive as first prize. Those old F1 cars are mighty expensive, and i would imagine the owners would set a certain criteria regarding the type of driver the're looking for, i.e one that is quick, but safe, and it probably was the moment you said you had only a few days experience that sealed your fate, but as has already been said, there's always next year, when you'll have more experience.

And seeing as you look about 7 in the pic , if the racing does'nt work out you could always join the police force


[edit] two more posts while i was typing this, i think i should just quit now while i'm not ahead

maybe its for insurance reasons, or money reasons, some kind of promotional thing..

better get a move on in the racing career tho! get yourself a kart m8! simming helps alot

its probably just the fact that u are SO young

Logic is a very German thing, it's not really applicable in this country anymore.
Unfortunately in life it's not always the best or the most deserving that get the spoils, it's just if the face fit's, and you bung the people in charge a fiver or two

Justin Wilson is a really talented driver, the reason he didnt stay in F1 was purely financial. If you remember he was selling share's in himself and pasting the names of his shareholders on his car. His biggest problem is, for some reason he doesn't have the backing of a large, powerful and wealthy sponsor, and it's a real shame, coz he's gifted.

And yeah Wurz is a big chap, and i think thats the main reason he will only ever be a test driver, which again is a shame, coz he's another talented driver.

It's like everything in life these days, money talks, and if you aint got any, then no-one's gonna listen.

What is the point of motor racing? I ask you to please watch one movie: Lemans.

Death is inevitible, which draws people who want to come to as close as death as possible, to feel the thrill of it.

OK having read your post I'm going to try and give some driving advice which may be rather odd seeing as messing around in a Mini is about the closest I've come to feeling a car on the limit and haven't gone faster than 50 (but I'm an inch taller )

Quote from Clownpaint :

He wouldn't even let me accelerate out of a hairpin, he made me roll around it until the car was straight before letting me get on the power, and I pointed out that there was no reason to do that.. I could've accelerated far far sooner.

It sounds to me like he may have been right if you watched last weeks Top Gear (06_06, http://ukf1lad.proboards14.com ... lay&thread=1146067941) you'd have seen James May being coached round Oulton Park by Jackie Stewart in a TVR, not a bad way to spend your day . James May may be a rather useless driver and I'd somewhat dobut 20 seconds would fall off anyones times after a day of coaching here, however, Jackie Stewart made one point that was so useful, only ever touch the throttle when you can apply it fully. They then showed a graph of his throttle inputs and he uses it like an on/off switch, rather intresting seeing as he is not an agressive driver!

Maybe you were coming on the power too early, and fedding the power in too much, especially in a FWD car. After watching Top Gear I've started applying the power later and fully down and suddenly found my driving has got smoother (the reverse of what I expected) and my laptimes have dropped 2-4 seconds a lap.

Quote :

The second thing he pointed out was when I mentioned that I tend to hold the wheel quite tight, he said to loosen the grip.

There was a very good Autocar suppliment on 'The Art of Car Control' a few months ago, I can scan some pages for you if you like.

One of the points it made very clear was not holding the wheel tightly and taking time making yourself comfy in the car before you go anywhere.

I find that whether I'm driving a car, kart of racing sim that I'm always fastest/smoothest and generally more in control when I hardly grip the wheel. Even in karts I find that gripping the wheel is actually far more tiring and even with such heavy steering it's best to hold it lightly as you get a lot more feel, no sore hands and faster times.

If the cone was at the same place as in the video then obviously it was a stupidly late place to put the power down.

I think how you hold the wheel is actually a very important thing as it can determine not only smoothness and speed but it also seems to indicate a sense of fighting the car, which is obvioulsy what the instructor was thinking about. I'll post that Autocar article sometime.

Possibly they were concerned about your over experience at competitiion driving (I know it sounds daft) but the contest wasn't open to MSA license holders and if they know you know what a single seater can do they may work out your likely to push it to its limits.

^^ As in your sim racing knowledge that no dobut led you to be driving the car too well for this type of competition, remember whoever lends their car is not going to want to get a budding racing driver to step into it more someone who won't push it hard and won't be faster than the regular driver/owner (ie. some businessman who can't drive to save his life).

EDIT - in another thread here's a link to the Jackie Stewart and James May video - http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?t=9006

that on the throttle until u know u dont have to take it off thing, doesnt mean that u cant smootly apply the throttle as u unwind the steering. u look at the throttle 'bar' when u see F1 drivers on TV, they apply the throttle on or just before the apex and roll it on as they unwind the steering.

If you dont do that u arent using all of the traction circle. rolling on the throttle is like trail braking, but for acceleration not deceleration.

^^ I always thought rolling the throttle on was faster, but after I stopped do it I suddenly became a lot faster. In very powerful cars (ie. F1) you probably will not always be able to apply full throttle so easilly.

If you've got N2003 with the GTP mod then this guy's lap in the Sauber @ the 'ring has to be seen http://achimt.flog.com/. He judges every blind corner perfectly and is fully commited. There are only 2 or 3 places on the whole 13 mile lap that he's not either fully on the throttle or fully on the brakes.