María de Villota: former F1 test driver found dead in Seville hotel

Sad News!

http://www.theguardian.com/spo ... -villota-dead-formula-one

https://twitter.com/specutainment/status/388664494509289473

"Maria de Villota; autopsy - all indications that underlying cause of death a 'detachment of brain mass' as a result of her 2012 accident."

Well that answers the question I had of what will she do next.

Quote from Becky Rose :

Well that answers the question I had of what will she do next.

Just no.

But she hadn't lost her shoes !

"Detachment of brain mass" Not even once.........

So, was it an aneurism, or what ?
Certainly seems sudden, given her book launch etc.

What is it with women and racing ? No offence but a couple of females I've known who were fast had nasty accidents and there don't seem to be fast females generally. I know it's not really a physical thing but women just don't seem to do well in the field which, for me, seems strange......

Pretty much almost confirmed now that it was a heart attack.

Quote from Racer X NZ :

4What is it with women and racing ? No offence but a couple of females I've known who were fast had nasty accidents and there don't seem to be fast females generally. I know it's not really a physical thing but women just don't seem to do well in the field which, for me, seems strange......

Firstly it's cultural, women are continuously told to look pretty and prepare to be a mother. Assume we rebel against that and insist on cultural freedom the next barrier is wealth inequality.

Bearing in mind that motor sport is a past time for the wealthy, there are 10x the number of super wealthy men then the are women, 3 times the number of upper middle earners, and even in the middle men earn around 20% more.

The reason women don't do well in racing isn't anything related to the sport itself, it's cultural and economic.

And genetics, and nature..

Quote from Boris Lozac :

And genetics, and nature..

I could lap your sorry excuse for genetics...

Whilst I support women in anything they wish to do. I honestly believe women are at a disadvantage when in a car though it doesn't mean that can't overcome it. A la Michelle Mouton.

True test would be simulators, where there aren't geforces. Then it would come to ability.

But add in physical ability and men just naturally have the advantage. Honestly, when women can be up to a foot shorter and a lot lighter they just don't have the mass to handle high g's or such as commonly as men. And ofc women are definitely not given equal opportunities.

I don't think it's a strength problem. The steering loads aren't that high, and I think women can develop leg/neck/core strength sufficient for the braking and lateral loads.

A simulator poses very different problems with comparing drivers (of any sex). The lack of cues is a very real part of "ability" being masked.

If there is a difference, then it's to do with spatial awareness, or coping with adrenaline, or something physiological like that.

Why do women want to compete against men in motorsport, but are happy to have women's football, or women's athletics, or women's press-ups? If women want to be equal in sporting terms, then they should be doing so in all sports, or accept that they need women specific motorsport championships.

It's just like black people and swimming. There's a scientific reason why they're better suited to running and white people are better at swimming. [bone density and muscle structure]

There's no sense in ignoring the factual difference to favor 'equality'.

This thread just got interesting.

Quote from BlueFlame :

There's no sense in ignoring the factual difference to favor 'equality'.

Have to agree unfortunately with this man.

So fcking fed up with feminism, we are not equal nor we should be. Don't see anything wrong with that. Just be a female

Quote from Bmxtwins :

True test would be simulators, where there aren't geforces. Then it would come to ability.

I think that the simulators must have lots of

Quote from tristancliffe :

I don't think it's a strength problem. The steering loads aren't that high, and I think women can develop leg/neck/core strength sufficient for the braking and lateral loads.

A simulator poses very different problems with comparing drivers (of any sex). The lack of cues is a very real part of "ability" being masked.

If there is a difference, then it's to do with spatial awareness, or coping with adrenaline, or something physiological like that.

Why do women want to compete against men in motorsport, but are happy to have women's football, or women's athletics, or women's press-ups? If women want to be equal in sporting terms, then they should be doing so in all sports, or accept that they need women specific motorsport championships.

I agree tbh, theres probably women soccer players who are better than top men players.

You probably would all shut up after Sabine Schmitz put you all to shame racing around the ring...

Quote from jibber :

You probably would all shut up after Sabine Schmitz put you all to shame racing around the ring...

To be honest. I think Marc Lieb or Marc Basseng could do a better job of that.






Just sayin...

Quote from tristancliffe :

I don't think it's a strength problem. The steering loads aren't that high, and I think women can develop leg/neck/core strength sufficient for the braking and lateral loads.

A simulator poses very different problems with comparing drivers (of any sex). The lack of cues is a very real part of "ability" being masked.

If there is a difference, then it's to do with spatial awareness, or coping with adrenaline, or something physiological like that.

Why do women want to compete against men in motorsport, but are happy to have women's football, or women's athletics, or women's press-ups? If women want to be equal in sporting terms, then they should be doing so in all sports, or accept that they need women specific motorsport championships.

Think part of the difference Tristan is that in most sport there is physical contact and limited use of any tools other than body. Women tend to have lighter/slighter bodies and to be frank most women would not be able to hold up physically to something like a rugby match against a male. (I think here you could insert Becky's argument about societal and ecomomic pressures on women which probably by nature lend towards women wanting to be these slighter/lighter traits.)

The difference in autoracing is that the driver is only a part of the tool and not directly in contact with other drivers persay. The car is the bulk of the mass and most series would have weight limits so in-fact a slight person has an advantage over a larger person (lower CoG and more ballast for balance) (F1 anyone?), so long as their core is strong which is only a case of committing and working to a physical training program.




I struggle to understand when someone else says women can't compete on the same level. Isn't the part of the idea of racing to show everyone which team/person is 'Best'? If someone wants to compete, and has the funding, what's the problem?

Are these people complaining such babies that they can't handle the pressure from their so called 'female' that they deem as 'inferior' in terms of coping with stresses and pressures? What's the big deal? They want to race and feel confident about their skills. Personally I would want as many talented racers as possible in my series.

I was referring to F1 really. I'm not sure that the reason there have been no quick female drivers of F1 standard is simply because a smaller proportion of women want to race in the first place. There will probably be exceptions, and there are many quick females in club racing, and that is good and should be encouraged.

Quote from Racer X NZ :

What is it with women and racing ? No offence but a couple of females I've known who were fast had nasty accidents and there don't seem to be fast females generally. I know it's not really a physical thing but women just don't seem to do well in the field which, for me, seems strange......

what the hell are you going on about now?

I know a couple girls that could out drive, and out-ride most men.

And the driver with the most trophies from LFS kart meets (6 in total) is ... Me.

Bitches rule.

Yes, by driving into the back of a truck. Awesome.

Quote from tristancliffe :

I was referring to F1 really. I'm not sure that the reason there have been no quick female drivers of F1 standard is simply because a smaller proportion of women want to race in the first place. There will probably be exceptions, and there are many quick females in club racing, and that is good and should be encouraged.

I totally agree, it wasn't aimed at you Tristan.


Becky that's only because your feather and have the experience