There is no point in driving a fast car slow like there is (almost) no point in driving an F1 on a tarmac track. This is the 101 of driving illegal fancy machine on the highway in a straight line without using any stunt driving skills. Rather, the ridiculous speed on the racing hole breaks the nervous system of most runners. This is the runway strutting of an edgy fashion diva in the weirdest dress she’ll ever be able to wear in any other way let alone on the street!
Formula One is science at its best and is a product of crazy professors and cool engineers in whitewashed labs. It’s the showdown of expensive automotive engineering marvels, where the only fun lies in enduring the frequent 5G lateral force in multiple left and right turns. Any rookie with a nerve of steel with a 10-2 clock can grab a V8 or V10 in a drag race and beat a quarter mile, unless he blows the piston while accelerating to redline! If speed and automotive engineering were everything in racing, then hypercars and Bloodhound SSCs would rule the race track.
The real fun lies in the spec class/performance series. Only a veteran driver takes a stock or tuned car and masters the art of driving formats: NASCAR, Rallycross, Gymkhana and Le Mans.
NASCAR is the racing series that is run on steeply inclined race tracks. The drivers require raw driving skill and steer their stock cars at 200mph constantly to the left with a 2G force, causing the NASCAR chassis to literally bend to the left thanks to intense centrifugal force. Rallycross takes purpose-built road-legal cars that race in a point-to-point direction, as opposed to F1’s circuit format. NASCAR and Rally sports do not use laptops or telemetry. Like F1, rally drivers don’t have the technological luxury to tune up their cars on the fly.
Gymkhana is a time and/or speed event and it’s all about acceleration, braking, drifting, which is essentially a game of first and second gear. It takes hand braking, skidding and sliding, left-foot braking and grippy driving, and most importantly, strong mental focus to master the gymkhana.
Dubbed the “Grand Prix of Endurance and Efficiency”, the 24 Hours of Le Mans is the epitome of endurance behind the wheel. It is a mixture of closed roads and racetracks, where drivers have to maintain top speed at the cost of running 24 hours without having any engine failure. This prestigious driving format requires brutal submission to resistance, impeccable mechanical design and automotive innovation that requires cars that last long on the track and spend as little time as possible in the pits.
These racing formats started at the same time but took different paths. Rally sports and NASCAR began with moonshiners racing through mud and gravel, and F1 with rich playboys and their sleek machines racing on clean circuits. Still today, it was simply the race of cheap vs. elite, dogs versus hors d’oeuvres. Only Gymkhana events began with horseback riding long before speed cars were invented, incorporating pylons and obstacles to showcase horsemanship. Le Mans, on the other hand, took a more prestigious and well-grounded path, starting with the most reliable GT cars that can increase performance, endurance and speed at the same time.
All of these types of racing need specs that match the art of racing and performance complemented by years of endurance and a driving skill set that no racing/sim school can teach. Mastering heel-to-toe downshifts at the hairpin and chicane, and delving into the symphonies created between clutch shifting and crankshaft slamming – it’s all in-game outside of F1. It’s no wonder F1 drivers are retiring and joining rally and derby sports leagues!
F1 is the eternal mojo for those who see it only as a sport. Autosmiths know it’s just the portal to real racing.
