The voice of L J K Setright

[Equus]

Halmyre said:

They're mathematically different only in that acceleration is the rate of change of velocity - is that a 'mathematical' difference?

Yes, of course it is. It's crap for posing equations on here, but:

Velocity = distance/time (eg. metres/second)

Acceleration = distance/(time squared) (eg, metres/second2)

[anonymous-user]

My ex wife could not distinguish between me driving too fast and me trying to make the heap accelerate. Whenever the engine got noisy she would go eek.

[Leins]

Breadvan72 said:

My ex wife could not distinguish between me driving too fast and me trying to make the heap accelerate. Whenever the engine got noisy she would go eek.

You’d have to branch out into calculus to define how my ex drove, as it was a continuously random process

[anonymous-user]

I should add before the thread becomes another "women can't drive" thread that I was not making the boring generalisation about female drivers. I know several women who are much better drivers than me, although that is not hard as I am Mr Average and not the usual PH Road God. I have for example noticed recently that the S setting on the autobox of my 2009 Jaguar XK is much better at driving the car quickly and smoothly than I am if I try using the paddles on the steering wheel.

On the subject of Setright being a fast driver, it sounds also like he was a scary one for passengers. My late brother was one of those people who could drive you very fast but without ever making you feel alarmed. I have a friend who has taken me in his Caterham a few times, and he terrifies me. I expect that being driven by, say, Lewis Hamilton in a road car would not be at all scary - he would be fast, smooth, and it would not feel dangerous.

[robinessex]

I heard/read that LJKS was a good enough driver to have been capable of a decent grid position in the old BTCC races

[Garvin]

Breadvan72 said:

I should add before the thread becomes another "women can't drive" thread that I was not making the boring generalisation about female drivers. I know several women who are much better drivers than me, although that is not hard as I am Mr Average and not the usual PH Road God. I have for example noticed recently that the S setting on the autobox of my 2009 Jaguar XK is much better at driving the car quickly and smoothly than I am if I try using the paddles on the steering wheel.

On the subject of Setright being a fast driver, it sounds also like he was a scary one for passengers. My late brother was one of those people who could drive you very fast but without ever making you feel alarmed. I have a friend who has taken me in his Caterham a few times, and he terrifies me. I expect that being driven by, say, Lewis Hamilton in a road car would not be at all scary - he would be fast, smooth, and it would not feel dangerous.

The secret to not frightening people stless is to maximise the centripetal force generated by the vehicle rather than maximising the centrifugal force. The former allows for maximum angular acceleration to get round corners in a controlled and orderly fashion whilst the latter usually results in a lot of arm twirling steering effort so beloved of rally drivers on loose surfaces - great fun as the driver but not so much as the passenger!

The former relies on smooth inputs and correct timing of steering, clutch, gear selection and, importantly, braking - all of which good F1 drivers employ to balance the car at all times . . . . . . . . . except for Senna (probably the exception to prove the rule) who had a unique use of throttle during cornering that seemed to allow much faster exits than his competitors - having never been driven by him (or any other F1 driver for that matter) I cannot say whether his technique was smoother and more/less concerning than, say, Hamilton.

Perhaps LJKS was more rally driver than F1 driver!

[anonymous-user]

I have been driven around Silverstone in road cars by pro racing drivers (not F1), and they were amazingly fast and smooth, and not at all scary, even when going sideways.

[Garvin]

Breadvan72 said:

I have been driven around Silverstone in road cars by pro racing drivers (not F1), and they were amazingly fast and smooth, and not at all scary, even when going sideways.

I have been driven and tutored by a former BTCC champion. As you say, not in the slightest scary and very, very smooth! Yes he could easily hold a sideways slide but drifting on public roads, particularly narrow B roads, can be a bit rear end twitchy for both car and occupants! Besides which, it is not the fastest way from a to b.

[coppice]

My two best drivers- a successful FFF1600 driver , many years ago . Smooth , fast and seamless gearchanges , heel and toed perfectly . Second best - a lady biker friend. who is also a long distance classic rally driver . You never notice braking , accelerating nor a gearchange - but everybody else seems to be going slowly

[Limpet]

I've been driven around Brands Hatch by Mark Webber, albeit a year before his F1 debut. I also got to drive him, although I suspect he got much less pleasure from that (he was remarkably polite and gently encouraging though) . The car was a track prepped E36 318iS, so hardly a ball of fire compared to his usual machinery, but it was an incredible experience.

Three things struck me:

1) He was completely and utterly relaxed while driving the car at its absolute limit. Chatting away, cracking jokes and sitting very comfortably. There weren't any lurid slides or any showboating. There were no sharp inputs. Everything was smooth, measured, and to my mind, completely at odds with what was going on outside the windows.

2) Despite being driven to its absolute limits, the car felt 'comfortable' (if that makes sense). It didn't once snap, bite or feel ragged. Gearchanges were swift but super smooth, throttle blips on downshifts were absolutely perfect, and there was no sense he was fighting or wrestling the car in any respect. He drove the wheels off it, without it ever feeling like the car was stressed or being damaged in any way.

3) He was absolutely, metronomically consistent. Using every inch of the track (the exit from Paddock was remarkable in particular), and consistently just kissing the dirt at the edge of the rumble strip on the exit. 5 laps, flat out, and although the laps weren't timed, I would have been amazed if there were more than a tenth or two difference between any of them.

I know you could have given me that car, a full tank of fuel, and an empty track, and I couldn't have done in hours what he did so effortlessly off the bat in those five laps.

[paulguitar]

Limpet said:

I've been driven around Brands Hatch by Mark Webber, albeit a year before his F1 debut. I also got to drive him, although I suspect he got much less pleasure from that (he was remarkably polite and gently encouraging though) . The car was a track prepped E36 318iS, so hardly a ball of fire compared to his usual machinery, but it was an incredible experience.

Three things struck me:

1) He was completely and utterly relaxed while driving the car at its absolute limit. Chatting away, cracking jokes and sitting very comfortably. There weren't any lurid slides or any showboating. There were no sharp inputs. Everything was smooth, measured, and to my mind, completely at odds with what was going on outside the windows.

2) Despite being driven to its absolute limits, the car felt 'comfortable' (if that makes sense). It didn't once snap, bite or feel ragged. Gearchanges were swift but super smooth, throttle blips on downshifts were absolutely perfect, and there was no sense he was fighting or wrestling the car in any respect. He drove the wheels off it, without it ever feeling like the car was stressed or being damaged in any way.

3) He was absolutely, metronomically consistent. Using every inch of the track (the exit from Paddock was remarkable in particular), and consistently just kissing the dirt at the edge of the rumble strip on the exit. 5 laps, flat out, and although the laps weren't timed, I would have been amazed if there were more than a tenth or two difference between any of them.

I know you could have given me that car, a full tank of fuel, and an empty track, and I couldn't have done in hours what he did so effortlessly off the bat in those five laps.

That's a great read, and it must be an amazing memory for you to have.

I think there is quite a lot of ignorance amongst the general public and even to some extent motorsport fans about just what a surreal level one has to be at to reach F1. They are on a totally different planet just to get there.

[anonymous-user]

On a BMW track day way back in 1992 or 93, the most fun car to drive with expert tuition provided from the passenger seat was a road legal E30 318iS. More fun for the average driver than the M3, 840i etc. Mega fun was had as a passenger in a 5 Series Estate driven by a racing driver. The worst drive was the 840i which was a horrid barge.

[anonymous-user]

Back to Setright. Here he is on the subject of the E Type Jaguar -

https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/features/opinion/ljk...

[loudlashadjuster]

Breadvan72 said:

Back to Setright. Here he is on the subject of the E Type Jaguar -

https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/features/opinion/ljk...

That's him in top form, great to read.

Leonard said:

The road was faster now as I fled before the speeding sun. Flogging the E-Type hard to maintain station as well as I could, the heat billowed up in the cockpit, and that glorious wail of the 3.8 engine, which was so smooth and safe right up to 6000rpm, whirled out behind in a great vortex of acoustic spume, as the E-type engraved its course on the map of a new day. Through each sleeping village on the route, the song was hushed. Then, when the hedges were unbroken again, the car drew breath, its trumpets spouted their cataracts, and the Jaguar swallowed some more of its shortening shadow.

Strange though that Bauer went to all the trouble of scanning and OCRing that article, then didn't bother to proofread it. So many little extraction errors.

[anonymous-user]

IMO Setright's writing was the equivalent of John McCririck's dress code.

[Touring442]

Breadvan72 said:

Back to Setright. Here he is on the subject of the E Type Jaguar -

https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/features/opinion/ljk...

I bought and read that mag just before my 12th birthday, and still have it. That still ranks as one of the finest examples of the written word. You are in the car with LJKS.

I've not read anything in a magazine since that surpasses it.

[coppice]

rockin said:

IMO Setright's writing was the equivalent of John McCririck's dress code.

It is a tragedy , if largely unremarked . that the inevitable fate of some of the most lustrous pearls is to fall amongst swine .

[carinaman]

Breadvan72 said:

Back to Setright. Here he is on the subject of the E Type Jaguar -

https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/features/opinion/ljk...

The beans/beams typo on the CAR Magazine website version isn't in the original:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/triggerscarstuff/680...

I've done the getting up not as early as intended to visit somewhere in the Countryside. It involved the M4 possibly getting off at the A46 and in nothing as groundbreaking, fast or beautiful as the E-Type.

These days the 'Smart' Motorway at the eastern end of the M4 would've given Setright ample opportunity to warm the engine and transmission oil.

[TR4man]

coppice said:

It is a tragedy , if largely unremarked . that the inevitable fate of some of the most lustrous pearls is to fall amongst swine .

That would have been a very clever response if you had used your punctuation correctly.

[coppice]

Vari focals malfunctioning mate, can;t get to Spoc Savers innit ?