RE: Hayden Paddon Escort Mk2 onboard: Time for Tea?

[windy1]

I think good WRC drivers first get noticed in Escorts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh_SWN0BsZQ

[coppice]

Kawasicki said:

I wouldn't be surprised if the modern drivers are simply better than their predecessors.

Why should they be ? Have we evolved ? Great drivers are great drivers, whatever the era. I don't doubt that Loeb in a Healey 3000 would be a great sight , and I don't doubt that Vatanen in a modern WRC would be awesome . Jim Clark in a Red Bull or Hamilton in a Lotus 49 - same thing applies .Mind you, some modern drivers would have to learn how to change gear properly.

[GravelBen]

coppice said:

Why should they be?

Raw material (talent) just as good, but with better training, more knowledge available etc?

[coppice]

So , to put the reverse argument - less training and less knowledge allows real talent to shine through ? Comparisons are always pointless really over different times- I have seen Lauda and Jackie Stewart win Grands Prix , Ronnie Peterson win in F2 and Gp B monsters piloted by heroes like Mikkola. All wonderful stuff - I think the problem with more modern machinery is that it tends to be easier to drive and far less physically demanding(remember drivers at Monaco whose gear changing hands were raw meat ?)but modern cars can be driven flat out all the time and are far more adjustable in set up and behaviour . Mindset needs to be different too- in 60s single seater racing there was a good chance you'd die. Not so now and that one fact has altered how people drive.

[aeropilot]

coppice said:

Kawasicki said:

I wouldn't be surprised if the modern drivers are simply better than their predecessors.

Why should they be ? Have we evolved ? Great drivers are great drivers, whatever the era.

Exactly.

The only major difference today, is that 'modern' drivers are generally in better physical shape than those of previous era's with the greater impact of sports science being used etc.

However, I would still wonder how many of the modern drivers would cope with a 'proper' old style WRC rally event season of 4 days and nights with little sleep and long road sections and 70+ stages.

[Kawasicki]

aeropilot said:

coppice said:

Kawasicki said:

I wouldn't be surprised if the modern drivers are simply better than their predecessors.

Why should they be ? Have we evolved ? Great drivers are great drivers, whatever the era.

Exactly.

The only major difference today, is that 'modern' drivers are generally in better physical shape than those of previous era's with the greater impact of sports science being used etc.

However, I would still wonder how many of the modern drivers would cope with a 'proper' old style WRC rally event season of 4 days and nights with little sleep and long road sections and 70+ stages.

I just look at other sports. Just look at what people are doing on BMX bikes now compared to the 80's. The bikes have improved, yes, but the huge difference is the human component.

We learn more, the general level of the population moves improves, to stand out you have to push harder. Why would motorsport be any different?

I'm not saying that the greats of the past wouldn't be capable now, just that they would have to adjust, learn, lift their game.

[coppice]

They would have to alter their game ; as would Vettel if you put him in a 312T, and ERA or a T35. But better ? I don't think so. BMX bikes I know nothing about though - for all I know pushbikes may be the perfect example of new being better....