RE: Senna at Suzuka: Time For Tea?
Discussion
Only saw him race a few times, but god he was exciting. Even out at the trackside you could feel the electricity around the place when people knew he was coming out for qualifying. At Donnington '93, I wasn't quite sure exactly what was going on at the beginning, but I knew it was special
Some may say rose-tinted glasses, I say F1 was infinitely more exciting to watch back then
Some may say rose-tinted glasses, I say F1 was infinitely more exciting to watch back then
ChemicalChaos said:
Why does he do that throttle dabbing thing?
According to the Jackie Stewart school of going very fast, you only go on the throttle when you know you can stay on it Out of the corner
There has been all sorts of debate about that but the one thing people always miss is that many tried to replicate it and couldn't make it work for them, ergo they just don't understand what he was doing. We are not talking about average drivers here btw Berger said this in interview that many of his contemporaries including Gerhard himself tried to replicate it and couldn't.According to the Jackie Stewart school of going very fast, you only go on the throttle when you know you can stay on it Out of the corner
My personal take on it is the complete opposite to what many think as if you watch and listen carefully to enough of his videos he is doing much more than one thing. For a start he braked incredibly late and could often be seen backing the car in to the corners, tapping in some throttle at that point is a well known technique amongst some racers to pick the front of the car up and stop it from spinning. Further than that late on in the corners I believe he isn't stabbing the throttle ON, but rather putting it on hard and then repeatedly lifting the throttle OFF again for brief moments very very quickly. The reason why I say this is when I was a lad I watched him live at a GP weekend on a damp track and the sound of his engine out of the corner was fairly similar to what we hear from a traction control system and seemed to work like one.
OTOH I don't believe his techniques always worked for him and this is backed up by how he traded performances with Prost.
Martin Brundle also did an TV feature comparing himself and this throttle activity was described as both a form of traction control but also testing for grip to understand how early Senna could apply power. As said, many have tried to copy but few if any seem to be able to make it work as well and deliver the number of 'special' qualifying laps as the great man.
Shame the vid has been taken down ....
Shame the vid has been taken down ....
NJH said:
There has been all sorts of debate about that but the one thing people always miss is that many tried to replicate it and couldn't make it work for them, ergo they just don't understand what he was doing. We are not talking about average drivers here btw Berger said this in interview that many of his contemporaries including Gerhard himself tried to replicate it and couldn't.
My personal take on it is the complete opposite to what many think as if you watch and listen carefully to enough of his videos he is doing much more than one thing. For a start he braked incredibly late and could often be seen backing the car in to the corners, tapping in some throttle at that point is a well known technique amongst some racers to pick the front of the car up and stop it from spinning. Further than that late on in the corners I believe he isn't stabbing the throttle ON, but rather putting it on hard and then repeatedly lifting the throttle OFF again for brief moments very very quickly. The reason why I say this is when I was a lad I watched him live at a GP weekend on a damp track and the sound of his engine out of the corner was fairly similar to what we hear from a traction control system and seemed to work like one.
OTOH I don't believe his techniques always worked for him and this is backed up by how he traded performances with Prost.
My personal take on it is the complete opposite to what many think as if you watch and listen carefully to enough of his videos he is doing much more than one thing. For a start he braked incredibly late and could often be seen backing the car in to the corners, tapping in some throttle at that point is a well known technique amongst some racers to pick the front of the car up and stop it from spinning. Further than that late on in the corners I believe he isn't stabbing the throttle ON, but rather putting it on hard and then repeatedly lifting the throttle OFF again for brief moments very very quickly. The reason why I say this is when I was a lad I watched him live at a GP weekend on a damp track and the sound of his engine out of the corner was fairly similar to what we hear from a traction control system and seemed to work like one.
OTOH I don't believe his techniques always worked for him and this is backed up by how he traded performances with Prost.
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