Michael Fassbender: Road to Le Mans
Discussion
Steve Rance said:
garyhun said:
Exactly.
While it's true that you need some basic "ability" (rather than talent) such as hand, foot, eye co-ordination, the high performance only comes from those thousands of hours of quality practice.
Thats the key. Some drivers (very few) are able to go quickly with very little seat time. But I would not agree that only some basic ability is needed. There is a high degree of natural talent needed to be successful. As in almost all sports, there is a lot more to it that first appears and the best exponents of it just make it look easy by making essential imputs and decisions at precisely the correct moment again and again. The vast majority of drivers will simply never be capable of achieving that. While it's true that you need some basic "ability" (rather than talent) such as hand, foot, eye co-ordination, the high performance only comes from those thousands of hours of quality practice.
But I digress and don’t want to get into a PH argument
anonymous said:
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I had similar thoughts. I did make me think that any other mere mortal might not have been dumped in at that level. But, we don’t get any insight to his previous experience. It’s a marketing exercise at the end of the day, I’d be surprised if he was paying the bills personally, could be wrong ?
And talking of bills, the one after the Massive rear ender under yellow would have been eye watering.
It’s a great watch non the less and he’s hanging in there mostly.
when the Too Gear team entered the Silverstone 24 hour race in a BMW it made great viewing but they were completely out of their depth and quickly became a danger to everyone. During the night Richard Hammond pulled across Michael Vergers in the lead Car as he was lapping him. The Mosler limped back to the pits but retired later. We finished 4th after lapping the Top Gear car 221 times. Lapping a car driven by incapable and in experienced drivers in the dark with closing speeds of close to 100mph is a risk to the driver and the car. When you are strapped into the driving seat bearing down on a car like that you are taking an unnecessary risk for not only you but also the team and sponsors.
I’m not trying to drag this thread down, just trying to add some insight from a driver’s perspective.
I’m not trying to drag this thread down, just trying to add some insight from a driver’s perspective.
anonymous said:
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I was thinking somewhat along these lines. But I guess there would be little PR if he were competing in low level club racing. He looks physically very fit. But in a Cup car with aero and huge mechanical grip. Powered steering, traction control, abs braking system and air conditioning. The car setup by a works team. Most of the hard work has already been done for him. Just learning stuff parrot fashion does not make you a good racer. It will make you faster. To ultimately be very fast you have to have the gift of being able to race in slow motion. This is the pure natural ability part that no one can teach you. Mr Rance will know exactly what I mean. To carry more speed into a corner than you should be carrying and to be able to sort it all out in the corner. You can only do this if your brain has the ability process this in slow motion and not real time. anonymous said:
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As you say it’s probably typical at almost every level, the buy in price just gets bigger.Very erudite posts by the way, an interesting take on things.
Also Steve’s perspective on the Silverstone race is illuminating. Just goes to show really how damaging it can be for people to just buy their way in, it’s not only the legitimacy of it that is a problem, they’re mixing it with pros at significant speeds.
SRT Hellcat said:
He looks physically very fit. But in a Cup car with aero and huge mechanical grip.
Yes, up close, the thing that always strikes you most is quite how strong [o]and[/i] lean most of these young guys and girls are who drive professionally.SRT Hellcat said:
To ultimately be very fast you have to have the gift of being able to race in slow motion. This is the pure natural ability part that no one can teach you. Mr Rance will know exactly what I mean. To carry more speed into a corner than you should be carrying and to be able to sort it all out in the corner. You can only do this if your brain has the ability process this in slow motion and not real time.
This was something Schumacher used to talk about. Easy when your resting heart rate is 30 something beats per minute, which comes back to your point above.It also dials into the experience thing too. I'm not much cop on track, but I've had the privilege of being driven by some very handy drivers and sometimes you get a glimpse of that sixth sense at work. Racing just ups the number of parameters though.
I keep plugging away with the MTB, because I think it keeps my reactions sharp and my head cool. I figure if can sort out the bike getting sideways in mud on the take-off ramp of a 10 foot gap jump, at night (don't ask), without crashing then it might just translate in some way.
anonymous said:
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Agreed. But if you are a novice driving at that level it’s easy to quickly run out of mental capacity as things change or go wrong. Then you are a potential liability to other cars around you. Actually I think that Michael did quite a good job and I’m not deriding his efforts at all.
Robbo66 said:
boxsey said:
That's a good point. Having been a passenger with a young racing driver around a wet Spa made me realize that no amount of seat time would give me his natural ability for car control that's needed to drive fast in the wet. That's when natural talent takes over.
I don't think so. He'll know the track, driven in the wet countless times and be confident there. All about seat time, and with enough of it, you'll be right up there.I have seen people back in my Lotus days do 20 track days a year , year on year and have training every one, they are still not fast !!
You need a bit of natural talent. you also need seat time they go hand in hand.
The highs and lows of racing!
Need to follow the female side of multi tasking.
Racing is far from just being able to drive fast,youth gives you reaction time that can be instinctive.
Age gives you experience to anticipate before you need to react.
That famous question about how old to learn to race, a friend answered this for me,if 18 year olds could fly and fight in a spitfire,to teach them to race should be a doddle
Need to follow the female side of multi tasking.
Racing is far from just being able to drive fast,youth gives you reaction time that can be instinctive.
Age gives you experience to anticipate before you need to react.
That famous question about how old to learn to race, a friend answered this for me,if 18 year olds could fly and fight in a spitfire,to teach them to race should be a doddle
Rick101 said:
Regardless of whether he should be there or not, what a great production!
YT content has certainly come along some. I'm looking forward to the next one.
Best thing I've watched in ages.
Just found these, agreed, the production is very good.YT content has certainly come along some. I'm looking forward to the next one.
Best thing I've watched in ages.
Seems pretty out of his depth, I assume that's to be expected to a large extent. I wonder how much he's done before this.
It looks as though Fassbender has a fair bit of track experience, 120 hours in a Ferrari Challenge car as of mid 2018 including a win https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/michael-fas...
browngt3 said:
Just watched the first 3 episodes. Compulsive viewing actually. Are they really intending to give him a full works drive alongside the likes of Kevin Estre?
Probably not in the same car, I guess.Talking of privilege, Estre, born in 1988 (that fact alone makes me feel very old!) began karting in 2001. I've seen him driving a 991 GT3 RS around Nurburgring on the Manthey track day and his pace and style are stunning., but even being that good, you need a bit of help and a bit of luck I guess.
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