Could you keep up with safety car?
Discussion
Not a chance in an F1 car, it'd take some serious brain adjustment to get one to go fast enough to keep some heat in the tyres nevermind having to manage one with cold tyres and even less grip. I'd have more chance if I was in another safety car, and having seen how hard the safety car gets driven I wouldn't manage that either.
If everything was already warmed up then probably, but if you gave me cold brakes, cold tyres, asked me to move away from a standstill, chances are I'd stall it or spin at the first corner I got to 
that or I'd actually hit the safety car 
and I'd guess that it'd be the same for 97% of people out there.
The type of people who reckon they could handle an F1 car no problem are usually the type of people who have very little understanding of how an F1 car actually works or have never driven a car on a race track.
that or I'd actually hit the safety car and I'd guess that it'd be the same for 97% of people out there.The type of people who reckon they could handle an F1 car no problem are usually the type of people who have very little understanding of how an F1 car actually works or have never driven a car on a race track.
Edited by patmahe on Wednesday 15th July 14:49
The rules are its mid race so everything is watm the car is still moving and already behind the safety car. You’ve just blinked and now your in the seat. Obviously try to ignore the fact of surprise at the situation.
Oh and its bone dry.
See for me it’s a difficult one, I’m not saying it would be easy but you would be easily within the capability of the car could you get your head around it quick enough to keep everything warm.
Im still not convinced i could which shows the level of skill required.
Oh and its bone dry.
See for me it’s a difficult one, I’m not saying it would be easy but you would be easily within the capability of the car could you get your head around it quick enough to keep everything warm.
Im still not convinced i could which shows the level of skill required.
Not in an F1 car, not for long at least - when any of us would inevitably screw up somehow.
Probably anyone with some track experience could manage it with no major drama in any number of track cars, Radical, Atom etc.. The big old Merc safety car is itself very limited in terms of pace as it's a road car.
This is how a none F1 driver copes with a cold tyres and brakes, along with their inability to warm it up due to... fear: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGUZJVY-sHo
6:30 onward to see him in the F1 car on the track.
Probably anyone with some track experience could manage it with no major drama in any number of track cars, Radical, Atom etc.. The big old Merc safety car is itself very limited in terms of pace as it's a road car.
This is how a none F1 driver copes with a cold tyres and brakes, along with their inability to warm it up due to... fear: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGUZJVY-sHo
6:30 onward to see him in the F1 car on the track.
I suspect I'd have more chance keeping up with the safety car in my Focus ST than I would in an F1 car 
Didn't Richard Hammond drive an F1 car on an old episode of Top Gear? Took him ages to get going even somewhat properly, the biggest challenge was they aren't really designed to go slowly...
Didn't Richard Hammond drive an F1 car on an old episode of Top Gear? Took him ages to get going even somewhat properly, the biggest challenge was they aren't really designed to go slowly...
No chance. I would not even want to try an F1 car, I am leagues away from being able to drive one. I prefer sports cars to single-seaters, but also recognise I would not be able to drive a Le Mans car properly. So, best attempt to keep up with the safety car would be in C7R or similar
I'm going to go against the grain here and say that if you were an experienced track day driver used to high performance cars you'd have a reasonable chance of keeping up with the safety car.
The key thing would obviously be very progressive throttle and brake inputs, but then you wouldn't need to get anywhere near the limit to keep up with a road car only accelerating and braking at 1g.
In response to the Richard Hammond video, there's a more serious one of Steve Sutcliffe having a go. Ok, he was a ex-racing driver, but nothing particularly fast and certainly not single seaters with wings.
He managed to get within half a second of the test driver at the time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwg6iaAX99c
The key thing would obviously be very progressive throttle and brake inputs, but then you wouldn't need to get anywhere near the limit to keep up with a road car only accelerating and braking at 1g.
In response to the Richard Hammond video, there's a more serious one of Steve Sutcliffe having a go. Ok, he was a ex-racing driver, but nothing particularly fast and certainly not single seaters with wings.
He managed to get within half a second of the test driver at the time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwg6iaAX99c
TheDeuce said:
Not in an F1 car, not for long at least - when any of us would inevitably screw up somehow.
Probably anyone with some track experience could manage it with no major drama in any number of track cars, Radical, Atom etc.. The big old Merc safety car is itself very limited in terms of pace as it's a road car.
This is how a none F1 driver copes with a cold tyres and brakes, along with their inability to warm it up due to... fear: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGUZJVY-sHo
6:30 onward to see him in the F1 car on the track.
That's top gear BS though, there is a video on YouTube from a racing coach which debunks much of that, explaining that many of the spins were done on purpose and probably by a pro driver, not Hammond. Probably anyone with some track experience could manage it with no major drama in any number of track cars, Radical, Atom etc.. The big old Merc safety car is itself very limited in terms of pace as it's a road car.
This is how a none F1 driver copes with a cold tyres and brakes, along with their inability to warm it up due to... fear: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGUZJVY-sHo
6:30 onward to see him in the F1 car on the track.
Not saying I could keep up with the pace car though. Although at pace car speeds with warm tyres surely there would be enough mechanical grip from the F1 car?
Mr_Yogi said:
That's top gear BS though, there is a video on YouTube from a racing coach which debunks much of that, explaining that many of the spins were done on purpose and probably by a pro driver, not Hammond.
Not saying I could keep up with the pace car though. Although at pace car speeds with warm tyres surely there would be enough mechanical grip from the F1 car?
Yes, I was going to post the same. It's here... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=os0PwQCyw4sNot saying I could keep up with the pace car though. Although at pace car speeds with warm tyres surely there would be enough mechanical grip from the F1 car?
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