Who has the most car control?

[nicky.mattsson]

Hi all

I was just watching a motorsport program on CH4 and the were interviewing an American who claimed that drifters have the best car control. This got me thinking, what CLASS of racing has the best car control? I’m speaking in general terms here, not individual drivers.

Personally I lean towards the rally boys, what they do at speed and on the ever changing surface is just amazing and requires a load of skill.

Obviously I couldn't do what even the most ametuer racing driver could do so i'm not 'dissing' anybody, i was just interested. No, scratch that, I am a driving legend and could beat any of 'em

Nick

[Gold]

nicky.mattsson said:

Hi all

I was just watching a motorsport program on CH4 and the were interviewing an American who claimed that drifters have the best car control. This got me thinking, what CLASS of racing has the best car control? I’m speaking in general terms here, not individual drivers.

Personally I lean towards the rally boys, what they do at speed and on the ever changing surface is just amazing and requires a load of skill.

Obviously I couldn't do what even the most ametuer racing driver could do so i'm not 'dissing' anybody, i was just interested. No, scratch that, I am a driving legend and could beat any of 'em

Nick

Schumacher's save in Q1 was jolly impressive, F1 is the top series for a reason.

[Papa Hotel]

F1. Provoking and holding a slide is one thing... Catching a slide in something as twitchy as an F1 car without a hint of over-correcting it at wwwwaaaayyyy over a ton is something else. One of the loveliest examples I've ever seen was Coulthard at some GP many years ago... I don't know which one, I've tried and failed to find footage.

Next.

[cptsideways]

Schuey's save was quite something, did make me think there was TC/DSC type going on there though, I replayed it several times over listening to the engine note

Looks like they've added almost twice as much lock than normal for that circuit, his experience showed up over some of the others on the same corner who also got it wrong.

[Gnits]

Nah it's rally. F1 - all driving the same computer in circles on some bit of tarmac.

There should be some cross discipline competition to find out though!

[Red Cabbage]

Someone needs to ask Kimi how F1 and rallying compare.

[Papa Hotel]

Red Cabbage said:

Someone needs to ask Kimi how F1 and rallying compare.

Yeah, cos there are loads of rally boys showing the likes of Alonso the way around the track...

[nicky.mattsson]

Gnits said:

Nah it's rally. F1 - all driving the same computer in circles on some bit of tarmac.

There should be some cross discipline competition to find out though!

This...

Surely once you know a track and how it will behave its (relatively) easy, for a F1 driver anyway. In rallying you have the ever changing weather and the course can change everytime a car goes over it, sweeping infront of you and opening new ruts, kicking stones into the course etc.

[zippyprorider]

not gonna be popular,lol F1 stockcars 600bhp rear wheel drive full contact and a gravel oval, to have control with that power while making contact and being pushed is in my eyes the most car control!

[cptsideways]

Papa Hotel said:

Red Cabbage said:

Someone needs to ask Kimi how F1 and rallying compare.

Yeah, cos there are loads of rally boys showing the likes of Alonso the way around the track...

Just ask Loeb, he certainly did'nt embarass himself in a red bull F1 car the first time he drove one!

[velocemitch]

I'd say rallying too, but they are such different disciplines you can't really compare like with like. It's as bad as trying to compare drivers of bygone days with current ones.

I'd say that car control pays a larger part in success in Rallying than it does in circuit racing, where discipline and accuracy take more emphasis.

[Don]

Loose surface car control is a different thing to smooth tarmac racetrack car control.

Even I can appreciate this from having done a rallying course vs track days...how you are taught to corner is wildly different.

So I truly admire people who can do both well.

[*Al*]

I'd go for top level Rallying driving closely followed by F1.

[Papa Hotel]

cptsideways said:

Papa Hotel said:

Red Cabbage said:

Someone needs to ask Kimi how F1 and rallying compare.

Yeah, cos there are loads of rally boys showing the likes of Alonso the way around the track...

Just ask Loeb, he certainly did'nt embarass himself in a red bull F1 car the first time he drove one!

Yeah, he was decent in a test. So what? He was within a couple of percent of what a top driver would do... The problem is, a couple of percent in F1 is several hundred metres over a lap, a couple of laps over a race... A couple of hundred points over a season, a swift return to rallying. He wasn't going to get any faster, either they have it or they don't... Luca Badoer proved that.

[Daniel1]

Gnits said:

Nah it's rally. F1 - all driving the same computer in circles on some bit of tarmac.

There should be some cross discipline competition to find out though!

the tournament of champions?

[nicky.mattsson]

Daniel1 said:

Gnits said:

Nah it's rally. F1 - all driving the same computer in circles on some bit of tarmac.

There should be some cross discipline competition to find out though!

the tournament of champions?

I recall something about that. Didnt some young Swedish chap pip Mr Schumacher to 1st a while ago?

[GravelBen]

Papa Hotel said:

He wasn't going to get any faster, either they have it or they don't...

Because no driver ever improves after their first practise session in a new car, do they. Oh no wait, that's a load of b0ll0x.

My vote goes to rally drivers, but thats not taking anything away from top-level circuit or speedway racers - they're all bloody good.

Edited by GravelBen on Sunday 26th September 10:22

[AJI]

Circuit racing is much about being technically correct more than anything else. This generally mean not going too much over the limits of grip, which if done technically correct should be the same thing on every lap adjusting for differences in tyre wear and fuel load as the laps progress.

If the term 'car control' is based on this then F1 is at the top. 'Car control' meaning being able to be technically correct on every lap doing the same thing every time to maximise the lap time.

If however the term 'car control' means how good a driver is when the car has passed the limits of stable grip and is sliding then rallying is the winner by a long way. In rallying it beats drifters hands down because of the various surface conditions, the huge range of radius corners and gradients that occur.


I have done circuit racing, rallying and drifting in the past. Rallying definitely requires more concentration and more input to react to the varying conditions over the other motorsports I've tried.

All IMO by the way.

[Papa Hotel]

GravelBen said:

Papa Hotel said:

He wasn't going to get any faster, either they have it or they don't...

Because no driver ever improves, do they. Oh no wait, that's a load of b0ll0x.

Do you think he'd have hit the same times as front-runners in a competitive session? Given that the cream of the crop are driving single seaters since before they start school, how much time do you think that would take him to achieve?

[G-Lader]

LOL, this is like the old 8v versus 16v argument that you get on the VW forums. Never-ending....

IMO, rally driving is VERY high skill and the drivers have the biggest balls. However they have a little more margin for error than F1 drivers (in terms of competitiveness not safety) and it's harder to see the mistakes. F1 drivers have the ability to correct things before you even see it and anyone capable of lapping for 2 hours at that speed with that level of consistency is obviously up there in terms of skill. Its weird how you don't get many keyboard warriors claiming they could drive WRC but loads seem to think F1 is easy. I'd love to see Joe Average have a go.