F1

Jackie Stewart and the art of driving

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 19 total)
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  • #132343
    raymondu999
    Participant

    Just thought that this was a video I’d like to share:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb1vr9shN7w

    #214819
    ShaneB457
    Participant

    @raymondu999 Great video thanks for sharing it. Where did you get it from by the way?

    #214820
    raymondu999
    Participant

    @shaneb12345678910 I umm… errm… uhh… When I interviewed Sir Jackie in 1977 Monaco, of course :P

    #214821
    raymondu999
    Participant

    Of course, this thread cannot be complete without adding a small snippet from an Autosport interview with Sir JYS: (MH is Maurice Hamilton)

    MH: Again, you’re touching on quite an interesting point. How much can you tell that’s happening when you’re just looking at the pictures from the on-board cameras?

    JYS: Look at the driver’s hands on the steering wheel. Some of them are all over the place; everything’s an adventure. What you don’t need is a challenge; what you really want is an invitation. The Matra MS80 I drove to win the championship in 1969 was an invitation. I gave it time to do everything, and it let me do things I would not have been able to do had I been trying to keep up with a difficult animal. You want to lead a placid animal into a corner. If I overdid it under braking and it became too busy, suddenly I was trying to consume this business just to get the apex. But if everything is calm, on the way in I’d be thinking of the exit – not the apex.

    It’s sometimes difficult to make a young driver understand this, because he thinks all he’s got to do is drive it. When you get into F1, it’s a whole new package. Suddenly there’s not as much space between the exit of one corner and the entry to the next. You’re up through the box and you’re working the steering wheel and the buttons. You get to the next corner and you’re not prepared. It’s about being able to find time and create very subtle improvements that suddenly make the laptimes more consistent.

    Most of the current F1 drivers turn in far too fast; you can see it on TV. Vettel turns in microseconds slower, and so does Alonso. It’s only microseconds, but that little bit is taking all of the tensions within the car. It’s very simple, but there are no coaches to tell them that.

    #214822

    This is one of the subjects that Stewart is most interesting about. I’ve got a book of his with the dreadfully dry title “Jackie Stewart’s Principle of Performance Driving” which is actually a really good read.

    #214823

    By the way @raymondu999, what year is this form? I’m guessing early seventies, maybe even ’73?

    #214824
    raymondu999
    Participant

    @keithcollantine @shaneb12345678910 This was from Roman Polanski’s “Weekend of a champion”

    #214825
    Atticus
    Participant

    Very interesting. I once read an F1 Racing article on driving styles. The most fascinating article I’ve ever read in F1 Racing, for me at least. I can’t recall who wrote it, but it’s essence was the same – except he did not stated JYS’s manipulative style was the better. It simply stated the reactive Gilles, Felipe, Arnoux and others simply liked always going beyond the limit a bit and then clawing it back, instead of signalling and nurturing a car into a corner. Though, the latter can lead to more loss of control, it said – and I think it kills off tyres much more quickly, but that’s the way it is. I also think JYS is right in the respect that the truly great drivers were all manipulative: Clark, Senna, Schumacher, Prost – and it looks like Vettel and Alonso too.

    #214826
    raymondu999
    Participant

    @atticus-2 if it speaks of “manipulative” versus “reactive” in those words – it cannot be anyone other than Peter Windsor. He’s the only journalist I’ve ever heard use those terms.

    #214827
    Atticus
    Participant

    I guess it was him. Since then I googled ‘f1 racing driving styles’ and his name frequently popped up among the results, so yeah… most likely it was him.

    He was actually recommended right in the first result, which is quite relevant:

    http://abulafiaf1.wordpress.com/2012/03/11/driving-styles-part-a-an-introduction-and-fernando-alonso/

    I will also keep in mind Keith’s book recommendation.

    I did not know it was Jackie who broke ground speaking out on this area as well – according to the video in the first post. One more reason to be thankful to him besides safety.

    #214828
    Alex Brown
    Participant

    I’ve said before that I get bored with Sir Jackie’s ramblings, but this is one of those things that, as he says, is almost universal to all driving, and therefore very, very interesting. The language is excellent as well, driving “quietly”. I’m sure its happened to most drivers when karting with the family or doing a trackday: they back off a bit and actually go quicker. Its one of those lightbulb moments, but presents another conundrum: how do you increase your effort, and pace, without actually trying harder?

    #214829
    Fer no.65
    Participant

    @raymondu999 that’s fantastic !

    I love Jackie Stewart. The way he talks and explains things is very… seductive, in one way. And his mantality, about smooth, quiet driving. I remember that bit on Top Gear when he taught James May how to drive: “don’t put the power on until you know you don’t have to take it off”.

    #214830
    raymondu999
    Participant

    @atticus-2 To be honest I wouldn’t take Peter Windsor as gospel in terms of driving style. There are times when he… let’s just say he sometimes is the only person on the planet to notice certain things in driving style, while every other person watching the race sees something different.

    According to Windsor, for example – in Monza 2011 Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel were staying to the absolute far right of the circuit on the straight between Ascari and Parabolica. I personally definitely saw them diagonalling the straight:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q4d9WVbShM
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRudRafEeLM

    Not to mention there are several things he says which downright boggle the mind – such as him once saying that you could have as much opposite lock as you like from apex to exit, as long as you got to the apex neatly.

    #214831
    raymondu999
    Participant
    #214832
    Fer no.65
    Participant
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