Why You Must Ignore The Nerds If You Want To Drive Fast
Another great Alex Lloyd article on Jalopnik entitles Why You Must Ignore The Nerds If You Want To Drive Fast.
Many amateur (Ed: and sim!) racers spend years discussing slip angles and cornering forces, thinking it makes them sound like really, really fast drivers. They proclaim daft statements like, “to truly perfect turn five you must determine the corner radius and lateral load produced, factoring in the desired 12 degrees of slip angle…” blah blah blah. What a load of horseshit….
The fact is, however, that no top racecar driver, and I mean literally none, gives a gerbils buttocks about any of that nonsense. See, driving quickly is not about perfecting angles and basing corner lines on radius versus whatever. It’s about the feel you get from the seat of your pants.
Interestingly what sim racing lacks is the feel you get from the seat of your pants, which if you agree with Alex’s position explains why sim racers spend so much time arguing about which car/game has the most realistic physics etc.
So what do you need to know in order to drive fast? According to Alex:
If you understand and are directly in tune with the movement and pitch of the car, and how that affects the weight distribution and tire load, you have cracked it. Everything else is just complete nerdy overkill. Ignore it. It is simply wasting thoughts and complicating what is actually quite simple. Understanding the basics, practicing those basics and having the talent to execute the basics is all the worlds best drivers do.
Read the full article on Jalopnik at:
http://jalopnik.com/5930557/why-you-must-ignore-the-nerds-if-you-want-to-drive-fast
[ Source: Jalopnik ]
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