Quote:
Originally Posted by MKSixer
Well. You may disagree with it but it doesn't invalidate the information. You can grab Chuck Yeager's book and read the story.
And if you believe that the older cars with less speed are harder on you, the next time there is a club event at your track I enjoin you to go out in a VW GTI and follow up with a GT3-RS. That's about the relative speed difference in the F1 cars we are discussing. You'll be shocked.
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The older cars are much more difficult to drive. They had narrow bias ply tires, no downforce, 400+hp through said narrow tires, manual transmission without synchros, etc.
The drivers were driving on tracks with no run-off and minimal safety features, meaning what is now a minor moment of oversteer and a trip through the asphalt after a corner was a fatal accident. No seatbelts, cork helmets, etc.
Of course, modern cars pull more G forces, but difficulty of driving a car is so much more than simply lateral acceleration.
A more apt comparison is to go out in an old GTI with engine mods giving it double the power, no seatbelt or other safety features, bad tires, and drive it at 10/10ths on a track with no safety features.
The new-ish F1 car I drove at Paul Ricard was much easier to drive on the limit than the old 1970s Formula Fords I've driven a few hot laps in. By a significant margin.