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Old 22 Apr 2017, 04:10 (Ref:3728293)   #137
jimclark
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Originally Posted by wnut View Post
Covered, refer post #107 this thread.
'Just responded to your post 133. 'Sorry, haven't been following the thread regularly.
Having been a longtime race fan, competing in different venues was pretty normal for F1 drivers back "in the day", so I don't find Fernando's entry all that exciting.



edit: Having read 107...

Quote:
Originally Posted by wnut View Post
My major concern is that Fred has a huge reputation and probably high expectations of what he can achieve at Indy.
He is taking on highly skilled and very experienced oval racing drivers in a discipline that he has no experience of, close pack racing, the unique handling characteristics of cars set up for and on ovals with very hard walls and no run offs. He is also busy with his F1 season and has not devoted sufficient time to his preparation.
The chances of his ambition exceeding his talent and this going pear shaped seem to be large.

If it all happens to work out for him, I would agree that he could realistically switch to Indycars, but he is on one hang of a learning curve!

Clark and Hill brought new technology to Indy and had an unfair advantage.
Mansell had massive mileage before he ran a race on an oval

In my book thinking you can arrive in a professional racing series and compete with no experience and preparation is just pure arrogance and the risks are just plain unacceptable.
I'm glad he doesn' think it's unacceptable, nor those before him. Clark brought new tech, agreed (altho' it was reallyJack B. in '61, albeit not as successful due to his silly li'l Climax...) but Jackie's and Graham's Lolas were in no way the class of the field in '66 and things might have been different had the race gotten under way a little cleaner than it did; wiping out a third of the competition didn't hurt their chances, for sure.

Regarding "the unique handling characteristics of cars set up for and on ovals with very hard walls and no run offs.", ask AJ's answer to Bob Wollek's grumbling to Preston Henn at Daytona in '83 when AJ was being inserted into the 935 in which he had never turned a wheel. He turned the races fastest laps at night in the rain and they went on to win... (I'll paraphrase for you..."It's a race car. I can drive it.")

Again, I think Alonso is quite capable of getting up to speed and adapting to the traffic like many before him. Certainly, we'll just have to wait and see...

Last edited by jimclark; 22 Apr 2017 at 04:24.
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