Driving a Champ car

[KC]

In the latest issue of Automobile magazine, Mark Gillies gets a chance to drive Dario Franchitti's Team KOOL Green Honda Reynard and comes away very impressed. Quotes from the article...

A Champ car assaults the body and mind. The acceleration, braking and cornering are violent, and it seems at first as if you are barely along for the ride. Your brain can't cope with the way the car hurls itself towards the scenery, or quite compute that it will go quite that fast through a corner or than it will slow down that suddenly. And around the Sebring International Raceway, which is as poorly paved as some of Michigan's roads, the bumps and stiffness of the suspension make it difficult to see ahead and keep your feet on the pedals.

Franchitti tells me that the biggest problem with driving a Champ car is getting the tires up to temperature. "You need to have the confidence to light the rears up," he says, adding that even he can close to spinning the car on cold tires. And on the morning of my drive, the air is a chilly (for Florida) 38F degrees. Needless to say, I spin the car on cold tires. The first time my right foot pushes toward the floor in a straight line, there's the unmistakabe sound of tires spinning and the unmistakable feel of the rear end trying to acquaint itself with the scenery. Fortunately the Reynard's steering is so direct that the time between sensation and action is instant. Unfortunately, when the rear tires hit a bump at the exit of the next corner while I'm feeding in a touch too much power, my reactions aren't quite so quick. Faster than you can say spin, the Reynard has. For someone who has wondered how Champ car drivers can spin their cars at restarts on cold tires, doing so illustrates how easy it is.

The performance is staggering. Nothing save for a stint in space exploration or a flight in an F-16, can prepare you for the way a Champ car honks down the road.

The rest of the article goes on to describe more of the sensations of braking and the physical demands of the steering and pedal efforts required as well as an article on driver physical fitness.

Other than writing for Automobile Magazine, Mark Gillies races vintage sportscars. He also lapped at Ferrari's test circuit Fiorano in a Ferrari 355 F1 sports car during the official unveiling within 1/2 second of Michael Schumacher's best ever lap time there (in the same car) to the amazement of the mechanics present. He is obviously a good driver. Pick up this issue and check it out.


[This message has been edited by KC (edited 01 June 2000).]

[Liz]

Thanks KC, that got my heart started! The only race car I've ever "driven" is a simulator, but even that was a lot to handle for me. He's a lucky dude.