1978: Patrick Depailler fearlessly drives in wet weather.

[Søren Holm Pedersen]

http://www.wimp.com/wetweather/


Thought this might be of interest to some of you. I know I was blown away. Great footage, and incredibly awe inspiring driving of an openwheeler!

 

[William Levesque]

Good stuff, thanks for posting

 

[Ondrej Kapal]

Those days drivers had balls over their ego. These days its exactly the opposite

 

[Xosé Estrada]

That track condition would be a red flag today for sure.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Those days drivers had balls over their ego. These days its exactly the opposite

The human nature is the same. Had the drivers of today grown up in that time you can be sure they would have done the same thing. Schumacher is one person that went through the bad days and continued into the safe days.

That track condition would be a red flag today for sure.

Because we don´t have monsoon-tires.

 

[William Levesque]

I would have LOVE to see Gilles in the same conditions ! (Like at Watkins Glen, when he was 11 seconds faster than second place (his teammate) in horrendous conditions )

 

[Danny Asbury]

See, you had to be kind of nutty to drive F1 back then, if you ask me.

 

[António da Cunha]

Pure awesomeness!

 

[Hampus Andersson]

See, you had to be kind of nutty to drive F1 back then, if you ask me.

You would think that yes Scientists wondered for a long time why people would go racing in cars like this and assumed they were fearless people with a death wish.

Then they did tests and found out that F1 drivers are just as mentally stable as the best Jet fighter pilots around.

 

[Ross Balfour]

Those days drivers had balls over their ego. These days its exactly the opposite

But drivers nowadays are far more talented IMO

 

[William Levesque]

More professionnal maybe (Nah, pretty sure in fact), but more talented ? Maybe as a whole grid, but as individual... I'm pretty sure that the most drivers we have today would sh*t their pants in these beasts (If they can manage not to break their proper gearbox)

 

[Hampus Andersson]

I would bet my money on Hamilton if he would go head to head with Ayrton himself.

Assuming they would first drive Senna´s championship car (any of them) then go head to head in Hamilton´s 08 car.

 

[William Levesque]

Any vintage/classic F1 drivers would be crap in today's car... They are too clinical, there's no place for creativity and different driving style.

Sure, some say one likes more oversteer, the other more understeer, but it is so minimal ! Back in the days you had guys driving in more standard fashion, others all over the place sliding (*cough* Gilles *cough*) and they were still head-to-head in races doing the same laptimes !

 

[Hampus Andersson]

That is down to regulations i believe. If you think regulations are open today just look at those years.
You could run essentially whatever you want as long as it´s not a big fan on the car.

The cars were not even half as effective as they are today as well and they are probably way harder to drive on the limit then the cars back then.

 

[William Levesque]

That's the thing though, I couldn't care less how ineffective they would be today. They were pure, simple and visceral. You had to drive them with guts as it was probably trying to kill you every corner, and to go fast, which you could also do in a crap car, you had to go over the limit.

Now, it's more of the same. They all have to drive the same because the cars don't permit anything else, the only place where you can prove yourself is in overtaking, and they are slowly killing that aswell. If you have a crap car today, you're doom because you can't get that extra bit... It's not because it's tougher, it's probably not (Except maybe for the G's), but because they're just killing any creativity a driver would need to go where he isn't suppose to go. It's all just a big show where everyone is suppose to finish where he should, and where slower cars are encouraged to stay behind.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Yes the cars are safer and more evolved. The cars of today are way tougher to drive on the limit then the old cars.
Todays cars are swiss knifes, while the cars back then were butter knifes.

Just the limit itself is probably huge. Back then you could dance on the limit and the car was very forgiving but today the optimal slip angle of the tires are miniscule and it takes the best drivers on the planet to squeeze out that last few tenths.

 

[William Levesque]

The cars were by no mean easier to drive, that's not even something we should be arguing on. As I said, the difference with today is that you just can't express yourself on the track, no matter how hard you try, they are too clinical.

To dance on the limit with the classics was possible, but it took a helluva driver still, it was by no mean easy. It was also probably a reason why gaps between drivers were bigger, because you could drive the car like you could do.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Easier on the limit. I think dancing an old car on the limit is far more easier then dancing a RBR or Mclaren or Ferrari on the limit today.

 

[William Levesque]

What you don't seem to understand is that you just don't dance today, you just point the car and let technology do the rest. Of course it takes practice, like in everything, but from what we saw it is pretty easy to get fast quickly. (And please, the RBR is so stable a new-born could drive it ! *sarcasm*)

 

[Hampus Andersson]

What you don't seem to understand is that you just don't dance today, you just point the car and let technology do the rest. Of course it takes practice, like in everything, but from what we saw it is pretty easy to get fast quickly. (And please, the RBR is so stable a new-born could drive it ! *sarcasm*)

You can still dance. Hamilton danced his Mclaren in Korea while chasing the pole position. Go watch the qualifying session again if you don´t believe me. When it rains you see alot of dancing on the limit.
The difference is the window is narrower that´s all.

It´s harder to dance because the limit is much narrower today, but it´s still possible to dance within that limit.
It only takes an even better driver to do it then it took to dance an old car.

Yea it´s easy to get fast quickly... It only took over a year for a seven time world champion that only had been away for three years to get back up to speed...