2008 Formula Master champion Chris van der Drift will race RaceDepartment members!

[Bram Hengeveld]

I think this is one of the coolest (if not the coolest) announcements i have ever made on RD! :victory:

Soon (this fall/winter 2009) RaceDepartment Racing Club members that have RACE On installed will have the chance to test their skills against the real-life racing ace Christopher van der Drift driving the virtual version (#6 in game) of his car in which he won the 2008 Formula Master title with the JD Motorsport team.

What many people don't know is that besides driving International Formula Master, A1GP (New Zealand), GP2 Asia, Formula 1 tests for Honda, and last season World Series by Renault (Team Epsilon Euskadi) Chris is also an avid simracer!

Now the real life racing season has more or less ended Chris is ready for some winter training action and where can he get more competition then here at the core of the RACE On community: RaceDepartment.

I hope you are just as excited as I am and that you all will start practicing really good so we can give the champion some competition when he is ready to take the challenge!

More info to come soon!

 

[Eric Nelson]

thats nice to know, plus i think he has the coolest name for a racing driver ever

OH no Nigel you have forgotten SCOTT SPEED!:highfive:

no flames please just havin fun!

 

[Nigel Atkins]

nope didnt forget scott speed, van der drift is way cooler than speed :wink2:

 

[Eric Nelson]

aaaaaaah man your van der nuts!

 

[Philip Antonia]

This will be cool:good:.

Hope I'll be able to take part when it happens.

 

[Maurice Hurkmans]

great news, looking forward to it

Had the pleasure of meeting Chris irl in 2007 on 2 occasions: really a nice guy and like Bram said, also a fanatic simracer in his sparetime!

 

[Martijn van Bommel]

this is going to be fun.
Think i saw him driving at Brands wen i was there at the V-WTCC in Brands Hatch.
My guess is that he will kick our butts.:smile-big:

 

[Andrii Melnykov]

Does he ram in T1?

 

[Attila Domján]

Hey, nice one, lets race the Mini Coopers

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Hey, nice one, lets race the Mini Coopers

Lol you had time enough to learn RWD cars by now Atti :drool:

 

[Attila Domján]

Ah, Mini will be forever my all time favourite, you know me

 

[Maurice Hurkmans]

Ah, Mini will be forever my all time favourite, you know me

we know, but you can drive rwd aswell you :fwd: junkie :bashful:

 

[Attila Domján]

maybe, if i really really really want....

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

You know you want to Atti

Deep inside you there is still that Ferrari F550 GTR2 hotlap monster who is waiting to get out again!

 

[Attila Domján]

Pffff, it was loooong time ago....

Nice hair btw

 

[Reik Major]

My guess is that he will kick our butts.:smile-big:

Hmmm... I'm not sure on that, because sim racing isn't completely the same as real racing. I bet that every real racer misses the real FFB, whilest an experienced sim racer is used to judge the car behavior only by optical and acustical feedback and a little FFB from the steering wheel.

I'm very, very interessted how a real race driver like Chris deals with the missing real FFB! I'm also very interested in a honest opinon, if the knowledge about real racing helps in setting up the sim racing car, and if the changes in physics enforced by setup changes are accurate. I know here are many real race drivers at RD who are very welcome to answer on that!

I would like to know a little how good Chris is in sim racing (which experiences) and i hope he can give a good chase on our aliens here! But i'm afraid the sim racing aliens will take advantage of their big experiences...

 

[Andreas Hultgren]

Cool news! Frontpage stuf even!

Edit: Just noticed that this thread is a week old! Doh! But it will go up on the frontpage anyways

 

[Eric Nelson]

Reik,

As a former Race driver IRl I can tell you for me it has been difficult to adjust to SIM. MOstly your feedback from a car IRL comes in the seat of the pants. YO feel what the car is doing right thru the seat into your butt and hips. ( don't even start here guys! LOL)

Hand pressure on the wheel is one thing to but the biggest single component is what I describe above.

 

[Ollie Chamberlain]

I race my car in hillclimbs / Sprinting and the feeling side of it seems different.

As eric says, when in the seat of my car, harness tight, i feel connected to the car, the feelings are through your body.

On the sim racing side its almost like driving on ice going from my sprint car to sim when comparing "feelings" directly.

However, in terms of line choices / braking points/ slow in fast out techniques, i definately feel that sim racing does actually improve the way your mind thinks when approaching certain tracks / courses.

Just me 2 pennys worth,

Tell you what though, i can`t wait to see him drive!!!

Cheers,
ollie

 

[Jason Pitts]

I agree with Reik - I am really looking forward to hearing what Chris has to say about the sim. Honest feedback from an active driver in the real world series is awesome. I just hope he is honest and doesn't give us a "politically correct" or "sponsor driven" version of his comments. The fact that he is already a sim nut too, is even better.

Let's hope he shares. I wonder if the sim experience is truly an entirely different one than the real world drive around the same track in the real car. I imagine it is, but I'd like to konw from Chris.

Welcome Chris, and thank you for giving us dreaming computer jockeys a thrill!

 

[Maurice Hurkmans]

here a onboard video with Chris behind the wheels of steel

Rough vid, but gives you a good impression of the IFM.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuGLWk6op9E"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuGLWk6op9E[/ame]