Race Car Learning Curve

[JohnBM01]

With Danica Patrick trying to get accustomed to the Dallara chassis, this got me to wondering... what is usually the learning curve in getting accustomed to new engine and chassis combinations?

I can recall Juan Pablo Montoya when he ran in (then) CART back in 1999. He was a kick-ass driver with his combination of Honda power and a Reynard (I believe it was a Reynard he had that year) chassis. He switched to Toyota power a year later... and he was crap. DNF after DNF. I think he won only a few races, but not a real threat in the 2000 CART season. I usually wonder as a racer, does it seem to be a matter of being accustomed to a chassis/engine/tire combination? I brought up the Danica Patrick example because one of the pit reporters talked about her getting adjusted to the new chassis. D. Patrick has a 5' 1" frame. Danica claimed that she had trouble trying to see, not to mention having some understeer problems at the Kansas race. Most purpose-built cars have a great number of different modifications. Most spec-race cars have specific body, engine, and tire packages. Some series have you race with a certain mandated tire or engine or both. So trying to understand the learing curve can be a bit strange. I think I can remember when the Corvette C5-R had certain tires to it and had slow times at Le Mans. But when they switched to Michelin, their lap times improved around Le Mans. There seems to be an interesting learning curve in working with certain tires, chasses, and engines.

I'm curious about this learning curve with certain race car combinations. Care to add to this discussion so we can get this discussion going?

 

[TheCracker]

I'd say that when it comes to getting used to a new car its not so much a learning curve - more so it's weather the car responds to their style of driving. Some drivers like understeer, some over. Some might like to throw the car into a turn, others might have a smoother, flowing style. Drivers do take a while to get used to a car, but they do get plenty of testing before they race a chassis, so any issues they still have with a chassis come race day will probably be down to a clash of driving style.

A driver is always full of excuses - they'll blame the car, it's tires, other drivers getting in their way, etc, etc. Danica can also probably blame her TotM* as well!




* a bit uncalled for i know.

 

[YSSMAN]

Given that the motorsport I know most about, NASCAR, is a bit different than the afformentioned sports, I'm not completely certain that my point will be completely valid... So here it goes.

In NASCAR, things are supposed to be "even" given the mandated chassis, body, engine, etc designs that the folks down in Daytona have built uppon for years. However, each team has their own strengths and weaknesses for given parts of the car, different setups for tracks, etc.

Maybe the best example is (to match John's point) Michael Waltrip's move from the DEI Chevrolet Monte Carlo to his own Evrenham (sp?) powered Dodge Charger. It is important to take note in the fact that Michael was a dominant figure when it came to superspeedway racing at tracks like Daytona and Talledega with DEI, but now that he is in a completely different car he has been pushed to the back of the NASCAR lineup when it comes to performance.

Kurt Bush had a similar problem at the start of the season, as he moved from a Rousch-powered Ford Taurus last season to a Penske Dodge Charger. Granted, Penske is argueably the top-performing Dodge team in NASCAR (only the factory-backed Evernham racing is doing as well), but Bush had a rough start and only now has begun to pick the pace back up.

What I find strange about the whole moving of drivers is that fundementally, the cars are essentially the same mechanically speaking, but they all perform completely different, each one a different animal. That is why teams often have more than 10 cars for a given season, different ones designed for different tracks (some designs interchangeable, see Texas and Lowe's).

...Does that add to the discussion at all?

 

[m.piedgros]

I'm not so sure about this learning curve stuff. Some drivers can be thrown in any car and just go blindingly fast. Example, Tony Stewart. Others can be thrown in, for lack of a better phrase "not-so-different" cars over one weekend, e.g. Andy Wallace (DP to Lola EX 256), and be fast. Others can't seem to get a handle on new cars so quickly, for example, as you mentioned John, Juan Pablo. There is definitely a learning curve. I recently have moved up from Rotax Max competition to 125cc Shifter Karts. Believe it or not, the two karts are very different. I don't mean to brag, but I was able to move over to the 125cc and get competitive pretty quick. Since that date I have also driven the Rotax kart and, after a brief (very brief) reaclimation lap or two I was able to be competitive. I suppose we can conclude that it depends on the specific situation and driver.

m.piedgros

 

[scoobyonline200]

So I guess that a car can me driven very differently, even if its the same car. I understand how drivers have their own way of driving. For example, say you compare Alain Prost to Ayrton Senna, when they were at McLaren they both drove the same car. Obviously they were tuned different and so forth, but watching them drive, you can see how they both handled the cars differently. Whats different in the Dallara Chassis than the one she had before? oh and what kind of driving style does she have? I've seen videos of her when she was in Atlantics, but I couldnt tell what kind of style she had. Oh and even in Motorcycles....look at Garry McCoy did in MotoGP... I think he was the first one to ever ride a motorcycle like he did, wasnt it????