Driver or the car

[obi_waynne]

Which is responsible for a good track time? The driver or the car?

Thinking about this I was initially swayed to say it is down to the car but put a pro driver in a standard car and ameteur driver in a sports car and I bet the times are similar?

Does it depend on the track? Would you say it was a 50/50 split or where would you put the split?

 

[geraint13]

50/50 split. imo.
take f1 for example, a couple of years ago RBR where good but not running aswell as the mclarens or ferraris, now they have, possibly, the best car on the grid and webber is fighting for the championship.

webber has always been a good driver, but his car let him down

so i think point made.

has anyone seen BTCC lately, the focus in that is awesome and runs on lpg. reminds me when they started running A4's on there and they where beating the pants off everything. lol

 

[obi_waynne]

Sabine sort of proved the driver theory with her flying Nurburgring time in a Diesel van!

 

[turbonutter69]

I'd say 50/50.

 

[HDi fun]

It's all driver.

 

[geraint13]

It's all driver.

disagree with you paul. if two drivers had exactly the same car then yes, ten its all down to the driver, but not if they different.

 

[pikey motorsports]

a great car with a crap driver will result in a crap time, they will go into corners too fast, lose too much momentum braking at the wrong times, etc etc etc.

Put an awesome driver in a crap car, and the time will be respectable.

id say its 70/30 driver/car.

 

[obi_waynne]

The driver also needs to know his car very well. Few people IMO can get the best from a car they have hardly driven before.

 

[stamford]

Driver, seen it many times when a car is being slated for giving poor lap times only for a better driver to jump in and prove them wrong. A good driver will adapt to the car and 'feel' it, wring its neck so to speak. I've seen this many times on track where a car on paper is far superior but not driven to its capability and has been easily lapped by an inferior car with a better driver. Very rare do we see a driver with a decent car push it to its limit and have the utmost confidence in it. With this I mean a car which relies on driver input not electronic aids, so raw driving skills. Nothing better than seeing in-car footage of a driver sawing at the wheel going sideways but in control and in the lead.

 

[TCJBOLDIE]

Had a friend who sold his track Porsche and had a call from the buyer who intimated that he had removed some of the parts as the reason why he could not match his lap times.
They arranged to meet at the track where my friend promptly hopped into his old Porsche produced the advertised lap times.