Driving an F1 car - how hard is it really?

[henners88]

I've technically driven an F1 car. Well I sat in Damon Hill's 1997 Arrows whilst a few mechanics pushed it into a bay at their Leafield factory. I steered it so I drove it.

[dj_bytedisaster]

I've technically driven an F1 car. Well I sat in Damon Hill's 1997 Arrows whilst a few mechanics pushed it into a bay at their Leafield factory. I steered it so I drove it.

I did that with Paul Tracy's champcar at Lausitzring in 2001 Only single seater I'll ever fit into *lol*

[Tazio]

I've technically driven an F1 car. Well I sat in Damon Hill's 1997 Arrows whilst a few mechanics pushed it into a bay at their Leafield factory. I steered it so I drove it.

Prove it

[henners88]

I did that with Paul Tracy's champcar at Lausitzring in 2001 Only single seater I'll ever fit into *lol*

Cool. The proper seat wasn't in Damon's and I could barely see over the steering wheel lol.

[henners88]

Prove it

Unfortunately I don't have a full album of pictures like yours from Austin Doc.
I have my letter somewhere and a teamshirt and hat though lol.

[Tazio]

I believe you. Just having a little sport my man!!

[dj_bytedisaster]

Cool. The proper seat wasn't in Damon's and I could barely see over the steering wheel lol.

Lausitzring 2001 was absolutely amazing. Considering that less than a week before the twin towers had been felled in NY, it was amazing how bravely the folks went on with the show. They let me sit in Pauls car while pushing it into the garage, I played poker with Alex Zanardi's mechanics. Fantastic.
BUT As a huge Alex fan I'll never forget just how heartbroken I left the track after witnessing Alex's horrific shunt

I even wrote a series of articles for Autoracing1 that year - can't believe how bad my English was back then :S But I plead for leniency - that was almost 12 years ago
part 1
part 2

Part 3 is sadly no longer to be found

[henners88]

I thought that race rang a bell in my mind, awful events. Thanks for sharing though.

My experience was work experience after visiting Arrows through a technology/racing project I did with school. Work experience was compulsory and I had the foresight to write a letter before our visit to see if I would get it. Had a day going around the factory and then I passed my letter on to the lady showing us around. Managed to get work experience and loved every minute of it. I was there the week Hill crashed at Monaco and saw his car in bits in what they called the 'crash investigation room'. So cool to see after I had watched the race the previous weekend. Spent time in many departments and had a great laugh. Met Tom Walkinshaw briefly too. Hard to believe that was 16 years ago!

Anyway not really driving an F1 car, but close

[wedge]

I've technically driven an F1 car. Well I sat in Damon Hill's 1997 Arrows whilst a few mechanics pushed it into a bay at their Leafield factory. I steered it so I drove it.

Nice.

Biggest kick I got from work experience was boxing up a small batch of new Merc turbos/engine block (can't remember which) to be Fed Ex'ed to the US.

[raybak]

After a ride in the 2 seater F1 car at Melbourne, I wreckon you would need heaps of training. My neck hurt for a couple of weeks after the ride. Everything happens so quickly, you would need lots of practice to get up to speed.

Ray