Fastest production car in the world...

heiney9

Jstas wrote:

I'm not sure what you are getting at because I can't seem to find the post you are talking about. It's probably staring me right in the face and I'm just not seeing it.

Anyhow, Indy (IRL) cars are vastly different from F1 cars. Indy cars are more like NASCAR cars in the way they are regulated. If you want an American racing series comparison to an F1 car, the Champ cars (used to be CART cars) are a better comparison.

Post #44 is where I said "faster than an F1 car". I meant Indy car and for those not familiar with the two sports it's quite a difference, hence my later statement.

Also thanks for the details in the rest of your post. Very informative!

H9

Systems

Jstas wrote:

Nigel Mansell, arguably one of the greatest racing drivers of all time,

Great post,
Ah Mansell or Our Nige, after Gilles Villeneuves (thus my polk name GV#27)tragic death Mansell became my favourite driver because of his shear determination to win and he could pull off some amazing passes and was a thrill to watch like GV was.Senna and Prost may have had more talent but Nige was not far behind and made up the difference with desire.F1 has not been the same without these guys around.

GaryZ06

Nigel Mansell was the F1 version of Dale Earnhardt.

audiobliss

GaryZ06 wrote:

Nigel Mansell was the F1 version of Dale Earnhardt.

NOW I have some kind of a 'nail' to hang all this great info on...thanks!

F1nut

GaryZ06 wrote:

Nigel Mansell was the F1 version of Dale Earnhardt.

Apples and oranges.

GaryZ06

F1nut wrote:

Apples and oranges.

I am talking about their aggressive driving styles.....that is apples to apples.

shack

I really miss the old IMSA GTP and FIA Group C racing. Back in the day when Porsche, Jaguar, BMW, Nissan, Ford, Chevy, Toyota etc... were putting big bucks into the closed cockpit GT Prototypes and Group C cars this was great racing. I was able to see them several times in the late 80's at Road Atlanta. There was nothing better than to spend a weekend watching both Trans-Am (when Rousch was king there) and the GTP cars. One of the most horrendeous road race wrecks I've withnessed was the 1986 Los Angeles Times Grand Prix at Riverside in which the Chevy Corvette of Doc Bundy hit the Ford Probe of Lyn St. James and the Jaguar of Chip Robinson. St. James' car caught fire and Chip Robinson nearly cartwheeled into the crowd. Fortunately, St. James survived the flames and Robinson escaped uninjured. Watching it I was sure all three would have been killed.

There were some awesome cars developed for this series.

Jstas

GV#27 wrote:

Great post,
Ah Mansell or Our Nige, after Gilles Villeneuves (thus my polk name GV#27)tragic death Mansell became my favourite driver because of his shear determination to win and he could pull off some amazing passes and was a thrill to watch like GV was.Senna and Prost may have had more talent but Nige was not far behind and made up the difference with desire.F1 has not been the same without these guys around.

A few things about Mansell.

He was hand selected by Enzo himself to drive for Ferrari and he was the last driver to have that honor.

His aggressive style earned him the nickname il leone which is Italian for The Lion and it was the tifosi that gave it to him. The tifosi is the mass of rabid Ferrari fans. Kinda like the Kiss Army.

He studied engineering at Matthew Boulton College. Before he was a racing driver he worked as an Aerospace Engineer at Lucas Engineering.

His first foray into racing was in karts and he eventually sold everything he had to move up to Formula Ford. It was a pretty stead progression after that through Formula Ford, Formula Three and then Formula One. He has also done stints in CART and the BTCC and now drives in the Gran Prix Masters series. His career is over-shadowed by the recent retirement of Schumacher but in his time, he was the Michael Schumacher of F1.

Mansell held the record for number of wins in a single season at 9 wins. He set that record in 1992 and Schuey was the one who broke it but it took him until 2004 to do it.

In 2005, Mansell was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.

He's not exactly the same as Dale Earnhardt. I think he's much more accomplished than Earnhardt was and he doesn't have the fan following that Earnhardt had. There is no denying that he is one of the best to ever drive. Hell, Murray Walker, an F1 commentator, ranked Mansell as one of the top 10 drivers of all time.


Yeah, Senna and Prost may have had more wins and such but I don't think they had more talent. They were in F1 longer than Mansell and Mansell jumped around alot. If he ran his whole career in FIA santioned races, he'd have similar numbers to Senna I think. So no, I don't think that Senna and Prost are more talented. I think they are on equal footing with Mansell.

Jstas

shack wrote:

I really miss the old IMSA GTP and FIA Group C racing. Back in the day when Porsche, Jaguar, BMW, Nissan, Ford, Chevy, Toyota etc... were putting big bucks into the closed cockpit GT Prototypes and Group C cars this was great racing. I was able to see them several times in the late 80's at Road Atlanta. There was nothing better than to spend a weekend watching both Trans-Am (when Rousch was king there) and the GTP cars. One of the most horrendeous road race wrecks I've withnessed was the 1986 Los Angeles Times Grand Prix at Riverside in which the Chevy Corvette of Doc Bundy hit the Ford Probe of Lyn St. James and the Jaguar of Chip Robinson. St. James' car caught fire and Chip Robinson nearly cartwheeled into the crowd. Fortunately, St. James survived the flames and Robinson escaped uninjured. Watching it I was sure all three would have been killed.

There were some awesome cars developed for this series.

I know what you mean. It just hasn't been the same since the anal rententive SCCA took it over. IMSA was like an outlaw series. There were restrictions on cars but the U.S. never had a Touring Car series like GB, Japan and Australia. So IMSA was about as close as we got. Due to the popularity of the NASCAR racing, it always got the shaft in coverage and most people thought it was backwater. Heh, NASCAR fans thinking any other racing series is backwater is kinda funny! Anyhow, it was awesome to watch because even though you had one or two teams that were dominant (Gentilozzi) it was anyone's race on any given weekend. The competition was fierce and the cars had strengths and weaknesses that the drivers had to drive to in order to be competative. It was low-tech racing but it was great racing to watch.

Now, with the SCCA running it, it's so regulated and watered-down that it's just not interesting anymore. It's getting to be like NASCAR and F1 and nothing more than a high speed parade of billboards.

At least Champ cars, even if the series is barely on life-support, are still fun to watch if you can find TV coverage. I wish The Speed Channel would cover WRC again. I really miss it and this season is a good one because Loeb isn't dominating. I never saw someone win 3 championships, back to back, like that. He is honestly the most raw driving talent I have ever seen! He's cool as ice and if he ever decides to get out of a WRC car, someone better give him a ride in F1 'cause he'd eclipse Schuey's career very quickly!

Sami

Most agressive F1 drivers? Gilles and Keke. Most talented? Hakkinen and Senna. The jury is still out on Kimi but he seems to be the #1 of the current drivers.

The classic battle, Gilles vs Arnoux back in '79: http://youtube.com/watch?v=JIJuqUsj7zA

If you're a F1 fan then I also need to mention that watching Grand Prix in HD(-DVD) is a special treat. 70mm film transferred into HD with historic F1 tracks, big name drivers doing the stunts and near-F1 cars of the time too.

heiney9

Sami wrote:

Most agressive F1 drivers? Gilles and Keke. Most talented? Hakkinen and Senna. The jury is still out on Kimi but he seems to be the #1 of the current drivers.

The classic battle, Gilles vs Arnoux back in '79: http://youtube.com/watch?v=JIJuqUsj7zA

If you're a F1 fan then I also need to mention that watching Grand Prix in HD(-DVD) is a special treat. 70mm film transferred into HD with historic F1 tracks, big name drivers doing the stunts and near-F1 cars of the time too.

Emo (Emerson Fitipaldi) has gotta be up there as well. Always enjoyed watching him race.

Systems

Jstas wrote:

A few things about Mansell.

He was hand selected by Enzo himself to drive for Ferrari and he was the last driver to have that honor.

His aggressive style earned him the nickname il leone which is Italian for The Lion and it was the tifosi that gave it to him. The tifosi is the mass of rabid Ferrari fans. Kinda like the Kiss Army.

He studied engineering at Matthew Boulton College. Before he was a racing driver he worked as an Aerospace Engineer at Lucas Engineering.

His first foray into racing was in karts and he eventually sold everything he had to move up to Formula Ford. It was a pretty stead progression after that through Formula Ford, Formula Three and then Formula One. He has also done stints in CART and the BTCC and now drives in the Gran Prix Masters series. His career is over-shadowed by the recent retirement of Schumacher but in his time, he was the Michael Schumacher of F1.

Mansell held the record for number of wins in a single season at 9 wins. He set that record in 1992 and Schuey was the one who broke it but it took him until 2004 to do it.

In 2005, Mansell was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.

He's not exactly the same as Dale Earnhardt. I think he's much more accomplished than Earnhardt was and he doesn't have the fan following that Earnhardt had. There is no denying that he is one of the best to ever drive. Hell, Murray Walker, an F1 commentator, ranked Mansell as one of the top 10 drivers of all time.


Yeah, Senna and Prost may have had more wins and such but I don't think they had more talent. They were in F1 longer than Mansell and Mansell jumped around alot. If he ran his whole career in FIA santioned races, he'd have similar numbers to Senna I think. So no, I don't think that Senna and Prost are more talented. I think they are on equal footing with Mansell.

Hi Jstas, I have to respectfully disagee on a few points.

I was a HUGE Mansell fan but Senna was without a doubt:) the best driver of that era (and maybe of all time?)and they were there about the same amount of time.

Senna 84-94 Mansell 82-92 and part of 94.Prost I think started in 79 and retired at the end of 93

World wide Mansell had a huge fan base and probably out numbered big E's.

Prost handely out dueled Mansell at Ferrari in 90.:(

Mansells dominance of the 92 season had a lot to do with the FW13.(9 wins, World Champ)
(the scrap between Senna and Nige at the end of the 92 Monaco GP was a classic)

I bet Murray Walker would rank Senna and Prost higher than Nige.

btw.Gilles was selected by the old man(Enzo) also and he thought of him as a son.

Jstas

Sorry GV#27, I'm not going to argue your opinion with you.

Systems

Jstas wrote:

Sorry GV#27, I'm not going to argue your opinion with you.

Oh come on be a sport:D

Systems

Sami wrote:

The classic battle, Gilles vs Arnoux back in '79: http://youtube.com/watch?v=JIJuqUsj7zA

Sami,I missed this part of your post the first time,but that was a classic.They were both nuts ,driving open wheelers like stock cars.And after the race apparently instead of getting in each others face they talked and joked about how much fun they each had.:)