The Concept Of Racing 

"Pramoda Ravi (Promo)" (pramoda-ravi) 01/11/2016 at 00:47 • Filed to: None

3

31

There seems to be an age old debate on who has the bigger set of balls. Rally drivers, road racers, or drag racers. I’m leaving drifting out of this one since style points don’t translate to lap times, if anyone has the equation for the conversion leave it in the comments and I’ll pull out my Ti-83 from highschool. A good driver is skilled in racing all four of drive styles. Take Tanner Foust, Ken Block, Sebastian Loeb (As DrJohannVegas pointed out), or any decent driver as an example. That being said, from personal experience there are variations between each type…

Rally Racing - This type of racing requires a special type of trust. If the driver or the co-driver makes an error, you end up hitting a tree or something just as solid. For the most part you’re not fighting with other cars and that means the only human interaction you have is between the two people inside the metal death trap with a cage. Rally racing requires the most talent, and that’s not an easy statement to make. Every stage is different, the conditions of the course change throughout the day, and when night stages are involved things get tricky. You’re fighting for grip without an understanding of how much grip is available to you. Racing through closed public roads without knowing which corners come up ahead by memory, but rather the co-driver giving you directions on how fast you can enter into the next corner. With most types of racing you’re provided a safety barrier or sand pit as a run-off in case you make an error, with rally, there’s a tree called Frank. Don’t hit Frank, he’ll fuck you up.

(Driven by Christian Faloppa)

Drag Racing - It may seem simple from the outside. You’re going in a straight line as fast as you can, how hard could it be? It can be pretty difficult. Nailing the launch isn’t an easy task when you have a couple thousand horsepower waiting to be unleashed. Keeping the car off the wall isn’t easy when you’re running balloon tires that can put the car into a tank slapper from hell. It may seem easy from the outside, but it’s a different perspective from inside the vehicle.

(Driven by Scott Frazho)

Road Racing - This particular form of racing includes the “Human factor”. Not sure how many people play chess, but the idea of it is to stay a few steps ahead. Passing is an art. Being able to overtake a car requires a certain level of mind-fucking. You’re playing the game of who’s balls is bigger, meaning who can brake the latest while making a move to overtake. You can expect a person to be where they “should” be, however the magic word is “should”. Don’t assume a person is going to drive the way they’re supposed to drive, they might make a complete asshat move. People can be hot-headed and I’d suggest playing a few games of chess or take a few classes in psychology to understand why people do what they do.

(A few DTM highlights)

In the end, we’re all car people and we just wanna do cool shit with cars. Respect each form of racing because it requires a different type of skill than what you may have experienced or read about. Understand everyone finds passion in different types of driving. Check out #GRIDLIFE if you’re into open track day, time attack, or endurance racing. It’s pretty cool to see some bat shit crazy cars racing around.

(Driven by Andy Smedegard)

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Pramoda Ravi (Promo) 01/11/2016 at 01:01

2

If we expand just a bit, Isle of Man. Literally one tiny mistake or a pebble in the wrong location could kill you before you even realize what’s happened.

Pramoda Ravi (Promo) > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 01/11/2016 at 01:04

0

Same could be said about PPIHC.

I’d deem those two the “unlimited” zero fucks given level of motorsports. Those racers have balls made of unobtainium and probably drink battery acid as a protein shake.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Pramoda Ravi (Promo) 01/11/2016 at 01:14

0

Can’t disagree. Legend says that the New Year’s Eve Ball dropped at Times Square is actually David Jefferies’ ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Jef… ) left testicle.

Little Black Coupe Turned Silver > Pramoda Ravi (Promo) 01/11/2016 at 01:29

1

Why does the size of someone balls have such a presence in your ideas of racing?

DrJohannVegas > Pramoda Ravi (Promo) 01/11/2016 at 01:31

1

A good driver is skilled in racing all four of drive styles. Take Tanner Foust, Ken Block, or any decent driver as an example.

Ok. Tanner Foust: only Rally/rallycross racing (and Top Gear)

Ok, what about Ken Block? Only Rally/Rallycross racing (and sikkk internet vids, yo.)

I think with all those balls on your mind, you kinda missed the point of your own post.

Pramoda Ravi (Promo) > DrJohannVegas 01/11/2016 at 01:37

0

But then there’s that.... I don’t know too many people who can host a TV show while capturing the entertainment in drifting while also being competitive in wheel to wheel racing.

Pramoda Ravi (Promo) > Little Black Coupe Turned Silver 01/11/2016 at 01:40

0

Figure of speech?

:Shrug: I used it twice, get it...?

Also because I’m not too sure how else to describe a move like this

DrJohannVegas > Pramoda Ravi (Promo) 01/11/2016 at 01:42

1

Being an entertainer =/= Being a racer. I’m just playing by the rules of your own post.

Pramoda Ravi (Promo) > DrJohannVegas 01/11/2016 at 01:45

0

“A good driver is skilled in racing all four of drive styles.”

Your argument is that they can not?

Little Black Coupe Turned Silver > Pramoda Ravi (Promo) 01/11/2016 at 01:47

1

Risky, brash, and depending on the series and rules in place about clipping corners to gain position, illegal.

DrJohannVegas > Pramoda Ravi (Promo) 01/11/2016 at 01:47

0

No, my argument is that the answer you are looking for is Sebastian Loeb.

DrJohannVegas > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 01/11/2016 at 01:51

1

Jefferies was a legend, to be sure. Takes a special kind of crazy to tackle the Mountain.

Pramoda Ravi (Promo) > DrJohannVegas 01/11/2016 at 01:52

0

I will edit the post. You are 100% correct, he is also a truly fantastic driver.

Pramoda Ravi (Promo) > Little Black Coupe Turned Silver 01/11/2016 at 01:55

0

Yet also a moment where you nearly got out of your seat in awe of such a bold move.

DrJohannVegas > Pramoda Ravi (Promo) 01/11/2016 at 01:56

0

There are many more multi-discipline drivers in the past (for instance, the uber-legend Jacky Ickx, who won Le Mans, F1 races, Dakar, Can-Am, and it goes on... ), but specialization and tighter contracts constrain drivers earlier in their careers. So, you don’t get to see as many drivers change paths (or do many at once!) these days. Loeb is the most recent and notable example, but is definitely not the only one.

DrJohannVegas > Pramoda Ravi (Promo) 01/11/2016 at 02:00

0

Here’s another such moment:

Winning is winning. Entertaining is entertaining.

Burn-Spaz1966-Burn > Little Black Coupe Turned Silver 01/11/2016 at 02:01

0

Guts,Backbone and Spine are all interchangeable with the “B” word. When actually its all in the mind. Kinda like the Big debate with woman in Most military Jobs, its a Melding of Person with machine. (That is an opinion of mine.)

Pramoda Ravi (Promo) > DrJohannVegas 01/11/2016 at 02:02

0

I do not argue. A great driver is good at every form of racing, that is the point I was trying to get across. My two examples could have been better, that’s for sure.

DrJohannVegas > Pramoda Ravi (Promo) 01/11/2016 at 02:04

1

Your examples were entertainers who also race. (I’d argue with varying degrees of success in their chosen fields.) I think it says a lot about how you think about “racing”, which was also clear in the tone of your post.

Pramoda Ravi (Promo) > DrJohannVegas 01/11/2016 at 02:04

0

You’ve been on fire today.

DrJohannVegas > Pramoda Ravi (Promo) 01/11/2016 at 02:05

0

I soak myself in gasoline and play with matches. It’s a bad habit.

Little Black Coupe Turned Silver > Pramoda Ravi (Promo) 01/11/2016 at 02:13

0

A move that had nothing to do with the anatomy of the driver. It's silly to say only a guy could pull off something like that. I'm aware it's a common phrase, but it needs to stop.

Pramoda Ravi (Promo) > DrJohannVegas 01/11/2016 at 02:14

0

Or you know it’s 2am and I just finished watching Top Gear.

On one hand you’ve got drivers such as Lauda and Hunt that create entertainment through driving.

On another you’ve got entertainers who are great drivers such as Block and Foust.

It was written as partial entertainment and fact.

DrJohannVegas > Pramoda Ravi (Promo) 01/11/2016 at 02:15

1

If you’ll forgive me one more: co-founder of the excellent “Race of Champions”: Michele Mouton. (Le Mans class winner, long time WRC driver and very nearly World Champion)

Edit: Forgot that she won PPIHC.

Pramoda Ravi (Promo) > DrJohannVegas 01/11/2016 at 02:23

0

I think of the track as your canvas and your vehicle as the brush.

Nauraushaun > Pramoda Ravi (Promo) 01/11/2016 at 04:00

0

Style points don’t translate to lap times, but lap times aren’t relevant. Style points and skill are however closely related.

Hoccy > DrJohannVegas 01/11/2016 at 04:16

0

I think Mattias Ekström has quite an impressive career as well. Younger than Loeb, tried everything from WRC to NASCAR and mostly with more competition than Loeb ever saw in WRC.

Might be worth discussing in another post, finding drivers that has proven competetive in most motorsports.

DrJohannVegas > Hoccy 01/11/2016 at 04:36

0

I’ll certainly give you his excellent DTM career. (And he was brilliant to watch drive, as well!) Neat to see Skaife (who’s a good driver, to be sure) compare him to Ickx. But, that list of results seems to suggest he only ever did the Swedish rounds of WRC. That said, I second your proposal of a new post. Might get on it tomorrow.

Hoccy > DrJohannVegas 01/11/2016 at 05:32

0

He did a couple of other rounds as well, but 10th in Sweden in 2005 is a very good result for someone not rallying on a regular basis. It was also in a Skoda Fabia, which never was very competetive. He won the biggest supporting cathegory in 2004. Recently he has started getting good results in rallycross as well. It will be interesting to see him, Loeb and Solberg battle in WorldRX this year, if the rumors are true.

Wheelerguy > Pramoda Ravi (Promo) 01/11/2016 at 07:14

0

Says “We Loeb You”

Dumps him to sister Peugeot

Besides that, here’s a bloke who can race in many different races.

Dusty Ventures > DrJohannVegas 01/11/2016 at 09:02

1

Tanner definitely isn’t an entertainer who also races. He’s a racer who also entertains.