Not sure if any of you have seen the special airing on Speed Channel where they take Jeff Gordon and Montoya out to Indy and let each drive the others car. I think for Montoya it was more of a curiousity, but for Gordon, it was the thrill of a lifetime. I was very impressed. I will admit that I am not a fan of Nascar, I find the racing unattractive and just dont like it. I understand some people love it. Good for you...to each their own Gordon was turning lap times that were almost fast enough to make the grid for the F1 race at Indy. This all in his first time in the hyper high tech F1 car with all of it's gadgets. I gained a lot of respect for mr. gordon's driving ability. I wouldnt mind seeing him leave Nascar and give it a go..F1 needs an american driver!!
Thanks for the heads up. I am one of the few NASCAR fans around here. How did Montoya do in the #24 Dupont Chevrolet?
His lap times were good, but hard to judge because they didnt let him run the oval, he was stuck running on the road course (The F1 course). he said he loved driving it. It was a cool special...I htink it might be 1.5 hours. Gordon really kicked butt.
I watched it, and it was fascinating. I'm not a fan of either, and watch Speed primarily for WRC. The commentators were comparing and contrasting the two racing circuits. My brain just overflowed with the mindboggling array of rules of what is and isn't allowed, especially over the years. Both guys seemed to have fun- especially Jeff Gordon. http://www.gordonline.com/archive/061203.html
Saw part of it. A couple of times Gordon got a little squirly and very easily held it together. He has the driving ability to be F1, but don't know about the mental ability as it is totally different.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but Gordon was a second slower than Montoya. Considering that they were in the same cars that's a bigger performance-gap than is being made out. I think Gordon's performances if he would be in F1 would be similar to Zanardi's performances (who was also roughly a second a lap slower than Ralf when he was with Williams).
He was a second slower than someone who drives this car EVERY day, and who is a top tier F1 driver. For his first time in this car, and considering how completely different the car he normally drives is, I think he did pretty damn good....
He droped his lap time something like a second each lap. On his first stint in an F1 car, he got traction control down. Saw the replay last night and noticed that Gordon was having a hard time with the Gs. That is something Zinardi should have been used to and did prepare for, unlike Gordon.
Zinardi was in F-1 before Indy car. So he should know F-1 and the tracks better than other Indy-turned-F1 driver. He failed.
BUMP Maybe we can now see Gordon make the jump to F1 http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/story?seriesId=6&id=2515956