| Author | Message | ||
| Craig A (Milo)
Member Username: Milo Post Number: 284 Registered: 4-2003 |
Thanks for the info. | ||
| Andreas Forrer (Tifosi12)
Intermediate Member Username: Tifosi12 Post Number: 1271 Registered: 10-2002 |
Craig, the website is www.drive-a-formula-one.com Click on the British Union Jack to get English text. However looking at their 2003 schedule it looks like they no longer offer Le Luc. I dealt with these guys and they came true in every promise. But you'd have to settle for Barcelona, Nuerburgring or Magny Cours. However I did find a company, that still offers Le Luc (so you could pair it up with Maranello or the Monaco GP): www.ags-formel1.com Dunno how professional they are, but I would assume just as much. Problem is, the website doesn't offer English (if you're interested, you can use me as your translator). But it might be an indication, that the class is in German. However having been there I know, that at least some of the guys do speak English. | ||
| Andreas Forrer (Tifosi12)
Intermediate Member Username: Tifosi12 Post Number: 1264 Registered: 10-2002 |
I know what you mean. The trick is to sell it in a mixed bag: Cote d'Azur, Provence, St. Tropez, Le Luc, Niece, Monaco, Firenze, Maranello, Venice Seriously, it works. There is so much to do in that area, it would be actually a shame to only do car things. In all honesty I did it in two trips, one for France/Monaco and one for Italy. | ||
| Craig A (Milo)
Member Username: Milo Post Number: 282 Registered: 4-2003 |
You paint a very beautiful picture and a great trip but my girlfriend (and maybe wife by then) will be with me. I expect I will only get one, maybe two car days.  | ||
| Andreas Forrer (Tifosi12)
Intermediate Member Username: Tifosi12 Post Number: 1263 Registered: 10-2002 |
Craig, I got a spreadsheet at home with all the places, but I recall, that Italy is not on it. However you're really close: Normally right after the Monaco GP, there is a F1 session at Le Luc (near St. Tropez, East of Monaco in France). They use cars from the former AGS F1 team. The track used to be the AGS test track and has all the facilities from the factory. That's where I did my F1 experience. You could arrange for one heck of a trip: Monaco GP, F1 driving experience, Turin car museum, Milano, Modena, Maranello. | ||
| Craig A (Milo)
Member Username: Milo Post Number: 279 Registered: 4-2003 |
WHERE?!? Is Italy one of them? I'm hoping to get over there next year to visit and of course tour the plant. The Ferrari plant that is, but I assume that goes without saying. | ||
| Andreas Forrer (Tifosi12)
Intermediate Member Username: Tifosi12 Post Number: 1261 Registered: 10-2002 |
Craig, you know, that there are several places around the world where you can drive a real F1 for money. I've done it and it is great fun and impressive...and it showed me, that I made the right choice for my professional life. No Schumi lost here. | ||
| Craig A (Milo)
Member Username: Milo Post Number: 277 Registered: 4-2003 |
My apologies to Gordon... I didn't mean to imply he hasn't been "touched". On the contrary I think he is one of the chosen. I too believe he could make up that second as well. What I was getting at was that you nor I (well me for sure) couldn't ever get that last second. I'm good at computers... that is my lot in life. I'd still love to go a few laps in an F1. | ||
| Andreas Forrer (Tifosi12)
Intermediate Member Username: Tifosi12 Post Number: 1260 Registered: 10-2002 |
Definitely true. You have to compare him to a F1 rookie and those guys normally are more than one second off on their first day. I wonder however whether JPM really pushed hard while driving the F1. But anyway, Gordon got really close. With time I bet he'd be able to crack it. | ||
| Jon P. Kofod (95f355c)
Member Username: 95f355c Post Number: 710 Registered: 8-2001 |
Gordon was being modest in my opinion. He had a total of 14 laps in the car (6 of them hot laps), a car he had never driven, wasn't set up for him, on a track he had never been to (in F1 form). Nothing he has every driven can compare to an F1 car. It's not like he came from CART or IRL. We're talking about an full ground effects car with ten times the braking power of what he is used to. I think he could get that last second! Just an opinion. Regards, Jon | ||
| Craig A (Milo)
Member Username: Milo Post Number: 275 Registered: 4-2003 |
I think Gordon said it best when asked something to the effect "Gordon, you're only one or two seconds off the racing pace, are you ready to switch?" Gordon said something to the effect. "No, I feel it's getting that last second that's the real tough part." How true. It is true that maybe we can get into an F1 and run really well but to get times like JPM and MS get on the track takes a special person with talent and skill to really be one with the car. Some people have it, some people don't. Every now and again whatever God you believe in reaches down and touches certain people be it Roger Clemmons, John Elway, Shumi or others and makes them great at what they do. | ||
| Bob Campen (Bob308gts)
Member Username: Bob308gts Post Number: 657 Registered: 9-2001 |
Having followed Nascar since the 60's, things have changed a lot, it has always been a good old boy bump & run racing but the attempt to equalize the cars has just screwed it up from the racers point, spectators point has made for BIG crashes at the super speedways and this is what a lot of them come to see. Selective rule enforcement has pissed me off more than anything else, Nascar does not want to upset the fans of the most popular drivers, I pretty well gave up watching after E jr's win at the Firecracker 400 in 2001 what a farse that was. That said I do believe the Cup race at the Glen is one of the better races of the year, for any type of racing. Nascar has done a great job of marketing to the average Joe, they can relate to the drivers and even pronouce their names, should be interesting to see what happens when Toyota gets their cars and trucks on the track, trucks in 2004, cars 2005 will the good old boys find things wrong with them funny foreign cars that they don't with the US cars. Should be very interesting | ||
| Jon P. Kofod (95f355c)
Member Username: 95f355c Post Number: 709 Registered: 8-2001 |
This is a cross post from "Off Topic": What I get sick of hearing is all the bullshit about how NASCAR is nothing but "turn left, turn left" and that none of those guys could cut it anywhere else. On the BMW forum there were all sort of silly predictions about Gordon putting the FW24 into the wall. Some predicted he would be at least 5-10 seconds off PJM's pace (he actually beat JPM"s morning warm up time). Then I saw a post in "General Discussion" on this board about someone's wife doing 170 mph at a NASCAR Experieince (Richard Petty Driving or something like this) and that it was easy driving a stock car. Bullsh*t !! Just because you can drive a detuned stock car or Indy car (Petty Experience, Driving 101, etc) doesn't prove that NASCAR is easy. The cars you drive at these events are setup for maximum grip and not maximum speed. they crank so much downforce into those cars and dial in a bunch of understeer. Most people are driving those cars at 160 or 170 at 7/10's the cars potential were it set up right. There is a difference between slowly working your way up to 150 on an open track at 7/10ths of the cars potential AND running in a pack of 43 cars many of whom are grafted onto your rear bumper pushing you donw the track at 170-190 mph. I have a friend who piloted a MIG 27 for 30 minutes through one of those adventure comanies in Russia that lets you fly a MIG. Doesn't mean he could engage in airial combat with a bunch of F16's at Mach2. Many of these comments come from people who don't race or have never been on a race track except for the bleachers. I am not a die hard NASCAR supporter but some folks need to shut the &%^% up about something they know nothing about. Many of the people in NASCAR have boat loads of talent and have won at every level of racing on the lower ladders (Sprint cars, dirt track racing, off road racing etc. and even open wheeled cars). If it's so damn easy how come many accomplished road racers can't cut it there. Look at John Andretti, Scott Pruett, Ron Fellows, and now Christian Fittipaldi. None have done well. Look at how Dale Snr. got into a Corvette CR5 at Daytona and ran lap times that were on par with Fellows and the other regulars. Then he proceeded run fast laps at Daytona in the pouring rain at night. Kyle Petty a sub par NASCAR racer has done some good racing in a 996 GT3RS at Daytona and other tracks in Grand Am. I can undestand if some don't like NASCAR purely from an interest standpoint (i.e. cars are old tech and don't look cool, you don't like oval racing etc). But to constantly bash them as something other than real racers with no talent is stupid. Kind of like someone who never made it past high school basketball acting like an expert on the NBA. I guess it boils down to ignorance of many who think they know racing because they spend a few hours a week with their Playstation II or X-Box. There was also a general consensus that JPM was bored to death driving Gordon's car. Might be true but he didn't say so and I don't think any of the people making these comments were there. Just because you drive the world's fastest and most technologically advanced car doesn't mean you can't enjoy something else. JPM still enjoys driving and racing his shifter karts down in Florida and even works on them himself at the track. Whatever floats your boat but I don't get much of an adrenaline rush whacking a small white ball with a stick much less watching others do so on TV. Doesn't mean it doesn't take world class skill just that it doesn't interest me. Jon | ||
| Dave (Maranelloman)
Intermediate Member Username: Maranelloman Post Number: 1891 Registered: 1-2002 |
Believe it or not, I have to agree with Jon here. On the whole, things have gotten much better since Fox took over. And NASCAR isn't all bad, as long as you mute the TV to avoid hearing "boogety-boogety-boogety" and other terbaccy-chawin' oddities... Plus, the NASCAR road races are among my favorite races to watch all year. | ||
| Andreas Forrer (Tifosi12)
Intermediate Member Username: Tifosi12 Post Number: 1253 Registered: 10-2002 |
To some degree I agree: NASCAR is the cash cow in the US that pays for all the F1 coverage. There would probably not be enough interest in F1 to pay for it, so I'm glad I get to see it at all. And since most F1 races are outside any NASCAR time slots, there isn't much of a conflict anyway. Oval racing doesn't do it for me. I know it takes skill and talent, but I can't get interested. Nor in NASCAR. I was interested in CART because they did it all, road, street and oval. However being a racer at heart, I am interested in NASCAR and all the other series from a technical and participating side, so I wouldn't mind driving one of these cars some time. But I still wouldn't want to watch a race. However I have a subscription to RACER, which goes to show, that I do care about more than just F1. As far as Gordon goes: There is a LOT to driving a F1 car and the fact he did so well, was not just the traction control, but certainly also his talent. I predicted, he would spin the car (which you still can do), but he didn't. One off road into the grass was about all. So to finish it up: I don't think Fox ruined Speedvision. It could be a lot more interesting, but I won't complain. I remember the 'dark ages' in the early nineties in the US, where any F1 TV coverage was at stake or unavail. | ||
| Jon P. Kofod (95f355c)
Member Username: 95f355c Post Number: 707 Registered: 8-2001 |
I posted this in "Off Topic" but thought I would also post here since not all read Off Topic much. When it was announced back in the fall of 2001 that FOX was buying Speedvision (now called Speed Channel) no one was more disappointed and weary than I was. Fox home of NASCAR was going to turn Speedvision into an all NASCAR channel. Until recently I hated NASCAR and pretty much shared the opinion of many on this board and a bunch of other boards (BMW boards, Porsche boards) that NASCAR was a bunch of southern tobacco chewin' hicks who couldn't drive a lick. It seems that most people on the message boards mentioned still hate NASCAR, still make NASCAR jokes, and think that FOX ruined Speedvision. In the past year and half I have gotten interested in NASCAR to the point where I watch about half their races and also occasionally watch a Busch Series race or heaven forbid even a Truck Series Race. Don't get me wrong if CART/F1/ALSM/GrandAm/WRC/IRL is on I watch those instead but if nothing else racing related is on I watch NASCAR. It beats watching bowling and golf. I also don't agree that FOX screwed up Speed Channel. I will agree that their is too much NASCAR (I don't watch any of the dozen or so NASCAR shows nor am interested in them) but this has allowed other shows that were not on to be aired. Since FOX took over we get: 1) F1 practice 2) Now live F3000 racing 3) More touring car racing (even Japanese Touring Cars) 4) Shows like "Trading Paint" with Montoya and Gordon 5) F1 Decade (airs older F1 races) 6) SCCA racing such as Formula Mazda, Pro Spec Miata, Toyota Atlantics, and Barber Dodge Pro My view of NASCAR has changed over the past 18 months. While their are still many old geezers who don't belong in racing, NASCAR has brought in new young racers that have real talent (Newman, Johnson, Harvick, Busch etc) that makes the racing exciting in my opinion. Given the great performance of Jeff Gordon in the Williams F1 car I would think that some people might change their minds about the talent level in NASCAR but talking with some of the people I race with they all say that traction control meant any one with some racing experience could drive the car at 9/10's. Just wondering what other's think. Regards, Jon P. Kofod 1995 F355 Challenge #23 FLATOUT RACING Website: http://neverlift.homestead.com/flatout.html |