Regional karting more competitive than F1??

I wouldn't consider Scott Lackof_Speed very representative for the talents in F1, which was aptly demonstrated by his early departure from that stage.

 

As a kart racer and have competed with Scott Speed. Karting in my opinion is the most competitive form of racing. The good thing about karting its more about the driver than the equipment. You are limited to setup and development of a kart. I have raced against pro drivers anywhere from Indycar to ALMS and its quite surprising how far they are off the pace. Karting is one of those sports where even if you are driving a race car, it will not help your karting at all. Its sport specific. My good friend runs in the Grandam series and is a Porsche factory driver. Every time he comes out to kart with me, he is at least 8/10 to a second off. It has nothing to do with him not being talented. Its just with karts, to be competitive you have to drive a kart at least 2 a week. Give Scott Speed a few races, he will back on the pace.

 

learned his driving... He is a much better driver than Scott Speed, by far, but no less he started in Karting.

 

I'm pretty sure everyone in F1 started in karts....if not everyone, just about everyone. Karts are generally accepted as the starting point for a competitive career in open wheelers.

Mark

 

Michael Schumacher also won Massa's karting event this past off season. He's still got it.

 

The guy definately still has it! BTW, rumor has it he will be doing a little karting here in Colorado before spring...
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Patrick Long?

 

I cannot think of any motorsport that is LESS competitive than F1.

F1 - 4-car show. That's it.

 

Well, karting here in Holland is very competitive. IN the rotax max SR the fields are about 30-50 peeps big! So thats a lot of fun, very high level though! Shifterkarts are very fun to drive, they say its the closest thing to F1 in terms of involvement and the experience. Thats due to the fact that you cant relax in F1 cars since they go so fast over the straights, they are just to short in a F1 car to relax. This is the same in a shifterkart, in a blink of an eye you are at the other side of the straight. That's why so many drivers still gokart. You need a lot of concentration and good condition to be quick!
In other formula cars etc you got enough time to relax on the straight. I read this in an interview with Sebastian Vettel F1 and shifterkarts are very close together in terms of the experience.

 

No kidding!

 

Rather not comment on who it is.

 

If it is that uncompetitive, maybe you should pick it up. I heard it pays well.

 

Great idea, I'm going to call up Jean Todt and ask him for Massa's spot this year.

 

Speed walks into a kart event - how much time has he had in a kart recently, compared to others in the series - and has a fast lap less than a tenth off the fastest. Doesn't seem too shabby.

 

I used to race with/against David Stover who was a karting champion.
He raced against S Speed back when and supposedly they would swap wins.
His dad claimed he was quicker, probably no bias

 

You pay the bills and I'd be happy to do it.

However, you may be onto something: It's pretty competitive in trying to attract sponsor money, THAT I will give it.

Let's make this bet:
In F1, you give me 5 drivers of my choice, I will give you all the rest, and then let's try nascrap: I'll give you 5 drivers of your choice, I will take all the rest, and I will bet you I will have a higher percentage of winners in nascrap than you do in F1.

Deal ?

I don't love nascar, I probably don't even LIKE it, but I tolerate it. For awhile.
I don't like where ALL of the cars are the same, and creativity is not allowed, but it seems to serve them well: for the uneducated motorsports 'fans'. To each their own.

If I ever win the lottery, I'm starting my own series based on the old F-5000 cars, *IF* I can find a chassis cheap enough that the masses can buy. That, and I have to find a way to keep any high-rollers from coming in and dominating (killing) a series.

 

I so don't care about NASCAR, that I couldn't even name 5 drivers. Gordon, Earnhart, blank, Johnson?, blank.

While you have a point that given normal circumstances the winner is decided amongst a group of 4 drivers, that doesn't mean that F1 isn't competitive: Winning a WDC or even "just" a race in F1 means that you have been consistently good and better than the rest and that's why they gave you a car to make it to the very top. The "race" in F1 begins at the engineering level and what cockpit you get based on your qualifications.

Speed was dismissed of F1 because it is so darn competitive. He is a great driver, better than most others, but he wasn't simply good enough for F1.

 

A tenth is quite a bit in KARTing.

 

Oh wait, a few came to my mind: Montoya, Villeneuve, Speed.

 

Nice

Problem is, being competitive when back in 8th, 10th or 12th doesn't mean a thing - in ANY motorsport.
There are few elitists that understand F1 or racing in general the way we do - that it all starts in the
Engineering Department (actually, it starts in the Finance Department today).

The casual fan - 95% of all fans - don't know, AND don't care.
I used to care, and now I don't anymore because speed = money - how fast do you want to go ?
A guy can be blindingly fast - but if the team doesn't have the budget, then he won't be so fast - or fast for very long.

 

Not that I give a darn about the casual fan, but if you take one from outside the US they normally do care, regardless of whether they know or not. I remember how amazed I was about the Minardi fan contingent I bumped into at the USGP. Or when I boldly entered a Euro tour bus going to the Spanish GP: It was full of Swiss and I walked in dressed in Ferrari fatigue and saw an ocean of Sauber blue. I jokingly said, why do you even bother, they won't win today. They didn't care, they were there to support their team knowing full well it won't win anything. Or the Dutch fans I bumped into at my motel outside of Indy. They flew all the way to support Jos the boss.

If a guy is blindingly fast, he will be noticed and make it to the top. It happened to MS in a Jordan and it happened to Alonso in a Minardi. If a guy isn't blindingly fast anymore, he will end up in a Jordan, err Force India and leave F1 (Fisico). Or he'll never get out of his Minardi, aka Toro Rosso and be dismissed before climbing the ladder (Scott Whereisyour_Speed).

 

There are only so many top seats to go around. There are more blindingly fast drivers at the top level of the sport than there are seats at Ferrari and Mclaren. It takes more than talent to make it to F1, and even more to get a top seat. You've admitted yourself that Massa only has the seat because of his manager, and all of those top drivers in F1 had to fork over a ton of money for the seat, including Schumacher at Jordan.

Regarding Scott, he's an excellent driver, and if he wasn't rushed to F1 by Redbull, he would have done better. Having said that, he also simply didn't learn quick enough, like Raikkonen did. Also, he didn't kiss enough ass to stay the whole year like Tonio.