Have you ever Sat in a Formula 1 car or other racing cars?

I've been in 2 -

Ayrton Senna's Lotus during the 1987 Detroit Gp... it was the of the race and I was in Cobo hall and I got to sit in the Test Car... non Active ... I had a friend at Lotus called Digger.... if I can find the old picture I'll send it... the other was Michele Alboreato's 85 Ferrari... and I could not actually fit... got to about mid hip.. .and could not get in past the gear shift....

also sat in Emmerson Fittipaldi's March Indy car... very tight fit...

and for good measure ... I drove a Porsche 962 at Lime Rock ... for two laps... end of year Rob Dyson thing....this was back in 1987....

 

I sat in an old Ferrari F1 car when I was at the ferrari factory a few years ago. Man that thing was small, but it was damn cool.

 

ONE of my legs MIGHT fit into an F1 car.

Spirot - funny you mention Cobo Hall.
I was there those years, one year we walked right in about 10 at night - NO guard, NO closed doors, NOBODY around - WIDE OPEN. We walked right up to several cars, including the Renaults, Brabhams, Lotus, Ferraris........ I DID actually go to the cockpit of a McLaren and reached inside - spread my (albeit Large) hand out about where the seat is - and my finger/thumb touched both sides of the car at the bottom. That lead me to believe F1 drivers back then had 'V' shaped butts that were about 10" wide.
Then we walked over to Renault - they had a turbo motor on an engine stand - I was shocked to SEE the block was only as long as my forearm - I put my forearm next to it for good measure.

And still - the basement was EMPTY of everybody. I may have been able to push an entire car out of there, but I am sure I would not have gotten far.

If I ever acquire a good slide scanner, I will post pics.

Again, 'those were the days'.

Oh - I also have personal experiences with everything Donohue drove in 1971-72 from when I lived in SoCal.

 

I sat in Jacques Villeneuve's F1 car... got pick up the front end and play with the steering wheel as well.

Pretty cool... I did not fit worth a damn... my knees hit the top and my feet were too big to get the full pedal travel (gas).

Jacques said I wouldn't pass safety check and for me to drive they would need to put in a different seat and relocate the pedals - and I would need to get smaller shoes.

Very tight fit and you sit very low to the ground. Felt like my butt would drag on the tarmac. And surprisingly your feet are pretty elevated which is an odd sensation.

 

Risi Comp 333SP
Audi R8
Rand Racing Nissan Lola (won the 24 hours at Daytona)
my altered roadster drag racing car---8.96/168
Top Fuel dragster------Eddie Hill/Pennzoil
Plus a bunch of GT class cars................

 

I drove a SCCA spec racer Ford for about 30 laps. I also sat in a Star Mazda which i fit in (no seat). Also an old SCCA Trans Am Mustang. Also i sat ON not in the Sunoco 917/30 at the auto show one year. I probably could have sat in it but i didn't wanna damage anything on that beautiful car

 

Same. I was at an event with a 2003 Ferrari F1 chassis (engineless though), and they were letting some people sit in it. I was invited to, but it really would have only fit one of my legs. I didn't even try!

 

I noticed this too when I sat in a '99 Toyota Reynard Champcar. After sitting in it I now know why drivers sometimes wear knee pads. The front suspension uprights are attached to a ring like subframe inside the tub that diggs into your knees when sitting still. I couldn't imagine what it must feel like after 60+ laps at race speed. "Oh What a Beating"!

It makes me think about the time when ex-champcar driver Ryan Hunter Ray emerged from his car after a Mid-Ohio race with blood seeping through the elbows of his drivers suit! Ouch!

 

I sat in:
- Damon Hill's Williams F1
- a recent Sauber F1
- a 1989 Lola F1
- a 1990 AGS F1, which I also drove on a track

Apart from that I sat in a sixties Le Mans car, a modern NASCAR, a whole bunch of Formula Ford/Formula 3/Atlantic cars and a seventies CanAm.

Here a shot of me in the F3 in pitlane and of the AGS F1 on the track at Le Luc.

Btw: As for the comfort level: I found the Formula cars (including F1) comfortable and felt right at home. I found the Atlantic (seventies car), the NASCAR and the Le Mans (Porsche 917) claustrophobic and not something I'd like to race at any speed. The most comfortable of all was Rob Lay's 355 Challenge car though.
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I was driven around Daytona Speedway by Bobby Allison in the Miller Buick.

Then I was driven around the St Pete street course by Tom Kendall. Got to sit in his TransAm Beretta, along with Irv Hoerr's Cutlass, and Jack Baldwin's Skoal Bandit Camaro.

The best was back in college when I managed to get one of the Penske/Donahue AMC Javelins on display on campus. Before they picked up the car, myself and two other members of our sports car club took the car out for a "spin" on our local autocross track. I have photos in storage to scan to prove this one. Will post soon.

 

I sat in a sort-of Indy Car at the Andretti Racing School. It was really simple but really sweet. My first experience in a race car.

 

I sat in an F2002 Ferrari F1 car when I was at the Ferrari paddock @ the Canadian GP

 

Oh, like that counts

 

WOW thats cool! I'd love to see them. How many of ten tenths was your "spin"?

 

As i know the paddle shifters on Scuderia Ferrari F1 cars move with the steering wheel

 

Paddle shifters in all F1 cars move with the steering wheel as they should. It is in the road cars (including Ferraris, sadly) that they are fixed to the steering column, which is utterly ridiculous and stupid and probably done so people don't shift while turning.

Recently I drove the F430 with paddle shifters and it was immensely awkward. A racecar with paddle shifters on the steering wheel is a LOT more natural.

 

Actually we had a 7/10 mile road course on campus (Wright State University), former military housing roadways, that was used by the SCCA for a major autocross series in Dayton, Ohio. No curbs, no obstacles, my 427 Corvette would hit 80 on the straight. No speedo in the Javelin, so I have no idea how fast we went.

So after Sunoco allowed us to have the car on display on campus, we started it up and drove it down to the course and three of us took turns driving it around. Back then, there weren't static show cars, they used back up or end of the season cars for display. This was after the '70 or '71 season ended in about November, I do not remember. What I do remember most to this day, was under the hood. The entire engine, except for the heads, and the entire engine compartment, were painted in gloss white, including all the structural componets. If there was an oil leak, you could tell in second.

I'm looking to buy a film scanner, so some time in the next few months I will post the photos to prove my guilt. Hope I don't get in trouble!

 

I believe it was Didier Theys late 80's Lola Indy Car that I partially
sat in. At 6'2" & 205 lbs, I have trouble sitting in any formula car,
including my own. Thanks!

Mark

 

Hehe, it was with Didier Theys, that I got to drive the F430 with paddle shifters. Small world. He's a great guy, we had a nice chat.

Here his helmet and a group shot, he is the guy on the far left.
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Last year during a visit at our Dutch friends Roel and Lenny's place, we also visted Jan Lammers, the Dutch sportscar and Le Mans driver!
As you can see from the attached pictures, Jan offered me to try and sit in his "Racing for Holland" Dome Judd racer which has been used in Le Mans and other sportscar races since 2001!
The driver's well is very narrow, and it was a very tight fit for me, being slightly bigger than Jan, to get in the car!

Thanks Jan!!!

Best regards

Carsten
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