The Rat, Wet Tracks & Pitstops

Car Racing & Life

Ernest Hemingway had admiringly quipped: “There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.”

I have always been intrigued with Car Racing—those cramped cockpits. Machines speeding at more than 200KMPH bring such tremendous G-force in play which is 3 to 5 times more than at which earth pulls us downwards. That split-second overtakes on a shoulder—heart rate of drivers matching Marathon Runners. No wonder drivers in F1 lose 2-3 Kilos during a race, even more in hotter conditions. The Olympics don't feature Car Racing because they feel there is too much machine & too little human involvement in it.?

And yet, Car Racing is the repository of life lessons, with so many parallels. First & most, it tells us to look ahead & move forward. As Enzo Ferrari said, "What's behind you doesn't matter."

The Rat

Formula 1 legend Niki Lauda, who was called "The Rat" due to his prominent Buck teeth, was famous for his swashbuckling attitude & fantastic self-belief. "Never underestimate someone who overestimates himself" Niki was one of those "someone". He also became famous for his gripping battle with British driver James Hunt for Formula 1 supremacy in the mid-1970s. The annual championship of 1976 became a legend due to both driver's tenacity & Niki's bravery. In some ways, a gripping story as well.?

Niki was reigning Formula 1 champion of 1975 and was leading the driver's standing in 1976. On 1st August 1976, while driving in Nuerburgring, Niki's Ferrari went off the track, hit a protective barrier and became a fireball after bursting into flames. The stretch of the track where it happened is far away for any kind of help to reach. For the same stretch, Niki had said in an interview, "On the Nuerburgring, if your car has a problem, you're 100 per cent dead."?

Niki was trapped in that fireball for more than 1 minute, which caused severe several 1st to 3rd-degree burns to his head, face & hands. The fumes damaged his lungs & respiratory tract, and he slipped into Coma. At this point, it looked like an end to an exciting F1 career, and the racing world had almost written an obituary to him.?

But remember, Niki had this cockiness, so he consistently overestimated himself, which had always worked for him. In a sheer expression of gusto & resolve, in 40 days, he was out of the hospital and disposed to race. So committed he was to race that the blurred vision or the still bleeding wounds didn't matter to him at all. In an astonishing display of determination and his modified helmet, Niki became inspiration personified, though he finished 4th in his next race after the comeback. So determined he was that he went on to win two more World titles in 1977 and 1984.

I have been through a lot, and I realise that the future can't be controlled. I am not worried. You can always learn to overcome difficulties. - Niki Lauda

Wet Tracks

Ayrton Senna was known as "King of the Rain" for a reason. He was called so as he won 14 races when it was raining, or the track was wet due to rains.

In 1988 at Silverstone on the race day, it was raining profusely. One thing that Formula 1 drivers are fearful of is rain. But Senna was different. The stage was set for another Senna exhibition. Whenever it rained during a race, Senna was in a different league. Some of his most significant victories came in the most dreadful of conditions. It was a treat every time to watch him, like he was dancing in the rain, stretching his car beyond its limits and sprinting ahead of his rivals to victory.

One would be enthralled at his brilliance on wet race tracks, thinking RainGod was sitting next to him. His control of the situation & car in such adversity was simply unmatched. In this race, Senna didn't start at the front, and starting at the front in F1 makes a hell of a difference. Yet, Senna soon was battling with Berger for the lead. His teammate retired from the race, stating that it was impossible to drive on the track. Senna went on to climb on the podium.?

Money & fame were not the motivators for Senna. Even after coming from an affluent upbringing, he had to cross many hurdles to follow his passion. What drove him was the keen & reasonable desire to excel. The same need for perfection and want to win culminated into one of the most fierce rivalries in F1 of Ayrton Senna & Alain Prost, apart from the famed duo of James Hunt and Niki Lauda.

According to Senna, The first thing you need to do when driving a wet racetrack is forgotten the traditional racing line. Now your focus is on finding grip. The emphasis is fixed on the feel of surroundings. Car control and throttle modulation become a top priority. The conditions take centre stage as the most prominent obstacle standing between each driver and their shot at victory. There are quite some similarities between driving on a wet F1 track and the current world we are living in.?

Rain is the great equaliser in F1. It provides a driver with an opportunity to overcome mechanical deficits and put human adaptability at the centre of everything; life is a great equaliser too if we grab the options well. Now the focus is on finding grip. It doesn't matter how unconventional or illogical your lines appear; finding the most grip will result in the fastest lap time.?

"You think you have a limit. No, you don't. As soon as you touch this limit, something happens, and you suddenly can go a little bit further and beyond " - Ayrton Senna.

Pitstops

This is one of the most iconic images related to Formula 1. On 31st July 1994, Jos Verstappen was involved in a pitstop fire. A routine refuelling turned into something close to a disaster. While refuelling, petrol sprayed from the fuel hose and ignited a fire due to the car's heated exteriors. However, the Pit crew quickly came into action, and the fire was doused in seconds. What's more, the crew was ready for Michael Schumacher's next stop.?

If there was a competition for the most highly coordinated teams across the world of various streams & styles, Formula 1 Car crews would win it hands-down and by a large margin. It's impossible to miss that efficiency & coordination. Do you know what's the world record for pitstop??? A miserly 2 seconds!!! Such proficiency comes only with practice & focus.?

I watched a very fascinatingly acclaimed movie, "Ford v Ferrari" sometime back; I am sure you also did. The film has two main characters, Carrol Shelby, an ex Car Racer & now a Race Car Builder and Ken Miles, his friend & a whimsical but great race car driver. In the movie, during the Daytona Race, Shelby makes a bet with Ford that Ken Miles will win the race, even against the other Ford car and put his company as a wager. Shelby soon observed that the other Ford Team was having super quick pitstops. He was not surprised to discover that the other team was using professional NASCAR Pit crew members. The simple comprehension to Carrol Shelby was that "Look for better & efficient ways of doing things".?

In his excellent book, "Go Like Hell ", about the Ford & Ferrari rivalry, AJ Baime wrote: "No matter how fast the car travelled, it meant nothing if the pit stops were slow."

The opening scene of "Ford v Ferrari" starts with a quote: There's a point at 7,000 RPM... where everything fades. The machine becomes weightless. Just disappears. And all that's left is a body moving through space and time. 7,000 RPM. That's where you meet it. You feel it coming. It creeps up on you, close in your ear. Asks you a question. The only question that matters. Who are you?

Car Racing asks questions and has many answers, too, just like life. We just need to be in the driver's seat to experience that.?