There have been numerous occasions where I have been
able to watch famous race car drivers in action. My very first taste of actual real world club racing occurred when
a friend of mine and I trekked out to Sydney’s then only real racing circuit at
Warwick Farm. Over the years it had been the site of the Australian Grand Prix
as well as numerous rounds of the Tasman Series. What made this course an
attraction for many was how many F1 drivers came down under during the European
off-season to try their hand, competing with the locals.
If Warwick Farm was my first taste, my interest grew
considerably when I owned a track-worthy Torana SLR5000 and finagled my way
onto Mt. Panorama the Sunday morning of the big race. The 1974 Hardie-Ferodo
1000 endurance race for off-the-showroom-floor “touring cars!” And yes, very
quickly and out of sight of officials, my parade lap become a lot more than a
Sunday drive through the mountains. Having the chance to sit by the fences
throughout the race it brought up close and personal to drivers like Colin
Bond, Allan Moffat and the king of the mountain himself, Peter Brock.
As much as I was able to watch the racers manhandling
the cars through the corners, it wasn’t until decades later that I managed to
see Michael Schumacher at work. Sitting in the grandstand opposite Monte
Carlo’s famous Casino, Margo and I were able to observe the “body language” of
perhaps motor sports most decorated racer. I had been to Long Beach for the
running of the 1977 US Grand Prix West won by Mario Andretti but it was far
removed from the intimacy on hand in Monaco and when Michael sniffed a chance for
a win, he went for it. We could actually see the increase in concentration and
his determination was visible to all.
After spending months down under, mostly in and around
Sydney, Australia, my wife Margo and I found ourselves strolling around the art
gallery of Billich. If you aren’t familiar with his work he is, apparently, the
only Australian artist with a painting hanging in the Vatican and this time, we
stood awestruck in front of one of his latest – Shanghai Shumi. It was a
cityscape that combined Shanghai with a depiction of Michael Schumacher
piloting his Ferrari to his last ever F1 win, back in 2006. The artist did
misspell Shumi, dropping the c, but we can forgive him for that small oversight
as the depiction of Schumacher flat out on the Shanghai circuit is impressive
and a constant reminder to us both of the time we spent trackside in Monte
Carlo.
This was the background to the seventh post I had
published in NASA Speed News back on April, 2019. All weekend enthusiasts
looking to improve their performance on track and as I posted at the time, it
never ceases to amaze me just how much you can learn from watching others. On
the other hand, this post was also the first time I gave my readers the first
inkling that together, Margo and I were heading towards retiring from weekend
events but you will have to read the whole post to get the full story.
What
I Learned from Schumi
It
never ceases to amaze me just how much you can learn from watching others. In
HPDE, this is especially important because you really know very little about
driving when you first show up for HPDE with NASA. To put it bluntly, you know
nothing about driving fast, safely. In fact, I attended two NASA events – at
Sonoma and Buttonwillow – just to watch others on track and to come to terms
with the protocols in place on race weekends.
Of
course, we have all watched auto races at some point in our lives. After
talking with other first-time participants at a NASA HPDE weekend, it’s clear
that the “racing bug” bit hard after watching one event or another, whether
live or on television.
I
have just returned from Germany and before that, Australia. It’s hard not to be
a car enthusiast in either country and, walking the streets of Munich, Margo
and I saw two BMW disguised test mules, both a variation of some sorts of their
new “8 series.”
It
was in 1974 that I took my first trip to Australia’s famous Mt. Panorama road
course, just outside the city of Bathurst, to watch what was then called the
Hardie-Ferodo 1000 for Group C Touring Cars, a predecessor to the Aussie V8
Supercar events now popular even with the most casual of car racing fans in America.
Naturally enough, on this most recent visit, I borrowed my brother’s Lexus
sedan and did a lap. Back in 1974, I had a Holden Torana SLR 5000, and early
Sunday morning, before the track was closed for the event, I joined other
drivers of this particular model for a little faster than a parade lap around
the old course.
Bathurst
in 1974, Long Beach Grand Prix 1977, Monaco in 2004, Long Beach for the
American LeMans Series in 2010 and yes, Sonoma in 2018 for Indy. I’m still
missing the Indy 500 and Daytona, but that situation will be addressed in due
course. Watching these races, walking the pit lanes whenever possible, talking
to Indy car team owners, talking to drivers, and simply taking in as much as
possible is a great way to learn more about racing and to prepare for
participating in any NASA event. Through the years, NASA has held events at
some very famous tracks around the U.S., including Circuit of The Americas,
Watkins Glen, Laguna Seca and the like. If you have any interest in history,
participating in HPDE events with NASA in your family Honda is a great way to
check out racing history, even as it is still being written.
What
have I learned from Schumi? At the F1 race in Monaco, we noticed a distinct
change in body language that was visible from where we sat in the stands
opposite Monaco’s famous casino. Schumacher had been stuck in a line a good
distance from the leader, but all of us sensed the sudden change in demeanor as
he attacked everywhere on the course. This course offers few places to pass,
but he managed to find them. A change in body language? The intensification of
his concentration if you can call it that, reflected in an obvious change in
the way he was seated in his Ferrari, was just one clue that he was now on a
charge. More importantly, for a novice HPDE driver, was the etiquette on
display — drivers moved out of the way as soon as they realized it was Schumi
in their mirrors! As competitive as they were at all times, these drivers had a
sense that he was on a different level that day.
Margo
and I will find our way to a NASA event sometime this year as our calendars
allow, although Margo is now officially retired, but I have to admit openly, I
am still learning. Ten years on with NASA, I am the first to admit I don’t know
it all and certainly, I am not performing at my optimal. But I will continue to
watch others performing well and will continue to talk to my peers. Most of
all, I am going to find the time to simply take it all in for what it
represents. NASA HPDE drivers are writing their own history and for that, it
makes all those hot days out on scorching desert tracks all worthwhile!
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