What It Feels Like Behind The Wheel by Richard Corliss The article was out of a recent magazine regarding what it is like to drive a race car in the Nascar circuit. The article goes further to explain what happens on a routine race day for a known race car driver by the name of Derrike Cope. He attempts to give the readers a picture of what it is like to make a living making left turns in heavy traffic at dangerously high speeds, sometimes in excess of 200 m. p.
h. Cope states, There is nothing like sitting on a projectile going 190 m. p. h. on the brink of going out of control.
It s the sheer rush, touching every emotion you have. On a typical race day, if you can call it that, Cope gets out of bed around 7, packs his gear, and attends a sponsor hospitality event. In the big leagues, sponsor s money determines the quality of the team and the equipment. The average cost for one year of racing is about six million dollars! The pit crew bundles the racer into fire-retardant suits, shoes, and gloves before mummifying him with five tight seat belts. For the first time of the day Derrike is alone, listening to the rapid thumping of his heart beat inside of his ears, feeling the throttle of the ultra-sophisticated car beneath his thin soled racing shoes. The motors start and the cars begin to follow the pace car in a single file line.
The Essay on Automobile Racing Car Cars Race
International Automobile Racing Automobile Racing International competitiveness, testing the capabilities of specially designed automobiles and the skill of their drivers, over tracks and courses of differing lengths and construction, this is automobile racing. The first car race considered is the one held in France in July 1894, in which the winner averaged 24 kilometers per hour, when 100 ...
Once the cars reach the green flag the pace car pulls into the pit and the other cars rev to 190 m. p. h. You are sitting right on top of the exhaust. There are vibrations all through your rear end, up through your hands on the wheel.
Strategy, both competitive and financial, demands that you be near the front of the pack. The sponsors equate TV time with money, Exposure is what it s all about. You have to create an opportunity where you can go up front. Cope states.
Usually the smart spot in a race is second place behind someone like Earnhardt, there s a lot of TV time up front near a star. At the pit stops, about every 50 laps, a 16 man pit crew gasses you up, changes your tires, and wipes the windshield, while the driver swigs some water, all in a matter of seconds! Fatigue is also a preceding factor, during a race, it is not uncommon to loose anywhere from 3-11 pounds. The heat inside of the car is often around 140 F. The racers pulse rate is at 85% of maximum, similar to marathon running.
A helmet weighs around 3 lbs. But on a banked turn, pulling between 2. 5 Gs and 5 Gs, it can be five times as heavy. There are no time-outs, no bench, and no room for brain fades when the length of a football field passes in a second. In such extreme conditions cars behave unpredictably. The car becomes loose or gets sideways, the nose or tail swerves in it s own direction.
When metal merges and some cars crash, the driver must find an exit. All you are looking for is an opening. You don t have time to think. Smoke. There is just smoke. You are looking for a window, maybe just a shadow.
Sometimes all you will see is the front of your hood. It s very unnerving. , Cope says. In the last 10-20 laps the spotter and crew chief are guiding you. You are on a kill, go for broke attitude. The last 5-10 laps, it is all you can do to handle.
You are driving your car on the ragged edge of disaster.
