It has only been about two months since I've had my wide screen HDTV and the novelty still hasn't worn off. Except for NASCAR. ,In the days and weeks that I had been anticipating getting my new set, I started watching NASCAR and thinking about how exciting it was going to be when I could watch it on the big screen. I found F1 instead, and suddenly all the stereotypes about NASCAR start to make sense.
Like everyone else in the sport, I am thrilled about the rise of Lewis Hamilton, the young Brit who has just won two races back to back. But the attraction to the technology is what got me on about NASCAR and F1 in the first place. But as you can see from the video, there is no comparison. F1 cars are so incredibly powerful and sophisticated, that you really cannot drive them. What I mean by you is literally you. Perhpas you've heard about the things you can never do in sports. You will never slam dunk the ball over any NBA player. You will never hit a major league fastball. But, you could sink a 30 foot putt, and you could drive 170 MPH around an oval. But you could never take an F1 car through a chicane at speed.
In the first place, F1 tires are made such that they only grip when hot, and they only get hot from taking turns at high speed. And as Richard Hammond learned, making that first turn is all but impossible for mere mortals - basically if you can't do 90 degree, 3G turn at 120mph the car will slip off the road. Secondly as you can see and hear in the video, these babies run at 19,000 RPM which more than triple the redline of most street cars. That's a lot of engine. The reaction time that you have to have as an F1 driver is extraordinary, not to mention the fearlessness.
I'm completely sold on F1. It's awesome.
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