Casey stoners first v8 race

[timmyrocks]

On channel 7mate right now

[Disco]

Shit TMNT is on Go

[timmyrocks]

Haha old school

[Disco]

Well he lasted over half race distance

[dutchy]

What exactly happened? How did he go?

[dilligaf]

hit the wall (literally)

[dutchy]

The old ambition outweighing ability issue eh?

[aardvark]

Stoner was running 13th in the field when a front tyre burst and he came to rest against the wall just after the chicane.

But the two-time Moto GP champion could only blame himself.

"I made a mistake and locked up big time going in to the last corner - not what everybody saw on TV... that was later," Stoner said.

"I tried to save the tyres. I kept locking up here and there, even without any kind of brakes and unfortunately got too much flat spot on them and she popped on me."
- See more at: http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/motogp-ch ... KhVUo.dpuf

[Disco]

"I made a mistake and locked up big time going in to the last corner - not what everybody saw on TV... that was later," Stoner said.

They showed his lock up and run off before he hit the wall on TV here....He farked up that's why he's in the development series to learn not worry about what was televised

What I really want to know is if the development series guys are allowed to have their campers in the paddock

[s man]

He was going very well up to locking the front right wheel. He started 12 & had picked off 2 cars before he flat spotted the tyre, I think if that didnt happen, he would have finished 8th maybe 7th. He had plenty of speed.
The biggest ballsup was the start, which should have been a restart. The red lights flicked orange a couple of times which confused over half the pack. They should have restarted the race. Im sure he was just trying to make up lost ground. Tomorrow he'll be much better as he learnt a lesson today, [dont flat spot tyres] or you dull your chances bigtime.

[StuMiller]

Anyone driven one of the V8 supercars on a hotlap?

How hard are they and can anyone with some form of racing under their belt, make a reasonable go at racing in this development series....

[robracer]

Stu the guess would be Fkn hard thing to do & for him to place where he did is fantastic

[Tack]

I used to work for some V8 teams and supply tyres to them. They're relatively easy to drive up until you start to try to be fast and then they're a pig.

The problem is that they're traction limited i.e. the tyres are too small for the horsepower and weight. To get grip they make the springs as soft as they can without bottoming the things out on the bump stops so as to transfer load onto the rear tyres which means that they have to make the front springs soft as well which means they behave a bit like a large boat. They make the shocks really hard in bump and rebound to try to control the mass from rolling around however it means that its really easy to pick up front wheels in fact I've seen them "walk" the fronts down pit lane by just turning slightly and gassing it up slightly. The front just sits up and begs.

The real problem starts going into corners because your trying to brake hard and late, right up to the apex but it unloads the inside tyre which simple flat spots . Once a tyre is flat spotted it locks on the same spot every corner and goes bang.

They have to drive the car either square through the corner which means braking straight , turning hard and driving the thing square from corner or you float it through, maintain a high entry speed, rely on the front to turn it and wait till the car is straight again before you start squeezing on the throttle. Which one works depends on the driver but can be ditated by roll centres and squat geometry etc

I've seen new guys do 24 tyres just trying to learn how to steer the things. They're fine on fast flowing tracks but tight twisty walled tracks are hard, which is why stoner is struggling.

So it takes a particular style to drive the things fast which takes a long time to learn. But even once you get the hang of it it's still hard to get that last one second to get near the front and that means being "wired" for it. Race drivers refer to the ability to drive any vehicle at the absolute limit as being wired correctly to feel that knife edge. Stoner is wired for bikes not cars. Right now he's no better at driving a V8 supercar than you or I would be despite his bike experience. From a very young age Stoner was being wired to ride a bike fast on dirt surfaces which eventually gave home the bike control you saw in MotoGP.He might have the wiring that allows him to analyse his driving and make improvements better and faster than you or I but whether he gets the last 10% remains to be seen.

My guess is that he might make it into the main series but he might be a mid field runner at best and that totally depends on the team he's with. I would estimate that 90% of the performance is the car with the driver make the last 10%. How good the car is totally depends on the personnel in the team, the management structure and how much money you have.

[Sparks_333]

Hey thanks Tack that was enlightening!

[laidback]

He did well in todays race...started from the back and got up to 14.

Quite an achievement in that field.

Go king Casey.