November
08
Tags
F1 Countdown: Mark Webber Narrates a Lap at COTA
One week until the Formula 1 US Grand Prix! Now that I am such an old hand out at Circuit of the Americas, I keep expecting the F1 drivers to call me for advice. No, Sebastian Vettel has not called yet. But he does have approximately six days…
Here’s a cool video that went up today. It is a video of a lap at COTA narrated by Mark Webber, one of the Infiniti Red Bull drivers (and Vettel’s teammate). Red Bull is having a phenomenal season – with two races left in the season (Austin and Brazil) Vettel and Red Bull have already locked up the driver’s and constructor’s championships. Webber is ranked fifth out of 22 drivers, so he probably knows what he’s talking about here. Almost as much as me.
It was interesting watching this video after driving the track; now that I have my bearings, it makes a lot more sense. Feel free to assume that the lap in this video is almost identical to my laps in the Fiat Abarth. But without all the tipping.
MOTORista 
That was fun! I enjoyed hearing the descriptions of the turns, the braking and accelerating and changes in altitude, the hint of racing tactics. It surprised me how much they actually go over the lines on those curves, especially on a demo lap, but it makes sense that when you drive the course, you really *drive* the course! In the back of my head, I’m listening for the rpms and wishing I could peek at the dash to see how close to redline he’s getting.
This was filmed on a bike ridden by a MotoGP rider, so can’t even imagine what redline is, or how close he got. Yes, I thought you weren’t supposed to drive over the markers until I took that performance driving course. Sometimes the quickest line goes right through them!