Nobody mentioned the core strength and the bruises. That's all I can think as I barrel hell for leather through a long left-hander in a single-seater Fifties Grand Prix car without the comfort or security of seatbelts. Of course, belts are actually fitted, I just want to try and ape the sensations of GP drivers from way back when. The kind of men - and yes, it was pretty much exclusively men back then - for whom getting thrown clear in the event of an accident was preferable, and sipping on a glass of champagne and lighting a cigarette on a hot exhaust in the pits wasn't regarded as the absolute insanity it seems like today. The idea they were a different breed is totally understandable. Even by the standards of the day I have to conclude early GP drivers were either excruciatingly brave, or daft as lamp posts. Probably a bit of both.
Still, there's an art to this. Wedge one's knees into the recesses of the bodywork, tuck your elbows into wherever they'll fit, possibly even lean a bit, and bear down. No matter what you do, you'll feel like you've been run over after about 40 minutes - goodness only knows how they did it for hours on end, in company, at significantly faster speeds, bouncing around on transverse leaf springs and swing axles. And without, it has to be noted, on-site medical facilities or helicopter transfers to hospitals with MRI scanners. They were lucky if there was a tent set up in the pits with some plasters and beef tea. This? This is just the barest whisper of what original Grand Prix racing was really like, the ghost of glory days where lives were literally on the line - in the first decade of Formula One, 18 drivers died. It was not a sport for the worriers.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة May 2022 من Top Gear.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة May 2022 من Top Gear.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
HEAD TO HEAD VANTAGE vs 911 TURBO
For as long as we can remember the Porsche 911 has been the default best sports car money can buy. Does the new Aston Vantage represent a changing of the guard?
BOSS LEVEL:PART TWO
In a world exclusive, three makers of the world's most powerful hypercars are cordially invited... to drive each other's creations
THE THEORY 0F EVOLUTION
Ridged bladder seats, an inflating steering wheel and an AI track day coach... has Lotus hit on the supercar's future, or gone mad?
Koenigsegg Jesko Attack
The Jesko Attack drives like a conventional supercar. Brakes like one, turns like one, grips like one. But it doesn't accelerate like one.
STIC LAPS are back!
It's a 1.75-mile figure of eight on an old Canadian Air Force base just south of Guildford. Hardly Monza, or the Mulsanne straight, and never in a million years - you'd think a place that would become one of the most sought after performance benchmarks in the motoring world.
URBAN OUTWITTERS
Does the solution to city motoring lie in designs from the past with powertrains from the future? TopGear goes in search of answers... at rush hour
FUTURE FERRARIS
If you thought Ferrar's past was colourful, wait until you see what it's cooking up next. The future's bright, the future's rosso
DIRTY DOZEN
Ferrari's new super GT makes no secrets about what's under the bonnet, but can it swallow five countries in just a few hours? Better get on with it...
MYTH BUSTER
\"ADAPTIVE DAMPERS ALWAYS NEED TO ADAPT\"
The S2000 from a parallel universe
Meet Evasive Motorsports’ Honda S2000R, the car the Japanese firm should have built itself
