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Car mods aside, 2014 vs 2019 aside, Tesla driver might just be a bad driver. The only way to know is to swap the drivers and have them race again. If Nissan

Car mods aside, 2014 vs 2019 aside, Tesla driver might just be a bad driver. The only way to know is to swap the drivers and have them race again. If Nissan Leaf wins again, then it's the better car.

a13n 7y ago
How good of a driver do you really need to be in a car that doesn't have gears? Just push the pedal to go... Reaction time is the only factor I can think of
- leetcrew 7y ago
  shifting gears at the correct time is not even close to the most difficult part of racing. stuff like maintaining the balance of the vehicle and finding the best line through a turn is much more delicate.
- Thorrez 7y ago
  The article mentions the Leaf driver had the screen set to constantly monitor battery temperature. I don't know Japanese, but I had Japanese auto-generated captions auto translated to English, and while it was mostly nonsense, the driver did seem to mention temperature throughout the race. There also appeared to be other videos of the driver racing a leaf interspersed with the main race. So the driver's knowledge is probably largely around exactly how hard he can push the car without the battery overheating. This is also a problem for having the drivers switch cars. If they don't have the knowledge of the car they're driving, they cannot fully take advantage of it.
  - sandworm101 7y ago
    One way to reduce heat load on the battery would be to disable regenerative braking. There is probably a judgement call to be made as to how much juice is needed to finish the race.
- ImprovedSilence 7y ago
  No. Not at all. Picking the apex, at what speed to approach the turn, how hard to brake, when to accelerate out and how much, knowing the limits of traction of what your driving, and I’m sure much more. It’s very involved, and requires thought and decisions on top of reaction speed.
  - sandworm101 7y ago
    >> how hard to brake Easy answer: Always as much braking as possible. There is no light braking in racing. You want to maintain full speed until you absolutely have to slow down. You brake as late as possible. The skill is not in judging how hard to brake, but when to begin braking. Watch F1 with the telemetry on the screen. Throttle goes up and down in corners. Braking is always either full-on or nothing.
    - Shorel 7y ago
      >> Easy answer: Always as much braking as possible. Too simplified. It requires a precise definition of 'as much as possible'. Measured answer: You have to prevent the wheels to lock, so always brake just an infinitesimal bit below this locking point: now you have invented ABS brakes. If it was just a matter of 'slam your foot to the metal', cars would never have needed ABS brakes.
    - stjohnswarts 7y ago
      I don't believe that. If you slam on the brakes hard every time you need to slow down a bit you're going to go into a tail spin and die especially at f1 speeds.
      - dpark 7y ago
        If you’re braking gently the F1 car behind you will absolutely pass you immediately and then brake hard to make the corner. If you lose control under hard braking it means you chose to brake at the wrong point.
      - sandworm101 7y ago
- humbledrone 7y ago
  How good of a programmer do you need to be in a language that only has two valid characters? Just press tab and space and go. Typing speed is the only factor that I can think of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitespace_(programming_language) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitespace_(programming_langua...
- kayoone 7y ago
  do you have any idea about driving dynamics? this was not a straight line race. It looks easy but racing fast on a track takes a lot of practice.
jerrysievert 7y ago
not quite the best example. it's often the driver that knows their car that wins, not the car or the driver in a random car. the better driver could lose in a car they aren't used to even if it is a "much better" car.
- dsfyu404ed 7y ago
  I cannot agree more. There's terabytes and terabyes of GoPro and grainy Russian dashcam footage out there of people doing things that they could not do in any other vehicle on any other track/road. Practice really does help.
icelancer 7y ago
As I've always been told when I raced Autocross and straight drag: "The best car mod is the driver."
ctchocula 7y ago
They should invite F1 world champion rivals Hamilton and Vettel (or the next generation Leclerc/Verstappen) to come race. That would be a fun showing and put this question to bed. The skill difference between 2 world-class drivers would surely be less than between 2 uncalibrated drivers like the ones we see here. The Leaf driver could be much better than the Tesla driver for all we know. The Leaf driver is a car journalist who was able to keep up with a Porsche in a less powerful car. [1] The Tesla driver is Jitosho Hikari, who is a rally car driver. [2] [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/cars/comments/bgz0nj/a_former_assistant_driver_for_tsuchiyas_hot/elpntzj/ https://www.reddit.com/r/cars/comments/bgz0nj/a_former_assis... [2] https://www.ewrc-results.com/entries/52859-ark-sprint-300-2018/ https://www.ewrc-results.com/entries/52859-ark-sprint-300-20...

Car mods aside, 2014 vs 2019 aside, Tesla driver might just be a bad driver. The only way to know is to swap the drivers and have them race again. If Nissan Leaf wins again, then it's the better car.

a13n 7y ago

How good of a driver do you really need to be in a car that doesn't have gears? Just push the pedal to go... Reaction time is the only factor I can think of

leetcrew 7y ago
shifting gears at the correct time is not even close to the most difficult part of racing. stuff like maintaining the balance of the vehicle and finding the best line through a turn is much more delicate.
Thorrez 7y ago
The article mentions the Leaf driver had the screen set to constantly monitor battery temperature. I don't know Japanese, but I had Japanese auto-generated captions auto translated to English, and while it was mostly nonsense, the driver did seem to mention temperature throughout the race. There also appeared to be other videos of the driver racing a leaf interspersed with the main race. So the driver's knowledge is probably largely around exactly how hard he can push the car without the battery overheating. This is also a problem for having the drivers switch cars. If they don't have the knowledge of the car they're driving, they cannot fully take advantage of it.
- sandworm101 7y ago
  One way to reduce heat load on the battery would be to disable regenerative braking. There is probably a judgement call to be made as to how much juice is needed to finish the race.
ImprovedSilence 7y ago
No. Not at all. Picking the apex, at what speed to approach the turn, how hard to brake, when to accelerate out and how much, knowing the limits of traction of what your driving, and I’m sure much more. It’s very involved, and requires thought and decisions on top of reaction speed.
- sandworm101 7y ago
  >> how hard to brake Easy answer: Always as much braking as possible. There is no light braking in racing. You want to maintain full speed until you absolutely have to slow down. You brake as late as possible. The skill is not in judging how hard to brake, but when to begin braking. Watch F1 with the telemetry on the screen. Throttle goes up and down in corners. Braking is always either full-on or nothing.
  - Shorel 7y ago
    >> Easy answer: Always as much braking as possible. Too simplified. It requires a precise definition of 'as much as possible'. Measured answer: You have to prevent the wheels to lock, so always brake just an infinitesimal bit below this locking point: now you have invented ABS brakes. If it was just a matter of 'slam your foot to the metal', cars would never have needed ABS brakes.
  - stjohnswarts 7y ago
    I don't believe that. If you slam on the brakes hard every time you need to slow down a bit you're going to go into a tail spin and die especially at f1 speeds.
    - dpark 7y ago
      If you’re braking gently the F1 car behind you will absolutely pass you immediately and then brake hard to make the corner. If you lose control under hard braking it means you chose to brake at the wrong point.
    - sandworm101 7y ago
humbledrone 7y ago
How good of a programmer do you need to be in a language that only has two valid characters? Just press tab and space and go. Typing speed is the only factor that I can think of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitespace_(programming_language) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitespace_(programming_langua...
kayoone 7y ago
do you have any idea about driving dynamics? this was not a straight line race. It looks easy but racing fast on a track takes a lot of practice.

jerrysievert 7y ago

not quite the best example. it's often the driver that knows their car that wins, not the car or the driver in a random car. the better driver could lose in a car they aren't used to even if it is a "much better" car.

dsfyu404ed 7y ago
I cannot agree more. There's terabytes and terabyes of GoPro and grainy Russian dashcam footage out there of people doing things that they could not do in any other vehicle on any other track/road. Practice really does help.

icelancer 7y ago

As I've always been told when I raced Autocross and straight drag: "The best car mod is the driver."

ctchocula 7y ago

They should invite F1 world champion rivals Hamilton and Vettel (or the next generation Leclerc/Verstappen) to come race. That would be a fun showing and put this question to bed. The skill difference between 2 world-class drivers would surely be less than between 2 uncalibrated drivers like the ones we see here. The Leaf driver could be much better than the Tesla driver for all we know. The Leaf driver is a car journalist who was able to keep up with a Porsche in a less powerful car. [1] The Tesla driver is Jitosho Hikari, who is a rally car driver. [2] [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/cars/comments/bgz0nj/a_former_assistant_driver_for_tsuchiyas_hot/elpntzj/ https://www.reddit.com/r/cars/comments/bgz0nj/a_former_assis... [2] https://www.ewrc-results.com/entries/52859-ark-sprint-300-2018/ https://www.ewrc-results.com/entries/52859-ark-sprint-300-20...