4 ms·
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
by 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 agoshifting 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 agoThe 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 agoOne 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 agoNo. 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 agoI 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 agoIf 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>> every time you need to slow down a bit In racing that is not a thing. There is never a situation where a car needs to "slow down a bit". The goal is to stay as fast as possible as much as possible. That means either going flat out (either in speed or cornering) or be under maximum braking (to minimize time at lower speeds). If you are ever "a bit" too fast then you have made a mistake. You began braking too late. On the next lap you will alter your braking point, not adjust your braking pressure. >> tail spin Also not a thing under braking. "Tail spins", or to use the correct term oversteer occur when a rwd car applies too much power (or some 4wd). The back end slips. When you brake too hard entering a corner the front wheels will depart first, causing an understeer rather than a tailspin. The car will push forwards and fail to turn.
- humbledrone 7y agoHow 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 agodo 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.