Quote:
Originally posted by svandamme
in an era where traveling atlantic , took quite some time ( no planes yet Sherlock ) , i doubt any European actually knew the name of the Indy 500...
we had our own tracks, and were quite happy racing on those
seriously Tervuren... exnay on the potsmokingyay
artist rendition of a couple of European Drivers who don't know how to corner...dated 1912
another one , same date, Dieppes... again , Europeans totally crap at that corner thing..
map of the Targa Florio race... notice the complete lack of any bends or corners... it's all straight...
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Having tracks with lots of turns - does not mean they where experts at cornering. Also, if American driver's still managed to win European races, despite the difficulties of travel, perhaps that says something?
I am not saying whether or not the tracks had turns or not, they both did. I have read accounts of European drivers who did race at Indy, and did not understand the concept of fastest line. Although you look at Indy today, and seee a bunch of flat out driving, Indy's surface hasn't always been that good, neither the cars. No way you'd take it flat out, cornering was very important.
By the 1930's things started evening out was more driver's crossed the Atlantic to compete, and techniques where interchanged, but I'd say pre 1930's, American's where better drivers.
Who do you think is going to learn racing line better? A driver with 200 corners in a races, or with 10? The guy with 10, over the same distance, does it twenty more times. Thats twenty times the experience with that turn, twenty chances to learn a better way, which then applies to other corners he meets. If no one knows about concepts such as a fastest line through a corner, the guy running on a 4 mile circuit, I think would learn it MUCH faster then a guy on 80.