Hamilton to face toughest challange yet.

This week sees him facing up to Mansell, Button, Hill and Webber along with the legend that is the Stig round the Top Gear track. Apparently JC was out spreading oil in a VXR8 before the lap. (Webber pay him off?)

Reply to
Depresion
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I look forward to it. Should be interesting.

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Reply to
Mike G

Especially as Mansell lead the F1 drivers "Reasonably Priced Car" board.

Reply to
Conor

20 quid says he fails to pwn Mansell.
Reply to
Iridium

25 quid says it was "slightly moist", he had the staff brushing the track to dry it, that he failed on the above and that he wants to come back for another go when it's dry.....

Or something similar :-)

Reply to
Bob Sherunckle

Or that Mansell did his first thing in the morning and Hamilton at Midday so he filed a complaint about the fuel in the car being more dense when Mansell drove it.

Reply to
Conor

I think the damp conditions and the oil JC dropped on the track were the deciding factors. He probably didn't do well at all, but I can't see LH not being able to beat Mansell given the same track conditions. Even so I'd be surprised if he wasn't close. He's too competitive to allow himself to be beaten by an ex F1 driver no matter how good they were in their prime. Hence his desire to come back and set a dry time. Mike.

Reply to
Mike G

I haven't been following F1 much recently, but Mansell is a bit of a hero isn't he? Or is was he just pretty good in a time of F1 skill mediocrity? LH is good yeah, but is he really capable, does he have enough experience to win a whole F1 season?

And another thing: Modern F1 drivers have much more electromagics than were available in Mansell's F1 time. Weren't Mansell and his ilk working a gear lever and some sort of clutch instead of buttons? I know that doesn't compensate for a good driver's instinctive ability to throw a car around faster than normal people ever thought possible, but its got to factor into the speed equation somewhere, otherwise they wouldn't fit it.

Doesn't Mansell still race cars? It's not like he got old and Diego Maradonna on us. I love his moustache.

I'll be watching Sunday's Top Gear closely. I'll be watching for when they get Lewis Hamilton back for a dry lap too.

Reply to
Douglas Payne

Shame they didn't get a few pre turbo, pre ground effect old timers in there too. Like Jackie Stewart and Stirling Moss.

Reply to
Peter Hill

He was pretty good. He came 2nd in the F1 drivers championship in '86, '87 and '91, going on to win it in '92. He then went on to win the Indy car world series championship in '93. Incidently the only driver to hold both titles at the same time.

LH is good yeah, but is he really capable, does he have

I think he has already shown that he has. He made a couple of stupid mistakes which cost him the championship this year, but he's a quick learner so I doubt he'll make the same mistakes again. So IMO the answer to that question is an emphatic yes. Even without the experience in F1 he has become a phenomena. No rookie has ever come near to what he has achieved in his first season. Much of that is down to having a race winning car, but I still think his outstanding talent would have been obvious even in an inferior car.

IMO he could eventually better M Shumachers record. Without resorting to the cheating and unsporting behaviour that he used to achieve it.

Yup. He races in the GP Masters series which have most of the features like paddle shifts, that F1 cars have.

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he appears to be doing very well. It's not like he got old and Diego

As will I. Mike.

Reply to
Mike G

Mansell was something special, IMHO. Don't forget that, in his best years, 85-87, there were 6 drivers fighting out more or less the whole season for the championship, and any of the top 6 or so manufacturers were capable of winning races. Not like last season, where the reality was only 3 drivers were really challenging in 2 cars.

I think Mansell's time will be very hard to beat - especially as, like you say, he's not actually given up racing, but is still beating all-comers in the GP Masters series.

Reply to
SteveH

I agree with Mr H here - Mansell was a racer through and through, given the same track conditions, I'd take the bet that Mansell would beat Lewis...

Reply to
Iridium

For what little it's worth, he did wipe the floor with all the other F1 drivers on the Top Gear test track though...

Reply to
Lordy.UK

The Moustache is generally reckoned to be someone who had to work realllllllllly hard at it to get good. Senna just had it, like no one else. I had the extreme good fortune of seeing him race at Brands the last time the GP was there which would have been 1984.

Check out the grid for that race !

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We watched it from the inside of paddock hill bend.

If only we had seen Senna and Schumacher (M) racing head to head at their peak. They were the real Giants of their respective eras.

Reply to
Bob Sherunckle

Senna may have 'had it', but Mansell was the quicker of the two when he got the bit between his teeth.

The conclusive evidence of that is Hungary 1989 where he stormed through from 12th, in a car that was far from the best in the field, to snatch a win from Senna in the closing laps. That overtake for the lead has to be one of the bravest, most daring and quick-thinking moves I've seen in F1.

Reply to
SteveH

I present the following evidence:

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Reply to
SteveH

Fair enough, I'll give you that. The second clip especially has legendary status.

That's when F1 was worth watching. They're all like androids now. Then again, we said the same back then if you're honest.

Reply to
Bob Sherunckle

I'd conclude that Senna had more natural ability, but that Mansell had the biggest balls when head to head.

Reply to
SteveH

In that respect Hamilton is like Mansell.

Reply to
Tim S Kemp

It's hard to compare, 'cos I don't believe that any of the current crop of drivers have the kind of balls needed to race the older cars - you'd get more overtaking in one race in the turbos than you get in a whole season these days.

Reply to
SteveH

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