Wurzy's View of Istanbul

Posted on Thursday 23 Aug 2007

Right, my first column for Turkey as a race driver! I obviously have never raced in Turkey before as it’s so new to the calendar and this is my year back so let me explain just how I learn new tracks – something which I enjoy a lot.

It starts with basic homework, something I never did in school, but is now very important and for my own benefit. Yes, I know, school should also be for your own benefit, but all I wanted to do is drive cars and bang wheels with the others and not be totally bored by maths and chemistry.

Anyway, step number one for me is to look at a map of the track, step two is to look at TV footage and hopefully find in car camera shots and step three is to look at the data. I always look for the gears in the corners, even though that is quite clear when I walk the track. But on the data I see how the drivers apply the brakes and throttle and from that I can understand a lot. For example, if the driver is operating the pedals in a black and white manner, I know that it is a straightforward corner. If the driver is playing on the throttle for some time I know that it is rather difficult. In which case, I will look at the steering trace and from this I discover if this corner might be one that creates understeer or perhaps oversteer.

If I combine this data with what I see on the onboard footage I have done about 80 per cent of my homework. The rest comes when I walk or drive around the track. Going around the track is important for creating a visual map, picking up signs, kerbs and other landmarks which one requires to navigate faultlessly around the track. When I am walking around the track, I try to overlay the homework data with the new visual map and try to imagine everything at racing speed. Personally, I find no benefit from driving simulators or computer games, but some drivers have different experiences. It all looks very different in real life.

As I am a big head, one of my biggest strengths is learning very quickly, so I’m really looking forward to racing in Turkey, a track which has a lot of altitude changes and blind apexes. Also, it’s got Turn Eight, a neck killer like nowhere else where the car and driver is under lateral load for about eight seconds at more than 4G. That’s cool. On top of this, Turn Eight is a left hander which is harder on the neck as most tracks in Europe have mostly right-hand corners. This means the neck muscle is a bit weaker for left-handers.

As for the World Championship fight, I am not sure who will be better in Turkey. It will be very close between Ferrari and McLaren.

Okay, that’s it, over and out! Enjoy the Turkish GP!