Is driving a F1 car really this hard?

This week, I got the chance to check out the Williams F1 driver simulator while it was on tour here in the Raleigh area. The simulator is a full size 2002 Williams chassis connected to a video monitor and computer setup that is similar to the Playstation 3 F1 game. The livery was of the current Lenovo/RBS F1 car powered by Toyota. Sitting in the chassis, I got to experience the feel of a real F1 car and race 3 laps on a fictional course using the gas and break pedal, steering wheel and an automatic gearbox. I noticed that the paddle shifters worked as well and allowed me to up shift and down shift during the race. To say that I sucked was an understatement. I made a good start but from than on, I struggled to keep the car in a straight line and out of the grass, sand traps and retaining walls. This was no surprise to me as I am just as bad at the Playstation games. I guess I prefer a real car or kart over the sims but it was still cool to sit in a real F1 chassis mold. If driving a real F1 car is this difficult, I better remain as a fan and photographer and leave the racing to the pros.

Lightning strikes twice

Late in the 2007 Indycar Series season, Dario Franchitti walked away from two back to back weekend crashes. While high speed crashes in Indycar are common; airborne, multiple somersault crashes are not. Dario won this year's Indy 500 and eventually became the 2007 season champion but only after surviving these two spectacular crashes at Michigan and Kentucky Speedway. Dario has since moved on to NASCAR to team with Indycar and F1 refugee - Juan Pablo Montoya at Chip Ganassi Racing in 2008. His experience performing aerial flips should come in handy when he races at Talladega and Daytona next year.

City of Oaks half marathon

Raleigh now has a half and a full marthon and I'm running in the half in 3 weeks. Last time I checked, there were over 2900 runners registered. The course starts and finishes near NCSU's football stadium and the Carolina Hurricane's RBC Center. It runs downtown passing by NCSU campus and Fayetteville Street Mall before circling the capital and returning west with a run down Glenwood Avenue. Its going to be fun but a real challenging course with lots of hills. I've scoped out the course map for the half...

racephan Petit Le Mans photos - click here for more

No stopping the pineapple

Last year, I talked about Alex Zanardi and his passion for motorsports. I told you about how he is still racing successfully in Europe and inspires other drivers, athletes and double amputees world wide.

Now, Alex is making headlines again with his planned participation in the NYC Marathon with a handbike. His goal is to finish in under two hours. Amazing!!





In other news, one of my photos from the Indycar Suntrust Indy Challenge race at Richmond International Raceway was published on Indycar.com. Yeah me!!