windy Posted July 20, 2003 Posted July 20, 2003 Did anyone see the programme on the telly (just before sat F1 practise) where this guy beat all the F1 boys up the hill? Pretty impressive run in his Gould V6 Cosworth. I'd like to see this chap race in an modern F1 car at Silverstone. Quote
ChrisG Posted July 23, 2003 Posted July 23, 2003 I think he only beat them because they dont now allow timing of F1 cars on the hill any more. I was there on the Sunday and he was mighty quick, only about a second away from Heidfeld's hill record from a few years ago, but evidently Allan McNish unofficially beat those times last year in the Toyota. If anything though, his hilllclimb car should be more suited to going up the hill than an F1 car, with not a lot less power, less weight and with propor hillclimb slicks that would be a major advantage over regular grooved F1 tyres. Chris Quote
peterg Posted July 23, 2003 Posted July 23, 2003 Yeah I (sadly) have to agree with Chris, Graeme Wight's car would be beaten by a 'full on' run by a current F1 car but then he has only around 480bhp against their 800ish - I'm sure he could run faster than he did at FoS but in his position I wouldn't want to risk losing the British Hillclimb Championship just because he wrecked the car against a flint wall at Goodwood FWIW though his launch off the line was much more impressive than the F1 cars as they wheelspinned their way up the road, he just went like a rocket up a drainpipe Quote
adhawkins Posted July 23, 2003 Posted July 23, 2003 I think the F1 cars (at least the ones I saw in the short TV programme) were just 'showing off' by turning off all the traction control. I'm sure that if they wanted to make better starts and faster times they would have been capable of doing it. Andy Quote
peterg Posted July 23, 2003 Posted July 23, 2003 Yeah Andy I know they were putting on a show but I'm still more impressed by rocketship acceleration than wheelspinning for lots of smoke - you can do that in an old Astra GTE Quote
ChrisG Posted July 23, 2003 Posted July 23, 2003 We were down by the startline when they went off and the acceleration of the Gould was very impressive. ISTR one of the F1 cars doing full bore TC enabled start (Panis in the Toyota I think), but a lot of that drama was dulled by the horrible noises the engine makes when its doing it! What does the Gould weigh Peter, I assumed around 350-400kgs compared to 600kg (inc jockey) F1 car, so power/weight probably isnt a huge maount lower in the Gould? Chris Quote
adhawkins Posted July 23, 2003 Posted July 23, 2003 Yeah Andy I know they were putting on a show but I'm still more impressed by rocketship acceleration than wheelspinning for lots of smoke - you can do that in an old Astra GTE You're right...always amuses me when the boy racers do it. I'm yet to do a 'full bore' start in my Westy...always wary about the clutch... Will have to try it at some point though! Andy Quote
peterg Posted July 23, 2003 Posted July 23, 2003 I'm yet to do a 'full bore' start in my Westy...always wary about the clutch try it first on somewhere a bit less grippy than Santa Pod then the tyres will slip first ChrisG - I'm not sure what the Gould weighs I 'think' it's about 450kgs there was a test in Autocar last September where they did 0-100-0 tests etc of this car and Eddie Irvine's Jaguar F1 and on acceleration it was v. close but the F1 car's carbon/carbon brakes were much better (but they cost about the same as Graeme's whole car IIRC) Graeme's car did 0-100-0 in 6.5 seconds and would have been faster if he'd had more time to practice braking to a standstill...he's only used to braking for the odd hairpin Quote
Martin Keene Posted July 23, 2003 Posted July 23, 2003 I was speaking to the officals at Goodwood on Saturday afternoon (I scammed my way into the top paddock! and the F1 boys do "demo" runs by their own choice. If they are offically timed then the FIA say it counts as a test session, which for teams like Jordan, seriously b*******s them cause they are limited in their testing cause they agreed to the Friday sesions... Quote
Martin Keene Posted July 23, 2003 Posted July 23, 2003 BTW, Goodwood was truly awesome and Graham Wright Jnr's car looked devestatingly capable, so flat and controlled in the turns. A quote I read before I went - "A car museum come to life", never a truer word said... if you haven't been get yourself there next year, you just don't know what your missing. Quote
Gazza Posted July 24, 2003 Posted July 24, 2003 ...and don't forget that Graham Wight is just an ordinary bloke and his family & mates. No sponsorship worth a mention. And an incredibly nice bloke too - he spent ages chatting to me and my 8 y.o., sitting people in his car - straight after he'd done the business at Prescott. Its nice to see one of the deserving 'little guys' getting the limelight for a while Quote
peterg Posted July 24, 2003 Posted July 24, 2003 You can read more about Graeme Wight Jr here particularly where it says he had a serious accident in 1991 which so nearly meant he wouldn't ever walk again thankfully he's made a full recovery. I read somewhere he drives back to near Aberdeen after every meeting (usually 8 hours plus) so he can work in the family pub on Mondays Quote
Steve Robinson Posted July 24, 2003 Posted July 24, 2003 Been to the pub (Scott Skinners) many times - local to sisters house in Drumoak. Never get a head on the Guinness - too quick. Quote
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