Here are a few:
"Formula 1 should be the pinnacle of motor racing. It should have the minimum of parameters controlling performance. There are only four parameters which control a racing car; one is the power from the engine; the second is the aerodynamical download it can produce; the third is the amount of grip which can be obtained by the tyres and the fourth is the weight."
Colin Chapman
"His attitude to other drivers during a race leaves a certain amount to be desired. Pointless balking can only merit censure. He should remember that this sport can be lethal. Those who play with fire are sometimes themselves burnt" - A scarily prophectic
Louis Stanley on Lorenzo Bandini
"He seemed to have forgotten that he was no longer on a dirt track in Australia and insisted on coming round the corners sideways in a power slide" –
Stirling Moss on newboy Brabham
"His ability was so much greater than he ever revealed. He hardly ever drove to the limits of his capacity. He only used nine-tenths of his talent, which makes the gulf between him and other drivers even bigger" –
Colin Chapman on of course Jim Clark
Niki Lauda's reply to a group of tourists who were suprised to see him wandering around Bergwerk at the Nurburgring and questioned him as to his motives.
"Oh, I'm just looking for my ear."
"I never think I can hurt myself-not seriously. If you believe it can happen to you, how can you do this job? If you're never over eight-tenths, or whatever, because you're thinking about a shunt, you are not going as quick as you can. And if you re not doing that you 're not a racing driver. Some guys, in formula1... well to me, they're not racing drivers. They drive racing cars, thats all. They're doing half a job. And in that case, I wonder why they do it at all..."
Gilles Villeneuve
"Nürburgring was my favourite track. I fell totally in love with it and I believe that on that day in 1957 I finally managed to master it. It was as if I had screwed all the secrets out of it and got to know it once and for all. . . For two days I couldn't sleep, still making those leaps in the dark on those curves where I had never before had the courage to push things so far."
Juan Manuel Fangio
"I could never concentrate totally. I would find myself in the middle of a race thinking about the party we would have that night"
Innes Ireland
"That would be a bloody fantastic spectacle, I can tell you. We would take corners one gear lower than we do now, and get the cars sideways. You know, people still rave about Ronnie Peterson in a Lotus 72, and I understand that. I agree with them. That's the kind of entertainment I want to give the crowds. Smoke the tyres ! Yeah ! "
Gilles Villeneuve
.... Team draughtsman Martin Oglivie recalls Peterson going round lap after lap, proving the Lotus-Getrag gearbox, then suddenly going faster...'And when he came in we said, "Ah you've sorted out the selection problem", and he just smiled that slow smile and said, "No. I yust stopped you-sing the clutch."
"Monte Carlo, ’88, the last qualifying session. I was already on pole and I was going faster and faster. One lap after the other, quicker, and quicker, and quicker. I was at one stage just on pole, then by half a second, and then one second…and I kept going. Suddenly, I was nearly two seconds faster than anybody else, including my teammate with the same car. And I suddenly realized that I was no longer driving the car consciously."
"I was kind of driving it by instinct, only I was in a different dimension. It was like I was in a tunnel, not only the tunnel under the hotel, but the whole circuit for me was a tunnel. I was just going, going – more, and more, and more, and more. I was way over the limit, but still able to find even more. Then, suddenly, something just kicked me. I kind of woke up and I realized that I was in a different atmosphere than you normally are. Immediately my reaction was to back off, slow down. I drove slowly to the pits and I didn’t want to go out any more that day."
"It frightened me because I realized I was well beyond my conscious understanding. It happens rarely, but I keep these experiences very much alive in me because it is something that is important for self-preservation."
Ayrton Senna
Cheers,
Cal. :drivin: