aims20 Wrote:
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> Ah, I can relate to this a little bit.
>
> I'm currently studying Engineering (will be in
> Mechanical Engineering next year) at Virginia Tech
> in the United States. I've always loved racing
> from the beginning, mainly from going to lots of
> Saturday night when I was young (all oval tracks
> of course), and my dad used to have a racing kart,
> but he sold it when I was like 7 (I'll be 19
> soon). Since then I showed an interest to getting
> into the sport, but school always came first in my
> life, so racing became a spectator hobby for
> me(eventually found a good road course to go watch
> races, walk in the pits, etc.), but of course I
> wanted more. Some how I wanted to spend my life
> around race cars. I would even settle for Stock
> Cars ;P
>
> At the earliest opportunity, I got into drafting
> classes (since it was the closest thing to
> engineering at the time). My teacher was really
> good, and used to be an engineer, so instead of
> treating it strictly like a drafting class, he
> usually allowed us some freedom as far as
> assignments go to let us be creative whenever
> possible. It really helped me get an appreciation
> for engineering, and drafting in general, but it
> really helped me set my sights on a possible
> engineering future in motor sports. It seemed like
> everyone my drafting classes were car nuts, but
> since this is the US, not many people knew a lot
> about F1 (most knew it existed, but those were
> usually the sports car/ALMS fans). F1 is still my
> ultimate engineering goal.
>
> Now I'm at Virginia Tech (all the previous school
> work paid off) and probably the most educational
> thing I've been doing is helping out the Formula
> SAE team (It's called Formula Student in Europe I
> believe), which has been a great motorsports
> Engineering activity. I hope by senior year I'll
> be able to drive the car (its effectively a really
> small formula car, designed and built by students,
> loads of fun).
>
> Now I've pretty much counted myself out of a motor
> sports 'driver' career. Maybe its not too late,
> but I certainly have to go looking for the money
> and get good real quick. Hopefully I can find the
> time to see how I measure up in a driving school
> or something. But for now, I'll probably just go
> as far as club racing as a hobby.
>
> I've never actually driven a purpose built race
> car, but like you, I always felt like I was the
> best driver on the track at those dinky little
> kart places, assuming my kart wasn't about to
> fail. I do think that the sims do help you in
> knowing what to expect, and learning the basics.
> They definitely don't teach you how to cope with
> the forces, which I would imagine are extremely
> significant factors in driving ability, at least
> compared to the car I drive (A 1999, Chevy Blazer,
> basically an smaller SUV... high CG, lots of body
> roll).
>
> As posted before, risk taking is of course worlds
> apart from the games/sims. That's what makes them
> games/sims. When you are driving even a normal
> automobile there is much more you have to worry
> about. Firstly if you are on public roads, well,
> you have to deal with the people that don't know
> they are driving a car, and secondly, you have to
> be more aware to taking care of the car you drive
> (both maintenance and how you drive it) as well as
> developing a keen awareness to different
> sensations, such as the forces you feel through
> the steering wheel (some sims actually do a good
> job of this, like netkar-pro, not just having
> force feedback in the wheel does it), as well as
> how to cope with body roll, when to figure out
> when you are in a slide, and the correct way to
> correct a slide (it is a little bit different than
> the sims), etc. etc.
>
> Now you have a good opportunity if this kart team
> is everything your friend says it is. I would by
> all means at least try to test with them, even if
> you are slow at first. Its not everyday you get
> that kind of opportunity. So even if you are slow,
> just enjoy it. Don't forget the basics though,
> learn to drive with you head, as a former Mclaren
> Engineer told me recently. Practice having the
> correct line, throttle control, braking, who
> knows, maybe you will be quick!
>
> But you're much younger than I am, your choices
> are still open, and if you want it enough you can
> make it happen, it will require a lot of
> dedication, but if you want it, that comes
> naturally, at least that's been helping me out so
> far in Engineering (I've been getting good grades
>
).
>
> So my suggestion, talk it over with your parents,
> and try to work it out. have fun, don't give up on
> school if you happen to move up the latter in the
> process though (its a good back up plan, a really,
> really, good back up plan).
>
> And uh, don't try anything crazy on public roads.
> Save it for the sims, and the track... and maybe
> an empty parking lot.
Damn, you sound like me except better at the engineering part. I wish we had a Formula SAE team here at MTSU.