: for CART? To be fair, Michael Andretti, Cheever and Zanardi were hardly
: roaring successes...yet Mansell went straight into CART like falling off a
: log. I'm not intentionally trying to get up the American's noses over this,
: but is the standard so much worse in CART?
Cheever had his moments in F1. Not superstar quality, but some solid
drives. Villeneuve seemed to make the transition rather well. I think
the main problem is that CART gives their competitors a monster car with
gobs of power that you can actually drive, whereas F1 has given their
competitors a twitchy little bundle of nerves that no longer responds to
what used to be considered racecar driving.
Er, then again, that doesn't explain why someone like Buttons can come
along, fresh out of only a few years of driving a more conventional
F3(000?) car and post quick lap times. Hmmmm.
Personally, I don't care about the whole argument of CART vs F1. The
drivers in either series are incredibly talented. The speed at which
things happen in champ cars or F1 cars is difficult to comprehend. Either
car has 800+ hp strapped to the back and serious levels of cornering
grip. I even give a guy like Vitolo credit for tootling around at 90% of
the pole speed, because I'd be lucky to get out of the pit lane without
looping it.
By the way, anyone notice that Ganassi has also built a "two-headed
beast" (two seat champ car like McLaren's F1 taxi)? Mario zipped guest
around Laguna Seca at about 4-5 seconds off the pole time. Go Mario!
Stephen