Who knew a street car didnt handle as well as an F1
Video here
The journo is Steve Sutcliffe of Autocar, venue Catalunya.....
This is an excerpt from the article. He was supposed to be taken around in the car by Antonio Pizzonia to be shown the lines.
"The same calmness, same composed delivery and sincerity. Some reckon he might even be more focused in his outlook than the great man himself.
Howling around the Circuit de Catalunya in a brand new S-type R, watching his eyes flicking casually from braking point to apex to gearlever, then back again to me as he delivered yet another piece of advice on line and layout, I was more than glad of his reputation.
Thought not on absolute max attack, he wasn´t exactly breezing. Kerbs were being ridden, apexes mauled, and occasionally, where appropriate, the S-type´s supercharged V8 was being given some proper pain in traditional Brazilian style. Several times he just nicked the rev limiter in a gear before his right hand softly nudged the J-gate up for next ratio. And under brakes the down-shifts were executed to perfection, also by hand, while his left foot wiped off speed.
"This really is a great circuit to drive a Formula One car on," he said as we drifted gracefully towards the exit of turn three, apparently one of the toughest and best corners anywhere on the modern F1 calendar.
"There are lots of really challenging high-speed corners here, like this one[turn three]. And also a couple of really big braking points where the car goes quite heavy."
"Turn one is an amazing corner to drive in a Formula One car. The braking power is incredible. And also up here," he said, pointing towards the first of the Barcelona track´s trio of second-gear hairpins. "The braking is strong, too, and the car goes light at the back unless you brake really hard. I think overall you should really enjoy it." Indeed.
The reason I was sitting with Pizzonia was not to fulfil some life-long ambition to be driven around a GP circuit by a current GP driver: truth is I´m a pretty poor passenger, and with all due respect to my overqualified chauffeur, I´d much rather have been back at the hotel, relaxing in a hot bath, contemplating how not to make a fool of myself the next day.
But in a roundabout way that´s precisely why I was there. Pizzonia would do a few laps first, with me as passenger. Then we´d swap. That way I´d get to know which way the circuit went before driving the R3.
But even the best laid plans can come unstruck. For the first lap, although it was obvious Pizzonia knew what he was doing, it was also clear that he hadn´t driven a big saloon on a track before, hence the groans of surprise he made when the S-type failed to respond properly through the final corner. On entry we stayed maybe a foot wide, and by the exit kerb there was so much understeer the front tyres just missed kissing the dirt.
Drama over, we smirked, registered the mistake and carried on, wondering whether anyone on the pit wall had even noticed. Crossing the start finish line Pizzonia even said the immortal words: “This is a quick car, you know – quick.”
But then when we sailed past the 200m braking board into turn one, Antonio still hard on the gas in top gear and clearly believing that the Jag was going to slow easily for the next bend, all conversation ceased. Finally he hit the brakes. And into the gravel trap we went, up in the air, backwards into the tyre wall and down again. Whumpf, bang, crunch.
We were okey; ultimately the only thing that mattered. But I have to admit, it wasn´t the kind of warm-up act I was expecting the night before driving the Formula One car.
In a road car, at least, he still has a little way to go before emulating the one and only.”
