Quote:
Originally Posted by Bimmer-Bob
I know the saying, I was just offering a variation on the theme.
I still don't think it's that far-fetched of a concept that to a certain extent a powerful car can mask a driver's shortcomings on the track (assuming that driver is at least skilled enough to keep out of big trouble).
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My apologies. I have heard that old saying for a while now, and it does make sense. With motorcycles, in my experience, even more so.
With a nice handling bike and modest power, you get a sense of being more "comfortable" with applying power coming our of corners. And that translates to having fun as everything feels in control.
With high powered bikes, the power just feels like it's going to spit you off if you don't get that throttle just right. If you don't have the skill, this can be disconcerting, and the whole time you're stressed about the whole thing, and the fun is almost gone.
This is true in cars as well.
Power, masking skill:
I understand your point on the "mask" thing, I just don't agree.
Perhaps this can appear to happen on a track where there are very few turns, so that the track is designed more for high speed, and thus a high powered car can blow the braking, and turns, yet make up for it by the track having mostly long, high speed straights. So, the track favors high power and high speed.
So, maybe on a certain type of track, higher power can mask a poor driver. Or, does it?
If there were an equivalent car with a skilled driver, bad skills would be more noticeable, as now the power issue is equal, and you're left with just skill to make the best time.
On a more technical track, a very skilled driver, driving a less powerful car, can make better times compared to a more powerful car driven by a less skilled driver who brakes too early, misses the apex, applies power too soon, and is basically killing his time. Yet, in the straights he seems to make up some of the space between him and the less powerful car. In that scenario, the high power car may be said to "mask" his lack of skill, and the sheer power of the car makes up ground on the straights.
However, to me, the power doesn't mask his mistakes. It just shows his lack of skill. Put the experienced driver in the same powerful car, and the bad driver won't make up any ground. He'll look even more like he doesn't belong there.
Whether power can "mask" a poor driver, seems a matter of how one interprets that. In the above scenarios, I don't see power masking bad skill. It actually magnifies it.
This whole argument came about by someone believing that a 135i may require less skill than a 128i. If the argument is that, on certain twisty roads a 128i can be faster than a 135i, sure that can happen if a certain set of conditions exist, the biggest being a well skilled 128i driver. But, given equally capable drivers, do you really think the 128i can beat a 135i on track or the street?
There is no "different" skill a 128i driver needs compared to a 135i driver.
He would need the same yet better driving skills.
If that is argument being made, then we're just arguing semantics of what "better skills" and "different skills" means.