Originally Posted By: Dieselbob
What I can't understand is the Toyota was 3/4 of the way along side of the GT car on the INSIDE of the corner. How the [censored] could the GT driver miss the Toyota that far along side of him when he should have been looking that way around the corner anyways! Regardless, it is the slower car's responsibilty to see the faster cars coming up from behind and hold their line no matter what until the faster cars passes. To make matters worse, this was fairly early in the event and it was still daylight, taking away the excuses of fatigue and darkness.
The turn-in point that he'd be looking at is much farther ahead after the braking zone. Even if he didn't see the Toyota approaching in his side mirrors he should have seen it in his peripheral vision right before the collision, though I have doubts that he could have swerved away and stayed on the track at that point, even if he maintained control of the car with such a high speed right-left transition under braking. The absence of the reflex to turn away may have been influenced by that and a habit of allowing contact rather than potentially driving himself off track when an opponent makes an aggressive move in the usual slower amateur racing the guy has probably done.
He could also have been losing focus if he'd been driving for awhile, even if he wasn't sleep deprived or physically fatigued. Even an hour of intense concentration would be difficult. The pros are comfortable enough to relax their minds on the straights, but he may not have been.
I think it just comes down to a huge skill discrepancy between a Formula 1 driver and an amateur driver. Davidson probably thought the pass was routine and no big deal, while Perazzini was probably already close to the limits of his ability. His reflexes and awareness are not at a professional level, but still maybe better than Nakajima's.
When I did my course at Bondurant there was a guy who was much slower than my group of friends. We had a track session where we were all lined up like a train behind him with the first guy right on his bumper for multiple laps, as we weren't allowed to pass without a point-by. I talked to him about it after and he was a nice guy but just hadn't realized that he was holding anyone up, even with a rear view mirror full of yellow Corvettes. He was obviously devoting all his concentration to his own lines and probably a little overwhelmed by the experience.
What I can't understand is the Toyota was 3/4 of the way along side of the GT car on the INSIDE of the corner. How the [censored] could the GT driver miss the Toyota that far along side of him when he should have been looking that way around the corner anyways! Regardless, it is the slower car's responsibilty to see the faster cars coming up from behind and hold their line no matter what until the faster cars passes. To make matters worse, this was fairly early in the event and it was still daylight, taking away the excuses of fatigue and darkness.
The turn-in point that he'd be looking at is much farther ahead after the braking zone. Even if he didn't see the Toyota approaching in his side mirrors he should have seen it in his peripheral vision right before the collision, though I have doubts that he could have swerved away and stayed on the track at that point, even if he maintained control of the car with such a high speed right-left transition under braking. The absence of the reflex to turn away may have been influenced by that and a habit of allowing contact rather than potentially driving himself off track when an opponent makes an aggressive move in the usual slower amateur racing the guy has probably done.
He could also have been losing focus if he'd been driving for awhile, even if he wasn't sleep deprived or physically fatigued. Even an hour of intense concentration would be difficult. The pros are comfortable enough to relax their minds on the straights, but he may not have been.
I think it just comes down to a huge skill discrepancy between a Formula 1 driver and an amateur driver. Davidson probably thought the pass was routine and no big deal, while Perazzini was probably already close to the limits of his ability. His reflexes and awareness are not at a professional level, but still maybe better than Nakajima's.
When I did my course at Bondurant there was a guy who was much slower than my group of friends. We had a track session where we were all lined up like a train behind him with the first guy right on his bumper for multiple laps, as we weren't allowed to pass without a point-by. I talked to him about it after and he was a nice guy but just hadn't realized that he was holding anyone up, even with a rear view mirror full of yellow Corvettes. He was obviously devoting all his concentration to his own lines and probably a little overwhelmed by the experience.
