DJF1

I was watching an episode from Top Gear featuring Jackie Stewart instructing James May. the challenge instigated by JS, was that he was going to be able to knock off 20 seconds of their best lap time of any of the TG presenters at any race track!
I found the video quite a joy to watch and a few things to take home from the mouth of the grand master:

1. Never press the gas pedal until you know you never have to take it off.
2. The corner exit is far most important than the corner entry in terms of smoothness.
3. Learn how to lean on the car instead of jerking it around. In other words, smooth smooth smooth.
4. Looking at the traces of JS its obvious that there was little throttle feathering if any in the corner, it was like full on immediately after he was done with steep linear braking.

Sorry in advance if this video has been posted before:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYPtaLJy53c

ltc

I can only imagine how cool it would be to get instruction from Sir Jackie Stewart.....and how frustrating it would be for him!
BTW, they mentioned he coaches current F1 drivers, I'm assuming it's the Williams drivers of Webber and Rosberg?

Thanks for posting the link.

GUMBALL

...instruction from Sir Jackie.....

That would be MY Thrill of a Lifetime..!

...and probably pretty humbling....

Slappy

I loved it when Jackie said ...

"Don't get on the gas ... until you don't have to get off it".

VERBOTN

I don't know Sir J. Stewart but the clip reminded me of a briliant and gifted scientist and Dr. that would tell me the pleasure was all his when rendering support or training. I really think my dad felt that way and it strikes me that for some gentlemen teaching is far more rewarding than doing. Sorry for the ramble but the clip did bring back some fond memories.....

SimonExtreme

My biggest problem with this item is that when JS set a time, I really cannot decide how good a lap he put in! I have compared his times with race times in one make series and things like that and I want to believe his time was quick but I am really not so sure. All I know is that James May was VERY slow at the start.

I do wonder as the challenge said ANY TG presenter, how would JS have got on if they sent The Stig...............

SimonExtreme

Besides being one of the greats in F1, Sir Jackie spends a fair amount of his time "coaching" top race drivers to help them improve their times!

racer

He was also an olympic alternate (in archery?) and quite the "gentleman", in a pure sense of the word in the 1960's. Oh, and he suffers from dislexia.

I believe he won 33 races in 99 starts (and given the reliability of race cars in his time, that was phenomenal!). Plus the 3 F1 championships that the video mentions.

Albsolutely great video! I think some DE events would benefit by playing that video to beginning drivers, not so much for the "20 second improvement" bu to show what and how the instructors talk and encourage one to go faster.

redpackage

Sir Jackie just missed the 1960 Olympic shooting team. The shooting school at Gleneagles in Scotland carries his name.

gerry100

I had the pleasure of watching the "mod scot" do some of his work at the Glen..

Watching the same corner you would notice that he would kick up the the same bit of dust at the edge of the track every time ie. he was putting his wheel within 1-2 inches of the same spot every time!

He got up to speed and found his rhythm on the first 1-2 laps, in many cases by the time the rest of the field found their groove he was gone.

The shooting accomplishment shows the hand eye coordination part of his tremendous natural talent.

Many of today's F1 diva's got to fish in the deep end of the gene pool also, but I haven't seen the character and intelligence that JS has demonstrated over his carreer from many of them.

He was one of the first to question the safety of the F1 sport at time when if a driver kept at it long enough a 50% survival rate seemed the norm and he was smart enough to quit while he was ahead.

A great natural talent that enjoys and is good at teaching is rare.

One of the good guys.

jayhawk

I lived in the Netherlands in 1992 and instead of taking a large vacation, I bought tickets and went to every Formula 1 race in Europe that summer. We stayed in Heidleberg for the German GP in the same hotel as a number of the teams and various VIP's. I had the great honor of meeting Sir Jackie at breakfast in the hotel and shared a cup of coffee with him. What an outstanding representative for the sport and a really nice, fascinating guy.

A real treasured memory.

gbaker

That was great. It reminded me of my first formal on-track training, which was the two day PDE when it was at RA. It also reminded me of how good it feels when you finally get it right--well, close to right in my case.

JayP

Stewart probably tought the Stig everything he knows.

Tony356993

I enjoyed that video. Thanks for posting. I'm going with Sir Jackie on the throttle exercise this w/e. Maybe I can get a lil' faster.

Don Magee

Excellent find, Danny.