What is the most skilled motorsport?

[Prophet]

I'd say F1. It's very easy for someone to jump into a rally car and drive it. But to jump in an F1 car and drive that is a whole different world.

See Hammond on Top Gear struggling with it.

Its very easy for someone to jump in a Rally car and drive it where? To Tesco's or around a world class rally circuit at speed.

Hammond struggled with setting off and trusting the aerodynamics of the car to keep him on the road. Once you get past the dodgy starts and grow some balls it's more about your reaction time when driving at very fast speeds.

Rally you have to judge varying surfaces, trees and walls plus spectators that stand on the track. There's less room for error than in F1 where you have huge run off areas. Make a mistake while Rallying and you're upside down in a lake.

Moto GP > All anyway.

 

[peterattheboro]

Its very easy for someone to jump in a Rally car and drive it where? To Tesco's or around a world class rally circuit at speed.

It's easy to drive it but it's difficult to send it through a forest at full belt.

However it's difficult to drive an F1 car full stop. To Tescos, round the corner to your nan's, round Silverstone, where ever.

 

[rypt]

However it's difficult to drive an F1 car full stop.

Because F1 cars have 0 suspension and only grip once going fast.

 

[Prophet]

It's easy to drive it but it's difficult to send it through a forest at full belt.

However it's difficult to drive an F1 car full stop. To Tescos, round the corner to your nan's, round Silverstone, where ever.

The question is 'What is the most skilled motorsport'.

Learning the basics of how to drive each car in quesion is a moot point IMO.

 

[Pete19s]

I'm going to say F1.
As already suggested, Rallying has a LOT more variables, and IMO that means that a driver is working with a fairly wide window of risk, meaning that either he's going to drive fairly slowly, or to a degree of risk. F1 has fewer variables, so a driver will be working closer to the finite capabilities of his machine, and allowing for fewer elements of unexpected risk.

Who in the top flight of rallying is going to drive slowly? They are there to go as fast as possible and aiming to win, which means flat out taking those risks. Personally I would say rallying takes the most skill, constantly taking in information from the co-driver while reading the road, feeling what the car is doing and when it comes to it being competent with a spanner and in the past parts of the scenery to fix broken bits while out on stage/road sections. Formula one takes a huge ammount of skill & confidence but as you say there are fewer variables, the corners dont change sequence or surface etc.

 

[ShakenNstirred]

I'd say F1. It's very easy for someone to jump into a rally car and drive it. But to jump in an F1 car and drive that is a whole different world.

See Hammond on Top Gear struggling with it.

yeah but that someone with not racing talent trying an F1 car
that doesnt me its takes the most skill

 

[peterattheboro]

yeah but that someone with not racing talent trying an F1 car
that doesnt me its takes the most skill

But you have to learn that talent and then put that into practice in races. One wrong move and you're gone.

Same with rallying though... but there's a higher chance of death in rallying if you were to hit a tree of fly off the edge of a cliff!

 

[ShakenNstirred]

But you have to learn that talent and then put that into practice in races. One wrong move and you're gone.

Same with rallying though... but there's a higher chance of death in rallying if you were to hit a tree of fly off the edge of a cliff!

you to have to have some talent to start with, it all cant be learned
thats why you have great drivers/riders and then the also rans that make up the rest of the grid
i think Rossi is the first since surtee`s that will be world champ on 2 and 4 wheels

 

[Housey]

you to have to have some talent to start with, it all cant be learned
thats why you have great drivers/riders and then the also rans that make up the rest of the grid

I have never subscribed to the view that a great champion was born with a talent to drive and history would support my view too. Many drivers have won the world championship who were viewed as non natural, Graham Hill springs to mind as does Mansell. Both had to work very hard to be champions and I would not class either in the same way I would Clark, Senna or Prost, but they were race winners and champions.

 

[Housey]

i think Rossi is the first since surtee`s that will be world champ on 2 and 4 wheels

Mark my words....IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN.

I think Rossi is fantastic, the best ever on 2 wheels but I can't see him in an F1 car and if he does, which would be interesting, he won't win the world championship. Love to be proved wrong, but I think branding and press space has been the main reason for so many tests by Rossi in Ferrari's. He has never set the Rally world alight, I don't expect he'll set the F1 world alight either but F1 would truly benefit from his involvement.

 

[ShakenNstirred]

I have never subscribed to the view that a great champion was born with a talent to drive and history would support my view too. Many drivers have won the world championship who were viewed as non natural, Graham Hill springs to mind as does Mansell. Both had to work very hard to be champions and I would not class either in the same way I would Clark, Senna or Prost, but they were race winners and champions.

i did say "some" talent
but the cream does come to the top

Mark my words....IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN.

I think Rossi is fantastic, the best ever on 2 wheels but I can't see him in an F1 car and if he does, which would be interesting, he won't win the world championship. Love to be proved wrong, but I think branding and press space has been the main reason for so many tests by Rossi in Ferrari's. He has never set the Rally world alight, I don't expect he'll set the F1 world alight either but F1 would truly benefit from his involvement.

but he isnt doing rallying or F1 full time is he
i would like to see someone finish 12th in there only rally of the year after riding bikes all year
or a F1/rally driver get in the top 12 of a MotoGP with only 1 ride

 

[Housey]

but he isnt doing rallying or F1 full time is he
i would like to see someone finish 12th in there only rally of the year after riding bikes all year

Cominng 12th and winning is a massive difference and he has rallied on several occasions in the past and has never set the world alight. I would expect any senior motorsport champion on bikes to be 'handy' in a car as I would expect any F1 driver to be ok on a bike after time and be brilliant in another car formula.

I saw Alan Jones walk away from the Touring car field in a Rover all those years ago from the regulars when he had a go and I saw Mansell give it hell too and I watched Johny Cecotto combine both skills ably. He was no Rossi but he won ETC and DTM races but the difference between being a world champion and simply being quick is a huge gap. As I say I think Rossi is fantastic and I'd love to see him in F1 but I think you ask anyone with some inside knowledge and they would share my view.

Be great though wouldn't it, Rossi for Ferrari 2010 and world Champion, great for the sport.....and highly unlikely.

 

[Wang Computer]

Easy compared to what?

You do realise they have no traction control & similar now?

Compared to F1 in the past. I don't think many people appreciate how refined and easy to drive modern F1 cars are in relation to their forebears.

And yes I do realise.

And can people stop citing Richard Hammond as an example of why F1 is hard. He isn't a racing driver so it's completely irrelevant!!

 

[adam cool dude]

I'd say F1. It's very easy for someone to jump into a rally car and drive it. But to jump in an F1 car and drive that is a whole different world.

See Hammond on Top Gear struggling with it.

I watched a episode of fifth gear where that bloke bought a 2002 Ferarri F1 car and he got to grips with it in no time. Infact he was flying around their track by the end of the day. He wasn't even fit. Just your typical middle aged slightly chubby man with a lot of money.

Yes to be good at both you have to be skilled but Rallying requires more. Not only do you have to look at where you are going but you also have to listen to your co-driver at the same time. It's also all down to the driver to deliver. Not hope for some yellow flags and lucky pitstops to get up a few places .

 

[shauncr91]

Rally.

 

[ShakenNstirred]

Cominng 12th and winning is a massive difference and he has rallied on several occasions in the past and has never set the world alight. I would expect any senior motorsport champion on bikes to be 'handy' in a car as I would expect any F1 driver to be ok on a bike after time and be brilliant in another car formula.

I saw Alan Jones walk away from the Touring car field in a Rover all those years ago from the regulars when he had a go and I saw Mansell give it hell too and I watched Johny Cecotto combine both skills ably. He was no Rossi but he won ETC and DTM races but the difference between being a world champion and simply being quick is a huge gap. As I say I think Rossi is fantastic and I'd love to see him in F1 but I think you ask anyone with some inside knowledge and they would share my view.

Be great though wouldn't it, Rossi for Ferrari 2010 and world Champion, great for the sport.....and highly unlikely.

yes he has rallyed in the past 3 in total, last 1 in 2006, but again, only 1 race at the end of bike seasons, yet he beats guys that have been racing all season
we have yet to see him do a season then you can make comment on him not setting the world alight
Johnny Cecotto didnt really combine the 2, he did a couple of races in Formula 2 with a March BMW in 1980 just before retiring from bikes, but by that time he was an also ran in bike GP`s, im sorry but Cecotto isnt even half as talented as rossi, im not saying he will be world champ in his first season because that would be stupid

 

[cheets64]

Hydroplane racing

 

[Scort]

No clue for cars, I would say rallying, but having seen Hammond try to drive an F1 car, that certainly takes skill - so I'll go undecided on that one.

Bikes.... the TT, or similar road racing like others have said. Need balls of steel to boot I bet!

Scort.

 

[Robi]

Rallying because it combines both bravery and immense skill.

 

[MouseMat2004]

Not so sure about TT/NW200 etc being the most skilled. It isnt about being the flat out fastest, its about being the smoothest, you dont often see them max lean flat out do or die because one mistake and they're dead. Look at John McGuinness - Amazing on the TT etc but cant quite cut it around the tracks.

MotoGP is incredibly skilled, tyre contact the size of a credit card, 140kg bike pushing over 250BHP and still with 0.1 of a second every lap. Rossi is GOAT, purely and simply.

Schumacher was a great F1 driver, I'm sure everyone will agree. He is now playing around on bikes, pretty quick but still about 15 seconds a lap slower than Rossi, IIRC Rossi was only a few seconds slower in an F1 car. I honestly believe Rossi could be up there in F1. I bet he would do a world of good for F1 too.