Chris Harris drives an F1 car - part 3 - by Autocar.co.uk

[TheNewAlias]

I love it

[TheNewAlias]

British ppl speak so articulately..I

[adamgreen222]

Four years later, 2012, how about a Chris Harris with Martin Brundle driving event again?

[armydray13]

I loved that. So happy to see Chris get to do that. He's a good guy and deserved it. Awesome stuff.

[Calum643]

I was next in line to drive it after him... then i took an arrow to the knee. aw thats not even funny!!!

[djsexa68]

Great compliment..Chris did a good job in difficult circumstances! No shame to spin twice! Well done!

[skyphab]

What a joy to watch!

[nyjatt911]

1 Person is confused what the F in F1 stands for...

[t1000eg]

top bloke 

[35yearoldboy]

Did he say it was barely above freezing and icy???? Respect for spinning it ONLY twice! I remember Brundle driving for the Camel team(no idea what engine) and M-.Shumacher was a up and coming driver in an inferior car.The "bullet-nose"-design was just making its way into F1.N. Mansell was "the man" and Damon Hill came,won and disapeared when they banned all the gadgets that made the driver almost obsolete.Wich probably means that D.Hill wasn`t such a great driver.... I feel old.

[alucard0712]

wooooow.just wow.

[christosswc]

The purer the racing machine the more difficult it is to move around slow, it ain't built to do that.

He would have a very different experience on a rubbered in track, on a warm day, simply because he would have a bit more confidence and go a little faster.

He'll never know that cause he's not a racer but it doesn't matter, he had his fun and as watching as well.

[AntiIgnorantDimwit]

@christosswc 'He'll never know that cause he's not a racer...'? Ah, yes he is. Not F1 but he's KNOWS about racing buddy.

[LukeTalking]

Wow. You can tell Harris is a good road car driver because he's very smooth with the throttle and steering. The second time he spins out I think is because he's just a little less smooth with the throttle I think. Brundle is a legend. Really good video on roadies driving F1 cars, better than Hammonds one in Top Gear I think.

The thing that shocked me the most is when Brundle said if you start 10th by the time you pass pole you'll be doing over 100mph.

[silexent]

Wow Brundle has aged...now I feel old!

[Ferrariman601]

MARTIN BRUNDLE IS BRILLIANT!

Now, can any slightly above-average daily driver get into an F1 car and take it around a track without crashing? Probably. Can that same person find some speed after having a few hours of practice? Possibly. Can that person now enter a race and out-qualify Sakon Yamamoto? Not a chance. Driving an F1 car is something that most people could physically do. Driving an F1 car fast though, that's reserved for the truly great drivers.

[203132]

So this is the guy i always hear commentating on the F1...legend

[an50331]

chris harris should be on a big show like top gear

[liquidvmusic]

@an50331 don't insult him like that haha! top gear is just pure entertainment these days, fifth gear would be pretty much perfect if they got him on board I reckon. Amazingly talented driver and such a cool guy!

[muulka]

I have to say that i'd rather be driven by an F1 driver in a 2-seat car than drive myself lol. Less chance of a crash, and faster =D

[individrus]

I can admit I had not seen any other driver who is such a great speaker and presenter as Martin. God bless him!

[reefakt]

To race in F1 you need to come up through the ranks, and this takes years. Usually karting, then maybe Formula Renault, then F3, then A1GP. But not just that, youd have to be winning in these championships or be a front runner at least to get anywhere near F1. On top of that you need to be super fit.

[togalogs]

Simple fact is all F1 drivers build up to those speeds from karts, formula fords, F3, F2 that by the time the get to F1 its only really the brakes which take them by surprise.

[m3e92]

Bring Chris Harris back!!!!

[C1etus]

1000 people will tell it's that difficult, it's amazing how I just don't get it.

I wish I will drive an F1 one day and prove myself I was completely wrong.

thanx, great work!

[terrysmith22]

Brundle is SUCH a Legend!

[stu22aus]

You gotta remember all the people from other racing categories who have test-drove and spun F1 cars. For Mr.Harris to get in the cockpit with no (to my knowledge) single seat experience or even race background on an icy track and only spin twice is truly remarkable. And the people who own the car are just silly for letting him.

[ilikeledzeppelin]

He's actually got quite a bit of racing experience. They even did a special of him racing the 24hrs. of Nurburgring

[XboxGamer64]

and the Britcar 24h

[rafa281]

I may be saying a HUGE CRAP here, but i think that if your quite good at go-carting, then your probably fairly good at any racing car. Provided, of course, that you have seat time enough in order to get used to the car. To me, Harris did very, very well out there in this F1 car, but then again, i still think, that if your quite fast in a go-cart, then it must be no trouble at all driving even an F1 car.

[no1gret]

If your good at go-karting then you probably know how to drive quite well, racing lines, braking points etc but go-karting will give you NO idea of the experience of driving an f1 car. Iv read how optimal acceleration and braking in an f1 feels like its crushing your chest cavity, its things like that and such high G-forces through corners that will mean you need so much time track time to acclimatise yourself to the forces before you can even start to think about driving tracks properly

[rafa281]

Well, your now talking about physical strenght and fitness in order to withstand g-forces a go-kart experienced driver probably wouldn't be able to cope with. But then that's only a matter of getting used to, isn't it? Even Schumacher couldn't go back to F1 because he couldn't take the g-forces on his neck anymore. If your on about physical strenght, then I have to agree with you. But I was referring to simple ability to race an F1 car, disconsidering the body and whatever g-forces it'd take.

[rafa281]

Take this Chris Harris guy for instance, I doubt that as he jumped into the cockpit he was any fitter than an average guy who exercises regularly and drives ordinary fast cars every now and then, such as he does. Well I exercise myself quite often and am very physically strong. I know I'd never be able to drive an F1 car professionally right now, but then, being a quite experienced go-kart freak as I am, I don't doubt I I'd be able to do as well as Harris did on this video.

[kartkidchun]

Suttcliffe (I think I just spelt his name wrong) was pretty good in the Honda RA 107. That's the 2007 Honda. He was within a second of the official test drivers time!

[vgerster]

Wow, Martin Brundle was fascinating to listen to! Such a 'grand master' wealth of experience.

[kov001]

Hats off to chris harris at least hes been there and done it. The man is a capable driver just watch him chuck the focus wrc car around, F1 is a whole different level, hats off to all ex and current drivers!

[mallamoozoo]

I did one of these F1 track days in France - they are not detuned engines - the reason it sounds flat is simply because guys shit their pants at the brutal acceleration and start dribbling round on 15% throttle. These cars are SERIOUSLY fast - frighteningly fast - whatever you can imagine - you are imagining no more than Formula Ford - even F3 is much faster than you expect - but the F1 is just devastating.

[Hadidi89]

what the fuck does hamilton have to do with that he said hamilton win in fuji was one of the finest !

[seroyer2]

did you watch Hamilton win at Fuji it was crazy. He is talking about how talented f1 drivers are.

[debonair1234]

i hope brundle transfers to bbc for next season

[ScarTissue1990]

I love hearing people (like Chris and Rhichard Hammond) who aren't F1 drivers, reactions when they give it some welly. It really does seem amazing to me that they don't all just crash when they're racing in the wet. Good video 5 stars.

[Shazee083]

how the fuck is he

[courtne16]

Well done Chris hats off to ya!

[Peetgilb]

Massive respect for anyone who gets behind the wheel of one of those crazy machines. I don't thik I'd have the bottle!

[seroyer2]

NOT TRUE

[bluemonolith88]

I don't think there are any pay drivers in F1 in THIS season, but the rest of it IS TRUE.

[jacrach]

Any idiot with ok driving skills? Remove your fist from your knob!

[bluemonolith88]

F1 pilots get paid millions to drive those cars just few seconds faster than lesser professional drivers. It's taking those extra few seconds off a lap that takes years of training and talent, not to drive a F1 car half-arse properly around an empty track. If anybody who's not too old, relatively fit with some driving experience had about a month under proper supervision in a F1 car, they'll be clocking at about 1:40 or possibly faster depending on a person around Silverstone Grand Prix.

[rodneystar]

that's not true, there are a lot of qualities a driver of one of those things would need naturally to be able to get anywhere near a competitive time.

[mallamoozoo]

Wrong - you need years of racing experience in karts and lower formul to even have a hope in hell of getting within 10 seconds of F1 driver's times. A clown off the street couldnt get within 30 seconds even with a month of training.

[magyare09]

well said... when your racing your whole life understanding where the put the car on the limit requires instincts which u get from years and years of racing

[lesmcluffalot]

Kewlios

[topski100]

yeah he did pretty good, if your not used to the acceleration it makes it so much harder to take in

[SpawnyWhippet]

Does this Chris guy actually race himself? He shows quite an ingnorance by deprecating the 'guys at the back of the grid'. Most of them could win in most other championships on the planet and all are probably in the top 100 drivers worldwide.

[strongbelieva]

@Spawny. Thats so true, give those guys in the back a ferrari, McLaren, BMW and put them in the first few rows on the grid and it would be a different story

[TitanicWarrior]

Yer, then you'll see how good Massa, Alonso and co actually are.

[matt16uk]

Sooo much better than Hammond from Top Gear - 8 anti stalls and nowhere near as much distance. You could tell he was gutted to of spun out again, he wanted to carry on !

[racekidishere]

that is so true.

[illman76]

Pah! I could have beaten him in my Reliant Robin. On one cylinder. With only two wheels. Blindfold.........

Nah, just joking ;D Hats off to the guy for giving it a bit of welly in very dodgy conditions. I saw Hammond go all buggy eyed at the wheel of an F1 car too recently. I think they found his eyeballs at the back of his skull eventually.........

As the guy says during his drive, you'll never slag F1 drivers off again........

[Antifogasta]

I knew that Martin Brundle was a good chap but I had not realised what and absolutely charming bloke he is. Modest and self deprecating! An ace in more ways than one.

[DAH210774]

stunning footage

[AKaleyCuocoFan]

Completely agree with Chris and you Aaron

[aaron0288]

couldnt agree more with what chris said about brundle. his level of intelligence of f1 surpasses many people at the top of the sport, and does indeed make f1 100 times more enjoyable to watch, especially the grid walk, which usually outdoes the race in terms of entertainment value :)

[TigerSupercatE1]

@aaron0288 

[rp997]

This is an awesone series of F1 footage.

[ninjasailing]

cool video, woot first comment!!!!