Imola Onboard with Nelson Piquet - 1991

[Piermaria84]

@ gevirtual ... aahahahah .. Your Magic Nelson Piquet ,just missed 2 gear-shift in this lap..

[KINGOSWALD]

I noticed he didn't lift off when passing the yellow flags ^-^

[Im1stBase]

Thank you, fantastic video!

[gevirtual1]

NELSON PIQUET IS THE BEST AND BIGGER BRAZILIAN DRIVER OF ALL TIME!!

Senna is a "marketing mass product" that drive fast...

1. Piquet

2. Fittipaldi

3. senna

[PedroNovaes82]

@gevirtual1 ? es doido...

[hristoitchov]

It's amazing that Senna did 1:21.877 in 1991 and that was only beaten twice - by himself and Schumacher in 1994. Goes to show how fast the cars were in 91, despite lack of as many electronics and improved aero as 92 and 93 cars had.

[LaveaFirmis]

@hristoitchov wasnt the track shorter back then?

[hristoitchov]

@LaveaFirmis No, exactly the same layout in 1991 and 1994. You can watch some onboards from 94 and compare them to this video.

[LaveaFirmis]

@hristoitchov ah yes of course it was sorry I was thinking of the modern Imola when did they change it then do you know?

[hristoitchov]

@LaveaFirmis They changed it after the 1994 tragedy, so from 1995 onwards.

[foxesdad]

Nice vid.  good to see all the old corners

[2754iceman]

great nelson

[TheQuietStormSession]

Did they change anything post the Senna incident? I don't know the corner's name but after Tamborelli where Senna went off, it looks very gradual whereas recollecting from memory, the turns following it were more elongated and the cars had to slow down more famously or infamously where Yuji Ide would go off and take out Minardi's driver who's name escapes me. 

[rivrin]

I thought for a second that a piece of spaghetti was stuck to the camera ;)

[PRJ842]

It's such a joy to watch such a great driver tame his car around one of the best motor racing circuits in the world and commentated by the great Murray Walker!

[silvinocardosojr]

Great lap from Piquet. in the manual gearbox. Legend!

[PSNpod]

At 1:42 quickly pause the video.

Guess who finished 1st :)

[gateontheroom]

@PSNpod Senna

[gateontheroom]

@PSNpod Senna. He will always be the first

[LesCrapio]

He said the biggest happiness that a pilot experiences is when he survives a crash.

[skynet091287]

Piquet will always be my favorite... He became world champion the year i was born: 1987

[Holden308]

Even though its had its share of tragedies, I wish Imola was still on the F1 calender.

[eduardoduartte256]

O grande Nelson Piquet

[yngwie503]

its a shame what happened to this track. i understand that the incidents of senna and ratzenberger were a tragedy, but what the FIA did to reconstruct the track was butchery. it was hardly a drivers circuit anymore.

[blek811]

What a shame that Nelson Piquet Jr. was such a novice. There is nothing to compare Nelson Piquet, great driver and great video dude.

[kikorayol]

Widow detected.

Viúva detectada.

[adrenalized86]

Love this old cam onboard.

[grandp4]

Good driver but Senna the best

[Harpe87]

Great Video!!!!

[LIGIERJS111979]

Yes, sounds like he miss a gear at 0:35. Wonderful video! I love Nelson´s smooth driving style, he has a beautiful way to attack the corners gently. The 1991 Benetton was a really nice car.

[screwyou4444]

yeah sounded like it, it was still a H-patern back then so it would be very easy, it wasn't uncommon to see champ cars miss gears back in 05 before they changed to the DP01.

[btccfan2002]

Does he miss a gear at :35? Sounds like it. Great video, love the Murray Walker commentary!

[marciok1970]

Seems he has a damaged gear at 0:43.

[mallamoozoo]

@btccfan2002

Yep and he misses another one at 0:44 - 2 mistakes in 9 seconds! Jesus Senna made only 2 small mistakes like this in 9 whole races! How crap was piquet? !

[lucianoestivill]

I wouldn't say Malla that Piquet was crap at all. I know you and I understand what you mean mate, but maybe some people could mislead into the wrong direction labeling you as a "Piquet hater", etc. Be careful: I UNDERSTAND your point pretty well, because I know who you are My Brother, but if some people reads your post without knowing you at least a bit, They could hate you! ROFL....

By the way, and being serious, I rate Piquet as an excellent driver, and an underrated driver as well....

[mallamoozoo]

@lucianoe

Ok thanks mate.

I think of piquet somewhat like montoya - good raw talent but a kind of non-focussed mentality that expected raw talent is enough. Senna used to mentally rehearse gear changes like a robotic machine in his apartment in England in the F.Ford days- like Michael Jordan would practice 1000 shots per day Senna practiced gear changes.

The result? Berger once said "I sometimes miss gears- Senna doesn't"

Piquet had talent but two missed gears is 9 seconds is a lot.

[lucianoestivill]

Yeah I know malla, 9 seconds could be a lot, OK, agree, but everybody make mistakes..... No perfect human beings available yet!!!. Some of the Best drivers in the world make stupid mistakes: Prost Imola 91 on parade lap! LMAO.... Senna crashing like a noob in Monaco 88 while leading by almost a minute.... Alain made the same stupidity in Monaco 82, crashing with two laps to go while leading by almost an entire lap.... We don't better talk about Mansell: mistakes where ever you want... Just that!

[mallamoozoo]

@lucianoestivill

very true mate - nobody ever made no mistakes.

[mallamoozoo]

@lucianoe

More importantly though mate - is how much more drivers had to do in 91 than now - it's easy for me to point out piquet's mistakes here - but compared to the kids today - at least he was COULD make a mistake - whereas now they are semi-automatic it's all too easy.

Schui did only 41 GP in manual gearshift cars (and won only 2). Watch some video in car (eg Adelaide 92) - schui is quite brutal on the gear shifts - not at all refined like Ayrton's supreme technique.)

[lucianoestivill]

Is there a possibility that it wasn't a missing gear but some momentarily problems on the gearbox? The sound of the engine is a bit strange during those 9 seconds..... As if..... I don't know, some kind of gearbox commands problem that lasted for some reason during just some seconds.... Only a possibility, I don't know honestly....

[mallamoozoo]

@lucianoestivill

I dont think so mate- this was a simple 6 speed manual Hewland gearbox/ Cosworth V8 mating with no electronic or computer parts at all as far as i know.

Note that its MUCH easier to miss gears than in a street car - there is no syncromesh to "take up the slack" in the timing so the revs must match the wheel speed for the next gear.

Also the "throw" or "travel" is very very small - the gears "slots in the gate" are very very close to each other- almost a flick of the wrist.

[lucianoestivill]

I see malla, good explanation. I omitted the fact that the gearbox was manual and non-electronic, you're right. It's clear that Nelson missed gears, He has to lift a bit every time to be able to down shift and accelerate violently again by a fraction of a second to put the correct shift. It happened to me last week with my IZUSU vehicle: I lost clutch and I did exactly the same Piquet did when missing gears: lift, accelerate, and put the right shift at the right revs. Nelson missed gears twice.

[lucianoestivill]

Also note that He missed the gears "down shifting" instead of upshifting, and the danger red light on the front panel turns on (two much revs per minute).

OFF TOPIC: Nothing to do with this but, in my personal use of my vehicles (all with synchronized manual gearboxes), I really don't use the brakes to lower speed, I only down shift. When up shifting, many times I don't use clutch, just up shift according to the sound of the engine and due to the moment the turbo starts.....

[mallamoozoo]

@lucianoestivill

Yeah well its easier to miss on downshifts as the revs must be matched with wheel speed before engaging (hence heel and toe) whereas up thats doesnt matter. Also you cant over-rev by shifting up too early and the tacho tells u when to change (but you soon get the rhythm anyway - you memorize the time it takes for a particular set of ratios at each track). Also downshifting is faster due to braking G force being so high - so all round - down is much harder.

[mallamoozoo]

@lucianoestivill

You can use engine compression braking on a street car but in racing of course you want MASSIVE deceleration so of course mere downshifting wont do the job. Unless of course you only want to knock off a small amount of speed and brakes is overkill - then you may just flick it down a gear.

i always had a heirarchy i followed.

heavy deceleration - hard brakes

moderate deceleration - light brakes

light deceleration - single downshift

slight deceleration - throttle lift

[mallamoozoo]

@mallamoozoo

Of course the amount of speed change in each application depends on the Formula - for F1 lifting the throttle can slow the car as hard as a street car on heavy brakes (mindblowing) - but the hierachy is still the same - just the numbers are bigger.

Also of interest is driver preference in the heavy braking mode - some (Senna) row through all the gears as well as braking - others (eg Schumacher from the few in car vids Ive seen of him in manuals) just ram it into the final gear.

[mallamoozoo]

@mallamoozoo

Thats one of the few aspects of driving technique I always found a bit mysterious - i see no advantage to Senna's more complex technqiue but obviously there was a reason for it - he didn't do things for no reason. The only advantage i can see is if the car has SO MUCH grip the brakes can't lock the wheel - then you need extra power and the engine can give it - but not being an f1 driver i am not sure exactly how these factors were balanced.

[mallamoozoo]

The most likely explanation though is that just using the pedal means the driver is restricted to a fixed brake bias as the car slows - using Senna's technique - he could increase the frontward bias and then regulate the rear end traction with the downshifts (thus compensating for the progressively decreasing deceleration as the speed dropped. (all whilst heal and toeing). But that's an incredible intensity mental processing at F1 speeds - phenomenal Senna

[lucianoestivill]

@mallamoozoo On the other hand, if my vehicle is on full load at the back (2500lbs), even if it's heavier (imagine a big ballast at the back), I get enough downforce on the rear to downshift from 5th to 2nd (I tested it with-and-without full brakes), and the vehicle brakes almost as a F1 car without blocking tyres (remember, without ABS on).

You can see here the model of my Izusu car (without automatic gearbox). It's a hard monster, oversteering quite a bit, but still nice!

watch?v=P3PUCasQb9I

[lucianoestivill]

@mallamoozoo In fact, your quotes fits exactly with some experiences I had/have with my 3.1litres turbo-powered Isuzu 4WD vehicle. Due to its mountain Michelin tyres (bad grip on dry asphalt) if I downshift from 5th or 4th to 3rd, it's OK. But because of its differential and gearbox ratios, from 3rd to 2nd (without ABS) the rear wheels block automatically (sometimes even front wheels), and I felt incredible G force on my neck even at low speed!!!.

[lucianoestivill]

@mallamoozoo I thumb up all your quotes since ALL of them are CORRECT from a physical (dynamics I'd say) point of view, as well as from a practical or "factual" point of view. VERY GOOD!!! You know you're stuff malla, hehe.... 5 STARS!!!

[lazerpod66]

It seems to be that Piquet has a problem selecting that gear (5th) rather than accidently downshifting.