dyer consequences by EZRA
DYER
CUPID’S ARROWS: I’M IN LOVE WITH A FORMULA 1 CAR.
S FAR AS CARS GO, Formula 1 machines are the pinnacle of everything, the ultimate predators in the race-car jungle. And to ever drive one, you’ve got to be either supertalented or superrich. Well, I’m not rich. As for the talent, I prefer to tell myself that the F1 world simply isn’t ready for my brand of hotheaded wheel-to-wheel aggression and off-track exploits that make Max Mosley look like Tim Tebow. No, the sanitized world of modern F1 can’t handle a loose cannon like me, as you’ll read all about in my scandalous upcoming autobiography, Naked Under the Nomex. So World Class Driving’s new F1 Experience and F1 Discovery
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programs are probably my best—and only—shot at F1 seat time. For the not inconsiderable sum of $3495, WCD will give you track time in an actual ex-F1 car. This isn’t some special, two-seat instructor car or a dumbed-down spec racer. This is Damon Hill’s 1997 Arrows A18. There’s nobody riding along to help you. Or to hear you scream. The Arrows and a spare car are at the Monticello Motor Club, where the plan is to start the day on a short course and then ramp up to the full 4.1-mile track. This is the first day of the program, so nobody’s quite sure how it will go when you mix average drivers with superinsane machinery. But there’s an $8000 insurance deductible to remind us what happens if the Arrows outruns our abilities. The race car is original, except for the fact that the 3.0-liter Yamaha V-10 has been replaced with a 3.5-liter Cosworth V-8 from an earlier F1 campaign. While the engine swap may diminish the historical accuracy of the experience, a historically accurate Yamaha V-10 would produce usable power from 17,000 to 17,100 rpm and then blow up. The Cosworth is a fine substitute. As I discover, when you’ve got an openexhaust, flat-crank F1 engine spinning 10,000 rpm a foot from your head, you don’t know whether it’s a V-8, a V-10, or a nitro-powered extraterrestrial jackhammer. And the Cosworth does produce enough power to generate some excitement. How much power, exactly, is a matter of question, but quotes are bouncing around in the 600-to-700-hp range. What’s not up for debate is the weight of the car: 1100 pounds. So even if the Cosworth were detuned to 265 hp, we’d still be talking about a Bugatti Veyron’s power-to-weight ratio.
Automobile | December 2010
ILLUSTRATION BY TIM MARRS
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