Ben Collins Drives Ferrari Challenge @ Brands Hatch
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- Опубліковано 15 чер 2021
- Former Top Gear Stig Ben Collins cuts the tethers on Ferrari's Challenge Evo racing car, a weaponised track edition of the F8 Tributo. For a Le Mans racer it should have been a walk in the park but Ben quickly discovered that the Evo boasted more performance than the car he raced at La Sarthe for 24 hours and quickly broke into a sweat as he wrangled the wheel.
Another thing he learned, reluctantly, was the real benefit of a modern traction control system that keeps you safely on the island and even permits faster lap times than by human inputs alone. Ferrari's system works hand in glove with the occupant of the racing throne to harness the bestial power and place it effectively on the tarmac. If you've ever wondered what it feels like to ride with a pro around Brands Hatch then fire up the screen, sit back and enjoy the rollercoaster ride! ;)
...Stay tuned for the next film on How to Drive a lap of Brands Hatch ..
Presenter Ben Collins
@bencollinsstig
Director
Jack Burnford
Camera Ops
Christian Elvidge @motorflixfilms @Motorflix
Joe Hill @overthehillproduction
Dickie Dawson @dickiedaw
Ollie James
Drone Pilot
Will Cheek @aerial.perspective.services
Music
MB01DU1W0Z4HYTF - Авто та транспорт
Glad to see a serious driver talk about traction control. Time to break that taboo...
The taboo broke ME..! It's always great to learn a new trick and with the Challenge it was simply faster with TC on and short shifting the gears like you would in the rain. After that it was a real rocket-ship
@@BenCollinsDrives unfortunately the closest I'll ever get to that is watching guys like you. Great channel and content. Keep up the good work
Wish he didn’t say that
Incredible production ! I am glad BC now works on official channel. One of my favorite drivers, and excellent cars presenter as well, especially when it comes to actual driving, perhaps best at that. I don't know any other car journalist who can portray what its like to drive the car so well, and including pushing the car to the limits while also doing it in high pace.
Quality video production, quality car and obviously quality driving.
Thank you kindly sir!! Glad you enjoyed it!!
Much appreciated - fortunate to have some fantastic film makers adding their polish !
@@BenCollinsDrives😅å
Thanks for removing the music from the inboard stuff, really does make a huge difference. Cheers.
Great edit, thoroughly enjoyed all of it!
Thank you - can thank my buddy Christian @motorflix for that one!
@@BenCollinsDrives 👍🏻🤙🏻
Top notch production! Ben Collins Drives channel offers more in depth on car control dynamics than the slew of mere "enthusiast" YT channels! Makes me a better driver just watching and listening!
The Challenge Ferrari needs a bigger track configuration! Seems similar to racing a motorcycle in a spherical cage! Round and round, but never stretching it's legs! Maybe the Challenge drivers never push it that hard? Idk...Have to take a look at that series
Just seeing this a couple of years later... the Challenge drivers push these cars to the edge and beyond. The top drivers wring every bit of speed and control they can out of these cars. Speeds are very high. Accidents can be quite significant. For their skill level, they are driving as fast as they possibly can. We were taking small to midsized turns that would be 35mph turns on most public roads at 90-110 mph. We hit the mid/high 190s on several of the larger tracks (and this was in the early days of the Challenge when our cars had far, far less power than the current models). A lot of the tracks we raced (and which are still raced today) are normal, longer tracks - longer than BrandsHatch. In the U.S, for example, this includes: Sebring, Daytona, Watkins Glen, Infineon, Homestead, Road America (Elkhart Lake), and more. Our cars had a passenger seat (in most cases), but most people would have been scared to death riding right seat. It is intense (and very fun).
Please don't cut to interior shots mid-corner, give us more racing line or pov next time :)
Great content and great production, but where are the views/subs?
Wow, how far Challenge cars have come since our first-year cars (348s)! Though we did have a pit lane speed limiter (my right foot), and traction control (my right foot working in conjunction with my arms fed data by my brain processing visual input... from my eyes). Our steering wheel buttons were a bit less complicated: there were none. It did say Momo, and it looked dead sexy. So we had that going for us. I did end up wheels-up once (Sears Point/Infineon) and the roll call collapsed - so you can thank me for that very beefy roll cage you guys have now (visible at about 2:10 in this video). But that was Ferrari's only "mistake". Our cars were bulletproof. We drove the piss out of them and they didn't break. It was "as much fun as you can have with your clothes on".
So, thank you again Ferrari! And, as always, thanks for your contribution to the sport, Ben.
As Ben says, use your traction control systems! They are better than we are. A simple system would almost certainly have eliminated the Sears Point shunt I mentioned. I was very, very lucky: while the collapsing roof left a hole in the top of my Kevlar helmet, and I did get a bit of cervical compression, you would never know it today to see me play my sports today. And in case anyone is wondering, I did not complain to Ferrari or sue them. Life is too short. I walked away with my head, literally and metaphorically, held high. Race on, Challenge drivers!
What an absolute delight of a Video! 🙏
Polished work product! Well done, Ben & team!
Diving for the curb in Druids definitely seems like the faster line. I was there last week and taking the regular slow in fast out racing line isn't as quick.
Crikey, that compression seemed brutal. I don't think I'd be fit enough to drive that car in anger. So nice to see laps without forced oversteer. Thouroughly enjoyed this one Ben!
Yet another fantastic video BEN thank you
Very informative thanks Mr. Collins, sir
I have followed your career from the beginning Ben. Your style is like no other. I won a 1k dollars when they finally showed you on Top Gear. When they first showed M. S. I was gobsmackecd that I was wrong. I said no way and was so glad I was proven righ. You are one in a million!!
Great work here Ben, good luck with growing your channel
Bens a great driver,love watching videos he features in
This was cool as hell ! Thx
Music is “Neon Road (instrumental)” by Prizm.
Great fun to watch Ben! Love the legendary Brands! What make was your carbon helmet? Cheers!
Great vid, beautiful FERRARI 🔥
Great video, I wish there was more exhaust sound tho
Only a racing driver can spend time talking about how the differnent types of traction control work, only to then say that he's gonna turn it all off. :D
Great vid Ben, but what was the lap time ???😉
Closest I'll ever get to this is ACC. And am absolutely ecstatic I have that.
But is turning TC off not the fastest way to drive it in ACC ? Mass market simracing games tends not to make cars/tires "better" than simracers, simply not to upset them.
drone guy's skills were 🔥🔥🔥
Happy day's he's "turning it all off" 😎😎✌✌👌👌👍👍
What happened at the end with the car broken down mid corner and the flat bed truck at the ready?
What was the lap time like compared with the other drivers out of curiousity?
Loving the t shirt 😂 where can I get one?!
The front end of this car looks amazing; futuristicly handsome. The entire car does tbh
So the don’t use the gt3 Ferraris in the challenge series? Like the new 296 gt3?
Well done Mr Anchorman 😎
Thank you - 8,000 press-ups and still counting ... ;)
1:45 "The man in the whi..." ... wait, what?
Big fan of the book btw. And of you... of course.
Thank you & glad you enjoyed it !
Brands Hatch > Silverstone... It's just that Silverstone has better facilities and more spectator space. I'd love to see F1 come back to Brands Hatch... Even though I've never driven a car in RL, and approaching 50 years old and never had a driving lesson, for me, just driving in VR, Silverstone is just bland at the side of Brands Hatch. I love the elevation changes, every corner needing a different technique. Silverstone, I can occasionally forget where I am because multiple corners are more or less identical, hardly any change in elevation. It just doesn't grab my attention like Brands does.
"Woo hoo!" We didn't get that on TG.
So what was the lap time ? Why didn't you tell us ?
cool :)
GORGEOUS FERRARI💞💯👑👍🏆
So ‘TC’ actually stands for ‘Tree control’ 😊
what are those nets for? on the inside.
To catch your teeth when they shatter and fall out.
Stiggy? Is this you!?
You and Jimmy Broadbent should make a channel together. Where you test drive cars and review Simracing gear and games.
Is it just me or is there no engine sound? Really disappointing considering how nice the video looks.
What's the point of the camera pointing at him rather than seeing the track and his lines...
it's a fair point and I think I could have done this better with an onboard POV video of the lap with voice over to highlight lines etc - thats probably the way I'll go BUT it's still helping seeing the track up close as well
Interested to know why the electronics helped with a faster laptime. Good to see the split between yaw and wheelspin instead of "them electronics". Is it because you can simply accelerate without much regard to modulating throttle for wheelspin, so you're actually using 100% traction with the computers, vs a human driver who would be at 95-102%? Also thinking there's the error rate - computers don't really make errors, whereas consistency for that last 1-2% for humans is tough, so over many laps that would add up. Same deal for the yaw system.
Also, is there a driving technique difference? Let's say you feel a microscopic yaw through a corner - a human driver would fractionally correct, and I have found when I do that sometimes it conflicts with the ESC system, leading to instability and the car feeling awful. So I would be better off simply not reacting and letting the car do the work. But that's no fun, and dulls instincts for when I drive with no electronics.
Finally...what about the fun factor, I'd suggest it's more fun and rewarding to go 1 sec/lap slower fully manual than faster relying on electronics. But maybe that's just me.
Good to be the first to comment ... we should do a collaboration but with something a touch less expensive lol. Classic 90's BMWs for instance lol. Excellent cinematography by the way.
Bring it on! DM me on insta & see if we can do something
Some say... he bleeds pure petrol.
Insane the Stig doesn’t own a Ferrari
Jumping in a car, pressing a few buttons and then be 90 percent as fast as a driver that have learned and honed their skill over years, to me is missing the point. Driving fast is an art form, a skill, it is going against what society deems as save and 'normal', and you do it because you love it, not for any logical reason. Having driver aids in a racing series takes some of that honor, skill, beauty and thrill away. Imagine giving "Queen" a recording of himself that was perfected in a studio that he simply holds up to the microphone while pretending to sing, yea it will sound perfect every time, but come on.
Well that was stupid
Great commentary and production!!