When you dream you're a racing driver, what kind of racing driver are you?

When I was you enough to have such dreams I wanted to be Mario Andretti.

I don't dream, i am a racing driver. Only doing kart races, but whatever.

A Porsche factory driver!! 

I grew up in the 60's and 70's, so the numerous deaths of my heroes (Clark, Rindt, Peterson, Villeneuve) put off the F1 dream. I decided at that point, that being the next Eric Clapton, or Paul Kossoff was preferable.

I dream I am Christina Nielsen and I'm at a rock concert sitting next to the lighting guy who is really attractive.

He invites me into his tour bus and we go straight to the back lounge..

Then I wake up.

Jp

Michel Vaillant

Chich "Thunder" Hicks, but mainly for the 'tache.

Some kind of endurance related event in a driving capacity, and always in a support role. I relate far more with contributing to something bigger, the philosophy otherwise known as Barrichelloism. What really gets my juices going are events such as Irvine at Suzuka in 1997, or Perez a few months ago in Abu Dhabi. When I used to play Toca 2 with a friend back in the day, I'd take such joy from staying out while he stopped and holding the pack back while he closed the gap - and sometimes vice versa.

Need a solid number 2? Eat more fibre...THEN I'M YOUR GUY!

Edited by HerbieMcQueen, 22 January 2022 - 23:26.

The few times I've had one, it was a Fangio/Ascari type character who raced a '99 McLaren Mercedes with 2000-2001 reliability. The rival was a James Hunt/Eddie Irvine type

If racing driver must be a car racer, then a bit Clay Regazzoni, gifted for wins, but not driven to become the statistical best driver. Having fun and doing my best is good enough for me.

However I'd prefer to go racing with a bike, and then it's a bit harder to choose. Winning 2 championships in different classes the same year, like Freddie Spencer did, sounds like a good and fun challenge to me.

Honorable mention would to be like Kimi. Not getting too much tangled up in things like politics, advertising, fan clubs. And in general even when successful, everyone leaving me alone, when I need the space.

I dream I am Christina Nielsen and I'm at a rock concert sitting next to the lighting guy who is really attractive.
He invites me into his tour bus and we go straight to the back lounge..

Then I wake up.

Jp

Formula Ford

Let me get this right JP... out of all the possibilities you dream about getting it on with yourself?!?!????

Dreams more revealing than we suspect. Freud was on to something!

Edited by red stick, 23 January 2022 - 04:32.

Fastest biker on the circuit who can't get his knee down

Let me get this right JP... out of all the possibilities you dream about getting it on with yourself?!?!????

Like Timo Salonen. Overweight (from too much Subway in my case) and thick glasses and not having a care in the world, except loosely driving underpowered rally cars, hoping a big team will call. In "Loysa's" case they did ;)

I don't actually dream being a racing driver anymore, probably because sim racing has made me realize that I wouldn't be a great one. My strengths have always been consistency and reliability, I'm the kind of "I can be in the top 10% if I really try, but never been exceptional" type of guy. And a clean race with fair fights gives me much more joy than a victory after dirty tactics/racing.

But even I can have my days, my two biggest achievements so far: Once I managed to hold P2 in a DTM race from one of the fastest guys I know (he has become an eSports regular since then), he was attacking me throughout the whole race with DRS, but yet I somehow managed to counteract all of his attempts. And I also have a single GT victory against multiple champions of our community, that day I just nailed the setup and my (much more successful) teammate had only slightly better pace than I had, so when I took the lead after the pitstops, I stayed in front (even though he asked me to swap places), because I knew that I might never have another chance. These small little victories and memories are enough for me.

Edited by balage06, 23 January 2022 - 21:57.

Fastest biker on the circuit who can't get his knee down

Hey, that's me! 

The guy that never signs a contract but whom team bosses will call when their car is hopeless and they need a single win. After the race I drive directly into the garage, pick up the bag of money and disappear. Never seen, never named.

The guy that never signs a contract but whom team bosses will call when their car is hopeless and they need a single win. After the race I drive directly into the garage, pick up the bag of money and disappear. Never seen, never named.

But was it a dream??

What is a dream but a visit to another dimension? 

Dream sequences: As a kid, I was Al Holbert's teammate. As an adult, a composite of Willy T. Ribbs, Robby Gordon and Sebastien Bourdais.

Michel Vaillant

Me too and he doesn't grow much older over the years: that's the best part

A good Amateur in a Ferrari at Le Mans.

I think I'd be a late 80s / early 90s mercurial, divisive driver in the mould of Stefano Modena who has a short-ish stint in F1. Then I would have a long stint in Alfa Romeo and Porsche works Touring Car and sportscar teams. 

Forgotten by most there would be handful of Blundle zealots / apologists who maintain I was the fastest kid they ever ran etc. Slowly it would emerge that my stint in F1 was cut short because the powers that be couldn't handle my progressive politics and rejection of F1s decline into a corporate / capitalist entertainment brand. 

I would also have the best hair in motorsport, think mid 60s George Harrison or John Squire circa 1990. 

20 years on I re-emerge speaking truth to power on the Motor Sport magazine podcast. My 'lunch with...' feature becomes a real must read. 

This is something I contemplate A LOT.

For whatever reason I am always retired or in some other way past my best, but with one or two race wins or podiums scored in unlikely circumstances that I can look back on with satisfaction, even as time relegates them to statistical curios.

How about you? Or do you dream you're a mechanic? Or the race director? (This would be a classic anxiety dream.)

I am an arrogant and narcissistic has-been who is so overweight that the car sinks 2 inches on it's suspension when my team of 3 attendants wedge me into the cockpit.  

I scream and curse and blame my racing engineer over the radio when I'm lapping 0.5 slower than my teammate, and the team trembles with fear at my outbursts because the team owner is wealthier than God and I was his favorite driver when I was in my prime. He worships the ground I walk on, as should you all.  Sometimes I carry a brown bag lunch with me in the cockpit during a race, and have been fined several times by the FIA for flipping up my visor and eating a sandwich while racing. 

I am still able to finish ahead of where I should at times because my opponents have learned to gtf out of my way when I try a late braking move on them because they know the car won't slow down on line with my fat ass in the cockpit.  

Flavio Briattore hates me because I've taken his "fattest, ugliest man with the hottest girlfriend/wife" title.  

You plebs should feel honored that I spent my precious time typing this response. 

Edited by Squeed, 24 January 2022 - 20:00.

The only racing dream I had was that I could have a go on the Cagiva V593. I could feel it, smell it, everything.

Edited by Sash1, 25 January 2022 - 12:59.

Funny thing happened after I posted in this thread yesterday: I dreamed that I came in third in a GP (don't remember who was ahead of me) and then there was some kind of a team event, kind of Race of Champions, where we "dueled" in a three lap race and in the final my team mate (who I don't really know who it was) had won his race and I was to race against Norris. I remember the track layout very well and that our race should start at 15.25, but there was rumors that Norris would back out because my lap times in previous duels was much better than his. The dream itself contained many races, the story did, but I only dreamed one lap of actual driving. What was really unusual with this dream was that when I was driving, the car was really fast, it felt real. Most of the times, if I dream about a fast car or bike, it turns into a Fiat Punto or a bicycle when I take off. And the tarmac track turns to a puddle of mud.  

I've always wanted to be a Porsche works driver at LeMans in a Silhouette car like a 935/78.  I wasn't really a fan of the Group 6 cars.  When the FIA changed classes and designations I then fell in love with the 956...what a race car!!  

Even though F1 is my first love, I could always see myself driving a Porsche at LeMans.