Nigel Mansel for Silverstone LMS

[knighty]

just read that Nigel Mansell will be in the factory Gienetta-Zytek for the final Silverstone LMS round.

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/news/de...?storyId=20468

will be interesting to see how he does

[Tim the Grey]

I remember his running in a 430 a while back... Don't expect much!

[zac510]

At the FIA-GT, yeah.

His presence will definitely entice a few first-timers to visit.

[AstonGeoff]

I wonder if this is a precursor to a Mansel family entry for LM next year?

[Gingers4Justice]

Hope they make sure the cockpits wide enough for him

[isynge]

Great for getting some wider appeal and promoting the race, thus all in favour. Not sure it'll be all that rapid, while he was apparently quick in the Chamberlain Lola testing last year, there's no real evidence either way about what tyres / fuel load he was on.

Certainly see them going for a banzai qualifying run to get up to the front but wouldn't hold my breath for race performance. If they keep their heads and run steadily they might finish reasonably in the points, but I suspect Silverstone might have too strong an entry for that.

I'd be genuinely pleased if they did do reasonably well - if it prompted more outings next year it'd have to be good news.

[dxk1]

Originally Posted by Gingers4Justice

Hope they make sure the cockpits wide enough for him

That comment was so not PC! He is simply weight challenged.

DK

[Dead-Eye]

Originally Posted by Gingers4Justice

Hope they make sure the cockpits wide enough for him

Originally Posted by isynge

Great for getting some wider appeal

How good a driver is Tomlinson?

[Gingers4Justice]

Originally Posted by dxk1

That comment was so not PC! He is simply weight challenged.

DK

Speak to McLaren and they'll tell you that weight aint the issue! It's his horizontal-challenged-ness (thats not even a word!).

I don't understand how he couldn't fit into that McLaren in 1995 (?) and now 13 years on they can slip him into an LMP.

[zac510]

isynge, I (and most others, too) reckon that the Ginetta Zytek is a bit quicker car than the old Chamberlain Lola.

[isynge]

Originally Posted by zac510

isynge, I (and most others, too) reckon that the Ginetta Zytek is a bit quicker car than the old Chamberlain Lola.

I'm not questioning that in the slightest - only commenting on how valid the times from that particular test (which was not officially timed in any case) were. Anecdote suggested Mansell lapped rapidly, however we don't know under what sort of circumstances the laps were undertaken.

Thus, in the absence of anything empirical, how fast the LNT car will be with the Mansells aboard is just conjecture. On that basis, I'd still see them having a bash at a decent qualifying run, I'd be sceptical about their ability to score highly given the field, and highly optimistic that it will be a shot in the arm for Silverstone attendance.

[zac510]

Yeah, should add a little more interest.

See ya there

[Ted bennett]

Originally Posted by Gingers4Justice

Speak to McLaren and they'll tell you that weight aint the issue! It's his horizontal-challenged-ness (thats not even a word!).

I don't understand how he couldn't fit into that McLaren in 1995 (?) and now 13 years on they can slip him into an LMP.

We had some interesting challenges when it came to seatfits on the MP4-10, that's for certain. While obviously Nigel was not the smallest F1 driver around, the problems we had were not all down to him. The cockpit was just too small full stop. It was really the signal to Ron that something had gone wrong with the design department at McLaren so he had a shake up and brought some new names in and changed the working practices. Different sections just did not seem to communicate with the other sections and a prime example of that is shown by the seatfit problems we had. A new regulation had introduced a foam pad to be fitted behind the drivers head which was 100mm thick in contrast to the previous pad which was just 25 mm. The consequence of this was to force the drivers upper body forward and reduce the distance between the driver and the steering wheel thus forcing his elbows out wider where they then fouled against the cockpit rim. This hurt Nigel especialy as he used a very small diameter steering wheel so he couldn't use his upper body strength as he would have liked.
This new foam pad was never seen when the mockup tub was used to assess driver comfort, we just used the old pad and all seemed well. Then when the first chassis was in build and we were preparing it for seat fitting some guy wandered down from the drawing office and handed us this huge new headrest, about three months later than we would have liked. This sort of thing went on all the time across many of the departments and culminated in the dog that was the MP4-10. We tried so many fixes that season that it was obvious no one really had a clue as to why the car didn't work but the team did manage to massage some performance out of it later in the year.
Shame I don't have a scanner as I have some snaps of the seatfit chassis after we took the grinder to it in a vain attempt to get Nigel in the car.

[Tim the Grey]

So, Mansell, Senna, and Prost already entered? Anyone got a seat for Piquet Junior... I believe he suddenly has a gap in his diary!

[Al Weyman]

Off topic but I found out the other month that my nephew has married and has a baby with Nigel's niece, does that make us related?

[Gingers4Justice]

Originally Posted by Ted bennett

We had some interesting challenges when it came to seatfits on the MP4-10, that's for certain. While obviously Nigel was not the smallest F1 driver around, the problems we had were not all down to him. The cockpit was just too small full stop. It was really the signal to Ron that something had gone wrong with the design department at McLaren so he had a shake up and brought some new names in and changed the working practices. Different sections just did not seem to communicate with the other sections and a prime example of that is shown by the seatfit problems we had. A new regulation had introduced a foam pad to be fitted behind the drivers head which was 100mm thick in contrast to the previous pad which was just 25 mm. The consequence of this was to force the drivers upper body forward and reduce the distance between the driver and the steering wheel thus forcing his elbows out wider where they then fouled against the cockpit rim. This hurt Nigel especialy as he used a very small diameter steering wheel so he couldn't use his upper body strength as he would have liked.
This new foam pad was never seen when the mockup tub was used to assess driver comfort, we just used the old pad and all seemed well. Then when the first chassis was in build and we were preparing it for seat fitting some guy wandered down from the drawing office and handed us this huge new headrest, about three months later than we would have liked. This sort of thing went on all the time across many of the departments and culminated in the dog that was the MP4-10. We tried so many fixes that season that it was obvious no one really had a clue as to why the car didn't work but the team did manage to massage some performance out of it later in the year.
Shame I don't have a scanner as I have some snaps of the seatfit chassis after we took the grinder to it in a vain attempt to get Nigel in the car.

Right on cue, that man.

And that's taught me a lot seen as I was 1 at the time.

Another general question, can you make the cockpit of an LMP wider?

[Tim the Grey]

No need. Just mould a wider seat...

[Steven Humphrey]

I think the regs state that they should, in theory, be 2 seaters anyway.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by Al Weyman

Off topic but I found out the other month that my nephew has married and has a baby with Nigel's niece, does that make us related?

Not only are your related, but I think you are now eligible to run in a car with him!

[Al Weyman]

Two overweight gentlemen together then!

[Tim the Grey]

I'd have thought that is a requirement for balance?

[Gingers4Justice]

Originally Posted by Al Weyman

Two overweight gentlemen together then!

Both of them bidding to put the 900 back into LMP

[The Badger]

Remember the F1 season where our Nig jumped outta his F1 car and tried to push it over the line . Is there any utube stuff on that one ?

I found a cool one of him giving Senna a lift back to the pits , sitting on his sidepod .

Wonder how far he could push a Ginetta ?

[rich07]

Nice to see the team has painted a thick black moustache under the Ginetta's nose to make him feel at home.

[Gingers4Justice]

Originally Posted by The Badger

Wonder how far he could push a Ginetta ?

It's quite a bit heavier. And he's not quite in the physical shape he used to be.

But with the Ginetta, he can transport 2 stranded drivers, with two roll-hoops to hang on to!

The would require Bruno to retire on the last lap, and Nicolas too.