25
T
The honour of trying out the simulator, and completing
20
laps of the legendary oval circuit at Indianapolis, went
to Claudio Tocchi, Francesco Prisco and Stefano Bondani,
with full support from the Dallara staff.
And the new drivers certainly gave a good account of
themselves, competing against adversaries such as Dario
Franchitti, Scott Dixon and Ryan Hunter-Reay, and
demonstrating their ability to hold the line without ending up
against the wall. Before starting, all the participants spent the
time to set-up the seat and the pedals, and then they were off!
Starting from the back of the grid, they began to study their
opponents, gradually getting to grips with driving conditions
that are impressively similar to the real thing. While this was
going on, the F1passion editorial team were able to follow the
progress of the tests from the control room, thanks to the
monitors and the video camera mounted on top of the
simulator roll-bar, which relayed the images of the circuit and
the behaviour of the car.
At the end of the session, the best performance came from
Claudio Tocchi, who achieved a highly impressive average
speed of 214 mph on his fastest lap, the ninth, just two tenths
of a second off the fastest times.
The participants were given the opportunity to talk to Jean
Alesi, who was his usual charming and approachable self and
provided everyone with an insight into what it means to be a
true champion. The event was an unqualified success and was
summed up by Ezio Zermiani, enthusiastic and competent as
ever. «Mauro Coppini and I wanted to increase the awareness
of the Italian expertise in this sector among motorsports fans
through F1Passion.it – the journalist explained – this is the
mission that we share with Dallara. And we couldn’t have got
off to a better start. Engineer Gian Paolo Dallara, and his
company, are more famous in America than in Italia, and this
is one of the reasons why we are striving to bring the work of
the factory in Varano de’ Melegari to the notice of the wider
public here too. Dallara has been asked to create a new centre
in Indianapolis, along the same lines as the one that currently
exists in Italy, and this is an acknowledgement of the expertise
of a company with an excellent reputation that is not limited
solely to the American market».
The visitors who got the most out of the event were the young
people who were granted first hand experience of the level of
technology represented by the Dallara simulator. «The stress
was on youth – continued Zermiani – and we wanted to give
the youngsters who took part something to fuel their fantasies.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable two days, full of events that
everyone took part in willingly and with enthusiasm, filled
with a desire to participate that you could see from the smiles
on their faces, the endless photographs, and the pleasure of
spending time and exchanging ideas and opinions with people
who share the same passions. Jean Alesi’s participation was
very welcome, and he was moved by the expressions of
affection and recognition for everything he has achieved in his
career. I was particularly pleased to have been involved in
introducing a figure like Jean to a younger public, many of
whom had never even seen him race».
AN
EXCITING
TEST
