In the film ‘Days of Thunder’, there’s an iconic scene where Cole Trickle bemoans his lack of car knowledge with crew chief Harry Hogge.
Trickle, a former USAC driver, tries to man-handle his Chevrolet Lumina without much luck, leaving him puzzled.
“Her ass is all over the place,” cries Trickle, who is played by Tom Cruise.
Hogge, played by Golden Globe winner Robert Duvall, replies: “When the rear end’s loose, the car’s fast. Loose is fast and on the edge of out of control.”
Van Gisbergen recalled one of his first speedway experiences in the NASCAR Xfinity Series that made him realise just how steep the learning curve would be.
“I was pretty open minded coming into it and had no expectations or feeling what it would be like,” said van Gisbergen on the latest KTM Summer Grill episode.
“Even in Xfinity last year, the first time I did Vegas, I pitted straight away just going, ‘the car’s undrivable. It’s loose’.
“But I didn’t realize, there’s a bolt in the left rear that they leave loose on purpose to have the car flex, and the diff flex.
“You land in the corner and the load just changes the rear toe completely, and the car skews out.
“I thought, ‘Oh, I’m just loose’, but I corrected it, and it shot me straight up to the wall. Like the tyres were gripped up, and it wasn’t drifting.
“Even the Cup car, the way the rear is when you bounce, the rear bounces out – the toe steer – It’s just sensations that you don’t ever feel.”
Like Trickle, van Gisbergen has had to learn all about turn, wedge and other stock car-specific terminology – trusting that the adjustments his team make are to his benefit.
Though there are some similarities between the Gen3 Supercar and the Next Gen stock car, the two cars are ultimately poles apart.
“If you’re thinking of ball sports, it’s like going from rugby to cricket – You know, you’re still playing with a ball, but it’s just so different,” van Gisbergen explained.
“Just the way the car handles and feels. You’re set up only to turn one way.
“The way the banking feels, and the way the car transitions, and just so many sensations that are new to me.
“You just drive into these corners and six months ago, even nine months ago, it didn’t seem possible that a car would work like that.
“I’ve got 30 years of my ass telling me that the car’s sideways and losing the rear, but that’s just the way the bump steer is and the cars yawed out.
“I’ve got to ignore my bum and just trust my hands and let the air save the car. It’s just so different to any other racing that I’ve done around the world.”
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