What does it mean to be a True Racer

[PlatinumZealot]

What does it mean to be a true racer?

Does it mean fighting for every square inch of tarmac? Does it mean being totally ruthless? Is it winning at any cost?

The term has been used so much, but I am not entirely sure of the true meaning of it.

Anybody who considers himself a racer here can enlighten us?

Thanks.

[OneAlex]

The idea of a "true racer" seems to come up a lot when talking about team orders these days. Like when people said Max had the sign of a "true racer" for refusing to give up and let Carlos go through on a different strategy.

In that sense I suppose one of the defining qualities of a true racer must be a certain level of arrogance and "red mist", with the idea that you look after yourself and nothing else matters other than you going as fast as you can and staying ahead.

Then again you could argue a true racer should be able to use his head too and focus on the grand scheme of things: winning at the end of it. Which means being able to have a feel for the car and strategy for the long game of the whole race/season, including helping your team-mate out at junctions to help yourself later on.

Maybe that's why the best rivalries are the likes of Senna vs Prost, Hunt vs Lauda... competitions between two types of "true racer".

[Andres125sx]

A true racer is me

Seriously, you´ll get as many definitions as people posting, too subjective.

Drivers must defend their own interest as much as posible, and that implies fighting for any position as hard as posible. But, what´s possible? Some people will say pushing your rivals wide is a sign of competitiveness and is ok, and some others will say that´s not fair and is beyond the limits. That´s just an example, but I guess you get the idea, racing is not mathematics and each incident has multiples interpretations, so there will always be discussions about what´s within the limits and what´s not.

Another example, TOs. I´ve read people stating disobeying TOs is a sign of a true racer. To me it´s a sign of arrogance.

There are tons of examples like these wich make it imposible to state what´s a true racer, there will be as many definitions as fans.

[Facts Only]

Funny case from 2015/2015 involving a teamate coming up behind on a different strategy, according to some:

When Verstappen refused to let Sainz through it was "the sign of a true racer"

When Vettel refused to let Ricciardo through it was "the sign of a petulant loser"

Being called a true racer just means that some armchair comentators need to use a few cliche's to sound clue'd up.

But to actually answer the question; Personally I think you are only a true racer if you have built your own car/team, other wise you are just a driver. Racing is about far more than getting behind the wheel.

At the top of that list would be Dan Gurney.

But the list contains hundreds, if not thousands of club level motorsport competitors who finance building their own cars from normal jobs and then put it all on the line racing at weekends for nothing more than the love of racing and maybe a plastic trophy.

[turbof1]

Facts Only, I'd also count having driven in races as being a requirement to being a true racer. Else you'd be the engineer who built the car, but never raced it.

By that assessment, do we see Frank Williams as a true racer? When he was young, he did race in F1. Afterwards he got paralyzed in his lower body and then started his own team. I'd take him as a true racer.

[bhall II]

From my perspective, a true racer is someone whose imperturbable commitment to fair play is never overwhelmed by a desire to win. That's not to say they're morally elite automatons who never make mistakes or lose sight of the big picture. But, if anything ever happens along those lines, a true racer will not need to be told to make amends.

And, yes, I know that's probably too idealistic.

[bdr529]

By that assessment, do we see Frank Williams as a true racer? When he was young, he did race in F1. Afterwards he got paralyzed in his lower body and then started his own team. I'd take him as a true racer.

Frank had the F1 team before he had the car accident

As for the question of "what is or who is a true racer" I think Fact Only has got it right,
Now you don't need to build you r car from scratch but someone who spends their free time a way from their day job working on a car or motorbike all night long just to go racing for peanuts every other weekend, would qualify for me

[SectorOne]

For me it´s being a fighter. And there´s not a lot of them in Formula 1.
There´s true racers and then there´s people who drive F1 cars for a living.

[turbof1]

By that assessment, do we see Frank Williams as a true racer? When he was young, he did race in F1. Afterwards he got paralyzed in his lower body and then started his own team. I'd take him as a true racer.

Frank had the F1 team before he had the car accident

As for the question of "what is or who is a true racer" I think Fact Only has got it right,
Now you don't need to build you r car from scratch but someone who spends their free time a way from their day job working on a car or motorbike all night long just to go racing for peanuts every other weekend, would qualify for me

He did? Well thanks for correcting me .

[bdr529]

He did? Well thanks for correcting me .

No problem it was along time ago, He and Peter Windsor were in the car crash back in 86

I'd add Gilles Villeneuve to the list of true racer

[Facts Only]

Facts Only, I'd also count having driven in races as being a requirement to being a true racer. Else you'd be the engineer who built the car, but never raced it.

By that assessment, do we see Frank Williams as a true racer? When he was young, he did race in F1. Afterwards he got paralyzed in his lower body and then started his own team. I'd take him as a true racer.

Sorry yes I should qualify that for me to be a true racer you need to have driven as well.

Frank Williams, Bruce McLaren and many others have done it but for me Dan Gurney is the real deal.

[efuloni]

I'll be kind of clichè and say that the true racer is the one who races to win. Seriously: do you think the hunger for victory in Rosberg, for instance, is as big as Hamilton's?

A true racer is a guy who tries. Who doesn't give up of winning. Is that driver who doesn't complain without even trying. Who is not satisfied in being 2nd or 3rd. Lets be honest: only a few in F1 have this feeling running through their vains. The majority seems to be 'ok' and pleased with what they got.

More than once Hamilton played hard with Rosberg in the first lap. What does Nico did afterwards? Absolutely nothing except whine. C'mon, dude. Do it first next time. Or let the touch happen, IDK. Show the world that you want to win. That you race to win, not to be second. What about that one time when he complained that Lewis was 'too slow' and that he couldn't try to overtake because of tyres and all. AT LEAST TRY IT, MAN. Show some balls (am I allowed to say this here? lol).

Im talking about Lewis and Nico just because they are under the spotlight. I could name several others that dont have this thirsty and wish of being 'the very best' as much as the great champions had.

Of course I dont praise the dirty racer. Its not okay do what Senna and Schumi did sometimes. They went over the limits, for sure, but everyone knows that these guys were there to win. And that was all they wanted. Being second was not enough.

[turbof1]

I'll be kind of clichè and say that the true racer is the one who races to win. Seriously: do you think the hunger for victory in Rosberg, for instance, is as big as Hamilton's?

Well I actually do. Given how Rosberg absolutely loated that he lost the previous race, I'd say that need to win is equally high. Hamilton just has the better talent. In fact, and this is the part you should really focus on, everybody out there will race to 'win'. What you win is entirely dependant on expectations. Perez for instance celebrated his podium in Russia like he won the race. Instead he won a podium, which was slightly beyond his own realistic expectations given the car.

You are right of course: a true racer wants to win. But like Facts Only stated, that does not necessarily mean he is only ever was a driver. You can win by having driver wins with your car.

[ME4ME]

To me racing is about drivers on the same track at the same time battling it out to try and beat each other to the finish line. That's why it's called a race. Qualifying is not: it's just about going round the circuit the quickest, it's against time and no actual racing is involved, just driving.

iirc Raikkonen said he missed racing, that's why he returned to F1. Rally is just about being the quickest driver, no on track racing is involved.

So for me a real racer, it's a driver who can duel it out on track, side by side with his opponents, and come out in front more often then not. Example of such drivers for me are Alonso, Hamilton, Verstappen etc

[FrukostScones]

talented, reckless, arrogant, arsehole.