2004 McLaren-Mercedes MP4/19BART Grand Prix DTM driver Gary Paffett talks us through his experiences of driving a 500bhp DTM car and various F1 machinery over the past 15 years
British racing driver Gary Paffett is living the dream. The 34-year old has tasted success in multiple motorsport disciplines, and has clocked up thousands of miles as a Formula 1 test driver with McLaren.
From 2000 to 2014, Gary thoroughly tested each iteration of F1 car to emerge from the Woking-based constructor during the McLaren-Mercedes partnership. From the piercing 900bhp-plus V10 monsters and high-revving V8s, to last year's complex cars running the new 1.6-litre turbocharged V6 powertrains.
Therefore, Gary knows his onions on the topic of F1 and DTM cars, and is the person to ask when deciphering the different driving techniques required for each discipline.
I'm an unashamed fan of the eye-wateringly expensive V10 era. For me, it remains the pinnacle of what F1 should be about. The cars looked angry but stunning, they sounded mega and most of the lap records at the long-standing grand prix circuits still come from 2004 and 2005. The sheer speed on display was mind-boggling.
Granted, there wasn't much overtaking going on but, when it happened, you knew it was worked for. So what was it like from the cockpit? Gary explains:
“When I was testing at McLaren, the most advanced car I had was a fully automatic, centrifugal clutch, V10 F1 car, which was ridiculous. You sat in the garage, selected a gear, let go of the paddles and it drove out of the pit garage like it was a go-kart.
"On track it would change up a gear on its own. They didn’t have automatic downshifts because it would upset the balance of the car. You had a pre-selector, where you could downshift five gears on the straight and, when you applied the brake, it went down five gears for the corner. It was a lot like a computer game, but it was an incredible car.
"It was pretty embarrassing at the time, as one day I turned up at the test, put the helmet on, fired it up and there was no clutch paddle. So I got on the radio and yelled, 'There’s no clutch paddle!' and the team said, 'Oh yeah, sorry. It’s now a button'."
Gary is in hysterics at this point, as are the rest of us hacks gathered around a table in the canteen of Mercedes-AMG's Affalterbach headquarters. I'm still pinching myself that I'm having lunch next to a guy who's tested every significant car from the pinnacle of motor racing over the past 15 years.
I'm even more impressed at his humility and self-deprecating humour, as he comes across as just 'one of the lads' throughout the entire day. He continues...
"The V10s were pretty extreme cars. I remember my first F1 test in December 2000 at Jerez. I did about 14 laps, got out of the car and my neck was finished. It was hanging off. So they got the foam pads out, stuck them on the side of the cockpit and sent me out again.
"But that’s how it was back then. The g-force in those days was incredible. Owing to the amount of power the V10s had, they needed massive wings and massive amounts of downforce to go with the 950bhp engines. Then we changed to the V8 which, to start with, was a bit of a toned-down V10, and a bit slower.
"To start with, we would blow up two or three engines every test, which was the kind of thing you got used to. You’d learn the sound of the engine about to expire and you’d be on the straight close to the rev limiter and pull the clutch paddles in before it went pop, so you didn’t get fired off into the barrier.
"A couple of times I had it happen at Jerez where the engine let go. You’d go to pull off to the side, the gearbox would lock and you would be fired off into the barrier, so you learnt the sound before it would let go."
At this point I just sit back and let Gary continue. His enthusiasm is unrelenting.
"In 2009 we started with KERS and that headache. I remember the first test with that car and the team were like, 'Right, KERS is on this button, and then there’s this button to do this...'. I just thought, 'I can’t drive this; there are too many things to do!'.
"The problem at the time was, as soon as you got on full throttle, you were trying to get KERS, and you were looking at the dashboard because they wanted you to use 10% out of this corner and 7% out of that corner, and you were forgetting to change gear.
"However, once you got used to that and all the procedures, then DRS came in as well. And then you had the magnificent f-duct system, where you placed your elbow into the hole in the side of the cockpit and changed the car's aero to reduce drag. It was a great innovation, but some of the things were really quite challenging.
"Recently, the most incredible F1 car was the 2011-2012 version with the blown diffusers. The amount of downforce they had was phenomenal. In qualifying modes, the throttle bodies were open 90% through the whole corner.
"When we had the F1 cars with blown diffusers, they were completely different from before because the more throttle you had on, the more downforce you had. In other F1 cars you’d get on the power and you’d get a bit of wheelspin, so you’d wait. With these cars you’d get a bit of wheelspin so you would have to apply more throttle to get more downforce and get rid of the wheelspin.
"It’s a case of trying to compute and get your head around how to drive these different cars. High-speed corners were just for braver people. If you stayed flat, you would have more downforce and you’d get through quicker."
Gary admits he's seen a lot of changes in F1 over the years but, in his view, the latest return to turbocharged engines has definitely been the most revolutionary, and the most difficult to get used to.
"We used to have a ‘normal’ engine, and then a KERS package that recovered into batteries. You’d press a button to use it. But, nowadays, it’s all integrated into the system, so basically your KERS now fills in the torque gaps in the engine, so you have a perfect torque curve as the electronics fill it in.
"The amount of recovery systems you have now, and the amount of recovery going on, means you can have smaller rear brakes. You have very little rear braking. The engine, gearbox and brakes are all integrated and if one thing goes slightly wrong, then it’s a chain reaction.
"The cars this year aren’t anywhere near as physically hard to drive as the old V10s, with their massive amounts of downforce. They were really, really tough. They’re now easier to drive but with all the other things you’ve got to do - DRS, and understanding your fuel saving and things like that – it’s a different challenge.
"One interesting thing is, however much the FIA takes downforce and grip away from you, the engineers just find it. Within six months you’ve gone from a car which is horrible to one that is amazing!”
So what are the key differences between driving a DTM car and a modern F1 car?
“The weight is one thing," says Gary. "DTM cars are a lot heavier, and you have to respect that weight. They [DTM cars] have slick tyres, so they’re good racing tyres. However, it’s so easy to push too hard, and the weight of the car goes on the tyre and it’s very easy to overdrive the car."
"For the amount of downforce they’ve got, the DTM cars are a little bit underpowered. You don’t have to be quite so gentle on the power exiting bends and stuff like you would in an F1 car.
"Your seating position is different and has quite a big effect. In an F1 car you’re sitting pretty much on the front wheels. So when you turn, it’s the effect of your legs being pulled left and right, where as in the DTM car, you’re quite far back, so you’ve got more of a rotational effect and your perception of what the car is doing is quite different.
"You’re a little bit left of centre, so you struggle to know where the right-hand side of the car is. The amount of downforce DTM cars have is quite good for what it is, too. It’s not comparable, but in relation it’s similar.
"The DTM car is essentially a single-seater with a carbonfibre shell. It has a complete carbonfibre monocoque with a steel roll cage on top, but it’s a purpose-built race car with a paddle shift and sequential gearbox, so it’s also completely different from the Mercedes-Benz C63 road car."
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