This writer was given a chance to pilot a Formula 4 racecar around Sepang, but found the drive to be a lot more difficult than he expected.
The Motul Driving Experience 2016 in Sepang, Malaysia, was an event organised by the French lubricants company as a reward for its customers. It also showcased the company’s expertise in motorsports.
As the staff strapped me into the tight cockpit of a Formula 4 racecar, I thought: “I’ve got this. This will be fun.” Then the engine started with a roar, and as I tried to pull away, it sputtered.
I had stalled right in front of everyone else in the pit garage waiting their turn.
The car had to be restarted, and I was reminded to let the clutch out gently while applying more throttle. Misjudge it and the car will come to a shuddering halt, as I’d just demonstrated.
This event was the first that Motul had independently organised. In the past, Motul teamed up with French tyre company Michelin for the Michelin Pilot Experience (MPE), a similar event which also saw customers and the media drive racecars around the Sepang circuit.
I previously attended an edition of the MPE, during which I drove a Formula Renault junior single-seater racer around the track. That explained my cockiness towards the Formula 4 machine.
Formula 4 cars are used in junior racing championships, a stepping stone for budding racers. From Formula 4, drivers strive to reach Formula 1 via Formula 3 and GP2, or through other similar single-seater series.
On paper, the Formula 4 machine I drove didn’t seem intimidating. Its 1.6-litre engine “only” produces 160bhp.
But since it only weighs 470kg, or a third of the weight of a regular midsize saloon, it can still reach a maximum speed of 210km/h.
However, Formula 4 machines aren’t easy to drive. Aside from the starting procedure with the clutch and throttle, these racecars have sequential gearboxes. You must swop cogs yourself, albeit via paddleshifters instead of a gearstick.
The gearbox wasn’t as much of a problem as the gearchanges, which could jolt you back and forth with a force powerful enough to make you sick.
Reasonably smooth gearchanges require absolute precision with the controls, something that I never managed as I lurched around the track like a learner driver taking the wheel for the first time.
It didn’t get any easier as I picked up speed. On the long back straight, I felt the buffeting crosswinds unsettling the lightweight racer.
Indeed, it took a lot of concentration just to keep the machine in a straight line. I imagined how exhausting it would be to drive dozens of laps in an actual race.
Driving a Formula 4 car was awesome, but I was also glad that it was over. This humbling experience had shown me up as a lousy amateur. Lewis Hamilton, I certainly was not.
Drivers were reminded to keep an eye on the tiny instrument panel in the equally tiny cockpit.
