HOW DO DRIVERS OF 80 YEARS AGO COMPARE WITH TODAY’S?

Driver Ratings COMPARED: 1930 vs. 2010 Seasons

Nuvolari

Because the Rating System has been consistently devised from and applied to the major grand prix races from 1894, it is possible to compare drivers across eras. The figures are car-neutral. Here the top drivers from 2010 are rated in table form with those of the 1930 season. The exercise proved revealing and thought-provoking.



Caracciola

How would the drivers of 80 years ago compare? They raced in trousers, shirts or jerseys and everyday, leather, lace-up shoes; drove solid-axle, cart-sprung machines on rough, mostly un-surfaced, public roads. How could they compare with today’s focussed, superfit, businesslike and media-savvy professionals? Grouped in the table below are the top 16 from 1930 and 20 from 2010:


.

Driver ratings

100.0	1930	Caracciola, Chiron, Nuvolari, Arcangeli, Varzi
	2010	Alonso, Hamilton, Vettel
100.1	1930	-
	2010	Webber
100.2	1930	-
	2010	Rosberg, Kubica
100.3	1930	-
	2010	-
100.4	1930	-
	2010	Massa, Button, Barrichello
100.5	1930	Dreyfus, Birkin, Morandi, Montier F
	2010	Schumacher M, Trulli, Glock
100.6	1930	Campari
	2010	Sutil, Heidfeld, Kovalainen, Kobayashi
100.7	1930	Divo
	2010	Buemi
100.8	1930	Fagioli, Maggi, Nenzioni C, Brivio, Bouriat
	2010	de la Rosa, Liuzzi, Alguersuari

<><>

Maserati 8C2500

Driving Standards

Before there are objections that the ‘oldtimers’ were amateurish sportsmen and cannot be compared with the professional, dedicated Schumachers and Alonsos of today, consider this:

In winning the 1930 Targa Florio with a supercharged, two litre, beam-axled, leaf-sprung, P2/30 Alfa Romeo, Varzi covered  the five, 108 kilometre laps in 6 hours and 55 minutes.  Each 81-minute lap on the narrow, mountainous, rough, gravel roads must have been like a rally special stage. Yet Varzi’s lap times never varied by more than six seconds! That would be the equivalent of 0.125 secs a lap on one of today’s super-smooth, artificial circuits. This exceptional level of driving artistry must have been matched by Louis Chiron on his Bugatti 35B, who finished second, just 1m 48 secs behind. Chiron had actually been leading Varzi on the last lap, when he slid off the road and lost time. Could Fangio, Clark, Stewart, Senna, Schumacher or Alonso and Vettel have done better against Varzi and Chiron that day?

Varzi

Seasons Compared

The table shows five drivers in 1930 racing at the ultimate pace of 100.0, against the three of 2010. Caracciola, Chiron, Nuvolari, Arcangeli and Varzi versus Alonso, Hamilton and Vettel. Only two seasons had five drivers rated at the top: 1930 and 1931.

Comparing  1930 with the 2010 season here, there is no significant difference in the number of drivers racing within 0.8% of the front: 16 in 1930 and 20 in 2010.

The big difference between the two seasons is the dearth of 1930s men racing in the 100.1 to 100.4 bracket. This is the zone in which many of Formula One’s very competitive drivers raced: from Gonzalez, Brooks, Amon, Rindt, Andretti, Ickx, Regazzoni, Scheckter and Jones to Hakkinen, Coulthard, Button, Kubica and Rosberg. Many of the earlier drivers were amateurs or semi-professionals. Perhaps they were not as prepared to risk their machinery as much or were simply not as talented, skilled or competitive. There would then also have been greater differences in the quality of the number one team cars and those of the other team members. Today’s teams are able to provide very close-matched cars. Additionally in earlier times, privately-owned cars were usually a lot slower than works machines. 

The 100.5 group, matching Dreyfus, Birkin, Morandi and Montier with Michael Schumacher, Trulli and Glock is still a competitive one. It was at this rating that F1 Champions, Graham and Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneueve and Emerson Fittipaldi raced when gaining their titles.

Bugatti 35B

Conclusions

So, the ‘midfield’ of today, those racing within 100.1 to 100.4 of the ultimate pace, is  stronger than it was 80 years ago. For those in the next or slower 100.5 to 100.8 range, the seasons are matched with 11 for 1930 and 11 for 2010. But what of those racing at the front? Would Alonso, Hamilton and Vettel have done as well as Chiron, Nuvolari and Varzi in the roughness of the Targa Florio? How would the top drivers of 1930 have coped at high-tech Abu Dhabi in 2010?  I reckon they would all be very close-matched, having the similar competitive mindsets and outstanding talents.

Chiron

© Patrick O’Brien 2011. Nothing from this page can be used without the permission of Patrick E. O’Brien.