Some things are worth waking up early for, like ridiculous, Mario Kart-esque crashes involving Ferraris on one of the world's best race tracks. That's what happened at the Ferrari Challenge at Circuit of the Americas this weekend.
Reader Wilson thought this would happen and was proven right when it did. Here's his hilarious-but-also-sad analysis of the race:
I dragged my family to the race earlier than they wanted, just because I knew the Ferrari Challenge race was going to be like this. I promised mayhem and the semi-skilled rich men delivered. It was clear from the Friday practice I saw that most of these guys think they know it all. They would make the same obvious mistakes lap after lap, not doing anything to fix their technique.
Trying to overtake in turn 1 at COTA is very difficult. Trying it in a pack is moronic. Taking an inside line there will always lead to problems like this. On top of that there are drivers who think they can keep braking hard as the road crests and every time they would go light and slide straight off track, vainly turning the wheels left.
There's a reason that the F1 drivers were very reluctant to deviate from the line on that corner, but the guys in the 458s felt they knew better.
That said, once the caution was lifted there was some standout driving from a few of the cars. It's a shame that was the exception and not the rule.
You can't buy skill, or even common sense.
Photo credit Ash Turner