(I was told this by an ex-F1 driver who now runs a driver training school, not by my friend 'Bob' from down the road)......
With respect - what has a rear engined rear wheel drive slick-shodden racing car got to do with a front engine front wheel drive road car?
And is he 'ex' F1 because he was 'shyte' F1?
Come on, seriously?!
It was a serious question - allbeit with a touch of 'tongue in cheek' irony too!
Just because he is an ex F1 driver because he was "shyte" doesn't mean he knows nothing about car set-up/vehicle dynamics!
You are confusing the issue - F1 isn't really a level playing field. There are many excellent drivers which have shyte cars, and many shyte drivers which have excellent cars. And there are many shyte F1 drivers who have 'lucked' into an F1 championship (either through an excellent car, or through blatant fcukups from other teams who
should have taken the title - Kimi Raikonen is a classic example). And finally, there are seriously good drivers who have missed out on titles for a variety of reasons (Stirling Moss because he was an utter 'gent' and say Jenson Button because he endured years of that shyte Honda).
And my point about F1 car dynamics vs 'road car' dynamics is perfectly valid too - Kimi Raikonen (again) - an F1 world champ, but a complete mr nobody in rallying. If you were to relate F1 dynamics to road cars, then you could only seriously apply it to a GT type exotica with a rear engine - a Golf GTI bears very little resemblence in dynamics to an F1 car. If you seriously want to get a 'racing driver' to teach road car dynamics, then you need to be looking at either a touring car driver or a rally car driver.
Also the fact that he now runs a driver training school for every type of vehicle - be it FWD/RWD, front engine FWD, mid engine RWD etc etc means that he probably has a lot of knowledge about general car set-up. (by the way he had a near-fatal accident which stopped him from continuing in F1, it wasn't because he was shyte. He also races numerous other cars)
Jack of all trades, master of none!
There are fundamental flaws in getting 'race car' drivers to teach road car driving - try taking the racing line on the public highway, and you are likely looking at 6pts, a healthy fine, and maybe even a ban if you get caught. Someone like say Don Palmer, or police driving instructors are far better at teaching approriate skills for road car driving.
Anyway, who is he? And sorry on hearing about his accident - I know from personal experience how a serious injury affects your career.
Anyway, that's not the point. The point is that someone who has arguably more knowledge than you on car set-up has an opposite view to you, and I'm merely putting his point into the equation so to try and understand and evaluate both views!
O-rly . . . how long has he owned a Mk5 Golf GTI - and more importantly, one with my spec of mods?????? Sorry, but I smell something brown and stinky . . . Are you honestly tying to state that he knows more about my specific car than I do? How many sets of yankie spec CSC 5Ps has he used ????
Forgive me for leaning towards the views of an ex F1 driver
And forgive me for putting forward my own, massively more relevant point of view.
Signed . . . NOT an overpaid ex-prima donna!