by Team RHR on July 11, 2012 in News
Marshall Pruett | speedtv.com
It’s subtle, and gone in a flash, but if you look closely, IndyCar points leader Ryan Hunter-Reay employs a unique look-the-opposite-way approach to cornering.
It’s subtle, and gone in a flash, but if you look closely, IndyCar points leader Ryan Hunter-Reay employs a unique look-the-opposite-way approach to cornering.
It doesn’t happen at every turn, or even on every lap, but the 31-year-old can often be seen with his head turned in the opposite direction of where his No. 28 Dallara DW12-Chevrolet is headed.
Turn right, look to the right…right?
Using RHR’s method, it’s turn right, turn your head to the left, then look right.
“I know…isn’t that funny?” he told SPEED.com. “I’ve been noticing it in pictures for a few years now but nobody picked up on it.”
From a process standpoint, RHR approaches and exits a corner like the rest of the IndyCar drivers.
He brakes, looks towards the apex and starts to turn in. But once he starts turning—on his way to the apex—his helmet starts its unsettling rotation away from where the nose of his Andretti Autosport car is heading.
As he hits the apex, his helmet turns back in the proper direction and the process begins again as the next corner approaches.
If this was the 1960s, Hunter-Reay would be accused of turning his attention away from the track in favor of eying an attractive woman standing trackside. There are plenty of classic photos of old school drivers craning their necks to view an entirely different pair of apexes, but in RHR’s case, it’s just a quirky way of mid-corner navigation.
As for what purpose it serves, it sounds like it has more to do with RHR’s frame of mind when he’s lapping than a secret way of looking around each apex.
“I’m almost leaning my forehead into the corner, looking up through the top of my helmet with my eyes,” he said. “It’s almost like, think of a ram’s head when he’s charging in. His head’s down and kind of leaning, but his eyes are looking up at his target.
“I lean forward with my head a little more than other guys, I guess, so it looks like I’m looking away because my visor and helmet are turned away from the corner, but my eyes are looking at the road ahead of me.”
RHR’s helmet lean-and-twist is one of many things the open-wheel veteran has going for him in 2012. Beyond the career resurgence he’s experiencing, the collegial dynamic he’s helped to build within the Andretti team is also paying big dividends.
Partnered with teammates Marco Andretti and James Hinchcliffe, the trio has been somewhat reminiscent of the “Team Fun” foursome of Dario Franchitti, Dan Wheldon, Brian Herta and Tony Kanaan that had great success and built a similar level of camaraderie in the 2000s.