Cornering is like bringing a woman to a climax. Both you and the car must work together. You start to enter the area of excitement at the corner, you set up a pace which is right for the car and after you've told it it is coming along with you, you guide it along at a rhythm which has by now become natural. Only after you've cleared the corner you can both take pleasure in knowing it's gone well.
In December 2005 I had a very good opportunity to test Renault's world championship-winning car at Barcelona, and after 30 laps I was setting really good times, so I know what it's like to drive a really good car.
When I turned 16, I got my driver's license like the rest of my classmates, but I also got an extra present: a two-day practice session in a Formula Ford: my first open-wheel racing car and the first step on the ladder toward becoming a professional driver.
I've done drag races. I've done Long Beach Grand Prix stuff. I've done NASCAR stuff. Just about anything carwise under the sun, I've done. Whether it be driving schools or racing schools, I've had a passion for it for a long time.
In the last three years of racing I've met as many women fans as men fans, and in NASCAR it's the same thing. My wife loves cars, but the difference is she doesn't have 20 years of understanding the background of them. She basically drives them and uses her gut feelings as to which is best.
I just like cars, period. I can find something to like about pretty much any car. I've had as much fun whipping around Italy in a little Mini Cooper as I've had whipping through Miami in a Bentley GT.
I changed my car completely - I was in a sports car and changed to a Jeep, which is more stable for the back and doesn't put too much stress on it.
I've never wanted to drive a car fast for the sake of it. I mean, I like nice cars. I've got the Bentley, I've had a Lotus, I've had a Rolls-Royce and a few Jaguars, including an E-type. But I'm not somebody for driving tremendously fast.
When you go to club racing in Denmark, people spend money to buy a race car and go and race, and many don't actually really have the money, but they spend it anyway because they love it and that's why I like those kind of things.
I am part of a circuit called 24 Hours of LeMons, where it's a sort of riff on 24 Hours of Le Mans. It's a poor man's weekend warrior racer event.
And I'd get back to the cars being physical challenges to drive - to tame the beast. The cars we have at the moment are fantastic bits of engineering, but it's a little too comfortable, a little too easy. I think I'd go back to making the driver a bigger variable.
We share the emotions of driving race cars. It's cool to have a dad who understands what you mean when you talk about oversteer or traction. But it's not a help at the race.
The way I see it is: You've got to take it to the limit, not over the limit, for sure, but you've got to take it to the limit with your driving style.
I've always liked speed. I own a car that I shouldn't be talking about because I'm an environmentalist, but the 1955 Porsche Spyder 550 RS is the finest sports car ever made.
I am just so proud to be able to take my NAPA car, my NAPA Toyota, to the West Coast and race in front of the fans in Southern California.
It's hard to drive at the limit, but it's harder to know where the limits are.
My friend is a former race car driver, so he races for Mercedes, and I root for him. I have a car that I love to race, I'll take it to the track.
I have a car that I like - an Aston Martin - for Sunday drives in the country.
First you learn to drive fast. Next, you learn to drive fast in traffic. Then, you learn how to do it for 500 miles.
I raced a lot when I was in high school, street raced.
I really love muscle cars. I don't think people might realize that about me. I really want to go to an auto auction and blow my life savings on a Camaro. They have such design around them, such panache.
It is amazing how many drivers, even at the Formula One Level, think that the brakes are for slowing the car down.
I love to drive, especially on tracks, where I go a lot faster.
There's no better benefit than being out on the racetrack, learning what's going on with the track and the tire and all that stuff. To me, that's a big influence.
I enrolled in a race car driving school, where you go for three days, and they wanted to rent me a video camera and charge me $100 for every half-hour.
