<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"  Think of any movie where a ship or a submarine is taking on water and one of the crew members has to open a hatch to get out or seal a flooded compartment. While Hollywood tends to make the turning of the hatch wheel an only-Superman-has-the-strength-to-accomplish-this affair, doing the same with an Indy car wheel for the aforementioned hour and 39 minutes does require extraordinary strength and fortitude. The forearm- and core-busting twisting effort can be traced to a few different factors, including the Dallara&amp;#039;s front suspension geometry, Firestone&amp;#039;s gummy 10-inch-wide slicks, a lack of power steering and enough downforce to grind the bottom of the car into the track surface. To replicate the steering forces, Franchitti says it involves a bit more than one might expect. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s not really holding the weight out, but lifting that and rotating weight with forces pushing back on your lead hand,&amp;quot; he remarked. &amp;quot;In Turn 1, you have to pull down with the left and push up with the right to overcome 35 pounds of force, then do the opposite for the right-hander in Turn 2, and so on. Imagine a string tied to your hand where you have to pull that 35 pounds up or down constantly. There&amp;#039;s tremendous kick-back through the steering wheel on the new Indy car, and there&amp;#039;s no power steering, so every movement of the wheel requires a lot of energy.&amp;quot;  With little time to rest between Mid-Ohio&amp;#039;s corners, the steering effort is akin to exerting 35 pounds of twisting force, putting the weight down on the straights, picking it up again and repeating that process 13 times a lap. That multiplies out to 1,105 burning reps during the race, with crunches included due to the torqueing motion drivers use from their core to assist their arms. Using Mid-Ohio&amp;#039;s 150 mph scary-fast Turn 1 to quantify the loads Franchitti and others experience, his Dallara DW12 produces 2800 pounds of downforce through the corner\u2014approximately nine Shaquille O&amp;#039;Neals sitting on the car. And with his weight (155 pounds), driver equalization ballast (30 pounds to get Franchitti up to the 185-pound standard), the Dallara&amp;#039;s curb weight (1585 pounds) and a full tank of E85 ethanol (124 pounds), that&amp;#039;s 4,694 pounds to be dealt with via the steering wheel. Next time you feeling like emulating and IndyCar driver, borrow a Honda Ridgeline pickup truck, head to Mid-Ohio, disconnect the power steering and try navigating Turn 1 at 150 mph to see if you have what it takes to steer an Indy car. Frankly, the 1,105 reps with a 35-pound weight might be a more attainable goal. More:Dario Franchitti: So You Think Driving An Indy Car Is Easy? Try Braking \u2013 Part 1 &amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt;Dario Franchitti: So You Think Driving An Indy Car Is Easy? Try Breathing \u2013 Part 3 &amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt; Related posts:   Dario Franchitti: So You Think Driving An Indy Car Is Easy? Try Breathing \u2013 Part 3 Dario Franchitti: So You Think Driving An Indy Car Is Easy? Try Braking \u2013 Part 1 How Dario Franchitti Won: Breaking Down the 2012 Indy 500 \u2013 Trackside at Indy 2012  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.roadandtrack.com/motorsports/news/a9143/dario-franchitti-so-you-think-driving-an-indy-car-is-easy-try-steering-part-2-37917/>