THROWBACK: NASCAR Champion Jeff Gordon Trades Cars with Juan Pablo Montoya at Indy

In motorsport, it isn’t uncommon to see racers from different disciplines exchange cars. Back in 2003, Jeff Gordon and Juan Pablo Montoya decided to initiate a switch. At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, both Gordon and Montoya traded their NASCAR and F1 cars.

During that year, the NASCAR stock car weighed 3400 pounds and an eight-cylinder stock engine. It also boasted of a naturally aspirated carburettor.

In addition to that, the car has around 850 horsepower and over 9000 RPM. Other specs include a 4-speed transmission with a conventional clutch and 22 gallons of fuel. Additionally, the 2003 NASCAR car made around 1600 pounds of downforce.

On the other end of the scale, the Williams FW24 car, which has a 3.0 litre V10 engine. The F1 car also dwarfs its NASCAR counterpart with 19000 RPM and 900 horsepower. Additionally, the car had a carbon fibre suspension, and it pretty powerful in its own right.

How did Jeff Gordon and Juan Pablo Montoya perform?

Gordon acknowledged that both their cars were drastically different beasts. However, he also observed that the Colombian looked excited, and he was excited as well.

The Hendrick Motorsports driver warned the BMW Williams driver about braking zones. This was because Montoya would have to brake a lot earlier than usual to turn the car.

Both drivers were going around the IMS Road Course in three warm-up laps and three hot laps. Admittedly, the car was tricky to control, as Montoya overshot the first corner. However, Jeff Gordon had no right to tease him, as he almost did the same thing once.

When it was time for Gordon to tackle the F1 car, the Colombian driver taught him a few things. This was because launching the car was fairly complicated.

Luckily, he did not stall the engine and he completed the lap before pitting for setup changes. All in all, both Jeff Gordon and Juan Pablo Montoya had a lot of fun in their respective cars.

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