Hmm, not exactly what I asked you Damon. (by the way, I added Nuvolari and Caracciola on the list. And Varzi was, at first, a friend and teammate to Nuvolari. Then they split the partnership and became 'enemies'
) What I wanted to know from you was a set of
precise, indubitable, criteria that allows us to order the list by value. Applicable to ANY list of drivers.
You said (and I quote): "ability to put a car were it shouldn't be through their talents alone. The driver must also be consistently blindingly quick, constantly on the limit but not over it, relish the fight and have the ability to find that something extra when the pressure is really on". Excellent definition, and I might add some more but that does NOT allow us to compare drivers. Not even from the current crop, let alone drivers that raced in last 70 years!
Something like:
- Races contested (counts 20 points)
- Number of victories (counts 50 points)
- Podiums (xx points)
- years present in competitions
- pitbabes
- etc
Each of the criteria should be very clear and should apply to each era, and altered (according to other criteria we may find necessary) to give us an objective idea of their true and
quantifiable value.
The essay that you wrote is indeed nice and you have done an excellent work. But it is your opinion and, in a large part I'm afraid, your opinion is based on other's opinions. Since you were born in 1983 I can suspect that you haven't watched most of the these drivers at work...