Ask any experienced driver about Sebring, and you’ll get in return a face full of despair and anguish. For most drivers, especially the ones with any feeling remaining in their spinal column, a trip to Sebring has typically been as pleasant as a tumble down a craggy hillside. The surface quality is so bad and the bumps are so vicious that any car that can withstand the abuse can likely perform anywhere else and last. For this reason, engineers love the place and can be seen sending their drivers off with a sadistic grin.

Here we see the charismatic young Indycar superstar Josef Newgarden testing his car around the bumpy and unforgiving Florida track. If you look closely at the road, you’ll notice cracks, pavement changes and off-camber corners which make a consistent level of grip something unattainable. Nevertheless, Newgarden manages. Despite the car hopping over the many bumps, you don’t hear the wheels spinning nor is the car thrown violently and unexpectedly off-line.

Josef’s smile belies a steely center.

Clearly, the car is a major factor in Newgarden putting in such a stellar performance, but it must be said that it wouldn’t be as exciting a video as it is if he wasn’t working very hard trying to keep the car underneath him. It doesn’t look like a walk in the park as so many modern onboard videos look. Newgarden is, without doubt, using every bit of his talent to tame this turbocharged single-seater over the rough and punishing asphalt.