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lestappenwdc · 6 months ago

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👋 Hii, this turned out to be very long and I hope you read it because I think you will like what I'm saying, especially about Liam.

OK I respect what you're saying about Yuki and I 100% agree. And honestly I want Yuki in the seat as well. And I think Yuki deserves the seat more than anyone else on the grid. But unfortunately, F1 is not all about speed and who is better than someone else. If that was the case we would have a completely different grid. Unfortunately in f1 sponsorships, endorsements, money come into play way more than speed and skill do. And I am not a specialist in sponsor deals and who deals what with who and how big the possibility of Yuki following Honda is, and how important it is for Honda to have their driver in their engine. I don't know. But do I see Red Bull signing the Honda driver the year before Honda leaves their team? Honestly... I don't know. I hope so. The reality is that Yuki should be announced for the seat. And I agree with that. But let's say for a second that for sponsorship reasons Red Bull refuse to do that. I want to talk about the Liam situation and how it differs from Pierre and Albon situation.

Under the cut because I'm not joking when I say this is LONG

When thinking and deciding to sign a driver, teams have to think about a lot of factors, including how does this driver affect our team? What does the team gain from this driver? And ultimately how important is he long term?

People are comparing Liam with Pierre and Albon and painting Red Bull as a big bad villain who preys on young drivers and disposes of them as they please when that is not the case. People are forgetting that Max was a young driver in Red Bull. And they very much did not dispose of Max. They trusted Max and they put all their money on him. THIS is the reason Pierre and Albon had a horrible time in Red Bull. The team was focused on Max.

So why were Pierre and Albon signed alongside Max? What did the team expect from them when signing them? It's simple, they expected them to qualify around Max and help him win races. (Now fans of these 2 will not like that but let me just say I am not here to say what is right and wrong in this world. I am here to say what Red Bull expected from them. Was it right? No. We agree on that. Dont come at me. I am explaining Red Bulls side of the story.) Neither of them delivered on that. They were too young and inexperienced to keep up with an experienced Max in a car that was, in Alex words, undriveable. No one blames them for that. Red Bull did one big misjudgement and they repeated it twice for some reason. They underestimated the consistency it would take to not only keep up but help Max in the races. Consistency that they would never have gotten from an inexperienced driver. What happened in 2020 was Red Bull woke up and realized that getting a driver like Checo is what will save them. And lo and behold it did.

Now why do I think Liams situation and circumstance is different? Well because there's no one else they can put their cards in right now. (Again, assuming Yuki follows Honda, this is an alternate reality in which Yuki follows Honda I will not engage any further replies about this). Yes, they still put their faith on Max and the driver that comes in will be Max's second driver, obviously, but Max is suspicious to Red Bull right now. Not only because he could leave any second and they are scared shitless, but also because even if he stays for these regulations, he could leave when his contract expires. What then? What do Red bull have left without Max? Literally nothing. They need to start preparing a young driver and they need to start preparing him now. In my opinion they are wasting time to preparing Liam for the seat. Right now they have: 2 drivers past their prime that can not win titles, 1 driver that does win titles but is not saying no to Toto for some reason which scares them, and 1 young driver who has fucked off somewhere else (again, alternate reality here). In a perfect world they would have out Liam in RB for this season. But alas RB needed the PR from Daniel so Red Bull was fucked here too. They have driver swapped themselves into a corner. They need a prepared young driver for when Max leaves and they don't have him right now. This is why I think IF Liam does go straight to Red Bull the EXPECTATIONS for him in that seat would not be to keep up with Max. Not even to give the same results as Checo. It would be learn from Max and become a driver that can win championships for them. This would mean they are sacrificing one title (the constructors for 2025) to have a driver starting 2026 and when Max leaves who is experienced enough and ready enough to fight Ferrari at the end of the next regulations. They are not expecting performance from Liam tomorrow like they did pierre and Alex if they put him in the seat. They are expecting him to learn. Same as they were expecting from Max in 2016 17 18 when he was still learning. This means they are putting their faith on Liam. That's why I think throwing Liam at Red Bull would not be throwing him to the Wolfes. You have a wrong perspective of Red Bull and it leads you to think that me putting Liam as a young Red Bull driver is me not being a fan of his when I am giving him the same privilege Max had in Red bull. Which is being the priority after Max leaves. And Max will leave. And Red Bull WILL need and want a new driver to put their faith in since it worked the first time. And I want that driver to be Liam.

So to sum up, Red Bull are not the villains in the way that people portray them to be. They did 2 misjudgements and then corrected themselves. It was all towards one goal - getting Max the title. Now they need to start preparing a young driver to take his place since Max won't be here forever. I think that driver is either Yuki or Liam. In a world in which Yuki goes somewhere else I am putting Liam as Red Bulls next big because I think he deserves it. And Liam fans should want this to happen. The amount that Liam would learn from Max by driving the same car with him will be not comparable to anything else in the world. What you call "being thrown to the bulls" I call being given an opportunity to learn from the literal best of this generation. And that's that.

So what do we think Red Bull wants to tell us? My predictions:

1. Checo renewal. Seems like the most plausible BUT!!! Would they do it so soon into the season when they don't know how it's gonna go yet? Unlikely. Are they scared of losing a Checo enough to do it this early? I don't think so. it would be strange if it's actually that I'll start wondering why. I already am wondering why they seem to be doing it now. If the last 3 races went like the first 5 then fine, sure but NOW? idk idk..

2. New special livery. Most plausible if you ask me. Just like red bull to keep us on our Toys for a livery announcement or ne meech 🙄. Just like all of f1 really. They keep doing this to us and we fall for it every time.

3. Sainz to Red Bull? Honestly still a possibility. Although people were saying he missed his chance I still think things could have changed.

4. Liam to Red Bull 2025. If I was Red Bull I'd do this. He doesn't have a lot of experience but he has enough in my opinion. And if they're scared of losing Max for 2026 (which they should be) I'd be putting Liam in the fastest car I own for 2025 asap. But again this only if Checo continues to not be on form. If Checo is on form they would not put Liam in his place and risk the 2025 constructors like that. If Checo is not on form however I think long term Liam is the way to go. But this leads us back to 1) and why do it now? Too early to tell anything yet. If this was happening if wouldve happened during summer break AT LEAST.

What do we think? Any other ideas? I thought about Yuki to Red Bull but the Honda thing? Idk it's highly unlikely. And there's no way it's Ricciardo. There just isn't. He hasn't been performing AT ALL.

#f1 #liam lawson #oh hiw i beg people to stop looking at the past from 1 angle and start looking at the big picture #when looking back on red bull everyone sees alex and pierre when they should be seeing max #max verstappen #but it makes sense kinda since you guys are not max fans and cant see why it feels good to have your driver be prioritized #and always think that the worst will happen to your driver #i want liam in the seat because i think he is the next red bull driver to fight for a title #red bull need to look at long term solutions and thats liam #this is so long i hope this person actually read it #i hope anyone reads it lol

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formulinos · 4 years ago

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Hyperfixation Corner | Rush 2 - Senna x Prost Jean-Marie Balestre

"We had, in my opinion, two very bad [championships] in 1989 and 1990. They were a consequence of unbelievable politics." This week, we're going to take a peep at the beef that any other racing duo ever wished they had, and how a third party took it way too far.

prologue: guess who? part 1: [hayley williams voice] how did we get here? part 2: xv fuji television japanese grand prix part 3: high above orders part 4: déjà vu, or xvi fuji television japanese grand prix epilogue: if you no longer go for a gap that exists

Let's go on this deep dive again, shall we?

Prologue: Guess Who?

Before I start today’s story, let’s refresh our minds on the key players and where were they at the time, shall we?

Alain Prost: half of McLaren's star duo, Prost had managed to win back to back titles before a shit 4th place in 1987 (for his standards at least). Known as "The Professor" for his technical knowledge and pragmatic racing technique, Alain was the water for the quota of F1 fans who thirsted for Frenchmen and were part of tumblr's teacher crush community.

Ayrton Senna: SENNA 🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷 had made a name for himself by overdriving his cars in his previous stints in Toleman and Lotus, managing a miraculous 3rd in 87 (ahead of Prost). The yang to Prost's yin, Senna was all about being fast as fuck and the romanticism of pushing to the limit every single time.

Ron Dennis: the glue that held the McLaren drivers together, except the glue was more like lube. Dennis was team principal and in fact, McLaren's owner since the early-80s, getting their shit back together and cementing it as one of the best teams on the grid. He got the dream team in Senna/Prost and then it turned out the dream was a nightmare induced by superdosing on Ambien.

Jean-Marie Balestre: President of the FISA (Federation Internationale du Sport Automobile), the FIA subsection that was responsible for regulating all competitions since 1978. He was also the FIA president (a bit useless to have one president for both federations then? whatever). He was quite notorious for being authoritarian and not taking criticism, to the point where in the earlier 80s there was a big scrape between his crew and the teams over who got to control F1. This became known as the FISA-FOCA war and it's the reason why we have Concorde Agreements to this day. I think he legit felt he was the Don Corleone of F1, but he was more of a Michael type without being hot as 70s Al Pacino. (He also was part of the French SS during WWII, which means he was a Nazi, but he said he was a hidden agent for the Allies, anyway.)

Part 1: [Hayley Williams voice] HOW DID WE GET HERE?

In order to talk 1989, we need to have lived 1988 first: Senna joined McLaren - supposedly, by Prost's recommendation - and brought with him a very sexy Honda engine. The result of this unholy union was the MP4/4, sponsored probably by Satan himself and winning 15/16 races, 15/16 pole positions and 10/16 fastest laps. So, it's clear that they had the best car, but also with the two best drivers of their time, who managed to get the best out of it?

Senna. It was Senna, who managed to win one (1) more race than his teammate. This is how Prost looked after the guy he personally asked for the team to hire made him and everyone else in the grid look like a bitch:

Needless to say, the Gatorade was BOILING for the 1989 season and these two were about to add the ramen and cook one of the most darksided meals F1 fans would ever have. Prost was getting into his second year dry spell, Senna wanted to defend his title, one was French, the other was Brazilian and their team boss was Ron Dennis. I would like to thank God for her infinite wisdom because you just KNOW she was thinking about that when she asked for the tiktaalik to leave water.

What I like SO much about Senna/Prost is that they were on a mission, they took no time. This isn't a case of a relationship slowly deteriorating over multiple years, they were down for a spectacular crash and burn. Through the whole season shit would happen, one got a podium, the other retired, one talked shit, the other replied, people got dragged in the middle, etc. If I do a race-per-race recap, we'll be here until the next pandemic starts, so I'll just highlight 4 key moments of the whole lead-up to the title decision: San Marino, Monaco, Mexico and Italy.

San Marino: McLaren got a 1-2 in qualis and the lads shook hands over the agreement that whoever got the better start would get their lead respected at the first corner and they wouldn't be challenged later on. Race starts, Ayrton gets ahead and Alain in second etc, but 3 laps later Gerhard Berger goes into flames on Tamburello (yep, that one), red flagging the session. Berger, if you're reading this by the way, thank you for your cooperation through 1989, wouldn't have been the same without you. They restart the session and this time, Prost gets the lead. This turns into the Ross/Rachel "We were on a break" of F1, because in Senna's POV he should be entitled to the lead since he had the better start on that first lap before the accident, while Prost believed that his was the lead because he got the best restart. Either way, the sirens were off and the McLaren employees got the presidential alert: THE GIRLS ARE FIGHTING message on their screens.

The clowns obviously fought into Tosa (turn 3), Senna took the lead (AGAIN) and won the race. Prost got second and of course the mood was just very friendly and chill on the podium

Monaco: Prost went on the news to spill the Imola tea, adding that he and Senna weren't on speaking terms. John Hogan, the lad responsible for Marlboro's F1 presence as we know it, actually confirmed that they had a deal made. Senna replied with his side of things and even added "well, anyway, we fought on turn 3, not on turn 1" AS IF THAT WOULD MAKE IT ANY BETTER LMAO. Actually, I have to stan Alain because that whole season Alain would basically leave the car straight into the journalists and just let it all out like this

The race itself started with another McLaren 1-2, Senna got the lead again and Prost was left in second to deal through the race with other men having their personal side quests: Piquet and de Cesaris had a lil clash after they got each other and that caused some traffic that affected Prost more than Senna. Not only that, but Prost's former teammate Arnaux decided that was the perfect moment to get some lil revenge, a lil vendetta, and refused to let him past even though there were blue flags everywhere (he later claimed there was some car issues and James Hunt called bullshit on live television lol). The race ended w Senna 1-2 Prost and the lead that had been built by the Brazil fiasco was done

Mexico: This was just RACE 4 OF THE YEAR and we already had Civil War in McLaren. Both of the drivers had even more to fight for - Senna wanted to keep his pole-win streak and Prost wanted to break it - and Alain was openly dissatisfied. They had the 1-2 again with Senna ahead and it was up to them to battle for the win. Prost had the pace to catch up to Senna and they were in the same car, but by the end, Senna had to allow Prost to unlap himself. Why was that so weird? Well, I'd like to give you a lil word on air.

TECHNICAL BREAK - AIR

As much as I would love to, we don't live in a world of nothing. We can't see it, but air *is* there and in the world of Formula 1, there are two challenges: how to get over it and how to use it to your advantage. This is where Aerodynamics kick in with the concepts of drag, downforce and slipstream.

Before I talk about anything, yep, I know. My Photoshop stills are unrivalled. Back to the subject, this is a lovely picture of Stoffel Vandoorne driving the MP4/5 in Japan that I chose to show you the different axis that drag and downforce act. These are both caused by air resistance, that is, air pushing you back somehow because it feels that you're being too cocky. While downforce (orange) acts pushing you back to the ground, drag (blue) tries to send you backwards, and these two inevitably come together due to the nature of the wings, the flaps and the inclination that allows the passage of air through it.

Wings aren't just the thing they keep talking about at Red Bull. Their task is to optimize downforce since the whole pushing you to the ground thing is actually pretty nice and helpful when you get to turns, because the more grip you have the less sbinallas you do. Grip does make you slower on straights though, which is why we hear so much about some cars having a better set up for tracks that have a lot of consecutive turns while others do better on tracks with huge straights. Drag is an inevitable consequence of this search for downforce because since the wings need to be inclined to optimise it, they create air "tunnels" through which it flows under the body of the car, giving it more surface to try to push it back.

We have these two settled, but no man is an island and F1 isn't just about one car doing 50+ laps by himself - even though Mercedes tries to do that every time. When you consider air, you also need to consider how one car behaves behind another. This is where slipstream (and dirty air while we're at it) get in the equation

Slipstreams and dirty air fall on the same principle: one car suffers the impacts of air changes when they're right behind another. For slipstreams, this happens on straights, when the car in front ends up working as a "shield". Roughly, its body works like a deflector sending the disturbed air - aka the air that's all hot and messy and bothered - resulting in a pocket of clean air for the one behind. This grants the car behind less drag and more stability to attack, making it faster than the car in front usually.

While the context is similar in dirty air situations, no it isn't. Dirty air is more pronounced in turns, where the same deflection principle that benefitted the car behind in slipstreams actually hurts it. Now, a greater chunk of the disrupted air goes straight to it and the inverse happens, impacting both drag and downforce properties of the car since as much as you fine tune your car, it can't predict how fucked up the air will be in these moments.

UPDATE [02/03/2021]: my Fluids Mechanics teacher just shared a small cool video that shows very well the way air "wraps" itself around the car and how dirty air really disrupts the flow behind it. Here's a link

END OF TECHNICAL BREAK

You might be asking yourself "OK, Ana, but it's just wind and air". No, this isn't WW84. Here's the thing: Prost's data showed that he had greater pace on turns than Senna, even though he was suffering the dirty air effects. However, whenever they got to the straights, EVEN with slipstream, my guy just couldn't overtake his nemesis. Things got even worse when McLaren revealed later on that Prost's setup had less wing than Senna's, which means he was genuinely supposed to be faster on the straights because he had less downforce gripping him.

If that was the only fuck up then they would have had a 1-2 close enough, but Prost did get lapped at some point because the gods of racing though this man deserved to suffer more and thus someone in McLaren fucked up the tyre compounds during his pitstop and he got even more slowed down until they changed it again. Ron Dennis publicly apologised after the race bc it had been such a disaster, but Alain was livid and he said the thing "listen, if I wasn't able to overtake in the slipstream with the same car, it's because it's not the same car. my engine sucks and i'm being sabotaged". Honda man said later on that Senna's weird braking/revving up technique was why he got more out of the engine than Prost's smooth operations but the damage was done, it was civil war and Prost was resolute in leaving McLaren.

Italy: After Mexico, things got a little more settled down as the lads started alternating their streaks. If Prost won, Senna retired, the 1-2s happened but they were more rare and Senna had a bad streak that lasted for 4 races. In Italy this would happen again with Prost winning and Senna dropping out on lap 44 due to engine issues - that actually happened quite frequently with the Honda V10.

It gets funny when Prost, who had announced previously in July he was quitting McLaren, decided to announce just before M O N Z A he would race for Ferrari in 1990. It gets even funnier when you consider that Ferrari were having one of their worst championships ever with Berger not DNF-ing in only 3 races and Mansell not doing that much better (if you thought 2020 was bad, this was worse. WAY worse. Good news though is that when they did manage to make it to the end, they usually ended up on the podium. Usually. There were some DSQs). Plus, Senna was persona non grata in Italy because he apparently had said no to Ferrari so he could join McLaren. So, for the Tifosi, the Prost win was as close as a Ferrari win as it could get. And in return, Alain gave the people what they wanted. Literally. he threw his trophy to the Tifosi who went wild.

Ron Dennis was SHOOKETH. Not only they had the trophy rule - originals stay with the teams, replicas go to the pilots - but this was a brass act of defiance. My guy had no respect for the boss anymore. It was great, honestly. Apparently Won-Won got mad and threw the constructor's trophy on the ground in front of Prost and stormed off. From that point onwards, these two ALSO stopped talking.

Part 2 - XV Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix

Back then, F1 counted the 11 best results. Senna had the most wins, but also the most retirements out of these two. That way, the mathematical standings said that he had to win Suzuka in order to keep the title battle alive up until the last round. If he failed to do so, Prost was champion. Tensions were super duper high, no doubt about it.

At that point they knew that the McLaren was the superior car anyway and that it was going to do super well in Suzuka. Prost - his mind ugh it amazes me! - had a true galaxy brain think. He knew that the trick to win was to get over Senna on the first lap and build a gap, since the rest wouldn't be able to match them throughout the race. So, his side of the garage and he decided to remove his Gurney flap, a little tab that sits on the top of the rear wing and redirects the air flow that's going through the wing surface, usually used for the purposes of downforce. For the MP4/5 setup, the Gurney flap granted more downforce and removing it meant more speed on the straights. You can see in the picture below that there is a very tiny black thing in Senna's rear wing (the car behind) that isn't there in Prost's, and that's the Gurney flap.

I am Brazilian, I stan Senna and have very mixed feeling on Williams solely due to my mom's influence as a Senna stan - she even put a black flag on our balcony in 1994 after that thing happened - but I do have to say Prost was so funny I get why people were mad back then but this is just. They took the Gurney flap out after qualis. This is so funny. The profile that that has!!!!The plan worked, and sincerely, even better than expected because the Prost crew were working on the low during Friday and Saturday, which meant Senna got the pole position without even knowing what was coming to him.

Prost just FLEW in right at the start, he just flew. Prior to the pit stops, the gap was over 5 seconds and it seemed easy peasy. A few things happened though: McLaren did good when Senna pitted and the car got more stable; Prost also started slowing down both because of traffic and also because he wanted to bridge the gap to push Ayrton to use up his tyres. All of this meant that Prost managed to open up on straights, but Senna was faster in the corners and therefore, if he wanted to win he'd have to attack on those.

Lap 46 came and with it, the decisive moment. Senna saw a gap open up in the corner right around the chicane and just lunged. Prost, did he do it, didn't he do it? To say he threw his car might be a reach - I'm just not going to affirm I think he did because of the legal implications but I will pepper in the fact I am Brazilian again - but he did act as he told the team he would and defended instead of just letting him past. F1 history was made as the two best drivers of all time back then and teammates managed to hit each other in a fucking chicane.

Prost was DONE. There was no way he could go back to the race. Senna, however by a miracle (or a jest of the Gods) actually still had an engine - fucking Honda - and his damaged front wing wasn't looking that bad. He had track marshals put him back in the race and BOI. They got him on the weaving track right by the chicane. Since the other cars were shit even with all that mess he wasn't that far behind the race leader - not that hard given that 15/26 cars on track had DNF'd at that moment. So, in a brilliant display of talent and bravado, Senna won the race and took the title dispute to Adelaide.

SIKE

Part 3: High Above Orders

I would like to make it clear at this point that even though these guys have displayed legendary messy behaviour, I don't think anyone was a villain here and this was, although petty from both sides - Senna did say at the end of the Mexican Grand Prix that he won because he was "ready for two restarts, if it was necessary". shady. - just competitiveness and a lil bit of homoeroticism. The write-up so far was just to give you some context of how tense the whole season had been so far and why the next actions were REALLY shitty.

The second Senna was back on track, Prost went straight to the stewards as in his POV the move was illegal. As the race went on, they were still discussing the legality of the move, with McLaren representatives and Senna himself later on being summoned and, even more interestingly, before the podium. Yes, that meant that for 20 minutes or so people were completely in the dark, watching the incident being replayed over and over while the stewards mulled over who would take the race victory: Senna or Nanini (runner-up).

Jean-Marie Balestre finally comes in (both metaphorically in this text and in reality as he was in the stewards briefings with McLaren and the two drivers). The decision taken by FISA was to disqualify Senna based on Article 56 of their regulations that stated that this was a fit penalty for the driver who cut through a chicane and was felt to have gained advantage of it. McLaren immediately announced their appeal. Besides the loss of prize money and bonuses for wins from sponsors, they believed that Senna had gained no advantage from cutting the chicane as he had literally lost places from crashing into another dude AND that his release had been a compromise for safety measures. They even had a plethora of instances from the past two seasons where drivers had also gone through a chicane for safety issues and still given the chance to be a part of the podium:

I think their reasons to argue for Senna were valid! It's just funny that Prost was in a corner holding a trophy like "guys, I won the championship" and no one cared lol. You have to feel for the guy, of course McLaren saw it as a Constructors and Drivers Championship but they probably would rather the guy who is staying to win. Honda most likely wanted the guy who wasn't dissing their engine to win. The most annoying nation in the world wanted their guy to win. All you had by your side was a Nazi bitch.

The FISA hearing was held by Balestre himself, who not only maintained the disqualification but also added a 100000 dollar fine and a six-month racing ban on Senna, on the grounds of a "history of dangerous driving," and he pulled the receipts ON EVERY SINGLE INCIDENT SENNA HAD IN HIS CAREER. HE EVEN SAID THAT SHOULD BE A WARNING TO ALL DRIVERS LMAO. PROST WAS JUST VIBING THERE???.

By the time they got to the last round, the appeal was still ongoing and Senna still had a small margin of hope, granted he needed the rulings to be annulled AND the race win. Instead, he voiced publicly that he believed that his DSQ had been a shame to the sport and that Balestre was very clearly favouring his countryman and he was the scapegoat. He also managed to hit Martin Brundle and DNF'd on the last race of the season (don't worry, Prost did too!).

part 4: Déjà Vu, or the XVI Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix

Well, after a long off-season with McLaren fighting FISA, Balestre threatening not to renew Senna's super license and Ayrton himself considering retirement, somehow they all got their shit together for 1990 and to be fair, Prost and Senna were competing, but they did so while sitting there and eating their food without any issues. Unfortunately for them, the Ferrari was competitive again and about everyone including themselves were interested in settling the score, and in another practical joke of fate, the championship decision was left for Suzuka again.

The banter was on because the scenario was reversed in relation to the year before. Senna had the advantage here, 9 points in the lead, while Prost needed to win it to keep his hopes alive for Australia. Quali comes and Senna bags pole again! The only issue was that pole position in Suzuka was on the dirty side of the track… the same as it ever was back then…. and Ayrton decided that was a good moment to complain about it.

Why was my guy so mad about this? Well, because Prost was right by his side in P2, on the clean side. Although pole position sounds nice, the clean side is the one with the racing line preferred by the drivers, which means that there is where all the rubber dropped by the tyres sits all weekend - unless it gets washed away by the rain, of course - and that grants extra grip in comparison to the side that has nothing (ironic how the dirty side is the one that actually is… clean). It wasn't a matter of P2 having the grip, it was a matter of Prost having the grip and the better line to start, and he went to the stewards over it.

At first FISA actually conceded, but Balestre came in again and blocked the move, adding that the drivers wouldn't be able to go through the pit exit line to set themselves up for attacking on the first corner. To make matters better, at the drivers briefing Piquet brought up chicanes and what should be the standard procedure for missing it. Everyone agreed that the driver who did that should be stopped and let go when safe to do so, going through the escape route if necessary. SENNA WAS PISSED! LIVID! No one had taken him seriously a year ago and now he had to witness everyone coming to terms with that? Screw you guys, he's going home leaving the briefing.

It was clear to the homeboy that he was on his own and the plot was plotted. Race day came, Prost got the better start but that was a ruse, a ploy, as a few meters later Senna would just kamikaze both of them out of the race.

Honestly, everyone knew it was revengé, especially with how both cars were ruined just enough so that none of them could get back on track. Ron Dennis knew, Prost knew, Balestre knew, my mom knew, my unborn self knew but Senna kept his cool like "oh what a shame the championship had to end this way XD". To be fair, he did feel guilty later on but he couldn't help being an aries! Prost rant to the press about how it was a disgrace and Senna lost his humanity, but sincerely, what could Balestre do if not allow it to pass as [Charles Leclerc voice] just an inchident? Nothing that would have to force him to admit his wrongdoings in 1989 - which he later came to do in 1996 before leaving his role as president of both FIA and FISA. Congrats Senna, you won the championship again.

Epilogue: If You No Longer Go For A Gap That Exists

Ayrton still had to take the flack for his actions through the rest of his career - not unlike Prost whose own prowess in the sport still gets unfairly shadowed by his ungrateful role as the villain in Senna's main arc - and I feel that a good way to sum things up is with the very infamous interview with Sir Jackie Stewart.

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As much as the "if you no longer go for a gap that exists, you're no longer a racing driver" gets mocked to this day, the key aspect of the whole speech is "because we are competing". Senna makes it clear here that accidents could happen and that he could have lapses of judgment, but the gaps are conditioned to the other people that he's racing with. In subtext - not that subtle considering that this was shot in Adelaide - Senna knew Prost and Prost knew Senna. They both were aware of exactly how far they would be willing to go and that had always been the basis of their contemptuous relationship and it always had to be like that for them because they were competing.

They were rivals, and sure that 89-90 made it very easy for them not to like each other and get lost in the game, but they were never enemies and even though they still had issues - most noticeably, Prost blocked Senna's move to Williams in 93 because he did not wish to be his teammate again. How funny. - by the time that Senna passed away, they had settled their differences and Ayrton actually asked him to come back. The one person who in all of this overstepped the line was Jean-Marie Balestre, who used his influence as the head of a supposedly impartial entity to interfere in a battle that was none of his business.

note: I'm sorry for the delay! I took a bit more of my time writing this than necessary and got lost in a few personal matters as well. I hope you all enjoyed this and I hope to hear your feedback again :D See you next week!

#f1 #ayrton senna #alain prost #ron dennis #jean-marie balestre #mclaren #1989 japanese gp #1990 japanese gp #guys i'm sorry i'm so late i decided to make animations that flopped #ANYWAY A LOT OF WORK I WATCHED LIKE 3 DOCS FOR THIS AND READ HALF THE INTERNET #i tried to come out less shady towards prost but you know.#hyperfixation corner

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meaningofmotorsport · 4 years ago

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Is this Hamilton’s last F1 contract?

Ever since the dust settled, following the season finale in Abu Dhabi last December, the situation of Lewis Hamilton’s contract has been the focal point of most F1 discussions. Having been held off for so long, seemingly due to Lewis not wishing to demand millions whilst the world was in turmoil, it was pushed back further as both Lewis and Toto caught the virus. Yet in the end it was eventually signed, with Hamilton continuing with the team for this year, and making the commitment alongside Mercedes to aid the fight for equality.

So, after people spent months talking about a possible last minute retirement from the sport by Lewis, why has him signing a further extension with the team, not alleviated this storm of speculation? And is it possible this year could be his last hurrah; in a sport he has conquered so well in recent years?

To understand why the new contract is so significant, you have to look at his history of F1 contracts. When he joined McLaren back in 2007, it was on a one year deal, understandable for a rookie in a top team. Then when he outperformed what anyone expected from him that year, Ron Dennis quickly signed a huge long term deal with him for six years, till the end of 2012. We know what happened next of course, after all the early success, McLaren could not give Lewis another championship winning car, and he grew frustrated and decided to leave the team.

The move to Mercedes was questionable at the time, although now it looks perfect, but most importantly, during his time at the team until last year, he signed two, three year deals followed by two further years, all of which were done in plenty of time to avoid any panicking. There is already one key note there, the reason the last one was just two years, is because 2021 was due to be the complete rules and regulations revamp in F1, where even Mercedes could consider their position in the sport, so we can’t take too much notice of that.

This means that, other than his rookie year, this single year deal is somewhat of an outlier, and now that Mercedes has committed to F1 for the next few years, can’t be overlooked. The most logical conclusion is that Hamilton wants to assess what the new cars are like in 2022, to see if he likes how they drive, and would wish to stay in the sport to do so. Whilst this seems harmless on some levels, it shows that he doesn’t have complete devotion to the sport, and to drive in the sport long term, which is not surprising given he is now 36. We haven’t seen him do this for previous regulation changes, in 2014 or 2017, and I know that this one coming up is bigger than those in some ways, but it does make you wonder where his mind is at.

So, is this it for Lewis? I would say more likely not, although I would not be at all surprised if he does leave. If we think about Hamilton’s mindset, he knows he is in the best team, and able to win titles if he executes at the high level he has been doing, so why would you give that up now. Even if he wins his eighth this year, I would want to push for a ninth to make the bar even higher for those chasing me, and really put yourself in a class of one, and as much as he denies thinking about titles and records, he will do when he thinks of his future and legacy in the sport. Plus, if Mercedes are able to keep the momentum into 2022, it would really be something to see them hold off the challengers through another rule change, and I am sure Lewis would want to be a part of that, and show he can win whilst driving so many different eras of F1 car.

On the flip side, he has so much else going on in his life, and seems to be loving trying new things, and there may come a point where he would rather do more new things, than stay in the monotony of F1. Also, F1 is not good for his public image as an environmentalist, even with everything that the sport is doing to be kinder on the world. Another thing is, he seems to be talking more and more about family and having grandkids, which suggests he wants to start a new family, we don’t know much about his personal life, but the fact that it seems to have stayed away during his racing career, makes me think he would retire before building one up, and he can’t wait too long to do that.

If we now consider Mercedes, and who they want in their team, you can’t get much better than a seven time champion, who is a global icon, and almost certainly brings many sponsors to the team. On top of that, he always gets the job done out on track as well as anyone else could, and most likely even better. The only slight consideration the team should make is for the future, they know how important Russell is, and how well he can do, so they need to do all they can to not lose him, but otherwise they will be 100% behind Lewis!

The chances of Hamilton racing elsewhere are slim, he only seems to have eyes for F1, and Mercedes is the best team you can get in F1 currently, so why look elsewhere. However, if you want a hot take out of nowhere, Hamilton’s image in F1 has been hurt slightly by the dominance of the last few years, so to allow him to leave on a high, why not bring an historic British F1 team from the back of the grid to the front. As that would never likely happen, another option is, go back to where his F1 career started, a team already on the up, and get them back to where they should be!

Whether the new contract is signalling the end of an incredible career, or is leaving people barking up the wrong tree, it is an exciting time for F1, one where many changes are on the horizon, let’s just see if we get more than some are expecting!

-M

#f1 #lewis hamilton #mercedes f1 #mercedesf1 #f12021

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f1 · 2 years ago

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Major caveats over F1 rules need sorting before progress on Red Bull-Porsche deal Horner | 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says a deal for Porsche to join the team as power unit suppliers cannot progress until Formula 1’s future engine rules are agreed. It was revealed this week Porsche is buying a 50% stake in Red Bull Technology, which manufacturers the F1 team’s chassis. However Horner says further progress cannot happen until the series defines the new engine formula to be used from 2026. “There’s healthy dialogue with Porsche and I think it’s great that companies like Porsche and Audi are looking at seriously coming into Formula 1,” he said. “But there’s some some major caveats that we need to get past first before things can get anywhere near progression. “That primarily focuses on what are the final technical, sporting and financial regulations for the power unit going to be? Are they going to be fair and equitable to the newcomers versus the current incumbents? So that is the first piece of the jigsaw that needs to be completed. “It’s something that I know the FIA are working hard on and hopefully in coming weeks we’ll get to see that. At that point then obviously we’re able then to sit down and have a further discussion with the guys at Porsche.” Rival manufacturers Mercedes and Ferrari have previously denied they have sought to delay discussions around the new rules in a bid to disadvantage Porsche. Horner said the negotiations with Porsche will be “a reasonably lengthy process” with “many things to discuss” between them. “But the most fundamental thing is what are those regulations for 2026,” he said. “And are they attractive enough for an entity like a Porsche or an Audi to come into Formula 1?” Porsche has previously indicated its desire to enter F1 in 2026. Despite the news of its buy-in to part of Red Bull’s F1 operation, Horner said the parties are “really only at a discussion stage.” “There’s so many caveats based on regulations that are the fundamental part.” He stressed that any new partner of the team would have to “fit within the long term-plans that Red Bull have for its commitment in Formula 1.” “Red Bull has demonstrated its commitment to Formula 1, its longevity in the sport as initially as a sponsor and then as a team owner and then as a double team owner and then as a promoter with a circuit and so on,” he said. “I think anything that we look at is very much with the long-term in mind. We’re not looking at a short-term solution.” Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix Browse all 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix articles via RaceFans - Independent Motorsport Coverage https://www.racefans.net

#F1 #“Major caveats” over F1 rules need sorting before progress on Red Bull-Porsche deal – Horner | 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix #Formula 1

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crystalracing · 6 years ago

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My thoughts on the F1 Hybrid era 2014-present and a timeline of being a Kimi Raikkonen fanatic since 2002

My love-hate relationship with Formula 1 is very much at the Hate spectrum and it no longer feels fun. Those who read my social media accounts could easily mistake me for having the worldview of a 47 year old man, when in fact I’m 3 years short of 30. I see new school fans who only remember Raikkonen’s struggles and care little for his McLaren years, where even then misfortune lurked around the corner. There was one difference back then, however: Kimi was the new kid on the block. On any given Sunday, even after an average qualifying performance, the talismanic Finn could dazzle fans the world over. The vivid sound of a cacophonous V10 would scream in a global audience’s ears and a baby faced Finnish boy wonder from an impoverished Espoo countryside upbringing would leave a smile on millions of faces. F1 was in the midst of what seemed a never-ending Michael Schumacher/Ferrari led domination. Despite near-misses in 2003 and 2005, where the Finn took nine wins and two runners-up for the Woking-based squad in between numerous boozy nights and the beginning of a marriage to Jenni Dahlman, later doomed by the pair’s lack of commitment, bounty of love affairs and lack of mutual interests, the fans sang his praises. Fellow drivers such as Ralf Schumacher were left bemused by Kimi’s taciturn, carefree and single-minded demeanour, but the corporate sponsors found a sweet spot for the Finn: his apolitical attitude melded well to act as a figure of universal popularity- the shyness of a geek, the lackadaisical social standing of a class clown and the heart of a world class athlete. And I just couldn’t help but champion him.

The current hybrid engine formula for F1 is a mess: huge wings creating ridiculous amounts of dirty air, fat tyres, three DRS zones on a regular basis at most circuits, the fuel-saving and Pirelli’s SEVEN compounds of tyres- two of which will be not used meaningfully at all this year (Hard & SuperHard). In 2009, the teams followed a new formula with skinny wings, slick tyres and a banning of bodywork elements on the sidepods and places you wouldn’t expect an aerodynamic piece to hang off. Max Mosley also proposed a budget cap, which encourged Litespeed (Lotus/Caterham), Manor (Virgin/Marussia) and Campos (HRT) to join in 2010. Of course, in true F1 fashion, the FIA failed to follow up on such proposals to enforce budget caps and it’s only now with Liberty Media that an argument to enact a plan for cost cutting has been brought back. Sadly, the three 2010 teams were all gone by the end of 2012, 2014 and 2016 respectively. However, drivers moaned about the lack of driving challenge enforced and the subsequent bigger cars (followed by 2019 regs) begs the question:

Does F1 have an identity anymore? Is it willing to stand up for a set of sporting and technical values? Because Jean Todt et al at FIA seem sidetracked and manipulated by the corporate bosses at FIAT, Daimler, OICA & Honda.

In the decade of 2010s, only 11 drivers (Vettel, Hamilton, Alonso, Raikkonen, Bottas, Ricciardo, Verstappen, Maldonado, Webber, Rosberg & Button) have won a race despite 169 Grands Prix having taken place in this decade alone. That’s how truly uncompetitive the Pirelli era of F1 has been, especially compared to the 2000s, which had 17 different winners in 174 races. In fact, here’s a list of the past decades:

1950s- 24 different winners (87 races)/ 15 (77)* 1960s- 21 (100)/ 20 (99)* 1970s- 29 (144) 1980s- 21 (156) 1990s- 17 (162) 2000s- 17 (174) 2010s- 11 (169) (with 18 months still left to go!!!)**

*without Indianapolis 500

During 2014-16, Mercedes won 51 out of the 59 races. 2011-13 saw Red Bull win 32 out of 58 races.

From 2010-18 (as of Belgium): Red Bull win 52 (out of 169 races). Mercedes win 72 (out of 169 races). Ferrari win 24 (out of 169 races). McLaren win 18 (out of 169 races). Lotus [now Renault] win 2 (out of 169 races). Williams win 1 (out of 169 races).

******

Now I find myself amongst insecure Sebastian Vettel fans, who I do feel genuinely sorry for: if Vettel wins with Kimi suffering issues, rival fans will point at possible favourable treatment. If Kimi gets close and threatens to beat Vettel, then rival fans will point at Vettel’s tendency to be just above-average in favourable conditions. After all, none of Sebastian’s 52 wins have never been won from outside the top 3 starting spots; whilst as recently as Hockenheim, title rival Hamilton finished on the top step of the rostrum from a P14 start. Much has been made of Vettel’s awful 2014 season, where his apparent inability to adjust to a car lacking rear-end downforce enforced by the new regulations (accompanied by the now-scorned new hybrids) was worsened by new team-mate Daniel Ricciardo outracing and outqualifying him. Once seen as invincible, despite Alonso’s best attempts in a clearly inferior Ferrari to interrupt his quadruple title-winning streak, Vettel had been well and truly humbled. Whilst he possesses a chirpy, charming personality, those nagging concerns over his tendency to crash out at crucial moments linger (2017 Singapore, 2018 France, 2018 Germany), whilst rival Lewis Hamilton (despite moaning more than Nick Kyrios in a tennis match) remains impervious under relentless pressure, having only lost in 2016 to his eternal rival Nico Rosberg (mostly thanks to struggling with a dodgy clutch biting point for race starts and that engine failure in Malaysia). Additionally, Kimi’s presence has reaffirmed a belief amongst rival fans that Vettel needs an obedient, passive number 2 alongside him, whilst Hamilton at the very least went head-to-head with two reigning world champs in Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button at McLaren and Rosberg, where equal number one status was mandated by Mercedes. Only twice Rosberg gave way to Hamilton: 2016 Monaco (partly due to brake issues, but possibly to atone for their first lap collision in the previous race in Spain) and 2013 Malaysia when Rosberg was told to hold station and let Hamilton take 3rd. However, it is arguable Mercedes’s sheer dominance between 2014-16 allowed them to enforce an equal driver policy with no serious threats from the opposition for either championships.

To further my claim, more bad news will come for Vettel fans when popular rookie Charles LeClerc joins Ferrari as his long-awaited team-mate: if Charles beats Seb, his time in F1 is likely to over before he turns 35 and his reputation smashed, whilst if Seb beats LeClerc, accusations of team-favoritism will re-emerge as quickly as they disappeared with Kimi’s retirement. It’s a lose-lose situation for Vettel fans, especially when you consider Fernando Alonso’s demise enforced by his own internal politics and poor career choices and Lewis Hamilton’s ability to exact the maximum out of a recalcitrant Mercedes, which has been de-crowned as F1′s fastest and best all-round chassis and engine package. To worsen matters, Kimi fans (including me) feel zero sympathy for anything that ever goes wrong for the German. Unfortunately, it does turn into hate and resentment, but only because we know what our Finnish man is capable of even in his declining years: fastest in FP1 and FP2 and fastest in Q1 and Q2 at Belgium 2018 with a record-breaking time of 1:41.501. Add to claims by Lewis Hamilton himself that Vettel has never beaten a team-mate in their “prime”: after outpacing journeymen Vitantonio Liuzzi and Sebastien Bourdais with ease, Mark Webber’s weight issues, advancing age, subsequent injuries and struggles with Pirellis handed the impetus to the Weltmeister. Followed by an infamous 2014 with the Honey Badger and a lengthy spell with a passive Raikkonen, it’s no wonder Vettel fans will easily attempt to deflect Ferrari's questionable treatment of Raikkonen to that of Mercedes’, Red Bull’s and even Toro Rosso’s treatment of Valtteri Bottas, Renault-bound Daniel Ricciardo and Brendon Hartley.

Which is not to say they’re wrong, but their defensiveness is compounded by Ferrari’s historic preference for a hierarchal driver system (Schumacher & Barrichello at Austria 2002 & Alonso & Massa at Germany 2010 widely publicised), followed by recent events at Germany again this year (albeit with Jock Clear tentatively trying to make Kimi guess his cryptic message) is telling: they know Vettel has a peripheral place amongst the true greats of F1 thanks to years of Adrian Newey’s double diffuser Red Bull chassis and Renault’s V8 engine mapping system enabling Seb to play the role of the “Opening two laps” merchant. What I mean by that is his ability to create a gap of over one second within the first two laps in a standard 2010-13 race to stop the car in 2nd place from exploiting the DRS detection range against him, from which he then subsequently exploiting his car’s technical advantage to predictable perfection. Plus when you consider Lewis Hamilton’s misfortunes with McLaren, his existential crisis and a troubled relationship with ex Nicole Scherzinger and Raikkonen disappearing for two years to do WRC (and Kimi’s father slowly dying of alcoholism-related illness), it almost seemed 2010-13 was game, set and match for Seb despite occasional gremlins striking in 2010 and 2012.

I see F1 social media figures dismissing the suffering of Raikkonen fans, bemused at how thousands could be enchanted by an aloof old-school Finn, who regards journalists as vultures to be treated with well-justified caution. New school fans belittle Kimi fans, viewing them as holding a monotonous review of Raikkonen’s misfortunes and characterizing them as incapable of leaving the blame at the aging 2007 world champion’s feet, despite repeated strategy failures of a scarlet team saddled with an one-car team mentality. Bahrain saw Ferrari pit Vettel on a dangerous one stop strategy, where had it not been for a cautious Bottas, Vettel could’ve easily come 2nd, whilst Raikkonen would suffer the brunt of vicious social media abuse for stomping off to allow paramedics to tend to injured mechanic Francisco Cigarini after Ferrari failed to solve a crossthreaded wheelnut issue shared by sister team Haas; China saw Ferrari pit Vettel too late and resorting to exploiting Kimi as a road block; Baku saw the Scuderia bizarrely ignore Kimi’s dreadful pace on yellow soft compounds (yes, Kimi had indeed wrecked his last red supersofts in Q2), but then proceeded to place Vettel on the same yellow softs, which saw the German lose time to Bottas and forced Ferrari to resort to changing both cars to ultrasofts during an impromptu safety car period kicked off by the Red Bulls; whilst Hockenheim saw Ferrari absurdly miscalculate Kimi’s pace and end up with the Finn leading ahead of Vettel, followed by an awkward set of radio messages where the impatient Iceman forced the team to directly order him to let Vettel past. Subsequently, Ferrari’s shock at Vettel’s stadium crash and slowness to pit Kimi for new tyres (one lap too late!) during the SC period saw them lose a race they still could win with their “second” car, seemingly disheartened by Vettel’s blunder. Their gamble to split the strategy in Q3 for Belgium, leaving Kimi with less fuel than Vettel in the hope of quickly refuelling Kimi in the case of the rain easing (which it did) and you get the picture of a 38 year old left forlorn by a recalcitrant team hellbent on guessing their chess moves for car #7, but frightened into placing all their eggs in one basket for car #5. In a monotonous hybrid era filled with Pirelli control tyres, countless DRS zones that permit the top cars to overpower the midfielders and mindnumbing fuel saving, both Ferrari and Mercedes have isolated their Finnish wingmen to mere sideshows.

In this social media age, I see a culture of outrage galore amongst the F1 community. With the fan base no longer proliferated over internet forums, instead it is centralised amongst Twitter, Youtube, Facebook and Instagram, all of which provide more accessible platforms with user-friendly interfaces implemented, the need to find issues that don’t even exist is prevalent. The agonisingly rapid decline of F1′s spectacle has left fans increasingly tribalistic, with winning amongst those supporters of drivers in front-running cars the only source of satisfaction remaining. Unfortunately, I am now more Kimi-focused than I was in the mid-2000s: back then it wasn’t close to feeling like life and death if Kimi struggled (and boy, he had his bad moments then). I could easily applaud other drivers such as Jenson Button and Mark Webber when success came their way. I even supported Felipe Massa in his bid to win the 2008 World Championship, despite being at Kimi’s expense. But now seeing fans stirring up bile and provocation to humiliate reviled drivers leaves me feeling hollow. It makes me lust for the days when social media was not a thing; just myself sitting in the front of the couch watching ITV or BBC. But thanks to Sky and internet streaming, I find myself drawn to my laptop to avoid the increasingly jingoistic F1 TV presenters on Channel 4. The days of Jim Rosenthal, Tony Jardine, Steve Rider, the linguistically discombobulated Mark Blundell and Louise Goodman feel like another lifetime ago; the days before such partisan nonsense emerged with Lewis Hamilton.

The trivialities have surpassed the main racing events, where transfer gossip and who-said-what is more entertaining. Salacious news about drivers’ private lives now seep through the paddock; asking drivers to sing silly songs and journalists wanting to be friends with the drivers and team personnel where everyone becomes too familiar. The loss of mystique and luster of a Grand Prix environment, where fans become too emotionally involved in events where they possess little power to truly influence and instead whine and cry when things inevitably fail. In the past, with no social media or mobile phones, you had to actively find local neighbours and tour race tracks to find your motor racing pals; now a “friend” is merely a follow button away on a major social media platform.

We now live in the era of “Trial by Social Media” where a truly overemotional or defamatory comment can be validated by a high number of likes, reposts, retweets and reactions.

To make matters worse, not only are tribal lines drawn along with teams and drivers, but debates such as Grid Girls and the Halo. Frankly, there are idiots on both sides of the debates for both issues, who believe they hold the moral high ground and act like they are holier than thou against those who disagree with them. So now only are the drivers, sponsors and teams competing against each other on the track, the press room and the pits, but the fans and journalists are competing against each other for social media brownie points! Strawman anyone with any ridiculous quote and you’ll win! (Of course Kimi Raikkonen fans too are susceptible to nonsense comments. Social media unleashes your emotional rambling at any given moment). But in lieu, one thing about Charles LeClerc’s accident at Belgium stuck out and that was the journalists going on rambling lectures about how the Halo certainly saved his life, despite a lack of any scientific research concluded to prove the Halo actually stopped the McLaren of Fernando Alonso even making the slightest contact with LeClerc’s helmet. The extreme moralistic beating dished out to the viewing audience over the Halo and Grid Girls is jarring. Plus constant gimmicky sideshow jokes from WTF1 and their obnoxious jokes of “That’s Radillon, actually,” which carry no punchline and have already been brow-beaten to death by its strange following. (I know, not entirely related, but I needed to fit a bit about that dogshite WTF1).

F1, along with other motorsport series, has banged about attracting millennials and Gen Zs, but honestly at this point it is literally about as far from cool or hip as you can get.

In addition, I fell out with one truly moronic member of Lewis’ fans: a man with the most conflicting and contradictory political views I’ve ever seen (he reacts to political events and what celebrities say on a whim) and an inability to judge drivers properly at all. A man who was distraught at the idiotic outrage at Lewis Hamilton’s “Boys Don’t Wear Dresses” joke, which was clearly showing Hamilton mocking old conservatives who would demand strict gender roles at all costs. I openly wrote a tweet defending Lewis and comforted his fan via a reply to one of their tweets. But when Raikkonen stormed off after his Bahrain pit stop debacle, this same Lewis fan joined in the outrage mob when everyone called Kimi something around the lines of being a crap human being. I had to block/unblock him simply to avoid verbally abusing him and having my account suspended, as he used his reasoning of excusing of Logan Paul (a bell-end who misused the Japanese’s accommodating nature to insult their culture and deliberately walk into a suicide forest for his own attention seeking sick nonsense and despite having a prejudicial view of East Asians, now has a Hapa girlfriend in Chloe Bennet) to justify roasting Kimi. I’m sorry, but just because you failed to understand the lack of morality in one certain vile human, so you then pick on a softer target who never intended to provoke controversy, is the act of a weak, cowardly and dumb individual.

It must be remembered how badly Kimi was treated in 2008, where Massa gained the upperhand for Ferrari in this article:

Why Kimi was not on top of his game in 2008 by wrcva

https://f1bias.com/2012/04/05/truth-about-kimi-ferrari-santander-2008/

But enough of that, I want to talk the glorious past in my rose-tinted glasses: how I began my life as a bonafide Formula 1 fan.

I started watching the sport in 2002 with a wide-eyed approach due to being 11 years old. Whilst it was in the midst of a Michael Schumacher/Ferrari dominated time span, I had hope his monopoly of victories and championships would end. Mika Hakkinen had retired and in his place came a fellow Finn, Kimi Raikkonen. I was unable to articulate what attracted me to become a Kimi fan, as I initially chose to support Ralf Schumacher, Giancarlo Fisichella & Alex Yoong (!). Whilst I came to cease my backing of Ralf and the hopeless Yoong, I struck by curiosity to the Iceman when I witnessed the 22 year old firmly plant his foot flat through the Kemmel Straight in Spa-Francorchamps, blinded by a heavy plume emitted by Olivier Panis’ stricken BAR-Honda (some things never change!) Through reading a 2002 ITV F1 Guide book, which now lies battered and almost shredded, its description was one of a rebel and a selfish Espoo native, who had lucked his way into the McLaren #4 seat at the expense of his supposedly more deserving Sauber team-mate Nick Heidfeld. That initally turned me against Kimi, believing he had a silver spoon in a figurative sense, but an astonishing drive to P2 in 2002 Belgian GP qualifying, followed by an outrageous rear end save on Sunday began to sway my stubbornness. It proved his storming drive in France to P2 (which he lost the lead in the later stages thanks to running on Allan McNish’s Toyota engine oil) earlier that year was no fluke in a season blighted by major reliability issues, which saw the Finn retire from 11 out of the 17 races held in 2002. That year saw Kimi pick up his maiden podium and fastest lap in Australia and four podiums, plus Raikkonen outqualified elder team-mate David Coulthard an impressive 10-7. Sadly, the mechanical failures would prove a harbinger of what overshadow Kimi’s time at Woking.

2003 would see Macca continue its MP4-17 chassis in a D specification, with plans to introduce the MP4-18 in Canada. A rapid change in FIA sporting regulations (plus a promised abandonment of traction control from Silverstone onwards) was enacted, as the sport’s owners unanimously agreed that F1′s appeal would fade if a certain scarlet team’s monotonous accumulation of wins was not at least curbed in the slightest. Melbourne qualifying, in its new one-lap shootout format with two sessions split between Friday and Saturday, ended with a predictable Ferrari one-two of Schumacher followed by obedient no.2 Rubens Barrichello (or Bwoahrrichello). The new qualifying regulations stipulated cars to carry the race fuel and tyres they’d start with throughout their Saturday qualifying single-lap run, which left the heavily fueled McLarens of DC & Kimi in P11 and P15. On race day, the heavens opened and the track was damp at the start. Raikkonen pitted for dries on the formation lap, so he had to encounter the early laps with caution as the field eventually copied the Finn’s switch to grooved tyres (remember those?) during the early laps of the race. Lap 17 saw the Iceman grab the lead, which he would hold until lap 32, where a drive-thru penalty was administered to the Finn for speeding in the pits. Later a wheel-to-wheel encounter between Schumacher and Raikkonen saw the German lose his bargeboards and Juan Pablo Montoya threw away an improbable 2nd career win on lap 48 with an inexplicable spin. Coulthard flew past for what would be a 13th & final career victory; Montoya took 2nd and Kimi clinched 3rd ahead of a frustrated Schumacher limping in 4th. The race craft was present in the Espoo native’s driving, but the consistency and legendary race pace would appear in the next race in Malaysia. Sepang saw Kimi start an average 7th, but drama at the start delivered the Finn a lucky break. Schumacher lunged at Jarno Trulli’s Renault in a mistimed maneuver and the Italian’s young team-mate Fernando Alonso led, albeit held up the field after taking a fortuitous pole in a Renault qualifying 1-2 abetted by a light fuel strategy. It was all the impressive as the Spaniard was carrying the flu, but after Raikkonen made light work of Heidfeld to grab second, McLaren’s tyre durability and heavy fuel strategy allowed the Finn to overtake Alonso in the pit stops and beat Barrichello’s 2002 all-conquering Ferrari by 39 seconds. Many participants had melted in the sweltering southeastern Asian humidity, but the Iceman had arrived and an impressionable 12 year old had found a new hero.

The 2003 saw Kimi miraculously remain active in a title fight in a two-year old chassis, which was never replaced due to the MP4-18′s dreadful manufacturing structure. Ferrari’s new F2003-GA was revealed in Barcelona, the fifth round of the championship, but Schu would only beat the Spanish local hero Alonso by 5.7 seconds. The youthful zest of Kimi saw him over-commit in turn 7 on his Saturday Q lap, sending him to the back of the grid. Pizzonia stalled on the grid for the start on raceday and Raikkonen hit him unsighted. Along with another spin in Canada Q2 and a subsequent puncture in the race, Kimi toiled to P6 and lost the championship lead to the mighty Red Baron, a lead he would never recover. The following Grand Prix saw Kimi, though, take his maiden pole position in Q2; despite not taking an overall fastest sector time on the Nurburgring circuit, the 23 year old Finn clocked a 1:31.523 with race fuel aboard; his Friday Q1 lap was a dazzling 1:29.989, just 0.08 slower than Montoya’s 2002 pole lap. Race day saw the Finn storm into a nine-second cushion over Ralf and everything went as planned in his scheduled pit stop on lap 16. In spite of having regained the lead, lap 25 disaster struck: a Mercedes-Benz engine failure. The sound of the V10s rang around the historic Rhineland venue from all cars but one: car no #6. For the first time in my twelve years, a sudden rage of anger engulfed me.

The rest of season saw Raikkonen accumulate 2nd places regularly, but the aging MP4-17 and adequate Mercedes power unit lacking the potency Kimi required to challenge the emerging Williams-BMW FW25s, followed by a resurgent Schumacher, whose Ferrari had been limited by a batch of Bridgestone tyres which struggled mid-summer, as its French counterpart Michelin found a upper hand for the first time since its return to F1 in 2003. Hungary saw Michael humiliated as a gallant Alonso took pole and lapped the five-time world champion around the tight confines of a circuit colloquially referred to as “Monaco without the barriers”. After being stuck behind Mark Webber’s Jaguar before the initial pit stops, Raikkonen took a steady 2nd albeit 17 seconds behind Spain’s debut F1 race victor. 13 races down with 3 races left saw the championship reading Schumacher 1st with 72 points, Montoya 71 points and the young Kimster 70 points, somehow punching above his car’s weight despite losing further points in a first lap collision in Hockenheim in the previous round. Team-mate Coulthard, meanwhile, was floundering in 7th place with just 45 points in a season where many British commentators had declared 2003 as make-or-break for the Scotsman. But the scheming Maranello boys were working overtime to study the rulebook, where they found Michelin’s front tyres had expanded to 283mm rather than the stipulated 270mm. Whatever performance loss Michelin had suffered in remolding their compounds remains unknown to this day, but Monza came and McLaren had capitulated in their battle to get the MP4-18 into race trim. Schumacher won for the first time in front the raucous Tifosi since Canada, Montoya took 2nd and Barrichelllo nipped into 3rd. Kimi took 4th with a MP4-17D that was at the end of its development cycle. Despite heading to Indianapolis with a seven point deficit, Raikkonen took a valiant pole and took a solid lead until the rain came. Fellow championship contender Montoya screwed up massively by turfing Barrichello into the gravel trap at Turn 2 on lap 3 and his subsequent drive-through penalty brought his driver’s championship challenge prematurely. The Michelin wet compounds were no match for Ferrari’s Bridgestone wets, which had a decisive advantage, leaving Raikkonen struggling in fourth when the track dried and mathematically out of title contention.

Thankfully the Indy circuit dried swiftly when the downpour seized and Kimi stormed past Jenson Button’s BAR, which had been leading for 15 laps (!) and elder statesman Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who was driving his penultimate race for the fabled Sauber squad. 2nd was the end result for the Iceman, who headed to Suzuka on a nine-point deficit to a prospective sextuple world champion. Only a win for the McLaren driver and a failure to finish in the top 8 for the Red Baron would suffice in making Kimi what would have been then F1′s youngest world champion, just five days short of his 24th birthday. A late downpour left Schumacher down in 14th in Q2, whilst Raikkonen took a mediocre P8 with Coulthard alongside him. Race day saw Montoya (whose Williams team still had a chance for the constructors’ title) and Alonso launch into an early 1-2, only to retire as quickly as they had surged into those positions. Barrichello controlled the Japanese GP as if he had been Ferrari’s team leader, whilst Maranello’s contracted lead driver carved his way through midfield like he’d been staggering through a hangover after having drank a crate of beer, with collisions with brother Ralf et al. Dutiful team-mate Coulthard fell behind in the pit stops to allow Kimi to run in 2nd in the hopes of an unlikely mechanical failure to Rubens and Michael to stutter, but neither happened. Schumacher, frantically wiping his heavily oiled helmet and clearly unaccustomed to tackling midfield cars for position, somehow fought into P8 and won his record-breaking 6th world championship in the most uncharacteristically clumsy manner.

Raikkonen lost the championship by just two points (91 to Michael’s 93), but the new points system of 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 for the top 8 (instead of the top 6) proposed by guileless Irishman Eddie Jordan had aided the Finn’s unlikely challenge. Under the former 10-6-4-3-2-1 system, Schumacher would have won the title at Indy with a round to spare and Jordan would have take 5th in the constructors’ largely thanks to Fisichella’s unexpected win at Interlagos (where only the intermediate compound was taken due an idiotic new rule to limit teams to one wet weather tyre choice), but Eddie’s boys were left in 9th out of 10th. 2003 was a step towards the changing of the guard, although whilst the grandmaster held onto his crown by the tip of his tongue, the likes of BAR (later Honda, Brawn & now the mighty Mercedes), Renault, Jaguar (now Red Bull) & Toyota had taken major leaps forward and BMW impressed with their engine’s driveability and outright top end power, but let down by the Williams’ poor strategic planning and a mercurial driving duo of Ralf and JPM. Jordan, having won two races and finished 3rd in the constructors’ in 1999 and challenged for the drivers’ title with the now-retired Frentzen and a dynamite Mugen-Honda power unit, had slipped down 6 places the F1′s pecking order in just four years thanks to a lack of investment, as F1′s emerging manufacturer era was in a full swing.

2004 saw Schumacher and Ferrari regain their full-time dominance of F1. Mercedes’ reliability was tragic; Raikkonen retired from 5 of the first 7 races with engine maladies thanks to F1′s new engine rules which mandated power units lasted for an entire race weekend or force drivers to take a ten-grid place penalty, something the Finn became familiar with. Schumacher equaled Mansell’s record of 5 wins from the opening 5 races of a season, whilst Jenson Button emerged as a genuine contender, having taken his maiden podium at Sepang where he held off Barrichello in the closing laps. Elsewhere, Jarno Trulli was beating Fernando Alonso, who seemed rather erratic and possibly complacent after his promising 2003 season (sounds a lot like a young Dutchman in 2018, whose father drove his last season with the lowly Minardi team in a damp whimper). Trulli broke Schumi’s winning run with his sole career win at Monte Carlo, where Alonso crashed after running wide trying to pass Ralf’s misfiring Williams and the infamous collision between embittered enemies Schumacher and Montoya, both incidents occurring in the Tunnel section. However, Trulli’s Renault honeymoon would eruptively hit freefall, culminating in his embarrassing concession of the final podium spot at Magny-Cours where Alonso had taken pole and looked a likely victor until Ross Brawn’s ingenuous four-stop strategy for Schu’s car scuppered a second career win for the Spaniard. Michael proceeded to win 12 of 2004′s first 13 Grands Prix, whilst McLaren built a new B chassis. Then came Spa and the start of the King of Spa legend.

Raikkonen qualified an unimpressive P10 in mixed conditions. The two Renaults took 1-3 split by Schumacher, who was looking to take his 7th drivers’ crown. Race day arrived and despite Trulli/Alonso leading the first quarter of the race, engine troubles for Fernando and an early pit stop paved the way for Kimi to gain control of the race, after surviving the first lap carnage from the backmarkers. Daily Express editor Bob McKenzie, who had pledged that he would run naked around Silverstone if McLaren won a race in 2004, honoured his deed at the following year’s British GP in front of cackling Raikkonen and a smug Ron Dennis.

Jarno Trulli would later become the first of a long list of team-mates mysteriously screwed over by having Fernando Alonso as his driving partner (Fisichella, Piquet Jr, Massa, Raikkonen, Vandoorne spring to mind anyone?), whilst McLaren announced the arrival of Colombian firecracker Montoya to join icecool Kimbo for 2005. An early tennis (!) accident sidelined Monty and early setup issues meant the potential of the MP4-20 had been withheld in the flyaway openers, but Imola saw Kimi sprinting out of the gates. A dominant pole pointed towards to an emphatic Kimi win, but race day saw his CV joint fail after just 8 laps. Wins at Barcelona and Monaco brought the Iceman into title contention, but he lagged 22 points behind fast starting Alonso. Then Nurburgring came, the scene of heartbreak just a couple of years prior. Raikkonen, having come off a run of leading 160+ consecutive laps, look set for a third straight win but he flatspotted his tyre whilst lapping Jacques Villeneuve and a subsequent vibration saw the McLaren’s suspension explode on the very final lap. Alonso, driving at 70% his car’s potential clinched an easy win ahead of Nick Heidfeld (who would never win a F1 race), increased his lead to 32 points. Point blank no. 3 for Mr. Raikkonen of 2005, who was now 32 points down on the 23 year old Spaniard. With the engine regs tightened to a power unit life of two full weekends, predictably Mercedes would suffer issues in the practice sessions in France, Britain and Italy, the last of which Kimi astonishing set the fastest qualifying lap but was forced to start 10 places lower. Raikkonen took 19 points in those three weekends combined, whilst Alonso grabbed 26. Add in Montoya’s lack of concentration whilst lapping backmarkers (Monteiro in Turkey and Pizzonia in Belgium) and another mechanical failure at the Hockenheimring, it meant Kimi never could truly chip away at Alonso’s advantage, which remained sub-30 points. It set the Spaniard up to become F1′s then-youngest champion in Brazil, where McLaren didn’t even bother asking Montoya to concede the race lead to Raikkonen as it was so obvious Alonso would keep hold the 3rd place he required to be crowned in Interlagos.

Suzuka 2005. Kimi’s greatest race. Started P17 after a washed-out qualifying. It was astonishing race in a season where only one compound of tyre was permitted for all drivers, culminating in the Indy-gate farce where all Michelin-shod cars withdrew due to safety fears of tyre exploding around the oval section at turn 13. However, despite Alonso and Schumacher joining the Finn near the back, there was still a constructor’s championship to be won for McLaren thanks to nine race wins thus far. The quality of overtakes was pure as there could be: Alonso’s ace manoeuvre on aging Schumacher at 130R is still highly-regarded by his own fans, but his victory chances was wrecked by race control ordering him to drop 13 seconds to let Christien Klien’s Red Bull after an illegal overtake under yellow flags. Montoya crashed out on lap one after a ludicrous entanglement with another aging fart, this time Jacques Villeneuve in an underfunded Sauber. Giancarlo Fisichella led the race comfortably after Ralf Schumacher pitted absurdly early for fuel in a blatant publicity stunt by Toyota to grab headlines of a home pole position for media value. However, despite a 20 second gap having been built him and Raikkonen, the Finn relentlessly decimated the midfield runners with no DRS or gizmo nonsense (traction control aside) and with five laps to go, Kimi peered into Fisi’s mirrors. On every approach to the Casino chicane in the final lap, the beleaguered Renault driver kept resorting to holding a tight line, leaving his exit compromised and gradually more vulnerable to Raikkonen closing up on him to size up a move into Turn 1. This was possible despite Kimi having to ease off the throttle in 130R due to oppressive dirty air turbulence of the mid-2000s chassis; but yet come the penultimate lap, the impossible had become the inevitable. Fisichella inexplicably, possibly wilting due to an inability to pump consistently fast lap times which were became sadly more common in his later decline, again took a tight inside line into Casino Sqaure chicane despite being a tough spot for cars in behind to lunge forwards to make an overtake. His Renault squirmed with his tyres burning out from his overly-defensive driving and Kimi pounced. Giancarlo wiggled to the inside line across the start-finish straight (and almost touched the pit wall!), but was powerless to stop Kimi overtaking around the outside of Turn 1 on the final lap.

2006 was Kimi’s final year at McLaren. With Schumacher revitalised in his hunt for title no.8, BMW having taken ownership of Sauber, Williams now an independent team, Red Bull very much a thing, Jordan having become a second-hand shed for billionaire investors to pump-and-dump at whim until Vijay Mallya saved them at the end of 2007 and BAR fully sold into the Honda’s shares thanks to the European Union banning of tobacco sponsorship- something which has starved racing teams and youngsters of much-needed funding- F1 was changing again. Michael Schumacher was now 37 and Felipe Massa had replaced Rubens Barrichello as his right-hand man. Raikkonen had now grown tired and appeared increasingly soporific with McLaren’s reliability being worse than any other down the pitlane. With the joint worst retirement and reliability record with equally luckless Mark Webber, Maranello had seen a wonderful opportunity to snap a disgruntled Finn, who had been declared “Ferrari’s next world champion” in a F1 Racing Magazine in 2001. Luca di Montezemelo laid an ultimatum with Schumacher: the German would have to drive alongside Kimi Raikkonen as Ferrari team-mate in 2007 or retire. Michael chose the latter option in an emotional post-race reception at Monza and the rest they say is history.

*****

Despite of all this, seeing Kimi’s heartbreak in the hybrid era and his changed attitude as a father-of-two has endeared me to him far more than I ever did in my teenage years. I can see he is more focused than ever and he’s a better man than he was ten years ago. If I saw lose then, I wasn’t as bothered as much then as I am now (and yes, the passion of being a hardcore Kimi fan boy is burning me out).

#f1 #Formula 1 #Formula One #fernando alonso #lewis hamilton #sebastian vettel #Kimi Raikkonen #raikkonen #vettel #Scuderia Ferrari #ferrari #mercedes #mclaren #red bull #Max Verstappen #daniel ricciardo #ricciardo #verstappen

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wristwatchjournal · 4 years ago

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The Petrolhead Corner – Weird and Wonderful Automotive Innovations – Part 3

To complete the triptych of articles covering weird and wonderful innovations from the automotive world – part 1 and part 2 can be read here – we once again delve into history and uncover some amazing creations. After turbine engine cars or illuminated tires (yes, for real), The Petrolhead Corner tries to up the ante once more and deliver some curious machines that tried to hit… but missed.

It has been a lot of fun gathering these stories, learning and sharing unique vehicles in our weekly Petrolhead Corner. And yes, we will continue the stories but this is (for now) the final instalment dedicated to the weird and wonderful automotive innovations. And I think I have another interesting line-up for you, a mix of road cars, concepts and racing cars. But more later this year.

Citroen Kar-a-Sutra

Calling a car ‘Kar-a-Sutra’ undoubtedly raises a few eyebrows, and I must admit it sounds quite cheesy. And yes, I am kind of stretching the concept of a car here as this was a mock-up only and not a drivable machine like all the other entries in these three articles. As a concept vehicle though, it ticks all the boxes for weirdness and can even be regarded as somewhat of a precursor to the MPV and many other expandable, shape-shifting concept vehicles.

The Citroën Kar-a-Sutra is a concept by architect Mario Bellini, Pirelli, Citroën and a furniture company and the latter seems to be quite obvious when looking at images of this thing. It was built for the 1972 MoMa exhibition, ‘Italy: The New Domestic Landscape’. The emphasis for the Citroën Kar-a-Sutra is on the interior of the vehicle. The idea is that the interior is more than just space for a number of people moving from point A to point B. It is intended as a temporary living space, bars any sanitary amenities though, but with reconfigurable seating which can be turned into a comfy, velvety lounge area.

The roof of the car is what makes this car so extraordinary, as it can be raised from 4 feet while driving to 7 feet while stationary. It featured ingenious sliding windows tucked into the body when lowered, sliding out to keep a confined space when raised.

Technically this is not an actual (concept) car as it cannot be driven but it is worth a mention as it predates what many consider the first MPV’s by well over a decade; the Renault Espace was introduced in 1984, over a decade later.

There’s very little additional information, but the Citroën Kar-a-Sutra is covered by Petrolicious and the architect himself is interviewed by DesignBoom.

Nissan DeltaWing

All entries on this list combine innovation with weirdness and this one is no different; the DeltaWing project. The initial idea was to have a very narrow front profile to reduce drag and increase efficiency in both engine development and aerodynamics. Combined with a lightweight build, the car would theoretically need a less powerful and thus less thirsty engine but still be able to run at a competitive pace. The project was first proposed as a new single-seater chassis for Indycar, but the Indycar organisers decided to run a more conservative chassis from Dallara instead.

The team of DeltaWing Technologies, who proposed the prototype to Indycar, turned it into a car that was eligible for the Le Mans 24 hours under the Garage 56 regulations, with the help of Nissan as a sponsor. These Garage 56 stipulations mean that each year a radical, innovative project has the chance to gather real endurance racing experience and test their project to the limit. Each Garage 56 entry is not eligible to win though, it is purely a test-program for teams. In 2012 the roadster version was the first DeltaWing that entered the gruelling race. A 1.6-litre turbocharged inline-four pumped out about 300bhp which at first doesn’t sound like much compared to the 1000hp LMP1 cars. A big factor is weight and drag though and the Nissan DeltaWing weighed in at under 500kg’s without a driver and was thus able to run quite impressive lap times. Despite looking very promising on paper and backing up its potential on track, six hours into the race it was shunted off track and into a wall by another car and was out of competition.

Two years later, the DeltaWing project was back at Le Mans but now as a coupe, and labelled it the ZEOD RC (Zero Emissions on Demand Racing Car). It had a hybrid-electric powertrain with a 400bhp turbocharged 1.5-litre engine and an electric engine developing 295bhp. In its first lap into the race, it reached 300 kilometres an hour on electric power alone, a very impressive achievement! A gearbox-issue sadly meant another retirement for the DeltaWing. For more information on these cars go to DriveTribe.com.

Brooks Walker ‘Fifth Wheel’ system

You think parking assistance is a modern invention, due to the need of computers? Oh no, it really isn’t! It was first conceived in the 1930s by a man called Brooks Walker. Patented in 1932 and first shown to the public a year later, this specific innovation cannot be credited to a single car or brand as it was designed as an aftermarket installation. It is quite interesting to see though. And despite mayor efforts by Mr Walker it never caught the imagination of US carmakers. It is basically a very early, very rudimentary form of parking assistance we know today.

It basically consists of a trunk-mounted fifth wheel, mounted perpendicular to the other wheels and lowered by a mechanical or hydraulic arm. You would pull up to a parking space, turned in the nose of the car, lowered the fifth wheel which would then pull in the back end of the car into the parking spot. Really rather ingenious, and quite a funny thing to behold.

The upside is it requires less space to park in comparison to regular parallel parking, the downside being it took up all available trunk space. The system never caught on despite all efforts, even into the fifties. In the fifties, it was marketed as an extra use for a spare wheel and was constructed in such a way it could be fitted to just about any trunk. Walker installed the kit on a 1953 Packard with a continental kit (spare wheel outside of the trunk) to free up the trunk again. You can see it in action here:

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More information on this innovative system on Hagerty.com

Milliken Camber-Car

One of the mysteries surrounding setting up a race car is the positioning of a car’s wheels. Wheelbase, track width, positive or negative camber, toe-in or toe-out; it all greatly influences the dynamics of a race car. It also should be adjusted according to the conditions a car is run in, as a rally car requires a completely different set-up than, let’s say an F1 car. It affects wear, grip, braking, acceleration, aerodynamic flow, all very scientific stuff.

To explore various cambers for a car, legendary engineer Bill Milliken developed the Milliken MX-1 “Camber-car”. The car was developed with the idea to adjust camber positions and learn what the influences of various set-ups are on handling and driving capabilities. It featured a tubular chassis, with multiple mounting points for the suspension resulting in a set-up anywhere between 0 and 50 degrees of camber.

Power came from a two-stroke six-cylinder engine, producing 80bhp. No real performance figures are specified but that is not what the car was intended for. Basically constructed as two motorbikes leaning in, it had difficulty running in a straight line until some adjustments were made. When all issues were sorted out, the car cornered at remarkable speeds, proving the concept to an extent. The Milliken MX-1 was tested for a number of years but made its first public appearance at the 2002 Goodwood Festival of Speed. Bill Milliken, 91 years of age at the time, piloted the car up the Hillclimb-course. There’s a short very low-quality clip available on YouTube where you see the car in motion but that’s it.

Rinspeed sQuba

Arguably one of the best car-related scenes in a movie is from the 1977 James Bond movie The Spy Who Loved Me. Mr Bond is pursued by some bad-guys in his white Lotus Esprit. After the perilous chase, he reaches the end of the road and jumps his car off a pier. You’d think it would be the end of him, but no. Turns out the car is a submarine! After fending off more thugs underwater, he eventually drives out of the water, onto a beach, lowers a window, drops a fish and drives off!

The car used in the underwater scene is a second Lotus Esprit, converted to be a fully working submarine. Despite what the movie suggests, the road car did not convert into the submarine. There is only one car I know of that can pull off that stunt in real life; the Rinspeed sQuba! As the name sort of suggests it is an actual scuba-diving car, based on a Lotus Elise (a white one, as a nod to the Esprit).

Rinspeed is a Swiss company who have been building some of the wildest, innovative concept cars for over 40 years. The sQuba stands out though, as I believe it still is the only truly submersible car in existence. From a technical perspective, it is a very complicated thing to do. The solution was to make it electrically driven. From the outside it only a set of propellers are visible underneath the rear of the car and a pod on either side for under-water control. The interior is clad in water-resistant material and all instruments are designed to provide information for both driving and diving the car. A pair of oxygen tanks are fitted, with piping and masks allowing the drivers to breathe.

A ton of interest was shown when this car was launched, presented at the 2008 Geneva auto show but it never made it into production. The scalability of the prototype to a production-ready car is simply not there, with the concept car costing 1.5 million dollars. More information on Rinspeed.com and Motor1.com. Also, check out this video of the car in action:

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Covini C6W

Some say 2 wheels are better than 4, some say it the other way around, but few people join the conversation stating 6 wheels is the way to go. There are some very well-known cars featuring six wheels, especially amongst petrolheads. For instance the Tyrrel P34 and Williams FW08B, both featuring a double axel at the front (Tyrrell) or at the rear (Williams).

Regarding road cars perhaps the completely bonkers Mercedes-AMG G63 6×6 comes to mind, or the Panther 6, but I would like to focus on the Covini C6W and the C6W Spider. Both these cars were constructed by Covini, an Italian company founded in 1978 and has built a number of prototypes over the years with this one being their wackiest. No doubt fitting an extra set of wheels to a car can be beneficial in some areas but in terms of looks, it is…. disturbing I guess.

The original idea for a six-wheeled car by Covini stems from the late seventies, most likely following the impact of the Tyrrell P34 in F1 in 1976 and 1977, and the introduction of the Panther 6 in 1977. The Covini C6W (2004) and C6W Spider (2008) were developed with the idea that, much like the other six-wheelers, a larger contact patch in the front would help a car corner better and faster. It would also result in a bigger surface for the brakes, reducing wear and increasing braking capabilities. Also, when one front wheel suffers a puncture, the theory is the other wheels would balance it out so it would still be considered driveable.

A full carbon fibre body ensured a kerb weight of 1150kg, and being powered by 434 horsepower 4.2 litre V8 from Audi, the top speed was a respectable 300 kilometres per hour. More details on this six-wheeled wonder on DriveTribe.

The post The Petrolhead Corner – Weird and Wonderful Automotive Innovations – Part 3 appeared first on Wristwatch Journal.

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jesusvasser · 6 years ago

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Our Pro Racer Tests the Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy Race Car

The introduction of the Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy Championship occurred recently at the Silverstone motorsports complex, home of the Formula 1 British Grand Prix. Jaguar Racing director James Barclay was quick to reference Jaguar’s storied racing history, and my thoughts went immediately to the legendary Jaguar D-types from the 1950s. Jaguar much later dabbled in F1 in the early 2000s, in Prototype GT racing in the ’80s and ’90s, and nowadays we see the new F-Type SVR GT4 in competition. Jaguar officially entered into the Formula E fray for the series’ third season (2016/2017) with its I-Type2. (Formula E seasons normally begin in Asia around November.)

A handful of automotive companies are involved in racing almost permanently, some never. Jaguar is somewhere in the middle, and its in-and-out approach is linked more to sales and budget rather than to lack of corporate interest. Engineers, designers, and media folks don’t usually make decisions about racing, but the Jaguar team I met at Silverstone showed genuine enthusiasm for the new I-Pace racing endeavor, something that was great to see and hear. Indeed, recent signs have shown Jaguar walking the performance-marketing road again: In November 2017, a “near production”-spec (Jag’s words) XE SV Project 8 smashed the Nurburgring four-door saloon/sedan lap record with a 7-minute, 21.23-second time. That was 11 seconds quicker than the previous record holder, an Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio.

The weather was picture perfect as we arrived at Silverstone, where a tiny one-lane bridge led us over the F1 layout to the Stowe Circuit. Stowe lies completely inside the main F1 track and is used mostly for testing and tuning. It’s an interesting track, in a high-speed-autocross kind of way.

The main reason for being here was to drive the new I-Pace eTrophy electric race car. First, though, I climbed aboard an I-Pace street car for an interesting, gated-autocross-style exercise. An area the size of maybe half of a football field featured eight random gates denoted by cones. The cones flashed green (drive through) or blue (next gate to turn green), then red when the test was over. It was an exceptionally slow-speed course, but handily showed the I-Pace’s “right now” acceleration, braking, and excellent low-speed handling.

Really, though, we were here to better understand Jaguar’s involvement in electric racing. As you probably know, Formula E uses all-electric formula-style race cars, with events held on temporary city-street circuits. In 2018, New York was the only U.S. venue for a series that holds rounds on five continents. The argument in favor of Formula E is that it is directly relevant to the fast-growing trend toward all-electric vehicles. Several major automotive companies are players in Formula E; the series hoped to have four large corporate series sponsors by 2018 yet it already has 10. Six of those 10 are automobile manufacturers: Porsche, Mercedes, Audi, BMW, Renault, and Jaguar. ABB corporation, which specializes in fast-charging technology and recently signed on as title sponsor, has made the official series name the ABB FIA Formula E Championship.

Formula E’s second-generation race car is due next season; apparently it’s a major move forward in design, power, and handling. Also addressed was the present need for teams to utilize two cars during each race, due to battery-life limitations. The irony of this apparent inefficiency compared to the series’ desired “green” image was not lost on the organizers, so the new car will run entire races on one charge.

But those Formula E machines won’t be the only all-electric cars racing on the series’ event weekends. I would have loved to been in the Jaguar board meeting where somebody stood up with a straight face and suggested developing the I-Pace SUV into a race car—with its very own 20-car, I-Pace World Championship racing series. Yet here we are, at Silverstone with an I-Pace e Trophy race car. Jaguar made a three-year commitment to run the series alongside Formula E, and there will be 10 race weekends on the schedule for this season.

Jaguar will keep and maintain all 20 cars between events to ensure parity. It will also provide the crew and an engineer for each car/driver. The cost to run the series is around $600,000 per season, plus a $125,000 annual lease. A team can buy the car for $260,000, saving on extended lease costs. Crash damage incurs additional charges. This will essentially be an “arrive and drive” racing series.

The Jaguar race team worked with the FIA to set up I-Pace safety regulations. In the race car, a standard I-Pace battery pack is nestled inboard of the roll cage to better protect the pack from impacts. There are two isolator switches mounted in the center console, for separate battery shutdown in case of a crash. The race car uses the same 145-kW electric motors found in the street car; they produce the equivalent of 400 hp, driving all four wheels. The motors, along with the 90-kW battery pack, produce 500 amps of juice—you would not want a driver or emergency worker receiving a shock from that kind of power. To help with this, the I-Pace shows a green light front, rear, and on the center dash when there is no live power. If the car instead shows a red or blue light, there could be live electricity around the car. Emergency workers will carry specialized equipment to combat any crash-related issues that may involve electricity.

The interior reminds me of a GT4 race car. You see production switchgear alongside a modern electronic race dash, plus plenty of adjustment switches on the removable steering wheel. Weight distribution is 52/48R front/rear in the normal I-Pace, 48/52 in the race car. The latter weighs 4,320 pounds, a 450-pound reduction compared the street version. Easily replaceable carbon-fiber body panels are found front and rear, but most of the bodywork is the original aluminum. The new hood and front splitter better direct air for cooling the brakes and radiator, and create anti-lift. There is a minimal amount of downforce; if you add up all the aero bits, plus the 1.18-inch lower ride height, you get around 50 pounds of total downforce, which is less than a Honda Civic Type R. The upgraded (twice the capacity of stock) A/C system helps cool the battery pack and the electric motors.

The race and production I-Pace produce the same power; 0-to-60-mph for the race car takes about 4.5 seconds and top speed is 121 mph—similar numbers to the street I-Pace. Those are pedestrian figures for a race car, but I started racing in the mid ’80s in a 50-hp Renault Alliance spec-series car and had a blast, as did the fans who followed that series. Also, there’s never been a boring Mazda Miata race, even if just two cars are running, which has never happened. So I can get onboard with the I-Pace’s output.

Sitting in the I-Pace eTrophy felt pretty much like any other race car. There are only two pedals; no use for a clutch. Note: to launch fast, no brake hold is needed because max power is produced immediately when you bury the “gas” pedal.

As I rolled the I-Pace racer down pit lane, all I heard was rattling anti-roll bars, solid suspension bushings, and anything else not welded together. I now know race brakes make a total racket when not drowned out by a race engine, something I never considered before in my entire driving career. I had to resist the temptation to come in and ask the crew to check every nut and bolt on the car, because it sounded like at least 90 percent of them were ready to fall off. Once I got rolling, though, the can of ball bearings effect was less obvious due to my focus on going quickly.

The Stowe Circuit is quite short, with 11 corners, and several of them were actually chicanes made with cones. The Bosch ABS brakes (15.55-inch front/13.98 rear) allowed aggressive modulation. There is no stability control. The off-throttle regenerative braking can produce up to 0.4 g of deceleration. It’s slightly adjustable and does play a part while trail braking.

The grip of the specially developed Michelin Pilot Sport tires feels equivalent to a PS4S street tire. The race tires are similar in size to the production I-Pace’s 265/40R22 tires and have full tread depth, which avoids the need for rain tires. (Likewise, Formula E uses “all-weather” Michelin race tires.)

My cornering-speed limits were determined by how much I could rotate the I-Pace on entry. It behaves very much like most all-wheel drive cars on a track, quickly exhibiting understeer when you try to add power mid-corner. The more rotation I could carry into and through a corner, the better. You can adjust front to rear torque distribution, but for now the adjustment range only moves torque from 48-percent rear to 52-percent rear. I won’t be surprised if the series’ drivers quickly ask for more adjustment range.

The stiffer suspension setup versus the production I-Pace made controlling the rate of rotation on corner entry a challenge, but not impossible. Personally, I would add some compliance to the suspension if I actually raced one of these cars in the series. Softening up the suspension and antiroll bars would slow down body roll for corner entry and help the driver transition back to power. Anything you can do to increase the roll compliance of a heavy race car, especially one with limited mechanical grip, helps. I learned this long ago while racing street-based cars on regular street tires.

I thoroughly enjoyed my laps in Jaguar’s I-Pace eTrophy race car. As an aside, as I walked away from the car I noticed its outside mirrors: It occurred to me they might last about three turns, of lap one, of practice one, of race weekend one. Keep an eye on that.

The eTrophy Championship races are short, scheduled to run just 25 minutes plus one lap. Google and YouTube metrics say younger audiences prefer shorter entertainment cycles, and Jaguar will focus on finding the correct marketing approach here. Another piece of the entertainment jigsaw will be the willingness of the series’ drivers to race side by side “everywhere” on the tight concrete-lined tracks; nobody likes a permanent pace-car situation.

A world championship street-race series, with 20 equally powered, 4,300-pound Jaguar SUVs, should be something to see. It’s fair to say brand differentiation is alive and well at Jaguar. I’m looking forward to the first race, and my hat’s off to Jaguar for daring to try.

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eddiejpoplar · 6 years ago

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Our Pro Racer Tests the Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy Race Car

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jonathanbelloblog · 6 years ago

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Our Pro Racer Tests the Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy Race Car

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grandpxnews-blog · 6 years ago

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What irritates Ecclestone the most?

New Post has been published on https://grandpx.news/news/what-irritates-ecclestone-the-most/

What irritates Ecclestone the most?

Too many rules and regulations are stopping the drivers from flat-out racing, says Former Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone.

Expressing his dismay at the number of sporting regulations, Ecclestone lashed out at the culture of making rules for everything. He said: “I said a little while ago when I was involved, technical regulations are more important than sporting regulations. They should have written across the top: don’t race.”

“These drivers, if they do something that perhaps the team owners or sponsors feel doesn’t suit them, they get a slap: don’t do that anymore!

“That’s what it all amounts to,” he added. “All the regulations are there to stop people racing.

“All the silly things they do today, penalties for this and that, it’s stupid.”

Formula 1’s new owner Liberty Media is looking for ways to improve the sporting action in the series. Motorsports director Ross Brawn has introduced new aero changes to the 2019 regulation package to make it easier for the cars to follow each other closely. F1 hopes the new rules will help boost overtaking.

Speaking in a video interview with 1976 F1 world champion James Hunt’s son Freddie Hunt, Ecclestone said the former world champion would not have been happy with the current state of the sport.

“He just wouldn’t fit in, full stop,” said Ecclestone. “He wouldn’t react in a nice way to all the silly regulations and silly instructions.”

Ecclestone also suggested Hunt would have ignored all the rebukes and reprimands that are so common these days.

“It wouldn’t of made any difference because he would have done the same thing the next day,” insisted the 87-year-old.

After his removal from the sport, Ecclestone has been working hard to create a rival series. Although he has been critical of the Liberty’s many moves, he admitted the world has changed significantly in the last few years.

“What does it really rely on, Formula 1?” he mused. “You need to have the support of the public to watch television, therefore the TV companies will pay for the rights

“It needs promoters to promote the event in a way that will attract the public,” he added.

“Really all types of sports have changed from the Eighties. Those days, really the most important thing wasn’t the finance – it was to do a good job.”

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recentnews18-blog · 6 years ago

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New Post has been published on https://shovelnews.com/ecclestone-stupid-regulations-stop-drivers-racing/

Ecclestone: 'Stupid regulations stop drivers racing'

Former Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone has hit out at modern rules and regulations which seem designed to stop drivers from actually racing.

“I said a little while ago when I was involved, technical regulations are more important than sporting regulations,” he said. “They should have written across the top: don’t race.

“These drivers, if they do something that perhaps the team owners or sponsors feel doesn’t suit them, they get a slap: don’t do that anymore!

“That’s what it all amounts to,” he added. “All the regulations are there to stop people racing.

“All the silly things they do today, penalties for this and that, it’s stupid.”

Currently, Formula 1 is seeking ways to improve on-track action, with director of motorsports Ross Brawn introducing aero changes for 2019 to help boost overtaking.

Ecclestone was speaking in a video interview with Freddie Hunt, son of the 1976 F1 world champion James Hunt. He said that Hunt would have taken a very dim view of the current state of the the sport’s governance.

“He just wouldn’t fit in, full stop,” said Ecclestone. “He wouldn’t react in a nice way to all the silly regulations and silly instructions.”

He added that Hunt would most likely simply have ignored any rebukes or reprimands he might have received.

“It wouldn’t of made any difference because he would have done the same thing the next day,” insisted the 87-year-old.

Ecclestone was removed from his position at the head of Formula 1 at the start of 2017 when Liberty Media completed its buy-out of the sport.

Chase Carey took over as CEO while Ecclestone was handed the honorary title of ‘chairman emeritus’ – which he’s since made clear means he has no involvement in the decision making any more.

While critical of many of the changes introduced by the new owners, Ecclestone also accepted that the world had moved on since his time in charge.

“What does it really rely on, Formula 1?” he mused. “You need to have the support of the public to watch television, therefore the TV companies will pay for the rights

“It needs promoters to promote the event in a way that will attract the public,” he added.

“Really all types of sports have changed from the Eighties. Those days, really the most important thing wasn’t the finance – it was to do a good job.”

Ecclestone recently cast doubt on the prospects of a new Miami Grand Prix on the calendar, saying previous attempts to get agreements with the city had come to nothing.

“Street races are always hard work,” he noted.

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Bernie Ecclestone

Source: http://www.f1i.com/news/311122-ecclestone-stupid-rules-stop-racing.html

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itsworn · 7 years ago

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How to Regulate Short Track Racing to Death

In racing, we have in certain circles what is known as Balance of Performance. It is actually called that, but in many other forms of racing it’s not called anything, but it has the same intent. That is, regulation of the innovation in order to provide a level playing field. And it is applied sometimes on a team-by-team basis.

When you really think about that concept, it really doesn’t make sense. Rules are one thing, and I and many others are of the agreement that we need rules, to a point. When rules are enacted for the sole purpose of holding back a more innovative and hard-working team, or teams, then the concept has gotten out of hand.

The way this whole thing called auto racing got its start was that there were very limited rules and a lot of imagination and hard work. If a team began to dominate, the other teams didn’t cry and complain, they just respected the winning teams and then tried to work harder to beat them.

Is having a dominant team good for the sport, some might ask? When the Green Bay Packers were dominating pro football back in the early 1960’s, it caused the other teams to buckle down and work harder and smarter. Then eventually other teams grew in strength to overcome the dominance of Green Bay. And it grew pro football because of it.

But what if the league in their infinite wisdom told Green Bay that since they were winning so much that they had to change quarterbacks (i.e. carburetors), or add fifty pounds to each player to kind of slow them down. And what if the league didn’t want the fans to know what they were doing lest there be a revolt.

That is exactly what is happening in auto racing in a lot of areas. It is happening in circle track racing as well and it needs to stop. It is ruining the sport that was born and bred on innovation and hard work. And it’s all because of a few less innovative teams who cannot beat the winners. It’s also because of promoters who don’t want the dominant team to “stink up” the show.

Then there is the sponsorship angle. What if the sponsor for the track or series were to also sponsor one of the teams racing there. The sponsor likes to see their car win, but another team is always winning instead. They go to the track or series management and want something done about this situation. “They must be cheating” the sponsor says.

So, the hard working team all of a sudden gets extra treatment in the tech shed and lo and behold, some little technical infraction that had nothing to do with the performance, suddenly gets discovered and they end up getting disqualified. This happens in even the most visible of series. I’ve personally witnessed it in action.

Then you have honest series and forms of auto racing. A couple come to mind, like dirt racing where there are few rules. If you make weight after the race and your body panels pass inspection before the race, you can keep your win.

Formula One has a lot of rules, but the construction and engine rules allow complete innovation within certain overall parameters. If a team dominates for a year or more, then the other teams must play catchup. And F1 is very popular globally. That formula has not diminished the sport, it has actually grown it.

Way too many promoters, series and tech officials feel that they have to control their racing. No, you don’t. You need to set rules for everyone and then let things play out. If a certain team, or teams, end up winning most of the races, then so be it.

When winning teams are singled out just for winning and made to follow a different set of rules, that to me is sacrilege. It goes against everything racing is about. And, it will kill the sport. Everywhere we see over-regulation that produces cookie-cutter cars, or “pack” racing is doomed to failure.

Everywhere we see the allowance of innovation and fewer rules, we see growth. Dirt racing is growing and has been for some time, as is F1. Those two should be a model for the industry on how to conduct your racing program.

Maybe if we had less cry babies, we’d have better racing. Just saying.

Editor’s Note: We had asked readers to tell us about how their track was being managed related to safety and these are some of the responses we got. As promised, where appropriate, no readers names will appear.

Track Safety Comments

Hello Bob,

I read your article about track safety from May 2017, and wanted to let you know about a local dirt track in Calhan Colorado. The track name is El Paso County Raceway in Calhan, Colorado. It is County owned but not operated by the County.

When anyone questions the promoter on how to get in touch with someone at County when we have and continue to have issues, he becomes very belligerent, verbally abusive, curses yells at people and makes such a scene trying to scare others to not ask questions. Let me list some of the issues that have and continue to happen: – County personnel state that the promoter is given $20,000 per year for track maintenance. This track is the worst track in Colorado with ruts, dirt and rocks chunks of concrete that have damaged cars and so much dust from early on every race day fans complain about the dust, drivers and photographers complained to no avail. – There’s usually accidents that cause an individual or individuals to have to be transported to medical facility and the promoter hurries the races to begin again with no medical personnel nor ambulance available and if questioned about it he disappears into his large toy hauler and ignoring safety concerns again. – He doesn’t have trained staff that can handle safety properly, he has several young ladies working race nights and others that are a mix of people that will kiss his b. – He will start a pit meeting off each race night immediately cursing at and or about people, Facebook issues, yelling and threatening people and claiming “SAFETY” first but then his own kids drive through the pits on golf carts or four wheelers way too fast. Then one particular night we had a rain delay and he gets on PA system yelling at people to get their cars on the track we’re going to get these main events ran! – When there are accidents, the flag man is not quick enough to notice and is late putting out the yellow which has created more accidents. – Local photographers have had to jumped in many times to help during accidents because there is no track safety personnel.

Thanks, Name Withheld

It would seem, from a liability standpoint, the county would want to know what is going on. I’m sure you can find out who would be interested. Our point in doing these kinds of exercises is to educate the promoters. If they can see what is being done in other parts of the country in a more responsible way, then they might alter their approach.

Track Safety Comments II

Mr. Bolles,

I submit the example of what a fire / safety crew should be: Lawrenceburg Speedway. Their team is what every track should have. In other words, a 10. As a photographer that has shot F1, Nascar, IndyCar, MotoGP, etc. for 25 years at Indianapolis Motor Speedway I have seen the best there is in action in the Holmatro Safety Crew.

I can honestly say the Lawrenceburg crew is the short track equivalent. Their gear and techniques are well above any other short track in the midwest and the dedication to the drivers and teams is amazing.

Thanks, Andy Clark.

Track Safety Comments III

Bob,

I am responding to your request to rate the tracks safety crew performance. We are very fortunate at Nodak Speedway in Minot ND to have one of the most dedicated safety crews around. The head of our safety crew has been doing this since he drove a brand new Vega station wagon, which he volunteered for additional safety vehicle.

We are also very fortunate to have a sponsor whose son was in a wreck involving a fire. Anything we want, we get. Our sponsor built our current rescue vehicle and equipped it with jaws of life, and auxiliary hydraulic unit. We also have the local Fire Extinguisher shop as a sponsor, so gear, chemical, hoses are very easy to come up with. We have an Air Force Base close by, so many of our volunteers come from there. Our rescue truck has 4 people assigned at all times plus we have a side-by-side that was donated to use for quick response / fast attack.

The real problem Bob, as I see it in many tracks, is getting qualified volunteers. Nodak host extrication training every year where they bring in old cars and cut them up plus drivers bring in their cars so they can practice removing drivers from the car.

Our problem lately has been getting EMT/Paramedics. We have 1-3 dedicated people, but things come up and sometimes they are left shorthanded. This year Nodak Speedway has gone back to having an ambulance with trained personnel on hand at a cost of $500 per night. Due to Nodak Speedway’s level of training and personal who are willing to help, I will rate them a 10 out 10.

Jeff Barta

Nodak is one of the good ones, obviously.

Anti-Squat Question

Hello Bob,

I am reading and article in Circle Track from February, 2017 on the anti-squat. I was wondering if you move both trailing arm up to the top hole for more forward bite off the corner or just one side and if it’s one side which side do you recommend.

Thank you, Mike

What I was saying was that by shortening the leverage arm, you can produce more force on the third link. We can do that by moving the third link down, and/or moving the trailing arms up. You should do both trailing arms.

Remember not to change your trailing arm angles when doing this. Don’t just move the rear mounts up or you will be changing the arm angles quite a bit and those angles regulate the amount of rear steer, not to mention rear alignment.

Gentlemen’s Agreement Comment

Hello

I read your story about the gentleman’s agreement and calling your own mistakes if you spin somebody and thought I would offer my view of it. I run a dirt Wissota B mod in northern WI. Our yellow flag rules are if you spin a car or pinch a car down into the inside or the wall and cause them to stop you are tagged with the yellow and go to the back and the other driver gets their spot back.

Also, if you spin but save it and another car spins to avoid hitting you then you are also caused with the yellow and go to the back. Yes, there are a lot of judgment calls but also several times where the wrong call was made and the offending driver stopped and told an official it was his fault, it got sorted out.

You are correct in saying that many drivers have the “I do nothing wrong ever, its always the other driver.” Some have the mind set of “well if they weren’t on the track they wouldn’t have been hit” who think they own the whole track and do slides for life as we call them. They start on bottom of the corner and slide all the way to the top coming out and don’t car if you are there or not.

As far as myself, I have always gone to other drivers and admitted if I made a mistake and hit them going in or messed up a corner and caused a wreck. Sometimes it goes bad and other times I get a look of confusion which sometimes later turns to a thank you or respect later. Racing dirt we lean on each other time to time and never say anything about it.

I had a incident last year where I rear ended a driver on a restart due to I caught the green flag better than he did and pushed him into the infield. I lifted and let him get sorted out and come back on track and gave him his spot back and we kept racing. Never threw a yellow. After the race he was still in his car and I told him I was the one who hit him and why and apologized. His response was ” I didn’t think it was on purpose since you only did it once.” After the race he came and said thank you for apologizing and said if I need anything just ask.

Another thing is if drivers would go and be calm and talk rather than storm over and yell and swear at each other there would be a lot less issues. That also goes with officials. Any of the tracks I run at I have a great relationship with the officials because I talk to them rather than yell and scream. A simple “Can I talk to you for a minute? ” or ” Will you explain why this call was made?” without any sarcasm in the tone goes long, long way. That’s just my take. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Cy Hoaglan

Well said, I’ve got nothing to add.

If you have comments or questions about this or anything racing related, send them to my email address: [email protected] or mail can be sent to Circle Track, Senior Tech Editor, 1733 Alton Parkway, Suite 100, Irvine, CA.

The post How to Regulate Short Track Racing to Death appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

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meaningofmotorsport · 4 years ago

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Is VW’s talks with F1, a sign of a brighter future for the sport?

The current state of the most well-known series of motor racing, whilst not being a crisis, is not exactly one of stability and prosperity. We are seeing one team dominating the sport, and many others are struggling to just stay in it. With the current formula, both big manufacturers and sponsors just don’t seem that interested.

The big problem is relevance, arguably F1 went hybrid a couple of years too late, and most of the global interest currently, is in fully electric and hydrogen cars, hence the stacked grids in Formula E, filled with big names from the Automotive world. What F1 needs is to find a way to interest those with the money, as well as keeping the fans happy. Because when you do that, you get a grid full of teams who can compete on near the same level, due to them all having similar budgets and resources.

In theory the budget cap would fix a lot of that, however a small independent team will struggle to beat a fully works manufacturer on the same budget, simply because one is already making cars, so can do more for less. So, how do you get the big names in? Find a futuristic way to power your cars, which is better for the environment, keeps the fans happy, and has a tonne of road relevance, indeed more than any other alternative in my opinion. I give you biofuels!

Biofuels are just like normal fuels, in that they can combust in the engine and allow the car to move, but are made from plants, so in theory are carbon neutral, there are some alterations to be made to the engine, but on the whole, it is pretty similar, especially compared to going electric. That is why it could be much more useful for car manufacturers, as going electric and building an electric infrastructure around the world is a monumental task, but the world is set up for using fuels to power our cars, so that is an ideal way of saving car companies money.

F1 had announced the plans to move the sport in this direction a year or two ago, and until recently we had not heard much of a rush to get onboard, although they do have some years before the new engine regulations come into force. However, the story, which was broken by the BBC this week, detailing a clear interest by the VW group, who own Audi and Porsche, in the technological path that F1 is taking, suggests that it could be beginning now.

Being able to get either Audi or Porsche into F1, would be huge for the sport, neither has much history in the series, so they could grow the prestige of F1 even further. In terms of if I think it will happen, yes, I think so, as long as F1 commits to 100% biofuels for their 2025 engine regs, as that would spark real interest around the world. If they say it will only be 50% or 70%, then it won’t get to the headlines, and in front of the people who could make it happen.

That is the problem currently, there is still the hype around electrification, and don’t get me wrong, electric cars have a big place in the world, and I am excited to see what they can do with that technology. What I am saying is that, for F1 to get combustion engines back into the good news section of the automotive world, it needs to go big, being half assed about it will not work.

If they can do it right, I doubt that VW will be the only interested party, names like Toyota and BMW surely would be interested, then with the sports growth in the US, maybe GM or Ford could see what the fuss is about. The most ironic thing would be if Honda, just after turning their back on the sport again, change their mind quite quickly, we saw the mistake they made of leaving after 2008.

Circling back around to the information we got from VW, apparently, they have been in talks with teams like McLaren, Williams, and Red Bull about being an engine partner, if the rules are to their fancy. So, if they do join the sport, don’t expect it will be as their own team, as much as we all want that to happen.

I have spent most of the article talking about OEM’s joining and how it is benefiting them, but the small teams like Haas and Williams will also gain. They rely on companies wanting to advertise in the sport, and if the sport gains back reputation, we could see a sponsor boom we haven’t seen since the tobacco companies were kicked out.

So much of the future of the sport is unclear, things can change so easily, as 2020 showed us, but this could just be a little ray of hope on the horizon, because everyone wants to see more teams having a chance to win in F1, and biofuels could well be the answer!

-M

#f1 #vw #motorsport

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jonathanbelloblog · 6 years ago

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Our Pro Racer Tests the Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy Race Car

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