F1 2010

Don't often agree with EJ, but he made the point that no-one predicted that Button would outperform Hamilton, or Rosberg outperform Schumacher. Long may it continue, though!

quote:

Originally posted by Mike-B:
Most UK based teams need to come back for some major upgrades before Barca.
They can't do this by going direct to Spain without some very costly change of plan.

6 off FOM chartered 747s, so they can go where the FOM tell them, I guess.
Southern Spain I would guess and any updates catch up by land or sea, unless the situation improves.
Push comes to shove they race the same spec cars as today and upgrade later.

quote:

Push comes to shove they race the same spec cars as today and upgrade later.

Yes do-able but - these next 3 weeks are the only early season major upgrade window & designed into the calendar as such.
The next break with a 2 week window is in early June just before Canada. There are no more 3 week windows until August.

My guess is they would prefer to bring the parts & people to Spain rather than risk a delay & the lost points potential.
But major chassis work & stuff is not good in a non-specialist workshop.

quote:

Originally posted by JamieWednesday:
Excellent entertainment

Both McLaren drivers played to their strengths

Sooner or later Alonso is just going to push Massa off the road

Red Bulls continue to have the fastest cars but manage not to make the most of them

Rosberg continues to make MS look silly

Agreed. I thought Hamilton's charge early on was fantastic racing. No wonder he upsets some of them, what a bear he is on the track.

Great call by Jenson again.

I'm still scratching my head as to what MS thought he had to gain with the comeback. Wiley old fox but he's done everything, nothing to prove and can only detract from previous glories imo.

Joe

Thank heaven no penalties were handed out,just a couple of reprimands.
Maybe the driver delegate on the stewards team is working.
I can't help feel that it would have been a different story a year or so ago.

So a return to the old forced induction days then?

Ok, only 670bhp. But amazing torque I should think.

Tony

quote:

Originally posted by Tony Lockhart:
So a return to the old forced induction days then?

Ok, only 670bhp. But amazing torque I should think.

Tony

I thought that was why they produced so much BHP before as there wasn't a huge amount of torque. Now a 670 BHP diesel, with about 800+ ft/lbs torque now we are talking. Audi should do a good trade in gearboxes. Their sports car diesel engine was producing over 1200 ft/lbs when introduced.

I'm just guessing here, but I suspect they'll fit inlet restrictors to limit power, but provide an overboost function for overtaking. With power limited, I guess they'll be able to use smaller turbos than the huge units of the mid 80s, thus spool up at lower rpm and provide more torque.

As an aside, the WRC cars will be 1.6 litre turbo next year.

Diesel in F1? Oh I hope not. A photographer friend had to monitor his watch to snap the Audis at Le Mans a couple of years ago.... They were virtually silent. Not an attractive feature to me.

Tony

quote:

They were virtually silent. Not an attractive feature to me.

I'm with you there, exhaust note is the most important thing in the motor sport world. I still miss F5000s 5 Litre V8 or the Chaparall 2F with a 7 litre V8 max revs 5000 and ground shaking, gut wrenching noise.

Standing in the pits in the 70s with 2 litre F2s were the noisiest I have experienced I think, although matra V12s were pretty noisy.

I know it don't compare to a jet fighter or bomber taking off or low passing, (2 Phantoms coming up from behind when we were standing on the main road at the end of Biggin airport).

Howard,

Take thee to Brands at the end of May. A short trip for you, and some amazing sounds: 60s/70s F1 and Le Mans cars, plus some classic saloon cars. Racing all three days of the bank holiday weekend, fingers crossed for the weather.

Tony

Big

Attended the 1965 Times Grand Prix at Riverside. Chaparrals(2C's I think) were there with Jim Hall and Hap Sharp. In all the years since, I have never heard an engine with the same chest pounding power and noise.

Tony

I subscribe to MotorSport and am envious of all the vintage racing you folks get to enjoy.


Probably should add that as I write I am also watching NSACAR from Talladega. Pretty amazing and something I think all you gearheads would enjoy.

http://ticket.motorsportvision...531-masters-bh-.aspx

yum yum.


Tony

2 thumbs up for Talladega, great entertainment. Thank you Open forum channel 190 on Sky+

Tony I saw most of those cars actually racing when they were new.

quote:

Originally posted by BigH47:
I'm with you there, exhaust note is the most important thing in the motor sport world. I still miss F5000s 5 Litre V8 or the Chaparall 2F with a 7 litre V8 max revs 5000 and ground shaking, gut wrenching noise.

F1 kinda misses the mark here. The cars are way too ear-splitting, shriekingly loud to be enjoyed in person, though the sound of the cars downshifting is rather cool. The idea than an F1 car's power can cause permanent deafness is more exciting than actually hearing one.

I've never really thought the current cars were all that loud. Even the unlimited-revs V10s were ok. A Top Fuel drag car however......

But for me the bestest sounds are the 12 cylinder Ferraris on the over-run. Beautiful. Unfortunately, I've never heard a Matra V12 on full song.

Tony

That's possible. It's been a few years since I've been to an F1 race. I may go to the Canadian GP this year to get reacquainted.

Any opinions on the new Silverstone layout??
Looks good to me, added HS turns & visual spectacular photo opportunities
The plan to move the start/finish & new grandstands will totally transform it - good or bad,
I guess the jury is out until 2011

Look out on TV news or Top Gear (trash show) for the launch of the new Aston Martin ONE 77
http://www.one-77.com/
Its leaving the launch on Pall Mall to drive up M1 to the circuit under escort to arrive Silverstone about 12:00

Wow that's nice, I'll take 2.
When will people realise that "extra" music is not needed when the engine makes that concerto.

BTW any idea what the other music was?

I agree, only V12 music required
I am visiting tomorrow & will ask, but my guess its an advertising Saatchi look-a-like executive with no taste type decision.

The Aston Martin ONE 77 video music is no copyright stuff, the boys at the factory are not impressed.

They are making 77 (hence the name)
They cost about 1m
Seems a guy in Dubai has bought 10, as gifts !!! Suggest our Dubai readers keep clear of the Abu Dhabi road in the future
Its expected most if not all will be sold in Mid & Far East

At 7.3ltr & 700(ish) HP it is the most powerful naturally aspirated car in the world & at 1500kg its power to weight ratio is also a world best. It is not a race or competition car, although it has a race mode (boys toys) switch.

quote:

Originally posted by Mike-B:
Any opinions on the new Silverstone layout??
Looks good to me, added HS turns & visual spectacular photo opportunities
The plan to move the start/finish & new grandstands will totally transform it - good or bad,
I guess the jury is out until 2011

Spent yesterday at Silverstone for the FIA GT World Championship race so here are my observations ... (BTW last time there was September last year for the 1000Kms race)

1) With just under 10 weeks to go before the GP there is an enormous amount of work left to do eg. the whole of the pit straight was off limits yesterday as they are replacing all of the old grandstand along it with acres of scaffolding with plastic seating perched on top. This all looks very temporary ... not sure what the ultimate plan is for that area.

2) The bridge that crossed from paddock area out to the middle section of pit straight is gone with the only access to track centre being the tunnel at Copse and the two bridges which take you out to the main entrance area. Of course I didn't know about the lack of pit lane access when I first got there and so wasted about 20 minutes walking around the back of grandstands and construction sites to get a glimpse of the grid just as they are disappearing around Copse. So then I had to scramble around to get to Copse to see the cars for a while before heading down to Maggots-Beckets. The initial approach to this area is unchanged but they are building up a huge amount of earthworks between Maggots and the exit on to Hanger. This will, when finished, improve spectator viewing - but yesterday meant another scramble around the back of the works to get to the start of Hanger straight during which time the track is out of sight.

3) Difficult to comment on the new section as you could only see the approach on to the Wellington straight from the back of the infield grandstand at Maggots. It looks like the approach to this new section will be quite good and certainly the exit of the Arena complex on to Wellington allowed for some overtaking yesterday. Also the exit from this straight into the Luffield bends is an excellent overtaking spot. I guess my main gripe here would be that we've lost Bridge which was a fantastic place to watch the cars. I didn't walk around to the inside of the loop as I was knackered from racing around trying to get decent vantage points to see the racing so can't comment on General Admission access to this area.

To sum up - I'll reserve judgment until it is finished but I have to say that I thought they were lucky to get away with hosting an FIA world championship event yesterday. A simple page in the program (or with your ticket) detailing how to avoid wasting time getting around all the construction would have helped but Silverstone has always been poor in this regard ... eg. yesterday I think the only people to see the podiums would have been the people on it and the teams themselves. Why pay good money to be constantly held back from this ...

Don't get me wrong I don't expect (or want) an Abu Dhabi clone - Silverstone's best asset is and always has been the track. But for Christ's sake it shouldn't be too difficult to imagine what it is like as a paying customer rather than a Corporate guest or a Club member. If it wasn't for the fact I live in Buckingham I think I would be avoiding the GP completely - as it is I'll just be going for Friday and Saturday.

Cheers
Scott

They've been gradually ruining Silverstone for decades. A real shame.
Anyway, here's some excitement from a very ugly track and F2, at about 1 min 15 secs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptmg3Q0sqWI&sns=em

Tony

I called in for a few hours yesterday
Yup, all agreed, its chaos & the organisation/information is typically "Silverstone".

These info links show the 10 year plan

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/h...torsport/7277053.stm
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/83178
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/201...s-new-arena-circuit/

I've just watched this coverage of the FIA GTs this weekend.

Oh dear. Is there a competition to outdo the crimes committed at Hockenheim? Can they move the spectators any further away? I'll hold back from criticising anymore, but it'll be a long time before Silverstone sees me with money in hand. Just about all the character seems to have gone.

Tony

To be fair Tony it is a work in progress, no new stands on the track extension etc, give it a while i think.
I don't like Silverstone either, not when we had Brands 3/4 of an hour away, bliss back when they shared the GPs, and of course all the extra F1 races we used to get back in the 60/70s.

Another view of the F2 crash, looks like a James Bond trick.

F2 crash external view