OT: Racing 2009 (Spoiler Alert)

Gangrel · Post by **Gangrel** » Sun Apr 19, 2009 5:12 pm

I sure wish I could watch me some Indy Car here in Ottawa....... I'm sure it's on TSN2, oh no, wait, Roger's doesn't carry TSN2!!!!

fletcher21 · Post by **fletcher21** » Sun Apr 19, 2009 8:19 pm

That IndyCar race was about as nice as this :

Which is to say, veryyy nice

fletcher21 · Post by **fletcher21** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 2:55 pm

IndyCar race is going to be shown again today from 5-7pm ET on Versus. Following that is game 3 of the Capitals and Rangers. Embarrassment of riches

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 4:18 pm

And you, my friend, have an embarrassing amount of spare time.

Yes, I'm a jealous motherf*cker.

Take care,
PK

fletcher21 · Post by **fletcher21** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 5:28 pm

pk500 wrote:And you, my friend, have an embarrassing amount of spare time.

Yes, I'm a jealous motherf*cker.

Take care,
PK

Sometimes being my own boss is the s***

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 9:25 pm

Lola is considering to get back into F1 next year.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74698

Coulthard calls on Ferrari to make changes, as in bringing in Alonso. He says Kimi is bringing down the team.

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/n ... 5744.shtml

Haug wants Vettel.

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/n ... 3951.shtml

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 8:46 pm

Rodster wrote:Haug wants Vettel.

Well, yes. I should imagine anyone with a paddock pass and a working pair of eyeballs wants Vettel driving for them.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 8:52 pm

I don't know why Haug would want to pair Vettel with Hamilton? Both are number 1 drivers. They tried it wit Lewis and Alonso and we see how well that went. I could see going after Vettel if Hammy told them he's looking to move.

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 9:04 pm

For the same reason that you'd want Prost and Senna, or Mansell and Piquet. If you're running a two-car team with any objective other than having the two fastest drivers you can reasonably employ, you've no business running a racing team. In addition, there's no evidence at all to suggest Vettel has anything like the need to feel he's the favoured son in the way that Alonso seems to like.

They're both number ones? Great. Let them race.

fletcher21 · Post by **fletcher21** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 9:44 pm

I recall hearing something during the race last week about a guy on Renault being pissed at Brawn or something? I forget the details, but does anyone know the story I'm trying to remember?

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 9:49 pm

fletcher21 wrote:I recall hearing something during the race last week about a guy on Renault being pissed at Brawn or something? I forget the details, but does anyone know the story I'm trying to remember?

It was team principal Flavio Briatore who is pissed at Brawn GP over the rear diffuser and basically said that Brawn GP has no right to any TV money because they are really Honda GP because that's who's really paying the bulk of their expenses this year.

Martin Whitmarsh has rubbished the idea and supports Brawn and the TV money that's due to them.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 10:22 pm

fletcher21 wrote:I recall hearing something during the race last week about a guy on Renault being pissed at Brawn or something? I forget the details, but does anyone know the story I'm trying to remember?

Flavio also ripped into Button and Barrichello as ordinary drivers at best. When told that, Button reminded the world media almost immediately that Flavio tried to hire him for Renault last year.

Vettel's victory was the absolute best thing that could have happened to F1. The kid is a supernova exploding into F1, a foil for Hamilton for at least the next decade. And he's just so damn likable. He actually seems like he's having fun being paid millions to drive the most high-tech race car in the world unlike so many of the dour automatons in the F1 drivers' fraternity today.

Plus Red Bull went 1-2 at Shanghai without a trick diffuser or KERS. In other words, great design and engineering -- which Newey does better than anyone -- still triumphs over gizmos in F1.

I must eat a plate of steaming crow because I predicted in this thread before the season that Red Bull wouldn't do much this season because Newey would design a brittle car that pushed the regulations too far in an effort to further his "genius" reputation. Vettel's car did break in the first two races, but the Red Bulls looked damn stout and steady last Sunday.

Roll on, Bahrain! This season already has been captivating as hell. It's rare in the last 10 years F1 could be called the most exciting, entertaining motorsport series in the world, but I think that's the case so far this young season.

Take care,
PK

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 6:16 pm

pk500 wrote:Vettel's car did break in the first two races...

If he threw me into the side of a BMW, an Australian wall and a Malaysian swimming pool I reckon I might break as well, mate

It does seem as though there's a broken down Red Bull in pretty much every practice and qualifying session, mind, though somehow in the race everything miraculously works.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 6:28 pm

GB_Simo wrote:
pk500 wrote:Vettel's car did break in the first two races...
If he threw me into the side of a BMW, an Australian wall and a Malaysian swimming pool I reckon I might break as well, mate

It does seem as though there's a broken down Red Bull in pretty much every practice and qualifying session, mind, though somehow in the race everything miraculously works.

They probably turn off car damage during the race. It always works for me in rFactor.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 7:36 pm

GB_Simo wrote:
pk500 wrote:Vettel's car did break in the first two races...
If he threw me into the side of a BMW, an Australian wall and a Malaysian swimming pool I reckon I might break as well, mate

It does seem as though there's a broken down Red Bull in pretty much every practice and qualifying session, mind, though somehow in the race everything miraculously works.

Good points, mate!

Take care,
PK

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 11:03 pm

Simo, your blog post about Vettel naming his cars was enough to make me a fan. How can you not like a guy driving with the label "Kate's Dirty Sister" on the steering wheel?

fletcher21 · Post by **fletcher21** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 2:40 pm

Daytona prototype race is on speed now. VIR is a hella track

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 8:48 pm

Dave wrote:Simo, your blog post about Vettel naming his cars was enough to make me a fan. How can you not like a guy driving with the label "Kate's Dirty Sister" on the steering wheel?

Exactly! Impossible to dislike, isn't it?

Martin Brundle said in commentary today that as he watches Vettel going down a long straight, he always imagines that he's giggling to himself at the jokes he's telling inside his helmet, and I can see where he gets the idea from. It's really nice to see someone doing my dream job and looking like they're actually enjoying it - from watching some of the other drivers I'd come to think that I was having more fun working for an electricity company.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 10:26 pm

GB_Simo wrote:It's really nice to see someone doing my dream job and looking like they're actually enjoying it - from watching some of the other drivers I'd come to think that I was having more fun working for an electricity company.

At least you can say that at the end of a day in the office, you feel just like Raikkonen feels at the end of a day in the car--ready for a drink!

fletcher21 · Post by **fletcher21** » Sun Apr 26, 2009 9:34 am

The first few F1 races were great entertainment. The race today was pretty damn boring. That track is not very exciting. Go BRAWN!!

fletcher21 · Post by **fletcher21** » Sun Apr 26, 2009 9:49 am

World champion Jenson Button has a nice ring to it. If only it was under Honda power!

Guys, I really wanna go to an F1 race, but I want to stay in North America. Any chance the US or Canada will get a GP again anytime soon? Doubtful, me thinks.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Sun Apr 26, 2009 1:01 pm

fletcher21 wrote:World champion Jenson Button has a nice ring to it. If only it was under Honda power!

Guys, I really wanna go to an F1 race, but I want to stay in North America. Any chance the US or Canada will get a GP again anytime soon? Doubtful, me thinks.

I think Canada will be back no later than 2011. It probably will be longer than that for the U.S., as no track besides Indy has the infrastructure to meet F1 requirements. And Indy is in no hurry for the return of F1 until it makes financial sense. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is not a non-profit corporation.

As for an F1 race taking place on a U.S. street circuit, dream on. Does anyone recall Phoenix from 1989-91? An ostrich race on the same day outdrew the F1 race in Phoenix's swansong event in 1991. I'm 100 percent serious.

No city in the U.S., especially in this recession, will pay the money to build a street circuit and pay police overtime before Bernie's outlandish race sanctioning fees are levied. That would be political suicide for any city leader during a time in which cities are cutting basic services due to huge budget deficits.

Bernie and some F1 team bosses also have this fantasy that F1 will run a street race that includes the Vegas Strip. That's preposterous. There's no way that every casino owner will agree to shut down The Strip, which is the main artery to the front door of their casinos, for a motor race in a series that has only a cult following in the U.S.

Vegas doesn't need F1. Millions of worldwide visitors flock to Sin City every year without the lure of Formula One. So there's no way that Steve Wynn or any other casino owner is going to pay the sanctioning fees for an F1 race and get the other casino owners to agree to close the Strip for a weekend.

Take care,
PK

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Sun Apr 26, 2009 1:24 pm

pk500 wrote:As for an F1 race taking place on a U.S. street circuit, dream on. Does anyone recall Phoenix from 1989-91? An ostrich race on the same day outdrew the F1 race in Phoenix's swansong event in 1991. I'm 100 percent serious.

It really did, and that struck me as a bit of a shame. As street circuits go, Phoenix wasn't awful and it did provide some decent racing.

I'm not as brilliant on US geography as I could be, but the helicopter shots from the footage of those Phoenix races left me with the impression that if you planned on attending the race, you weren't surrounded with other places to go if you wanted to make a week of it. Was Phoenix a smart place to put Formula One in the first place? I know PIR just up the road has had IndyCars and then NASCAR for long enough, but IndyCars and NASCAR are rather more established in the USA.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Sun Apr 26, 2009 3:57 pm

As PK said I don't see another US Grand Prix for a very long time unless Indy which was a fine F1 circuit to come to terms with the swindler Bernie Eccelstone. Las Vegas, San Francisco, mid town Manhattan, forget it. It ain't happening.

Formula is much like European Football. It has very little exposure and interest in the US. The US Sports scene is currently over saturated with too many sports as it is. Let alone someone spending millions of dollars to host a race where they'll lose millions just to host it. Hopefully Bernie will realize that the US is not Europe and the government doesn't sponsor to host a GP.

fletcher21 · Post by **fletcher21** » Sun Apr 26, 2009 5:59 pm

Carl Edwards crash today at Talladega WOW!!!!