OT: Racing 2010 (Spoiler Alert)

toonarmy · Post by **toonarmy** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 6:50 pm

10-6-5-4-3-2-1 is easily my favorite system. It's simplistic. It rewards winning. F1 does not need to have a buttload of points in its system. Ive heard talk of points for qualifying, fastest lap, etc. Give me a break! This is not NASCAR. Formula One needs to quit tinkering with rules and regulations and points so flippin often.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue Jan 26, 2010 1:27 pm

Upon further review of bigger pictures, I think the Brawn livery looks lousy. The scheme looks like that used on test mules pounding endless laps around Barcelona in February.

Simplicity can breed elegance, but the stainless-steel look of this car is just plain dull.

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Tue Jan 26, 2010 2:26 pm

pk500 wrote:Upon further review of bigger pictures, I think the Brawn livery looks lousy. The scheme looks like that used on test mules pounding endless laps around Barcelona in February.

Simplicity can breed elegance, but the stainless-steel look of this car is just plain dull.

I hear what you're saying there, mate, but what if you're completely wrong?

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue Jan 26, 2010 3:44 pm

GB_Simo wrote:
pk500 wrote:Upon further review of bigger pictures, I think the Brawn livery looks lousy. The scheme looks like that used on test mules pounding endless laps around Barcelona in February.

Simplicity can breed elegance, but the stainless-steel look of this car is just plain dull.
I hear what you're saying there, mate, but what if you're completely wrong?

I'm not, damn it!

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue Jan 26, 2010 10:48 pm

Ken Block's Monster livery in the WRC this season:

Not sure what I think. Pretty garish, but it will stand out among the rather staid Citroen and Ford factory efforts.

I would LOVE to see the seminal Martini livery return!

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Tue Jan 26, 2010 11:07 pm

Good gawd, Ken Blocks car looks badass.

When does he make his first appearance in the WRC? Autosport is carrying live coverage.

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Tue Jan 26, 2010 11:38 pm

Rally Mexico, as far as I know, Rod. Early March.

The livery...a bit noisy and cluttered, that being achieved in spite of the fact that there's not really very much to it. All those black drips, I think. What I'd be more interested to find out is why that's a Fiesta and not a Focus. Is he doing some kind of testing in the Fiesta?

Edit: OK, I see. Rally America in the Fiesta, the WRC rounds in the Focus. Those of you who were here on Sunday may be interested to note the oil supplier.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Wed Jan 27, 2010 9:46 am

No one mentioned this but starting this year all top ten qualifiers will start the race on the same tires or tyres (for Adam's sake

) that they used in Q3.

Should be interesting to see how that affects qualifying and race strategy.

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Wed Jan 27, 2010 9:44 pm

Rod, I've very briefly tackled tyres and other things at the usual place. It's impossible to know what difference, if any, the tyre ruling is going to make until we see the kinds of compounds Bridgestone intend to run. They've got to have a significant gap between the soft and hard options for it to have any kind of real impact.

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Wed Jan 27, 2010 10:04 pm

While I'm here, chaps, a piece of magnificence to be feasted upon. See how many times you think this car's going into a fence during the course of this video:

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/gnKARl8HJjY&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed>

Smurfy · Post by **Smurfy** » Wed Jan 27, 2010 11:42 pm

GB_Simo wrote:While I'm here, chaps, a piece of magnificence to be feasted upon. See how many times you think this car's going into a fence during the course of this video:

What the heck was that at 2:50?

Pretty entertaining at 6:14 as well.

I wish the camera was about a foot lower though.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Thu Jan 28, 2010 8:12 am

Ferrari's 2010 entry. It has that shark nose look to me circa 1996 for some reason. Looks slightly better than last years car.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Fri Jan 29, 2010 8:29 am

As Crocodile Dundee might would say about the F10. "Nah mate that's not a car. Now this is a CAR".

This is one badass looking set of wheels.

edit: I know both Adam and PK have said the car length is basically in spec with the 50's but man these cars play tricks on my eyes. They look real long for an F1 car.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Fri Jan 29, 2010 10:04 am

Rod:

You're serious, right? That rear fin is the most hideous-looking "innovation" to an F1 car since the Williams walrus nose from the early 2000s.

That doesn't look like an F1 car. This does:

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Fri Jan 29, 2010 10:08 am

By the way, these two pictures capture the maestro-like genius of Jim Clark -- the greatest race driver who ever lived -- as well as any I've seen, and he's not even in an F1 car!

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Fri Jan 29, 2010 10:19 am

Yep. Simply a remarkable talent, and one who could just do it instinctively.

I wish it didn't have the fin but otherwise that McLaren is a fabulous bit of kit to look at. Mind, last year's car was too. I note that they're all going for the Red Bull high nose this year too. Rod, the cars are longer this year to accommodate the larger fuel tank.

I knew I could count on you to produce an Eagle, PK. Such a beautiful car.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Fri Jan 29, 2010 10:23 am

pk500 wrote:Rod:

You're serious, right? That rear fin is the most hideous-looking "innovation" to an F1 car since the Williams walrus nose from the early 2000s.

That doesn't look like an F1 car.

I love the new cars but then again I liked the look of the 2006-07 cars as well until they got carried away with all the winglets.

And don't call me serious.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Fri Jan 29, 2010 11:32 am

GB_Simo wrote:I knew I could count on you to produce an Eagle, PK. Such a beautiful car.

Gurney is easily the most unappreciated figure in American racing history. No one else is even close.

A superb driver, designer, team owner, gentleman. Dan could do it all.

And the line that Jim Clark's father uttered to Gurney at Jimmy's funeral still gets me every time and is the best indicator of Gurney's brilliance: "You should know that Jim said you were the only rival he really feared."

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Fri Jan 29, 2010 8:49 pm

He'd be a remarkable enough fella if his only contribution to sport had been the Gurney flap, wouldn't he? I've always thought it was a shame that the AAR Formula One effort had to be sacrificed so quickly, especially given the subsequent success of the USAC programme, though it's difficult to argue that concentrating on the USA was anything other than the right move. If they could have only made the Eagle-Weslake more reliable...

Apparently the car in your picture is an Eagle Mk1. I've always called it Eagle T1G, and as far as I know an awful lot of other people do the same. Any idea where T1G came from?

Especially for Rod, a little 2009-2010 comparison of Ferrari and McLaren's new machines. In there, among other things, is a link to a scale drawing of McLarens MP4-24 and 25 that I think you'll find useful, mate.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Fri Jan 29, 2010 8:53 pm

Thanks for the link Adam, as always excellent stuff !

Btw Autosport and ESPNF1 is reporting that apparently Ferrari is worried about the F10's performance so they are scrambling to overhaul the car already. Gerhard Berger said in the article that Ferrari is lost without Schumacher, Todt, Brawn and Byrne.

http://en.espnf1.com/ferrari/motorsport/story/7644.html

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Fri Jan 29, 2010 9:03 pm

You'll have read me saying the exact same thing on the blog about 5 minutes ago, mate, but it bears repeating - cars are always modified between their launch and the first race. What we need to watch out for in Ferrari's case is the extent of that modification.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Fri Jan 29, 2010 9:07 pm

Just a thought, I wonder how short of a leash does Stefano Domenicali have if Ferrari gets off to another poor start? Certainly a nice guy but they would have been better served IMO by giving the job to Ross Brawn when they had the opportunity.

With the Ferrari and McLaren Spy-Gate at the time and purportedly the ties between Brawn and Nigel Stepney it may have hit a sour note with Todt and Luca Di Montezemolo hiring Ross Brawn.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Fri Jan 29, 2010 9:09 pm

GB_Simo wrote:You'll have read me saying the exact same thing on the blog about 5 minutes ago, mate, but it bears repeating - cars are always modified between their launch and the first race. What we need to watch out for in Ferrari's case is the extent of that modification.

I wonder if they'll come out with and anvil engine cover ala McLaren?

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Fri Jan 29, 2010 9:16 pm

Rodster wrote:
GB_Simo wrote:You'll have read me saying the exact same thing on the blog about 5 minutes ago, mate, but it bears repeating - cars are always modified between their launch and the first race. What we need to watch out for in Ferrari's case is the extent of that modification.
I wonder if they'll come out with and anvil engine cover ala McLaren?

God, I hope not. What a hideous chapter in the history of F1 aerodynamics.

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Fri Jan 29, 2010 9:33 pm

Rod, given that Ferrari ran that kind of engine cover as recently as 2008 I can't imagine that they've not already tried it and dismissed the idea. What works for one won't necessarily work for another, and the reasons (there are at least two) that McLaren are using it may not apply to Ferrari.

If all of this business about Ferrari being in disarray and the new car already looking like a pup is true, then post-Todt Ferrari is so much like pre-Todt Ferrari that it's kind of comforting. I wonder what the Old Man would have made of it.