OT: Racing 2012 (Spoiler Alert)

[pk500]

Still, I'll be up up all night watching as much as I can. My son and daughter both want to camp out up here with me, so I'll pull out the futon. I'm a lucky SOB!

Cool! Sounds like a blast.

[Gurantsu]

Best part was when my son woke up around 2am and asked if that was the race still on. When I said yes he said "cool!", then rolled back up in his blanket and went back to sleep.

And can you believe the battles going on between the 60 and 8 this late in the race? Awesome stuff!

[Gurantsu]

Very neat to see my friends old team take the win at Daytona. Glad to see Negri get his watch! Great race.

[F308GTB]

And I have to say I've never been a big Michael Waltrip fan, but I've grown to like him quite a bit since he's started doing the road racing. He has a very amusing and intelligent insight into the racing.

He seemed like he was a kid in a candy shop in the interview I saw with him. Have to love his enthusiasm, and I was bummed for him when he nearly ended the 458's day with about 15 minutes left.

The 458 looked gorgeous out there. It and the Audi caught my eye.

[DChaps]

New Indycars at Sebring Test. Dario, Helio, Will Power, Simona, Conway and JR. Also Rubens taking a test for KV Racing!!

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/ ... of-jan-30/

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/ ... at-sebring

[pk500]

Interesting to see Verizon is the only sponsor to truly take advantage of the extra sidepod space provided by the new car. Target added an extra bull's eye, so I guess that also counts.

[Gurantsu]

I would LOVE to see Rubens in Indycar!

[pk500]

I would LOVE to see Rubens in Indycar!

Yes, indeed!

[Rodster]

Interesting features on the new Ferrari, will see if it makes a difference. Checkout the rise of the nose i.e. stairstep. The sidepods appear to have side-plates to stabilize the car laterally and to direct air into the inlets. It definitely doesn't look as sexy as the McLaren but which car on the grid does? But it doesn't look to bad.

Hmm I also notice a secondary rear airduct behind the T-Bar and first airduct. See this is what I love about Formula 1. All of the different car designs to one up the next team.

[pk500]

That Ferrari is one ugly car. The nose is hideous. Almost makes Jimmy Durante's look attractive in comparison.

The biggest news surrounding Ferrari's new car isn't the nose. The F2012 is the first car since Fernando Alonso's Minardi in 2001 to feature pull-rod front suspension. Ferrari also ditched push-rod rear suspension, instead choosing pull-rod.

[pk500]

Force India's new car, also unveiled today, features the same stepped nose as Ferrari. Fugly.

[Rodster]

Here's a side view of the stepped nose. I kind of like it on the Ferrari and Force India. It looks different that's for sure. But I can see the design idea, behind it to use the on coming air to force the nose down and create front grip.

[pk500]

Rules, not desire, created that design decision for Ferrari.

The FIA requires the front of the nose is a maximum of 55cm off the ground this season. The teams want the front end to be higher to help air get under the car and to the undertray, creating more downforce. McLaren found a workaround on this by creating a "snowplow vane" under its nose.

Ferrari and Force India took the uglier "stepped" approach.

Check out this excellent blog for more details about McLaren's new car. I'm sure Scarbs will file soon about Ferrari's new challenger:

http://scarbsf1.wordpress.com/

[Gurantsu]

Not to start another bashing of myself when it comes to F1, but man that is one ugly car. If you drank yourself stupid and went home from the bar with one of the old Daytona Prototype cars, you'd wake up the next morning next to that!

[pk500]

Not to start another bashing of myself when it comes to F1, but man that is one ugly car. If you drank yourself stupid and went home from the bar with one of the old Daytona Prototype cars, you'd wake up the next morning next to that!

That's a good one, Grant! LOLOLOLOL!

[Rodster]

No one knows if those cars are going to be fast but it looks like the nose is not part of the hump. If the car does turn out fast for Ferrari/Force India, then they will have an edge until Newey figures out how to incorporate it into the wing.

[pk500]

The hump was created to lower the nose so it meets the FIA maximum height requirements. Every designer would rather have kept the nose of their respective cars on a constant plane from the cockpit and dropped the wing toward the track with longer struts, allowing more air to get to the undertray. The hump has nothing to do with generating more front downforce.

But so far McLaren is the only team to have devised a solution without the stepped approach. The Caterham, Ferrari and Force India all have that butt-ugly look.

I'm VERY curious to see Newey's solution at Red Bull.

[pk500]

The new Red Bull and Sauber cars unveiled today also have the "stepped" nose. Looks like McLaren might be the only team to use a more conventional nose configuration this season.

Lord, those "stepped" noses are ugly. But ugly is beautiful if the car is fast.

[GB_Simo]

According to the Ferrari top brass, this years Ferrari is a real ugly duckling or as Adam likes to call it a minger.

A year ago, I described the modern racing car as "something that fell from the ugly tree atop Minger’s Hill, smacking every physically repulsive branch on the way down before rolling helplessly into the nearby settlement of Repugnant, where the residents immediately set about beating it with aesthetically displeasing sticks."

With the Heaven-sent exception of the McLaren MP4-27, which I'm quite prepared to file under Really, Properly Pretty, this year's crop are even worse.

[Rodster]

Unless Ferrari is sandbagging it, they could be in for another difficult year. Felipe said there's a lot of work ahead to make the Ferrari a competitive car and Pat Fry chimed in saying he's not happy with the car. So unless Ferrari is doing the Ali "rope a dope" then it could be the same as last year.

But now that my boy Kimi is back i'll be cheering him on as well as Hammy. I hope Lewis is getting his personal side in order. I think that's what hurt him last year which resulted in inconsistent results for him in 2011.

[GB_Simo]

Got a couple of hours to spare? Here, with no commentary to ruin the sound of a pack of DFVs on full song, is the 1973 German Grand Prix from the old Nurburgring. The whole, entire bloody thing:



I had things to do this evening.

[pk500]

Massive find, Adam. MEGA!

Thanks.

[Zeppo]

Unbelievable awesomeness!

[Rodster]

Two things:

1) I nominate Adam for best post of 2012

2) I had no idea Youtube lets you upload a video that big?

[pk500]

Another cool find: DTM racing on the Nordschleife in 1993: