Motorsports

jlbl

I couldn't agree more, Andy. Problem is all the money Bernie Ecclestone is making with the new spectacular/exotic circuits licensed by him around the world.

Regards,
Jose

jlbl

And Renault, which has won the Championships (drivers, constructors, engines) several times, is also considering leaving F1. :sick: Robert Kubica must be very disappointed

link title

Regards,
Jose

stever

Let's buy our own Ferrari and sponsor a team. :shades:

andys120

If Renault were to quit F1, the financial basis of the sport would be seriously undermined. Apparently Bridgestone has dropped out as well. I don't see how Daimler, Ferrari/Fiat and Red Bull can support the sport, it's hit the iceburg and taking on water.

jlbl

Indeed Renault out of F1 would be a great loss IMO. It is one of the big teams. FOTA will miss Renault as long as FIA and Ecclestone will be less challenged in the battle for F1 leadership.

On the other hand, Renault t is a big sponsor not only of sport teams but also of entire "lower" championships in which young drivers have the opportunity to build up themselves as experienced pilots. Renault has a strong sport background, I will be glad if it stays in F1 eventually.

Bridgestone leaving F1 was agreed time ago. Its contract as the one and only tyre supplier of F1 ends at the end of 2010 season. Michelin will take over Bridgestone then.

Regards,
Jose

jlbl

Brawn GP becomes Mercedes GP

Mercedes Benz has bought Brawn GP 75,1%; Ross Brawn keeps as the team principal.

Regards,
Jose

Edit: In turn McLaren is buying MB share in McLaren F1 team along the next two years. McLaren will at the same time buy shares of Daimler. McLaren will still use MB engines in F1.

andys120

Cool beans, Merc hasn't had it's own F1 team since it dominated F1 in the early 50s>

jlbl

Mercedes GP shall again use the silver body-painting as it used to? Will it be out of McLarens? In fact the silver painting was the color of German race cars those days.

Regards,
Jose

andys120

Good question, Jose. Silver wasn't specifically the color of Mercedes, it was the national racing color of Germany going back to the 1930s (it was employed by both Auto Union and M-B). The use of national colors went out the window in the late '60s when Colin Chapman started painting Lotus F1 cars the color of Player Cigarette packages (red/white) and others soon followed with the liveries of thir sponsors.

It's gone so far that IMO it needs to be rethought. They've completely eliminated identifying numerals on cars so that often even the TV commentators can't tell which car is which

Notice how prominent the numeral on Fangio's car is. Perhaps instead of mandating that team cars wear identical liveries, they should change that to mandating contrasting color schemes and restore a basic element of spectator-friendliness to a sport that could sorely use it.

jlbl

I'm with you, Andy. Better big numerals than color spots in the car nose or elaborated patterns in the pilot helmet. Less space for sponsors however, but I believe there is still place on the hull in front of the pilot and other places.

Regarding national colors, here is a short piece on them. I'm afraid it is in Spanish, though I believe it is not difficult to get the idea of every Country/color.

link title

Regards,
Jose

jlbl

Raikkonen has officially said he is out of F1. He is negotiating with Citroën/Red Bull Team to enter as one of their pilots in the World Rally Championship. "Ice Man" also wants to drive in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Regards,
Jose

andys120

That creates the possibility that Raikkonnen might eventually drive for Red Bull F1. There's scuttlebutt about Vettel leaving for Mercedes GP, although the say they do not want an all-German team.

Meanwhile Schumacher is leaving Ferrari F1.

"Silly Season" is well and truly underway.

jlbl

That would eventually lead to some national teams but only to a point . McLaren would have two British pilots, may be three (De la Rosa is leaving for other Team)—though engines will be German in any case. Red Bull would have German pilots but Renault engines. And Ferrari would have Italian engines and Latin drivers (the third one, either Fisichella or Gené or even Rossi). Passions will rise higher. Only engineers, a very important yet hidden part of the Circus, will intermingle.

Don't take me seriously. I am only wondering and wandering.

Regards,
Jose

stever

More Red Bull:

"WRC.com reported this morning that 2007 Formula World Champion Kimi Raikkonen will drive a Citroen C4 WRC for the Citroen junior team next season. The announcement comes as news that Fernando Alonso will join Ferrari in 2010 becomes official.

Bringing personal sponsor Red Bull with him, Raikkonen will join 25-year-old Sebastian Ogier on the junior squad."

Raikkonen out at Ferrari, Headed to WRC Next Season (Straightline)

andys120

The junior squad? I guess being WDC doesn't mean squat in WRC circles.

stever

Gotta love a snowboarder, although renaming himself Kam would play better in NA. Or just stick to Iceman.

jlbl

MB + M Schumacher + Ross Brawn. Good three of a kind.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Jose

andys120

Yes, it looks like it's a deal, the Beeb says Schumacher will drive for Mercedes.
link .

Personally I'd like to see him get his *** handed to him by Vettel, Alonso or better yet Hamilton. It should be interesting tho.

Feliz Navidad Jose.

jlbl

Vettel, Alonso or better yet Hamilton
Andy, you know I would say "or better yet Alonso"

Anyhow, it looks like whether an interesting F1 season is coming.

Regards,
Jose

stever

A bit esoteric perhaps but I could some of this tech filtering down to passenger cars one day - "it's an in-cylinder pressure transducer that comprises a proprietary Piezo spark plug system with built-in pressure sensor which will enable engine tuning and the accurate gauging of wear rates and potential longevity as the season progresses."

Dynamic pressure measurement for motorsport (Gizmag)

jlbl

There is a lot of fuzz and excitement on 2010 F1 Season. Engine furnishers and teams that abandoned the concourse that have re entered through the other door with another name, pilots who have changed seats, old stars that come again to drive competitive cars, newcomers, changed race rules…

Let's have a glimpse of all of these with two videos recorded in Jerez yesterday during one of the Winter testings in course. (First was Valencia, now is Jerez, next will be in Barcelona)


FORMULA1 WINTER TESTING 2010 - JEREZ (SPAIN) DAY 2 PT1


FORMULA1 WINTER TESTING 2010 - JEREZ DAY 2 PT3

News on these testing can be found in these links

JAtweet

JAblog

Regards,
Jose

stever

"The elevator, located in his home in the tony Mayfair district, should not have been accessible while the car was not in place. Moss' wife called it "a very unfortunate accident." The statement notes that the racing legend's "body still has the same resilience to injury as it did in his racing days" and says the 80-year-old should be recovered in "up to six weeks."

Stirling Moss, Racing Legend, Injured in Freak Elevator-Shaft Fall (Inside Line)

stever

"Senturk wept as he emerged from a Ferrari F430 at Urfa airport in eastern Turkey to learn from Guinness World Records officials his average speed of 292.89 kph (180 mph) broke the previous record of 284 kph (176 mph), held by a British bank manager."

Singer sets blind speed record in Ferrari (MSNBC)

stever

"Massachusetts State Police say 11 drivers have been ticketed for speeding and other traffic violations around Boston as part of a crackdown on an international road rally known as Gumball 3000.

State Police spokesman David Procopio said Wednesday that some of the ticketed motorists were driving expensive vehicles. Some were going over 90 mph, one driver was cited for taking photos while driving and another for excessive horn blowing."

Mass. police ticket drivers in international race (Anchorage Daily News)

jlbl

Tonight the official F1 website has announced that the United States Grand Prix is to return to the calendar in 2012 in Austin, Texas.

Regards,
Jose

andys120

Wow, there was some scuttlebutt about F1 going to a new track in New York's Catskill Mountains but this is the first I've heard about them going to Austin.

Frankly Texas isn't my favorites state but Austin is far and away the best place in TX.
It's good to have the USGP back!

stever

"The 2012 United States Grand Prix will be in Austin, Texas, yes, at an all-new purpose-built facility. Yep, purpose-built. The last F1 race on U.S. soil run on a purpose-built course was the 1980 U.S. GP at Watkins Glen."

2012 U.S. Grand Prix in Austin, Texas? Cool. Who's Going to Pay for It? (Inside Line)

I went to Austin for the first time last December. Fun town. Maybe BP will sponsor the track.

jlbl

This is the first paragraph of the announcement on F1 official website:

Formula One World Championship Limited and Formula One Administration Limited (together, the F1 Commercial Rights Holder) and Full Throttle Productions, LP, promoter of the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix™, announce that a historic agreement has been reached for Austin, Texas to serve as the host city of the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix™ for years 2012 through 2021.

The agreement looks like other agreements Ecclestone has with other so called F1 'permanent' places/tracks around the world.

Regards,
Jose

stever

Tuner / Racer Richard Hamann, Dead at 53 (Straightline)



(better photo at the link)

stever

WRC isn't Gymkhana: Ken Block Crashes, Rolls out of Portugal Rally (Straightline)

stever

Funny, unless it was your car that got toasted right at the start.

What We Have Here.... (Straightline)

sportscarfan1

Love that vid. I hope nothing crazy like that happens at Le Mans this weekend...need my Vettes to win it all.

stever

Rest of the field here.

stever

"Subaru boosted its credibility among high-performance driving fans by setting a new lap record for production cars at the legendary and dangerous Isle of Man TT race course.

The new mark improves on a record of 113 mph that Higgins set days earlier and shatters the previous record of just over 100 mph set by the late rally ace Tony Pond in 1990."

Subaru Sets Another Isle of Man Record (Wall St. Journal)

sportscarfan1

That race was absolutely insane. I can't wait to watch the GT competitions continue with the ALMS.

Think this is ALMS 2011 schedule: http://www.americanlemans.com/primary1.php?cat=schedule|calendar

michaellno

Lately, I've been recording and watching Speed's coverage of the Australian V8 Supercars competitions.

For the uninitiated, this is similar to NASCAR, in that production Ford Falcons and Holden Commodores are converted into 600HP racers using V8 engines. The tracks are all road courses and there are two races per weekend - one on Saturday, one on Sunday. Average race length is about 200KM (125 miles).

The premier event is the Bathurst 1000, which is scheduled for October this year and covers 1000KM (625 miles); what's intriguing about Bathurst is that the course, similar to Le Mans, uses a fair measure of public roads.

The competition is unlike anything I've ever seen - the drivers are throwing these 2-ton cars around, bumping into one another to gain track position. The courses are very narrow compared to the tracks here in the US.

stever

Dan Wheldon's death was a shock, and now Marco Simoncelli has died in a MotoGP race in Malaysia.

stever

“Snake & Mongoose” is the creation of Alan Paradise, an automotive journalist. In 2005, Mr. Paradise was working on a TV project about the 35th anniversary of the landmark sponsorship agreement that Prudhomme and McEwen forged with Mattel’s Hot Wheels toy car brand when McEwen suggested he write a book about the racers.

Besides Prudhomme and McEwen, the most prominent elements in Mattel’s marketing were the fiberglass-body, Plymouth-branded funny cars they drove in 1970 — Prudhomme’s yellow Barracuda and McEwen’s red Duster. Reproduced as Hot Wheels toys, the flip-top cars became instant preteen icons, and the “Mongoose and Snake Drag Race Set,” with twin loops and pop out drag chutes, was a toy for which a 9-year old would trade his Schwinn Sting-Ray."

A Rivalry That Helped Turn a Pastime Into a Profession NY Times)