The unofficial auto thread

[Lisnpuppy]

Yeah..Grosjean is bad. And I hate that as I love Lotus and Kimi is and has been, my driver since I started watching F1 and he was with McLaren. The mexican driver..I can't remember his name. He is a bad one also.

 

I am not sure how I feel about the other rules yet. I am still irritated about the current tire rules. I wonder what else Bernie had planned..lol

[Vindekarr]

My favourite driver? I've always gone for Ferrari, I grew up watching Michael Schumacher's period of domination, and I've always liked Ferrari's particular style and characteristics. It also helps that I like both of their current drivers-Fernando Alonso is an exceptional wheel-to-wheel racer, just a good old-fashioned driver, and very smart aswell. Massa's had his issues last year, but his form this year has been spectacular. Given the horrendous accident he had a few years back, in which he was struck in the face by a large piece of debris while going flat out, it's a miracle he's even alive, let alone still such a strong racer. He survived the accident by shear luck-the spring left him with a plate in his eye-socket, but no brain or vision damage.

 

Favourite ever? it's a tossup. Ayrton Senna and Allain Prost(both early '90s) are by far the two best drivers I've ever had the pleasure of watching. Prost may have had a nose the size of Rhode Island but he was extremely smart, and not only a great racer but great with the engineering side of things aswell. Senna was a hero of mine growing up; just pure talent and skill. Amazingly fast driver, truly awesome car control during the maddest era in the sport's history. On a more local level we also had a driver, in Australia called Peter Brock.

 

He was not an F-1 driver, but he was a real gentlemen, an outstandingly good driver, and was a household name for nearly 30 years of driving, synonymous for getting incredible performance out of less than stellar locally made cars. Brock was the driving force behind the local arm of GMH and their star driver all through the '70s and into the '80s. After that he then had a strong rally career before eventually being killed behind the wheel during a rally in '06. I doubt he's even a known name overseas, but he was an absolute legend-I had the pleasure of meeting him as a kid at an autograph session, and he was one of those rare drivers who can conquer racing in a country for over a decade but still act like a totally normal person.

[JimboUK]

I'm not sure I like the engine change rule but the rest of the changes are for the better, the points thing is very welcome, it might make idiots like Perez and Grosjean stop and think.

 

Todays qualifying.....

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/23112053

 

Another disastrous performance from McLaren.

[Vindekarr]

I do Jim, they're more powerful than what we currently have, and for me they hark back to when the cars were 230 MPH napalm bombs on wheels. They're going to put a lot more emphasis on the driver. Turbo cars are twitchy, and with so much less downforce, BUT more horsepower, they're going to be a lot more reliant on a delicate right foot. Plus, if they sound anything nearly as good as those '80s turbo-6 cars...

 

Last night was the Assen TT, probably the biggest race on the motorbike racing calender. And I've seen a lot of motorbike racing in my life, even ridden in a few, but bloody nora that's by far the most exciting and satisfying race I think I've ever seen. It was a wheel-to-wheel duel from the very begining; Honda got away fast but the Yamahas of Valentino Rossi and brit rookie Cal Crutchlow manage to hunt them down in the later stages, with Rossi scoring his first victory since returning to Yamaha, and Crutchlow managing to finish third despite a collision with Honda's Marc Marquez.

 

But perhaps the biggest story was who finished fifth. Two-time world champ Jorge Lorenzo, only 36 hours after having a titanium plate bolted to his recently broken collarbone, managed to pull off one of the most heroic/insane rides I have ever seen, he started 12 and finished an amazing fifth though at times was as high as third. By the time he reached the finish line Lorenzo was too weak to even get off the bike under his own power, but the shear guts and determination he showed was just staggering-he held off clearly much fitter team mate Cal Crutchlow for 5 laps.

 

But for me the real show-stopper was Rossi's comeback win. If you don't follow Moto GP, Valentino Rossi is, quite simply, a racing legend. With nine world championships at the top-tier level and even more down through the feeder categories, Rossi is an almost unmatched talent, particular when it comes to racing wheel-to-wheel. He's famous for pulling off, cleanly, moves nobody else even thought were possible-he just seems to be able to find that extra 1% Perhaps the even more striking thing about his though is his attitude-in addition to being mentor to half a generation of rookies, he still acts like he's just one of the other riders. Sure, he's won 47 races with his current team and a total of 11 world championships, but you wouldn't guess it. And as a result he's not only a personal hero of mine since I was a kid(back in the early 2000s he was literally invincible, won virtually every race, even on mid-field machinery, and was famous for occasionaly slowing down so he could duel with other riders-he's said many times he likes going one-on-one far more than he likes winning) and probably the single most popular rider in history. When he took the lead the entire main grandstand stood up, when he won, the entire 90+ K crowd just went totally insane.

[JimboUK]

I'm fine with the return of turbos, I'm not happy about only five "Power units" per season, it's going to see a lot more drivers pushed down the grid through no fault of their own. I honestly don't think we're going to see a return to the 80s, the silly fuel limit will force drivers to drive more conservatively, already we have drivers cruising instead of racing to save fuel, they're going to have to find a 30% increase on fuel efficiency for next year. Strip out the driver aids, put a 3.5l V8 lump in there, get rid of fuel/number of engines limits and I'll be happy. :-)

[Vindekarr]

My dream F-1 engine... 3.8 twin turbo V-10, 22,000 RPM like they used to have and methanol fueled. It would turn the car into a horrendously loud, low-flying cruise missile-complete with the near-apocalyptic explosion should it ever crash, but it would go fast, really, really, really fast-and those V-10s sounded incredible, especially the BMWs. I miss the days when F-1 cars were so loud I wore earmuffs to the races.

[Lisnpuppy]

Please post any race results in SPOILER TAGS!

 

Keep in mind we don't always live in the same places and get to see the results live!

 

Thanks

[Lisnpuppy]

My dream F-1 engine... 3.8 twin turbo V-10, 22,000 RPM like they used to have and methanol fueled. It would turn the car into a horrendously loud, low-flying cruise missile-complete with the near-apocalyptic explosion should it ever crash, but it would go fast, really, really, really fast-and those V-10s sounded incredible, especially the BMWs. I miss the days when F-1 cars were so loud I wore earmuffs to the races.

They do sound a bit like weed wackers now don't they?

 

My husband likes MotoGP and follows it closely. He has gone see them at Indy. I don't watch it as much (though a former champ is from a neighboring State, Kentucky specifically.) For some reason it makes be nervous. :)

[Vindekarr]

OK, will do.

 

Firstly, an absolute DISASTER for F1 at Silverstone. Discussion and anger has been rife among teams and fans alike all year, given the poor quality and reliability of Pirelli's control tyres. Tensions were already high by Race time at Silverstone, after Sergio Perez' rear tyre exploded at 190 MPH, despite Pirelli's constant claims to have solved all such issues. Pirelli blamed Perez, and the claimed a piece of debris on the track was responsible. When no piece of dsebris was found, Pirelli then blamed a drain cover, and even then refused to accept responsibility.

 

During the race, no less than five cars had explosive tyre blowouts at full speed, on a straight. Pirelli has already blamed all the afforementioned possible causes, however, drivers, teams, fans, and sponsors haven't wasted any time in expressing their fury at the shear lack of safety or reliability-or even honesty from Pirelli in recent weeks.

 

As for sounds, for me if you're going high-pitched, you should atleast try and make it sound good. For me a good example would be, what is for me one of the hottest race cars of all time-the Mazda 787B. Me though, I preffer something a little lower, IE a modern Porsche/Pagani/McLaren/Indy Car. I miss the old '80s turbo cars, not only did they look amazing and go like hell, but they sounded fantastic aswell.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOJkl4Agf4c

 

A good idea of what my ultimate F1 engine would sound like. Honda V-10, 20,000 RPM, and so much heat it can turn it's Inconel(one of the most heat-resistant alloy metals known to humanity) exhaust pipes transparent when at full noise. Approximately 900 horsepower.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxXtpMngivM

 

And the Mazda 787B. With a 990 horsepower quad-rotor, 4.1 litre engine, the 787 was one of the fastest, sexiest, most manic Le Mans cars of all time. It won the race from 13 on the grid in 1991, and was banned the next year, only to go on to a legendary career in international endurance racing, particularly in Japan. This beautiful example is still owned and run by Mazda.

 

 

[JimboUK]

My dream F-1 engine... 3.8 twin turbo V-10, 22,000 RPM like they used to have and methanol fueled. It would turn the car into a horrendously loud, low-flying cruise missile-complete with the near-apocalyptic explosion should it ever crash, but it would go fast, really, really, really fast-and those V-10s sounded incredible, especially the BMWs. I miss the days when F-1 cars were so loud I wore earmuffs to the races.

 

I remember when I first went to a grand prix, it was in the 80s and the noise was incredible, now they sound like loud hedge trimmers.

 

As for today Pirelli really need to get their act together, Brawn was diplomatic after the race suggesting that the lack of testing means Pirelli don't have the data they need, Hamilton wasn't as diplomatic and pointed out Mercedes had only just tested with Pirelli and that Pirelli had done nothing with the data they'd gathered, he also questioned whether someone needed to get hurt before anything is done about it. Pirelli tried blaming the drivers, the cars and the track but it's obvious the tyres couldn't cope with Silverstones numerous high speed turns.