New day, New Track
Thursday, June 17, 2010 at 11:20AM
Well we have a conceptual layout for a new 3.5 mile road race track. As I said, it evolves and all of a sudden it is there. Client happy, I'm happy, and the couple of drivers we showed are also happy, so life is good. Hope to start on this real soon. I will let you know the web site to go to in a week or so. So Eddie, the blogs may be shorter but will keep coming, and I will keep you all up to date on the progress. You can see the steps as they happen.
I don't know what is happening with motor sport lately, the rumors and activity are down to a dull roar, so not much prompting a reaction. There a few things of course. The inevitable fallout form the Red Bull fiasco is that now every time Mark Webber has an issue there are questions raised as to whether they are trying to engineer Vettel to beat him. Montreal saw a gearbox change after he qualified in front of Vettel, but then Vettel had the problem in the race so perhaps he should have been the one to change it? Then there is the tire strategy, but I do not recall that they were on different ones.
Webber has suggested that they will struggle at Valencia. Everyone struggles with that track. How you end up with that many corners and how some of them are designed amazes me when there seems to be a lot of space to choose from in most places, The corners on to and off the bridge I find particularly odd. It seems to me that designers like to boast about how many corners they can fit in. Look at the extension of the Bahrain track! To me a corner must be there for a reason, and be designed to achieve something. Not every corner can be an overtaking opportunity, but do not just put them in because it is a while since we had one. Phillip Island is a classic example of how you can have twelve corners in three miles and have the best layout in the world.
Peter Sauber is apparently contemplating using the Ferrari KERS system next year. This sounds odd at first as he has just yesterday come out and blamed the Ferrari engine he uses on his team poor finishing record. Still, as he uses the Ferrari engine I suppose he has to use their KERS system. One more opportunity for Ferrari to excel as the spin doctors would say.
I mentioned the defections from the technical staff at Force India. Apparently Lotus are offering twice the pay according to Force India. Now VJ Mallya who owns it is supposed to be a very wealthy man, with his own airline and brewery, so one would think he can compete with the owner of Lotus, but there were lots of rumors earlier this year about Force India not paying their bills, so maybe the recession hit VJ more, or perhaps he just does not like spending his own money to keep the team going. Formula One is a very expensive hobby as Sir Richard Branson is finding out, and money does not always buy success. It has eaten up and spat out more than a few rich guys. If you want to know how it operates read "The Piranha Club."
MotoGP at Silverstone this weekend, we will finally see how the new corners work there.
I don't know what is happening with motor sport lately, the rumors and activity are down to a dull roar, so not much prompting a reaction. There a few things of course. The inevitable fallout form the Red Bull fiasco is that now every time Mark Webber has an issue there are questions raised as to whether they are trying to engineer Vettel to beat him. Montreal saw a gearbox change after he qualified in front of Vettel, but then Vettel had the problem in the race so perhaps he should have been the one to change it? Then there is the tire strategy, but I do not recall that they were on different ones.
Webber has suggested that they will struggle at Valencia. Everyone struggles with that track. How you end up with that many corners and how some of them are designed amazes me when there seems to be a lot of space to choose from in most places, The corners on to and off the bridge I find particularly odd. It seems to me that designers like to boast about how many corners they can fit in. Look at the extension of the Bahrain track! To me a corner must be there for a reason, and be designed to achieve something. Not every corner can be an overtaking opportunity, but do not just put them in because it is a while since we had one. Phillip Island is a classic example of how you can have twelve corners in three miles and have the best layout in the world.
Peter Sauber is apparently contemplating using the Ferrari KERS system next year. This sounds odd at first as he has just yesterday come out and blamed the Ferrari engine he uses on his team poor finishing record. Still, as he uses the Ferrari engine I suppose he has to use their KERS system. One more opportunity for Ferrari to excel as the spin doctors would say.
I mentioned the defections from the technical staff at Force India. Apparently Lotus are offering twice the pay according to Force India. Now VJ Mallya who owns it is supposed to be a very wealthy man, with his own airline and brewery, so one would think he can compete with the owner of Lotus, but there were lots of rumors earlier this year about Force India not paying their bills, so maybe the recession hit VJ more, or perhaps he just does not like spending his own money to keep the team going. Formula One is a very expensive hobby as Sir Richard Branson is finding out, and money does not always buy success. It has eaten up and spat out more than a few rich guys. If you want to know how it operates read "The Piranha Club."
MotoGP at Silverstone this weekend, we will finally see how the new corners work there.
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