Camping it Up!
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 11:42AM
It took Kimi to make me watch the NASCAR Camping World Series! Me and a lot of others I suspect. Watching him out on a mile and a half tri-oval for the first time I thought he did really well, although the truck was so loose it looked like rallying at times. Still, his reflexes and ability kept it on the track and tonight's race should be fun. You have to admire the guy, just like the old days when F1 drivers drove everything and raced every weekend, sometimes two races a weekend in Europe and America. F1's loss is the world's gain.
The really big news of the weekend for me is the ACO moving to live up to it's regulation on parity between the diesels and petrol cars. Petrol cars will have an air restrictor increase of 0.3 mm and can lose 10 kg, and if they cannot take weight off the car then they get a 0.5 mm increase. In addition the fuel hose for the petrol cars is increased by 10 mm, nearly half an inch, and the diesels decreased by 0.3 mm, so faster refuelling for the petrol cars. The ACO have made the changes after seeing all the new cars in action at Spa for the first time, and believe they will allow the petrol cars to do an extra 5 laps during the 24 hours. The older ORECA Peugeot benefits from a 15 kg weight reduction. It will be interesting to see how all these pan out in a few weeks time.
F1 is in Barcelona and not much has changed, Red Bull and McLaren on top with Alonso and Ferrari fifth. Mercedes big step forward has not improved their position. News is that Williams are the team that pushed the FIA to act on the engine mapping, but it seems that Cosworth are the problem in not being able to match the big guys. The top teams are of course resisting any changes, as they are the new engine for 2013. The opposition to the change to 4 cylinder turbos is growing, with Renault apparently the only manufacturer now in favor, for obvious reasons. Talking of Renault, the big rumor from Barcelona is that Kubica has signed to drive for Ferrari, the latest in a long line of drivers similarly rumored to go there. Massa must be feeling very unloved, despite Montezemolo telling the world Massa will drive for them next year. He did not look very happy with the car during practice.
The gap between the teams seems to be growing, with HRT still 7 secs off the pace, but then Lotus and Force India are around 4 secs off, and so on up the order. Alonso is a second off, and you quickly get to 2 seconds around tenth place. On these times the HRT are in danger of not making the cut at their home race, but I guess with Q1 times on hards they may make it. Lotus seem to have made the jump across the gap to the midfield teams, only to see the front of the pack just as far away as ever.
The really big news of the weekend for me is the ACO moving to live up to it's regulation on parity between the diesels and petrol cars. Petrol cars will have an air restrictor increase of 0.3 mm and can lose 10 kg, and if they cannot take weight off the car then they get a 0.5 mm increase. In addition the fuel hose for the petrol cars is increased by 10 mm, nearly half an inch, and the diesels decreased by 0.3 mm, so faster refuelling for the petrol cars. The ACO have made the changes after seeing all the new cars in action at Spa for the first time, and believe they will allow the petrol cars to do an extra 5 laps during the 24 hours. The older ORECA Peugeot benefits from a 15 kg weight reduction. It will be interesting to see how all these pan out in a few weeks time.
F1 is in Barcelona and not much has changed, Red Bull and McLaren on top with Alonso and Ferrari fifth. Mercedes big step forward has not improved their position. News is that Williams are the team that pushed the FIA to act on the engine mapping, but it seems that Cosworth are the problem in not being able to match the big guys. The top teams are of course resisting any changes, as they are the new engine for 2013. The opposition to the change to 4 cylinder turbos is growing, with Renault apparently the only manufacturer now in favor, for obvious reasons. Talking of Renault, the big rumor from Barcelona is that Kubica has signed to drive for Ferrari, the latest in a long line of drivers similarly rumored to go there. Massa must be feeling very unloved, despite Montezemolo telling the world Massa will drive for them next year. He did not look very happy with the car during practice.
The gap between the teams seems to be growing, with HRT still 7 secs off the pace, but then Lotus and Force India are around 4 secs off, and so on up the order. Alonso is a second off, and you quickly get to 2 seconds around tenth place. On these times the HRT are in danger of not making the cut at their home race, but I guess with Q1 times on hards they may make it. Lotus seem to have made the jump across the gap to the midfield teams, only to see the front of the pack just as far away as ever.
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