tagged 
Bernie Ecclestone, F1, Korea, MotoGP, Olympics, Phillip Island, Track Safety
Bernie Ecclestone, F1, Korea, MotoGP, Olympics, Phillip Island, Track Safety Entries in F1 (259)
Bernie at his Best
Tuesday, October 19, 2010 at 11:57AM
In an interview with England's Guardian newspaper Bernie was in great form. "I don't think democracy is the way to run anything." That goes without saying, you just have to look at how he has run F1 these last thirty years or more. Speaking about job satisfaction he said,"You look back at the end of the year and you see what you've achieved by working out how much money the company has made. That's it." That tells us all we need to know. No sentimentality about famous old tracks being lost, and unapologetic about the spate of "cookie cutter" tracks replacing them, blaming it on the need for track safety. In my mind safety and a great track are not mutually exclusive, on the contrary, a safe track allows drivers or riders to take chances they would not normally take if they thought the track unsafe. I think Phillip Island is a great example of this. Anyway, I do not believe Bernie is quite as hard bitten as he likes to make out. Don't get me wrong he loves winning the deal, but he started as a racer don't forget, then a driver manager and team owner. He does love the sport, just loves the deal more. Asked about retirement he repeated what he has said before that basically they will carry him out of the office in his coffin, and said they needed a car dealer to replace him. Not quite sure if Flavio Briatore was a car dealer, but he was a wheeler and dealer so I guess that counts. One very true statement Bernie makes is in respect of the money wasted by Governments on the Olympics compared to investing in say Silverstone. "The worst thing is that they have wasted a fortune on the Olympics which will come and go, and be forgotten in a few weeks, when they could have supported Silverstone and made sure the British grand prix is there forever. The only good thing about the Olympics is the opening and closing ceremony. They do a lovely showbiz job. Otherwise, it's complete nonsense." Well said Bernie.
I read yesterday that Korea is spreading cement dust on the asphalt to soak up the oil seeping out of it because it is so freshly laid. That's high tech right there, you want to be the first driver to find that slick spot.
There is a lot of comment about the bad weather at Phillip Island last weekend and why can't they pave the parking or move the race to earlier in the year? Paving the parking would be extremely expensive for just that race, even if the farmers would sell the land and the Council would let you. I always planned that the race would be one of the first of the season so even though the weather can still be iffy in the fall at least the ground would have dried out over the summer. As it is in September it has rained all winter on volcanic soils, not a good mix. The argument is that the F1 race is early in the year and you do not want to clash. Well it wasn't when it ran in Adelaide, and only runs early in Melbourne to avoid the Melbourne Cup horse race, Australia's Derby, which is run the first Tuesday in November if I remember correctly. So what if the GP ran that weekend prior? What an experience, you don't think the sum of the two is bigger than the parts in terms of a tourist draw?
I read yesterday that Korea is spreading cement dust on the asphalt to soak up the oil seeping out of it because it is so freshly laid. That's high tech right there, you want to be the first driver to find that slick spot.
There is a lot of comment about the bad weather at Phillip Island last weekend and why can't they pave the parking or move the race to earlier in the year? Paving the parking would be extremely expensive for just that race, even if the farmers would sell the land and the Council would let you. I always planned that the race would be one of the first of the season so even though the weather can still be iffy in the fall at least the ground would have dried out over the summer. As it is in September it has rained all winter on volcanic soils, not a good mix. The argument is that the F1 race is early in the year and you do not want to clash. Well it wasn't when it ran in Adelaide, and only runs early in Melbourne to avoid the Melbourne Cup horse race, Australia's Derby, which is run the first Tuesday in November if I remember correctly. So what if the GP ran that weekend prior? What an experience, you don't think the sum of the two is bigger than the parts in terms of a tourist draw?
Electric Vehicles
Monday, October 18, 2010 at 11:24AM Earlier this year I posted a question on Facebook, how many new power stations do we need if we move to electric vehicles. Someone knew the answer, 100. How many have we built in the last twenty years? Not that many, in fact very few apart from "peaker plants" running on natural gas to provide top up power at times of peak load. Now California is thinking of, or may have done it, restricting the power consumption of big screen TV's, so how are they going to handle electric vehicle demand, which is probably going to be higher in trendy California? In a similar vein this article was on Fox website yesterday asking how the grid is going to cope?
"A new generation of vehicles powered at least partially by electricity is on the way. And the prospect of a million or more Chevy Volts, Nissan Leafs, Tesla Roadsters and others on our highways in the next few years raises a practical question: Can the nation's electrical grid handle the power surge?
The grid already is responsible for running our offices, cooling our homes, powering our TVs, keeping our food cool and doing more or less everything else a modern human needs. Now, we're going to ask it to help drive us around town as well.
That shouldn't be difficult in the next year or so, when there won't be that many electric vehicles taking power from utilities. However, boosters hope that we'll see a million of these cars on the road by 2015. So researchers and industry officials will be paying close attention to make sure that the grid will be able to adapt."
Nice to see someone else is at least asking the question. You will notice that the new plants are mainly running on natural gas, while others remain on coal, both carbon based fuels, so how are electric cars green? The Leaf advertising says there is no tailpipe, that's because they swapped the tailpipe for the smokestack. Not in my backyard though. Until we make electricity from solar or some other truly green source we should stop kidding ourselves about electric cars. And let's not get started on the batteries.
There is, as usual, a nice piece in Autosport from the MPH page of Mark Hughes. It deals with the stress of the competition off the track between designers, which is even more intense than the drivers. Quoting James Allison from Renault, "I live in a state of perpetual fear. I fear that everything is always going to be not quite good enough - and I think it is better to feel that way." It is a great piece, and could just as easily have been written about track designers. "There are so many potentially wrong answers," he goes on to say, and that is just how I feel when laying out a track. You really only get one shot at getting it right, the owner is not going to be happy at changing it, and there are life and death issues here. It goes on to talk about the intuitive approach, not relying just on the data and the number crunching. I have talked about this before in respect of Adrian Newey, that he is not a technician but an artist. Any mathematician can crunch the numbers, but it is the artists that creates something new and innovative. As they say at the end of the piece, it is Newey the other designers are most afraid of, "They say he can visualise what the air wants to do." That is how I see race tracks.
The British Formula 3 calendar for 2011 was announced and it starts in Monza. Did I miss something here, this is the British F3 series? Maybe this is the problem, there are more than one F3 series and they tread on each others patch.
The grid already is responsible for running our offices, cooling our homes, powering our TVs, keeping our food cool and doing more or less everything else a modern human needs. Now, we're going to ask it to help drive us around town as well.
That shouldn't be difficult in the next year or so, when there won't be that many electric vehicles taking power from utilities. However, boosters hope that we'll see a million of these cars on the road by 2015. So researchers and industry officials will be paying close attention to make sure that the grid will be able to adapt."
Nice to see someone else is at least asking the question. You will notice that the new plants are mainly running on natural gas, while others remain on coal, both carbon based fuels, so how are electric cars green? The Leaf advertising says there is no tailpipe, that's because they swapped the tailpipe for the smokestack. Not in my backyard though. Until we make electricity from solar or some other truly green source we should stop kidding ourselves about electric cars. And let's not get started on the batteries.
There is, as usual, a nice piece in Autosport from the MPH page of Mark Hughes. It deals with the stress of the competition off the track between designers, which is even more intense than the drivers. Quoting James Allison from Renault, "I live in a state of perpetual fear. I fear that everything is always going to be not quite good enough - and I think it is better to feel that way." It is a great piece, and could just as easily have been written about track designers. "There are so many potentially wrong answers," he goes on to say, and that is just how I feel when laying out a track. You really only get one shot at getting it right, the owner is not going to be happy at changing it, and there are life and death issues here. It goes on to talk about the intuitive approach, not relying just on the data and the number crunching. I have talked about this before in respect of Adrian Newey, that he is not a technician but an artist. Any mathematician can crunch the numbers, but it is the artists that creates something new and innovative. As they say at the end of the piece, it is Newey the other designers are most afraid of, "They say he can visualise what the air wants to do." That is how I see race tracks.
The British Formula 3 calendar for 2011 was announced and it starts in Monza. Did I miss something here, this is the British F3 series? Maybe this is the problem, there are more than one F3 series and they tread on each others patch.
tagged Adrian Newey, Autosport, Designers, Electric vehicles, F1, F3, Mark Hughes
Adrian Newey, Autosport, Designers, Electric vehicles, F1, F3, Mark Hughes Stoner Rocks!
Sunday, October 17, 2010 at 02:54PM
Four in a row for Casey Stoner at The Island, and he made this one look so easy. Lorenzo showed the way to his current teammate Rossi who had a great dice with his future teammate Nicky Hayden. The interest was all in the 3-6th places as unusually for this track the first two were able to break away. Still a great track though after 20+ years. Decent crowd too considering the weather.
My apologies to my followers but it is all very quiet on the racing scene. Nice crash on the first lap at Hockenheim for the DTM cars, and looking at that corner I'm not surprised. Given the different configurations at that track, and even that corner, it is hard to see why they chose that one. You'll find it on Youtube. Grand Am announced that they were delighted with the likely link up with DTM, and who wouldn't be? What is that going to mean for their GT class though?
Things should liven up soon as the teams arrive in Korea for their first GP, so let's look forward to an interesting week.
My apologies to my followers but it is all very quiet on the racing scene. Nice crash on the first lap at Hockenheim for the DTM cars, and looking at that corner I'm not surprised. Given the different configurations at that track, and even that corner, it is hard to see why they chose that one. You'll find it on Youtube. Grand Am announced that they were delighted with the likely link up with DTM, and who wouldn't be? What is that going to mean for their GT class though?
Things should liven up soon as the teams arrive in Korea for their first GP, so let's look forward to an interesting week.
World Domination
Friday, October 15, 2010 at 01:08PM
Is this about Bernie? No, he already has that with his latest signing of the agreement in Russia with Putin present no less. No it is about the DTM. BMW have finally got off the fence and announced their commitment to what has been a two horse race series between Audi and Mercedes, and no worse for it in the vein of the V8Supercars in Oz. Rumors have abounded about tie ups with both the Japanese Super GT series and Grand Am, but now it seems it will go further than that. The Japanese are to adopt the DTM rules for car preparation, so presumably manufacturers can compete in both and would not that be something to see. Nissan, Lexus and Honda mixing it with Mercedes, Audi and BMW, and with some of the best drivers in the world. What a show! It gets better. The plan is not to run in Grand Am, but to run as a separate series of twelve races in the US, six with Grand Am events and six with NASCAR events. Look out ALMS, we're coming through, and BTCC and WTCC are going to look a bit sick. No spec cars here with the same chassis and engine. Could even give NASCAR a run in the US as the DTM guys biff and barge as the old NASACAR boys used to do. Did you see Dijon last year?
Down at Phillip Island the conditions were the talking point among the riders and the spectators. Rain delayed practice and wind was another big problem. A racetrack next to the sea looks great on a nice day, but when there is nothing between you and Antarctica it can be awful, I know I lived there. For once I am glad I am not promoting that race. Pedrosa was in more pain than most with his freshly plated shoulder, but the wet conditions made it a bit easier for him. Very courageous men these riders. Lorenzo celebrated his World Championship with fastest time in Friday practice. He has vowed to put on a show now he does not need to worry about points, so it should be fun. Casey Stoner was next with his teammate Hayden third. Most riders saw little point in pushing it in the conditions, with Ben Spies presumably just touring around seventeen seconds off the pace. The weather can change several times a day there, so tomorrow can be quite different, although running the race this time of year is always going to be a gamble. It is promoted by the Government who presumably do not want it to compete with the F1 GP, but a race early in the year is really the way to go.
A couple of nice articles to read. Last Turn Club has a review of the Petit which is right on the money, and ESPN F1 discusses the never ending march of Bernie through more and more countries and asks where will it end?
"If the promised races go ahead, then the real losers are likely to be the established venues, mainly in Europe. Bernie deals on the back of massive financial guarantees from the tracks. The new venues he has unveiled - some good, some appalling - have almost all had the benefit of huge funding from local or central government. The older circuits simply cannot match the money being thrown at Ecclestone.
When Bernie faced with sentimentality, or even public opinion, against cash, there will only be one winner."
Down at Phillip Island the conditions were the talking point among the riders and the spectators. Rain delayed practice and wind was another big problem. A racetrack next to the sea looks great on a nice day, but when there is nothing between you and Antarctica it can be awful, I know I lived there. For once I am glad I am not promoting that race. Pedrosa was in more pain than most with his freshly plated shoulder, but the wet conditions made it a bit easier for him. Very courageous men these riders. Lorenzo celebrated his World Championship with fastest time in Friday practice. He has vowed to put on a show now he does not need to worry about points, so it should be fun. Casey Stoner was next with his teammate Hayden third. Most riders saw little point in pushing it in the conditions, with Ben Spies presumably just touring around seventeen seconds off the pace. The weather can change several times a day there, so tomorrow can be quite different, although running the race this time of year is always going to be a gamble. It is promoted by the Government who presumably do not want it to compete with the F1 GP, but a race early in the year is really the way to go.
A couple of nice articles to read. Last Turn Club has a review of the Petit which is right on the money, and ESPN F1 discusses the never ending march of Bernie through more and more countries and asks where will it end?
"If the promised races go ahead, then the real losers are likely to be the established venues, mainly in Europe. Bernie deals on the back of massive financial guarantees from the tracks. The new venues he has unveiled - some good, some appalling - have almost all had the benefit of huge funding from local or central government. The older circuits simply cannot match the money being thrown at Ecclestone.
When Bernie faced with sentimentality, or even public opinion, against cash, there will only be one winner."
tagged ALMS, Bernie Ecclestone, DTM, ESPN F1, F1, Grand Am, Japanese Super GT, Last Turn Club, Lorenzo, MotoGP, NASCAR, Phillip Island, Russia
ALMS, Bernie Ecclestone, DTM, ESPN F1, F1, Grand Am, Japanese Super GT, Last Turn Club, Lorenzo, MotoGP, NASCAR, Phillip Island, Russia To Russia with Bernie
Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 01:08PM
So the deals done. $40m a year for five years in Sochi on a presumably new Tilke track for 2014. Then there's India, Rome, Austin, who's for the chop? Anyone who cannot manage $40m a year I guess.
The teams met in Japan to discuss how to make the Grand Prix's better. Make them two day events was one option being considered as it would be much more attractive for the fans. We could just run Sunday and make them even better on that logic, or perhaps just have a two hour race for the ultimate experience! They thankfully agreed that was not really such a good idea, but thought that they could move inspection to Friday to save them arriving so early in the week. Now that would be a great show for the fans. C'mon guys, you are supposed to be the geniuses running this sport, surely you can do better than this. Fans come to watch cars on track, racing, remember that? These need to be "events", let promoters run some decent supports like the V8Supercars in Australia and give the fan value for money. Look at the Goodwood Revival meetings to see how its done, or Adelaide in its hay-day.
It's nice to hear Massa has the team's full support. Usually that is the last sound someone hears before he is shown the door. Helmut Marko, the Red Bull motorsport genius says that Kimi is not coming through with the PR value for the money he is being paid. What other rally driver to hear about apart from Loeb, especially as Kimi is not winning and still getting coverage? Marko said Kimi crashes, well so does you golden boy Vettel, but I do not hear that you think he is not worth the money. Talking of Vettel it seems he and Webber are still at odds. A friend commented on Mark's body language in the parc ferme after Japan, and apparently Mark was off to the helicopter straight away without waiting for the normal team victory photo. I wonder how this is going to play out? I know Mark has signed a contract for next year and there does not appear many options open, but how can you see this going on for another season?
The MotoGP is gathering at Phillip Island for the Australian GP and Casey Stoner is looking to make it four in a row. If he can keep his Ducati upright it would be a good start, but he has shown in the last few races that it is competitive, so good luck Casey. Let's hope the rain stays away. The Island can be a cruel place at this time of year and the ground is still saturated after the winter. One famous quote from my September race in 1990 was that if you brought a car "you would be as popular as a Russian submarine in New York harbor." This was from a motorcycle magazine, really helped with my ticket sales! Always a good race at that track so make sure to watch.
On a personal note, how is it I can build a track like that and stage the first and best GP's, and be sitting here underemployed and undervalued? I despair of building a track again the way it is going.
The teams met in Japan to discuss how to make the Grand Prix's better. Make them two day events was one option being considered as it would be much more attractive for the fans. We could just run Sunday and make them even better on that logic, or perhaps just have a two hour race for the ultimate experience! They thankfully agreed that was not really such a good idea, but thought that they could move inspection to Friday to save them arriving so early in the week. Now that would be a great show for the fans. C'mon guys, you are supposed to be the geniuses running this sport, surely you can do better than this. Fans come to watch cars on track, racing, remember that? These need to be "events", let promoters run some decent supports like the V8Supercars in Australia and give the fan value for money. Look at the Goodwood Revival meetings to see how its done, or Adelaide in its hay-day.
It's nice to hear Massa has the team's full support. Usually that is the last sound someone hears before he is shown the door. Helmut Marko, the Red Bull motorsport genius says that Kimi is not coming through with the PR value for the money he is being paid. What other rally driver to hear about apart from Loeb, especially as Kimi is not winning and still getting coverage? Marko said Kimi crashes, well so does you golden boy Vettel, but I do not hear that you think he is not worth the money. Talking of Vettel it seems he and Webber are still at odds. A friend commented on Mark's body language in the parc ferme after Japan, and apparently Mark was off to the helicopter straight away without waiting for the normal team victory photo. I wonder how this is going to play out? I know Mark has signed a contract for next year and there does not appear many options open, but how can you see this going on for another season?
The MotoGP is gathering at Phillip Island for the Australian GP and Casey Stoner is looking to make it four in a row. If he can keep his Ducati upright it would be a good start, but he has shown in the last few races that it is competitive, so good luck Casey. Let's hope the rain stays away. The Island can be a cruel place at this time of year and the ground is still saturated after the winter. One famous quote from my September race in 1990 was that if you brought a car "you would be as popular as a Russian submarine in New York harbor." This was from a motorcycle magazine, really helped with my ticket sales! Always a good race at that track so make sure to watch.
On a personal note, how is it I can build a track like that and stage the first and best GP's, and be sitting here underemployed and undervalued? I despair of building a track again the way it is going.