Entries in Symonds (2)
Williams
Sunday, February 13, 2011 at 11:49AM
Just when I am saying that Williams should be worried about a lack of pace and reliability Barrichello goes and bangs in the quickest time of the test session. So we may as well wait till the first race to find out anything useful. Only 28 days. McLaren has everyone tricked about where the exhaust exits, the poor photographers are going mad trying to get a shot of it. Senna is in the Renault doing respectable times, but not matching Heidfeld and spinning it. Alonso and Massa have put the most miles on a car so the Ferrari looks pretty bullet proof, and close to the pace.
NASCAR's season kicked off last night with the Bud Shoot Out, and we saw in practice and the race what to expect from the repaved track. It has given a new dimension to team orders as cars ran in pairs like two love bugs tied together. If you don't know what love bugs are then you are lucky. They invade parts of the southern US and once mated cannot uncouple, so fly around like a "push me, pull you" until they die. Odd thing was that the motors did not die with the high revs and overheating from running so close, but it will be interesting how long they can sustain it in a 500 mile race. Makes for weird racing though, not sure that this was what NASCAR wanted. And who decides which driver is going to sacrifice himself to push his team mate over the line? Yes we've seen that before, but this was something different.
Christian Horner says that a budget cap is back on the table in F1. This time as a true overall amount by the sound of it, "We agree with restricting activity but don't cherry-pick ... let's do a transparent once-and-for-all deal with this," he said. I still cannot see the big teams cutting back to the level of the small teams, so the level is going to be set above what the small teams can raise anyway. Is this about "fairness?" Are we trying to "level the playing field?" I know the NFL does this stuff, not sure that it works though. This sport is about competition, both on and off the track. By all means stop teams spending more money than they have so they are stopped from going broke, but if they can raise it why should they not spend it? Perhaps there should be controls on excesses like the crazy "motor homes" that add nothing to the racing, but you could argue add to the spectacle. It would probably be cheaper if the teams funded the building of permanent structures like we see at overseas tracks, rather than pay for the cost of transport and erection, for what is now less than half the season anyway. Has anyone suggested Peugeot and Audi should be limited on what they spend on sporstcars?
Talking of fairness, Flavio's mate Pat Symonds is OK to be a consultant to Virgin. Now I am a consultant, and the only difference to being an employee is how you get paid and benefits, so let's cut the BS and hypocrisy.
NASCAR's season kicked off last night with the Bud Shoot Out, and we saw in practice and the race what to expect from the repaved track. It has given a new dimension to team orders as cars ran in pairs like two love bugs tied together. If you don't know what love bugs are then you are lucky. They invade parts of the southern US and once mated cannot uncouple, so fly around like a "push me, pull you" until they die. Odd thing was that the motors did not die with the high revs and overheating from running so close, but it will be interesting how long they can sustain it in a 500 mile race. Makes for weird racing though, not sure that this was what NASCAR wanted. And who decides which driver is going to sacrifice himself to push his team mate over the line? Yes we've seen that before, but this was something different.
Christian Horner says that a budget cap is back on the table in F1. This time as a true overall amount by the sound of it, "We agree with restricting activity but don't cherry-pick ... let's do a transparent once-and-for-all deal with this," he said. I still cannot see the big teams cutting back to the level of the small teams, so the level is going to be set above what the small teams can raise anyway. Is this about "fairness?" Are we trying to "level the playing field?" I know the NFL does this stuff, not sure that it works though. This sport is about competition, both on and off the track. By all means stop teams spending more money than they have so they are stopped from going broke, but if they can raise it why should they not spend it? Perhaps there should be controls on excesses like the crazy "motor homes" that add nothing to the racing, but you could argue add to the spectacle. It would probably be cheaper if the teams funded the building of permanent structures like we see at overseas tracks, rather than pay for the cost of transport and erection, for what is now less than half the season anyway. Has anyone suggested Peugeot and Audi should be limited on what they spend on sporstcars?
Talking of fairness, Flavio's mate Pat Symonds is OK to be a consultant to Virgin. Now I am a consultant, and the only difference to being an employee is how you get paid and benefits, so let's cut the BS and hypocrisy.
Car Sick
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 at 11:04AM
No, I am not finally sick of cars, no one ever gets over that, but the last time I can recall ever being car sick was about eleven years old, until I got in a simulator that is. It seems Michael Schumacher and I have the same problem, simulators give us motion sickness. Now I have raced cars, flown in small planes across the heat of Australia's deserts, sailed boats and been on a Catamaran out to the Barrier Reef when everyone on board except four of us were sea sick, so this came as a great shock to me. Can anyone explain this phenomenon? After I designed the track here in Arizona the client bought a locally made simulator and they loaded the track layout. It worked great, but I could only do a few laps before feeling very disoriented and queasy. Not much of an inconvenience for me, but it must be a huge problem for Michael, everyone else has the car set up before they even get to the track and he starts from scratch.
There is the start of a nice article by Julian Ryder on Superbike Planet today about how Superbikes started.
http://superbikeplanet.com/2007/Nov/071119l.htm
It interested me as it talks of Steve McLaughlin, "motormouth" who was instrumental in the first World Championship. I happened to be in Geneva for a meeting of the FIM Management Council the day Steve was there to have the agreement with the FIM signed. Sitting in the lobby for most of the day with Steve was an education.
Joe Saward in his F1 blog today asks the question "why are the media publishing comments from Briatore and Symonds?" As two of the key figures in the "crashgate" debacle he believes that they should not be heard of again, let alone be involved in the sport, and cites numerous examples of life time bans from other sports. He asks if he is on his own with this view, so Joe, since you asked, no.
Is it just me or has the USGP announced three times now that they have started? We saw before the New Year machines on site, but that was only a soil sampling exercise and putting up silt fence. Then we had a "photo op" the other day of Tavo driving some machine on site, started again. And now today we read that USGP is set to receive digging permission. Now I do not doubt they will get it done, but please quit the over hype, it does them no favors.
The judge in the Lotus case quickly disposed of the first hearing refusing Lotus Groups submission to throw the action out even before their lawyers said anything, and rather than let it drag on he has set it down for March 21, suggesting they sort themselves out before then. Nice one judge. Tony Fernandes is quoted as saying the good do always win. Not in my world Tony unfortunately, so good luck.
Sounds as if Force India are set to announce Paul Di Resta as a driver for 2011 tomorrow in Glasgow. Why else would you go to Glasgow? So, what now for Luizzi, and his contract?
Pat Symonds, yes the one I said should not be heard from, but is, suggests that F1 needs to do a lot more research on just how much overtaking it needs. Good point, I don't think F1 fans want a NASCAR type lead change every lap, and Lewis Hamilton did not seem to have too much trouble to pass people at most tracks this year, and how about Kobayashi, so perhaps it is attitude not the car? We certainly do not want to see manipulated races.
There is the start of a nice article by Julian Ryder on Superbike Planet today about how Superbikes started.
http://superbikeplanet.com/2007/Nov/071119l.htm
It interested me as it talks of Steve McLaughlin, "motormouth" who was instrumental in the first World Championship. I happened to be in Geneva for a meeting of the FIM Management Council the day Steve was there to have the agreement with the FIM signed. Sitting in the lobby for most of the day with Steve was an education.
Joe Saward in his F1 blog today asks the question "why are the media publishing comments from Briatore and Symonds?" As two of the key figures in the "crashgate" debacle he believes that they should not be heard of again, let alone be involved in the sport, and cites numerous examples of life time bans from other sports. He asks if he is on his own with this view, so Joe, since you asked, no.
Is it just me or has the USGP announced three times now that they have started? We saw before the New Year machines on site, but that was only a soil sampling exercise and putting up silt fence. Then we had a "photo op" the other day of Tavo driving some machine on site, started again. And now today we read that USGP is set to receive digging permission. Now I do not doubt they will get it done, but please quit the over hype, it does them no favors.
The judge in the Lotus case quickly disposed of the first hearing refusing Lotus Groups submission to throw the action out even before their lawyers said anything, and rather than let it drag on he has set it down for March 21, suggesting they sort themselves out before then. Nice one judge. Tony Fernandes is quoted as saying the good do always win. Not in my world Tony unfortunately, so good luck.
Sounds as if Force India are set to announce Paul Di Resta as a driver for 2011 tomorrow in Glasgow. Why else would you go to Glasgow? So, what now for Luizzi, and his contract?
Pat Symonds, yes the one I said should not be heard from, but is, suggests that F1 needs to do a lot more research on just how much overtaking it needs. Good point, I don't think F1 fans want a NASCAR type lead change every lap, and Lewis Hamilton did not seem to have too much trouble to pass people at most tracks this year, and how about Kobayashi, so perhaps it is attitude not the car? We certainly do not want to see manipulated races.