Hey, Lest we forget: We do have one of the oldest GP's coming up this weekend on one of the fastest circuits still in use. All the teams will be there (!) and given how well they know the track we may even see an interesting race..... I've said it before, but think it needs to be reiterated - The lap times from front to back are closer than they've ever been. There's even a little overtaking! Despite the claims to the contrary, (sorry Carol!) the best technology is still in F1 - They remain quite simply the fastest, best handling race cars on the planet. They exist on a knife edge and most of 'em even work in the wet! They're piloted by the best drivers, not failed F1 jockeys and pay-to-drive gentlemen as in Le Mans - Don't get me wrong, I watched and enjoyed a lot of the race but Le Mans is a one off - The rest of the time the stands are empty and very few people know (or even care) who wins on any given weekend. The TV audience will be huge as usual and the "casual fan" will get their fix - Outside of these (and similar) forums no one cares about the politics - Ask your non race fan buddies if they have any idea of the turmoil and I bet they'll give you a blank look. Bring on the races! Cheers, Ian
Oh, there will be an F1 world championship next year, one way or another. Ferrari will be in it. I'm not sure if it will be run by the FIA and the evil pygmy or some other entity, but it will happen.- Too much money, livelihoods and investments depend on it [IMHO] Cheers, Ian
Agreed! I actually like Donington (remember Senna in the wet!?) but not at the expense of Silverstone. Are you going? - You really should! - Even if Woodcote isn't what it used to be it's still a great track and you may not get to see 'em there again for a few years..... OTOH, maybe you will Cheers, Ian
Obviously you haven't been to Road Atlanta for Petit, Laguna Seca or any of the sports car races in Europe. Tell Tom K he's a lousy driver, tell Allan he suxs, Ferrari test driver won Le Mans, TWO FERRARI FACTORY DRIVERS WON GT2, tell Johnny O'Connell he's lousy and a pay-to-drive gentlemen (bet Corvette would like that one!) and the list goes on and on and on. F1 can't get KERS to work, yet Corsa and Peugeot has been able to do it. As I recall, weren't the CAN-AM cars faster than the F1 cars at one point? And .... how many were in Turkey for the F1 race, he he... (they couldn't afford the outrageous prices to attend a parade.) Carol
Absolutely. Capitalism is a beautiful thing. Capitalism will find a way. A $2 billion market up for grabs greases a lot of wheels and makes a lot of investments into golden opportunities. Ferrari and McLaren and Renault and Toyota will be running next year... somewhere, and it will be great to watch. The only unknown is whether Bernie or (more likely) Max will have anything to do with it.
Carol's right, I don't think any one series harbors the "best drivers in the world". Some of the drivers at LeMans were former F1 pilots, maybe not too successful there. But that may not have been their niche which they found in FIA sports cars. A guy like Wurz never had a really great car to suit his driving preferences, but he seems to have found that in sports cars. It is very likely that some current F1 driver deciding to run LeMans in the future may not do as well as the so-called failed F1 jockeys. It takes a certain skill to drive a 24 hour and especially at night in the rain. they may both turn left and right, but they are different. I agree with Ian about the technology, to a point, but despite the different rules of sports cars a lot of F1 technology appears in the Peugeot and the Audis. F1 is still the supreme series. For now.
Hey, Firstly, no offense intended! - Just voicing my somewhat opinionated thoughts for the sake of debate..... Bad assumption - I worked with a data acquisition company at Road Atlanta for Petit two years back [actually slept in the SpeedTV truck!], am a fairly regular visitor to Laguna and Sears (Infineon) and was at both Silverstone and Brands many years back when the Can Am visited. Good, fun racing but it just doesn't "float my boat" in the way F1 does. [I admit Le Mans is still on my bucket list - One day I'll go.] I never said they suck! For sure there are some very, very good jockeys participating. But, outside of the dedicated fan, I bet there's no one who could tell you who won the "minor" (P2, GT1 and GT2) classes at Le Mans this year - "Everyone" knows which car (but probably not which drivers) won outright, but a GT2 class win is, in the eyes of most, a "so what?" kind of thing. Carol, I know you love your sports cars, and I admire your enthusiasm (and travel budget!) - Good for you - I enjoy your posts and knowledge of the subject. But, I've got to stick to my guns and say "but it ain't F1!" - For all but the likes us nerds the politics are irrelevant, F1 remains the pinnacle and sports cars are generally where you wind up if you can't cut it as an F1 jockey. For sure, you can make a good living driving sports cars but I'll say again, outside of Le Mans the stands are pretty much empty and the TV coverage worldwide is miniscule compared with F1. It's certainly possible to build a car that's faster than F1 - Start by hiding the wheels to get some good aero, plug in a shed load of horsepower and downforce and away you go - No problem. But that's not the point IMHO. It's Formula 1 - There's rules that must (most of the time ] be obeyed and a somewhat level playing field that everyone must go with. Damn, even the back markers are within a second or two (at the most) of pole around a 3+ mile road course - The margins from hero to zero are *tiny* in F1. There's simply nothing else like it IMHO. Agreed - The evil pygmy and Mad Max have for sure "spoilt" things, but at least for now it's still the single most important motorsport on the planet. Hopefully the endless political nausea is coming to a head one way or another and we can get back to it being the pinnacle. Turning to your point regarding KERS, they've got it working, it's just that the margins are so tight it's a questionable advantage - Weight distribution is key, and these things are so sensitive, and the rules on it's use so restrictive that, for now at least, it's use is largely irrelevant. I guess I'm probably in the minority, but I'd love to see it go forward in F1 - Not from any tree hugging aspect but rather as a way to push the envelope. As always, my 02c, Cheers, Ian
F1 may or may not be dead. If it does survive it will be in a significantly altered form. What will persist is the market it has created. Someone will fill it.
I don't mind Donington but you really can't beat Silverstone and hopefully one day they will bring it back to Silverstone probably when Max is gone lol. As for going i wanted to but they were sold out before i could get my hands on tickets, so if they do bring it back i will.... but Donington is closer to where i live and i have been to Silverstone twice and enjoyed it alot.
WTF? So much for the death of F1! And ticket prices being too high!...... OK, it's only one race, and "Button mania" will be in full swing, but SOLD OUT!...... Cheers, Ian
Yeah the British GP is always a sell out weeks before the actual race, sell out last year too. And Silverstone is one of the most expensive... bar Monaco of course lol. But certainly the most expensive in europe.
I think the Donington deal is a farce... the guy behind it has been behind other race track failures. Also, he doesn't even have the funding in place yet. Even if he gets the funding, it is very likely he won't be able to pull off the completion of the track. Bernie wants to get rid of the British GP... I believe there is something in the commercial agreement with the teams regarding this, mandating that there be a British GP. Bernie is probably free to pick where it's held, and by signing with Donnington, he probably has an out - the track doesn't get completed, Bernie says they have an iron-clad 17 year contract, and it's a de-facto cancellation of the British GP without having to break his agreement with the teams. Bernie is a sly little devil. Literally.
What's a seventeen year contract worth? If the track fails to meet some as yet unwritten rule it's out.
How funny would it be if the teams showed up at Silverstone again next year (in a new series) and Donington gets to start its glorious 17-year run with a bunch of no-name newbies in a series nobody watches anymore...
+1 - 17 years! Where'd that come from?...... Gotta disagree a little there Mike - He wants to get rid of the BRDC, not the race per se. He doesn't like the fact that these guys have the balls to stand up to his nonsense..... The race appears to be sold out as well! He *hates* that Cheers, Ian
Brillant just brilliant... It could happen. Funny thing is way back when I was in the Music Biz world, I organized a gig which went up against a well established venue, they wouldn't headline us, so I set it up on the same night, with some other good acts, the best I could get, we just blew them out the water, they lost money, joe public will pay to watch the best...
+1 And with all due respect, the best ain't in sports cars, Nascar, the IRL or anywhere else - The best is in "F1" - whatever form that may take next year! Cheers, Ian
Is it really about the BDRC? I know he doesn't like them (to put it mildly) but what is the root of his beef with them? He's been whining about Silverstone for years now and always says it will be the last GP. If he wanted a British GP, why not set it up so it would succeed? It seems he's (knowingly) signed on with a developer that is destined for failure. I figured that going with Donnington gave him a legal 'out' of a British GP. ...and THAT would really be a farce. Nowhere is more the core of Formula 1 Racing then Great Britain.
I was just looking the Donington article in the new AQ and its a shame to see a track with such a history used in such a sordid way.
