New tire rule for '10 should prove interesting

stupid.. i say race what you bring. if you can make your car faster than the next guy maybe he better learn the tricks too...socialistic/communistic mentality brought to the race track

his car is faster than my car and that just not fair...he makes more money than me and thats not fair...he has a bigger house than me and thats not fair... heck the government better step in and make it even...oh wait here in the usa "they" are trying that right now!

 

Do they really need to make anymore stupid tweaks? IMO no.

 

If that's the case then driver safety is at greater risk.

 

This new rule basically handicaps the top 10 drivers from qualifying. It gives the remaining 16 (?) drivers a chance to pass them or at least try to do so.

Which of course will increase the entertainment value.

Ergo: I like it. A lot actually. It is just one step short of reversed grid.

 

Not really.

Just organise all the races in hot countries? Bernie would like that!!

GPs alternating between Dubai, Shanghai, Singapore, Malaysia, etc... and nothing North of Turkey!!

 

You are right there!!

Historic cars are increasingly good looking compared to the present crop too...

 

Yeah, nothing is more suspenseful than watching some super rich over weight no talent drivers putt around in their expensive toys.


Don't get me wrong, I like going to historics and watch the cars and all. I have been to Historic GPs. It's all fun and games. But it is a far cry from watching actual drivers perform on the limit in state of the art racecars, which you know outperform anything else there is.

In a way sadly Bernie already does that: He puts the GPs of Britain, Germany and Europe smack in the hottest months of the year so that even those mild tempered countries become hot as hell for the spectators. While other places like Spa are left in September, guaranteed to get rain. What an absolute moron.

 

Yea, handicapped racing. Just what all F1 fans are waiting for.

 

When you put it like that, it is a hard sell.

But let's face the reality here for a moment:

The drivers qualify in the positions depending on their speed around the track. That means that the front runners will be the front runners in the race and basically disappear over the horizon. We're back to the Schumacher years from ten years ago where you could predict the outcome of the race after Saturday's qualifying.

Boring.

The new tire rule throws a monkey wrench into the mix and might or might not change some of the outcome. At least there is a little bit of action before the chequered flag drops.

The cream will always rise to the top, the question is more how fast is that rise?

 

To a certain extent you are absolutely right, of course, but this is slowly changing I have heard.

Historic cars are increasingly ran by well organised teams and driven by professional drivers too. The era of rich gentlemen-drivers is coming to an end.

As for the cars, since the FIA endorsed the 'continuation' chassis, many cars are in fact brand new but conform to the original plans, with only the minimum 'period' components.
Chevron, Lola, Crossle, AC, etc... can sell you brand new 1960s chassis, whilst Cosworth, Judd and others have resurrected their old engine designs.

The historic car scene is booming right now and has quite a lot of followers and many different series, on this side of the pond at least.

Classic rallying is another area that attracts the crowds too. Modern rallying has just become a series of short sprints in daytime, organised over 2 days maximum with cars that are becoming increasingly remote from the market.

Many people identify with the 'golden' era of their youth, and are not really attracted to 'modern' racing with its incomprehensible rules, ruling bodies' interference, lack of diversity and pop-star status for the drivers.

 

This is going to require some smart tyre management from the start of the race. Push too hard from the off and first you risk going off the track due to no grip and if you survive that, you then risk serious tyre graining after around five laps due to the heat cycles, leaving you at risk from those behind you.

Don't push hard enough from the start though and straight away you're at risk from those behind you.

I can't help feeling that Jenson Button with his smooth driving style could gain from this development.

 

Some thoughts on the new tire rule:
So we finally have low fuel qualifying for Q3. Wonderful! The days are back for us to see who is the fastest driver/which is the fastest car in absolute terms (i.e. low fuel, soft tires), but.................now this new tire rule.
With the ban on refueling during the race, the cars will start with full fuel loads. The preferred strategy will be hard tires on full tanks to start the race, then switch to soft tires at mid race (for a one stop strategy). So with the new tire rule, in a one stop race, you will have to qualify on hard tires or compromise the first one-half of the race. Remember that use of both compounds is still required. Not terribly exciting.
But, the interesting part will be for tracks that might favor a two stop strategy (or possibly 3?). Where the pit lane is very short, and because tire changes will take less than 4 seconds, the strategy possibilities begin to expand and that could become interesting after all. If you watch GP2 or DTM, you have an idea on the tire strategy variables.
I don't know how it will play out in F1, but I can't wait to watch!

 

In the end ALL auto racing is entertainment.
Whatever improves the show gets my vote.
Even Andrea's sprinklers

 

All very interesting, thanks.

I'm not sure I'm happy about the historics "going pro". Yes, for the spectators that's a good thing, but quite frankly the overweight, untalented super rich guys I mentioned are the ones who will guarantee the future of Historics racing. If they can't win anymore, they will take their ball and go home and the fans like me won't be able to see the cars anymore.

Also very interesting comments about rally racing. WRC ended for me when they banned Group B. Today's rally cars are cute, but I no longer see the connection between them and the street cars. A bit like NASCAR silhouette cars. At least a 959 or a 288GTO you could buy (given enough cash).

 

Fixed it:

 

Tire warmers are banned this season? I thought that idea was scrapped because of safety issues? IIRC, Nick Heidi lapped on cold tires, somewhere 13 secs slower!