F-1 Rant

[Ross]

Sharkmans post about the Schumi incedent pompts this.
On the original topic. It certainly looked a clumsy and deliberate effort to foil Alonso. Schumi has been occasionally given to these dumb ideas in the past, although I personally thought he had grown out of it. Renault must have him rattled. He got what he deserved.
Now that Herr Schumacher hasn't the best car on the grid and he sees the end of his career in sight he has become perhaps a little desperate.
Now the rant.
The regulations have become so silly in the past few years as to endanger F-1's status as the pinnacle of motorsport. I believe the underlying motives of many rule changes to give others some chance to compete against Ferrari.
Quali especially is intended to upset the grid. It's better this year but only when an open session for everyone is reinstated will qualifying be an accurate indication of ultimate performance from the teams.
Ferrari continued to succeed in spite of changes made by the FIA until 2005 when Bridgestones tires where not competitive. A natural change of power that didn't require any fiddling with the rules.
If the FIA doesn't stop making poor rules changes in the interest of providing a show then F-1 will become a mediocre spectacle like NASCAR.
Before you start shooting allow me to clarify. NASCAR is so regulated that the cars are essentially identical which is great if your idea is to provide a venue for strictly a drivers competition. NASCAR prior to the eighties was a different animal. The car was part of the equation then. If you are looking for an athletic competition then remove the motors and install pedals.
I'm no fan of NASCAR but mean no slight either, it's just that the cars are pigs. If you don't believe me look at Jeff Gordon's face after he did a few laps in Juan Pablo Montoya's Williams (BMW) a few years back!
One common reason cited by FIA for rule changes is to reduce speed and costs. Neither has been accomplished. The cars have been narrowed,slick tires abolished,engine displacement reduced and asked to live longer.Yet speeds are up and cost even more so. And sheer spending isn't the answer anyway,the Japanese can attest to this. This is is a game where natural selection should be the rule. The strong survive to fight the ultimate battle,the weak go to GP-2.
The money is certainly there and the desire to compete is in most.I wish the GD FIA would stop meddling! Now that Ferrari is not dominating maybe they will. But rest assured if Schumi pulls a miracle from his ass, Bridgestones will be square for 2007.
If there weren't such retarded qualifying procedures Schumi would have needed to save that move for the race.

[DaCan23]

Yes the some of the rule changes are crap, but the FIA has always been a problem, they rule F1 like the nazis.

But I'd still take F1 over anything

Nascar is worse. I am no longer a Nascar fan, its ridiculous, a sponsor whoring farce. It all started when it no longer became the Winston Cup... the chase is stupid. The races are too long. Restrictor plates are stupid. The lucky dog thing of free lap back is reallllllllly stupid. But the worse is this weekend, lets run a 600 mile race on a smaller fuel cell.... HOW STUPID.

[Jay 535i]

You're 100% right, Ross. IMHO it all started with the narrow cars and grooved tires of 1998.

If they really want to slow the cars down while keeping the racing exciting, the solution is bloody obvious: remove the wings and outlaw downforce! That would slow the cars and also reduce the effects of 'dirty air' that make it impossible to pass.

The only reason they don't do it is that the front and rear wings comprise the car's most visible advertising space.

So now you know what their real priorities are. :(

[SharkmanBMW]

Ross.... well said.
It is sad how the fia governs so nazi like.
Rules are imposed when they see fit... crazy rules too!

F1 is still a million miles ahead of nascar for action (except those 40 car pileups!)
It's nice to hear what you F1 fans have to say!

[Jay 535i]

F1 is still a million miles ahead of nascar for action (except those 40 car pileups!)

Belgium 1998:

http://www.f1rejects.com/hall/panelbeaters/spa1.gif
http://www.f1rejects.com/hall/panelbeaters/spa2.gif
http://www.f1rejects.com/hall/panelbeaters/spa3.gif
http://www.f1rejects.com/hall/panelbeaters/spa4.gif

If you missed it, it was classic. No injuries, thankfully. I believe only four cars came out unscathed.

[DaCan23]

Also at least its not like the ridiculous IRL/Indy 500, where cars are a lap down after a few laps and where the 2nd place car could have so much more power to fly past 1st on the last lap after making up how much ground after the pit incident.... Talk about uneven field, the IRL should just consist of like 6 cars cause no one else has a chance.

After watching all of the Monaco race, the Indy 500 was sooo boring.

[GJPinAU]

What are your thoughts on A1 GP.
Format? Cars? etc

[Ross]

Are you refering to the competing series proposed by some of the F-1 teams or is this a series I'm not familiar with?

[GJPinAU]

Are you refering to the competing series proposed by some of the F-1 teams or is this a series I'm not familiar with?
A1 is an international series with teams from Countries eg: Australia or USA. Most have 3 recognised drivers from their country.
All the cars are the same (not sure on who made them).
It is owned and run by some oil baron sheik.
It is sought of F1 meets British touring cars (old school)
Watched it a couple of times last season, was very entertaining.

[SharkmanBMW]

A1 is an international series with teams from Countries eg: Australia or USA. Most have 3 recognised drivers from their country.
All the cars are the same (not sure on who made them).
It is owned and run by some oil baron sheik.
It is sought of F1 meets British touring cars (old school)
Watched it a couple of times last season, was very entertaining.

where can I see this A1?!??!

[GJPinAU]

where can I see this A1?!??!
Try this first
http://www.a1gp.com/main.php?hf=Yes

[Ross]

I have not heard of this but will watch out for it. Today I watched a Mazda Star series race on TV. Bobby Rahal's son won it.Good close racing in cars with real gearboxes, slick tires and minimal aero. I enjoyed it more than Monaco GP. I have also become a big fan of vintage racing,the Can-Am still lives.

[Ross]

Thanks, I think I have seen bits of this.What can you tell me about the formula?

Ross

[jrobbo]

Ross,

Take a look at http://www.a1gp.com

Regards

John

[F4Phantom]

When I was doing mech eng there was a guy in my class heavily involved in motorsport as a team guy. He said that there are hundreds of unreal inventions that smart f1 engineers spent years developing, they put it on the car, race, win, the technology is outlawed and it goes into a filing cabinet. I recon they should start another F1 race with one rule, to win. No rules in any technology, turbo's, inverted downforce wings as lotus developed in the late 70's which was revolutionary. This is the race F1 should be.

In Australia we also have a nascar type race called V8 supercars. Essentiallly its just two model cars, ford falcons and holden commodores, they are all gutted and are just shells of the road versions in the dealership although the companies would like you to buy their car because it 'wins races'. Its a bull crap boring as hell race with the same results every week 1st place a holden, 2nd place a ford or vice versa. The race used to be unreal, with normal street cars racing, and on saturday you see who wins, on monday you can buy that exact car. To me this is very exciting because of the possibility of owning a car capable of winning races and in the 70's there were some very fast road legal race cars getting around. But like all things sponsorship, big money, tv stations and all that ruin the real fun.
I think A1 could be the next thing to watch, any sport is interesting when you know the background of the countries competing. The problem here at the moment is we only see about 7 - 12 seconds of highlights of this event becuase the v8 supercars after race warm down and discussion tv show is on.

[GJPinAU]

I think A1 could be the next thing to watch, any sport is interesting when you know the background of the countries competing. The problem here at the moment is we only see about 7 - 12 seconds of highlights of this event becuase the v8 supercars after race warm down and discussion tv show is on.
You can watch Production Car racing on Speedweek when they show it - the Bimmers kick butt in this category.
Since Ten has lost the V8s to 7 maybe they will show some more of it.
I've been watching A1 on Foxtel.

[Ross]

Thanks to those of you in Oz. Racing coverage here in USA consists primarily of Nascar. I've seen the Aus. touring car series and liked it,maybe it bores you guys but I jump at anything not on an oval.Nascar runs a couple races on road courses and those are pretty good,except you want to turn off the sound because of the nose picker comentators. The A-1 stuff has aired here at least some as World GP, I'll pay more attention.

[Beemr750]

There is talk on F1 to go back and drivers swap cars again.In the old days they used to do this to get a more level result.Don't know if the sponsors would like that.LOL

[Ross]

There is talk on F1 to go back and drivers swap cars again.In the old days they used to do this to get a more level result.Don't know if the sponsors would like that.LOL
I have never heard of drivers swapping cars ,ever. But I would love to see of the whiners get in a competitive car to prove up their claims of greatness.

[joshua43214]

I would love to see a race class who's only restriction is no jet engines and you must have only 4 wheels.

Sure, every one will argue that money will rule. Who cares? it would be a blast to watch, and money doesn't always equal creativity. I bet you would still see creative "low budget" people being competative.

[Ross]

It was called Can-Am.

[Kristuphir]

It was called Can-Am.

Noooooooo kidding. I see those cars at the vintage races in Monterey, Corondao, and/or Seattle every year, and man, those things are beautiful, loud monsters. Most of the guys who drive them are still nuts, too, unlike most other vintage racing I've seen.

F1 is indeed in a sorry state. That won't stop me from making my annual pilgrimage to Indianapolis here in another month, but this time it has a lot to do with the free ticket I get for having been witness to the Michelin debacle of last year. Now if only I could get them to reimburse me for airfare...;)

[SharkmanBMW]

F1 is indeed in a sorry state. That won't stop me from making my annual pilgrimage to Indianapolis here in another month, but this time it has a lot to do with the free ticket I get for having been witness to the Michelin debacle of last year. Now if only I could get them to reimburse me for airfare...;)


I really hope - for the sake of F1 in general, not to mention the fans in North America.... that the Indy race this year is a HUGE success.

Last year, I was ashamed to be an F1 fan, I encourage all to watch, and then they let us down like never before in F1!

PLease let this year be spectacular for all who make the effort to go.:p

[F4Phantom]

Also at least its not like the ridiculous IRL/Indy 500, where cars are a lap down after a few laps and where the 2nd place car could have so much more power to fly past 1st on the last lap after making up how much ground after the pit incident.... Talk about uneven field, the IRL should just consist of like 6 cars cause no one else has a chance.

After watching all of the Monaco race, the Indy 500 was sooo boring.

Hey I am watching the indy right now, I have not seen it before but it looks to me like they are going flat chat around the dome and thats it. It is a novelty to me becuase I have never seen race cars go flat chat for such a long period of time, in a normal race track the corner pops up just as the car is really going. What I want to know is, are these cars comparable to F1 cars?? I know nothing about them. Also are they actualy racing at their top speed, the corners are banked so in theory they could be. If this is the whole race I can see the boring side of it too. If they dont do anything but this track I would say an F1 car would be a better track package as they have to stop and accelerate a lot more. But I think these cars come to QLD sometime although I really dont know if it's the same championship.

[jrobbo]

Hey I am watching the indy right now, I have not seen it before but it looks to me like they are going flat chat around the dome and thats it. It is a novelty to me becuase I have never seen race cars go flat chat for such a long period of time, in a normal race track the corner pops up just as the car is really going. What I want to know is, are these cars comparable to F1 cars?? I know nothing about them. Also are they actualy racing at their top speed, the corners are banked so in theory they could be. If this is the whole race I can see the boring side of it too. If they dont do anything but this track I would say an F1 car would be a better track package as they have to stop and accelerate a lot more. But I think these cars come to QLD sometime although I really dont know if it's the same championship.

The cars that race at Indy are IRL (Indy Racing League), the cars that run at QLD are Champ cars, they're different cars.

I'm not sure how fast the IRL cars are, but the Champ Cars and the F1 cars both race at Montreal in Canada, and the F1 cars are about 6 secs per lap quicker. In top speed though, the Champ cars are often quicker, as they run a lot less wing than the F1 cars.

Regards

John

[sKilled]

I love the F1, but it is getting to be very monotone with the dirty air issue, which still hasn't been addressed dammit. The sport is in jeopardy becuase of a multitude of reasons though - especially Bernie's unequalled greed.
The A1 GP is also very cool, but a different animal altogether - but very cool. Especially the NOS power button with the 5 use limit in a race. Makes for an interesting battle even if the cars are identical. Pity it isn't covered on TV here as much as it should be.
The V8 supercars aren't too bad either, but as F4Phantom stated it too stagnates (Bathurst is still a laugh to watch though innit!). It is a pity that here, too, rules are implemented without much thought to 'even the playing field'.
Which brings me to the ban on Audi Quattros. What the hell is that about? The WRC hasn't been the same for me since that happened.
In general, all forms of high level auto racing have contracted the same illness - it is all about revenues for the owners. Hey there ballsport fans (and ice hockey fans) does this sound familiar?

[jrobbo]

The A1 GP is also very cool, but a different animal altogether - but very cool. Especially the NOS power button with the 5 use limit in a race. Makes for an interesting battle even if the cars are identical. Pity it isn't covered on TV here as much as it should be.

I agree, the A1GP is a lot of fun to watch, heaps of overtaking, some great racing.

The push to pass is similar to that used in Champ cars, it just increases the rev limit by 500rpm which gives an extra 50hp or so. There is no NOS used.

Regards

John

[F4Phantom]

Which brings me to the ban on Audi Quattros. What the hell is that about? The WRC hasn't been the same for me since that happened.
In general, all forms of high level auto racing have contracted the same illness - it is all about revenues for the owners. Hey there ballsport fans (and ice hockey fans) does this sound familiar?

I did not know they banned the audi's, man I have been saying for a few years now when anyone askes me about F1 that I prefer WRC cause it's more interesting. Bathurst used to allow skyline 4x4's untill they won too much. If this is the way motorsports are going I think I may stop watching them. If the general population follow this move (year right - Australia is turning into a country of blind consumers who see an event and then buy the t-shirt) then maybe some events will need to be re-invented.

[GJPinAU]

I did not know they banned the audi's, man I have been saying for a few years now when anyone askes me about F1 that I prefer WRC cause it's more interesting. Bathurst used to allow skyline 4x4's untill they won too much. If this is the way motorsports are going I think I may stop watching them. If the general population follow this move (year right - Australia is turning into a country of blind consumers who see an event and then buy the t-shirt) then maybe some events will need to be re-invented.
If you get SBS watch "Speedweek" (midday Saturday) it has other domestic racing, although I wouldn't try to support the Production class at the mo', there were about 8 cars racing in that class in QLD (huge effort):(

[rob101]

I did not know they banned the audi's, man I have been saying for a few years now when anyone askes me about F1 that I prefer WRC cause it's more interesting. Bathurst used to allow skyline 4x4's untill they won too much. If this is the way motorsports are going I think I may stop watching them. If the general population follow this move (year right - Australia is turning into a country of blind consumers who see an event and then buy the t-shirt) then maybe some events will need to be re-invented.
they banned quattro in touring car racing, probably TOCA i don't think they banned quattro in rally, if they did it would be odd that all WRC cars are now awd (yes that's all quattro is, there is no magic formula contrary to what audi would have you think) . they did ban Group A in WRC after a lancia delta integrale run off the road burst into flames and killed both the driver and co driver. nobody witnessed the accident and all that was left afterwards was a burn out wreck.

[zuzuk212]

Thanks man! For bringing back the memories ... I saw that race ... back when it was possible to find on TV.

This has been a painful sport ... I love it but get so pissed because of it. Back in the day when cable was finally available in the area, I got to watch on ESPN ... Ahhhh those were the happy days.:p If you missed the last race, they aired a condensed version prior to the new race. I thought that they did a great job. Then it get tossed around trying to decide if any US broadcast company would be allowed .... AAARRRG!

Now, I'm back to where the only way to see it is with AL foil and cbs, for only 4 races.

Yeah, ok ... SPEED ... what the hell is the point of buying into that channel when it's just another nastycar channel, or packed with prepaid ad bs.

Grooved tires suck! I can't remember who said it but they are turning the cars into something that grandma could jump into and not have a problem. Where did the skill set for shifting go? What's that for ... just push these buttons ... keep your f*king foot to the floor and let the computer figure it out.

Bernie needs to be strangled ... did you hear the dumbass make a comment like changing drivers from team to team for each race ... then say, just kidding ... I wouldn't put it past him/them.

It kills me ... I keep watching the Renault engine vid ... I LOVE the sounds of the formula engines and in person, it sends a chill right through me:D
Hey, anybody know how to capture that vid ... it's a dat file, which is useless to me at this point.

Anywho ... that's my rant.
Ken

[F4Phantom]

Hey, anybody know how to capture that vid ... it's a dat file, which is useless to me at this point.

Anywho ... that's my rant.
Ken


get firefox and then go here

http://www.download.com/Best-Firefox-extensions-Volume-III/1200-11745_4-5162308.html

there are some awesome add ons but the one for video is 'video downloader' which allows you to download any video from the web including google videos. You can save in AVI but you need DIVX to view the avi's as media player does not work. Some videos have to be saved as FLV or something and you need to get the free FLV player which is easy to get from within the addon.

[Ross]

At least the commentators on Speed, Hobbo,Matchet and Varsha know what they are talking about. ABC's coverage of a few races last year sucked big. CBS this year isn't much better. Derek Daley needs to shut the **** up sometimes and quit babbling especially during "on board". I was going to do an Elvis to the TV if he said BRUTAL one more time during one of the races.

[zuzuk212]

LOL HA HA That is hilarious!!:D
Sorry, but do I completely agree. Although, I am interested to know what the next goofy thing will be, to make it's way out of his mouth.

I miss Varsha ... he was with ESPN back in the day, no?

Ken

[zuzuk212]

Thanks! ... I'll give that a shot. I do have DIVX, so that's not a problem.

Ken

[SharkmanBMW]

At least the commentators on Speed, Hobbo,Matchet and Varsha know what they are talking about. ABC's coverage of a few races last year sucked big. CBS this year isn't much better. Derek Daley needs to shut the **** up sometimes and quit babbling especially during "on board". I was going to do an Elvis to the TV if he said BRUTAL one more time during one of the races.


ditto
the only reason I don't complain about CBS, is that it is all we have!

But those clowns make so many mistakes it is sad, I know more than them about current F1 details, and these guys are racers.

I download the ITV broadcast from England... it is complete, interviews, pits, PROPER announcing, no ********, NO commercials...

They care about the race, the fans... CBS and Speed care about commercials every 3 minutes (usually during pit stops (the bastards).

They should make it pay per view or something.
Why does speed show 22 hours of nascrap, and 2 hours of paid programming per day... no more WRC, barely any F1, it's all crap oval garbage!

The best they show is Rolex series and the like... but even that is scarce

[zuzuk212]

I'm not having luck snagging this vid file ... has anyone tried it and succeeded?
I can't do a save target, the address is strange ... mms://
All I can get is a .dat which is pretty much worthless, no matter what program I use.

Any ideas?
Ken

[zuzuk212]

They care about the race, the fans... CBS and Speed care about commercials every 3 minutes (usually during pit stops (the bastards).

They should make it pay per view or something.
Why does speed show 22 hours of nascrap, and 2 hours of paid programming per day... no more WRC, barely any F1, it's all crap oval garbage!

Exactly my previous point! What good is speed?
I don't agree with pay per view though ... we have already been paying extra for nothing and having people pay specifically for each race would not help the sport survive in the US.

What you don't like how CBS might show a couple seconds of the drivers thoughts at the end? Who would want to know that =P :D

Ken

[DaCan23]

Well CBS's races are done for the year, so now ya just gotta get up at 7am in the morning or DVR them.

[zuzuk212]

In searching & searching ... I found on a Ferrari forum, somebody knew what to do:
download this program:SDP Receiver from http://sdp.ppona.com
you may need to adjust the Protocol/DNS or proxy fields to get it to work.

Use this as the address to DL:mms://vipeurosport.yacast.net/eurosport/2004/07/01/F1_Renault_16871_4_25_0_320x240.wmv

Save it and watch it every day!:D

Ken