tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26641469755514903762024-03-12T23:09:35.235-07:00Motoring ViewsMotor Racing Opinion Since 2010Ben Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265881322870750854noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2664146975551490376.post-33512665634149753652020-03-27T13:21:00.001-07:002020-04-05T07:13:45.494-07:00F1TV - Amazing, But Could Do Better!<div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-5e9d86c8-1da1-2acd-004a-f809dbf803c6">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Drama! Nigel Mansell watches potentially his last chance to win a World Championship ebb away in a Portuguese pitlane - captured for all time on F1 TV</i></td></tr>
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One of the nice features of following Formula 1, and attending a race every year, is to see burgeoning indicators that this fan-dependent sport is belatedly entering the 21st Century…..by trying to engage the fans. Who wuda thunk it? They are even researching what we think! A notable step away from the one man show of Bernie and the Briefcase (no more showings available). I’d love to know more about the work of these researchers…apart from one aspect – those who have to gauge the public’s opinion of F1TV…</div>
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…That must be a shocker! </div>
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The Internet is awash with complaints about the way the service has worked. Bugs, crashes during big live races, no commentary, the famous Pirelli wheel of 404 error, and compendium of other daft errors (it works fine after I reinstall it…?!). The service in many ways seems to be still building up to launch (did they think they are Star Wars?!)….for a sport with a multi billion dollar turnover (one hopes this year anyway) – so far, so laughable!</div>
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And yet…..I just ruddy love F1TV! Its like a good friend’s awful fashion sense….you may laugh at them, but you still love them for all that’s good inside. And there is a lot good inside about F1TV! Sadly F1 have baked in foibles to a brilliant product, causing annoyance and pining for what the service should be, overshadowing the gems inside. </div>
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Years ago, (mostly lurking) on the excellent Digital Spy F1 Broadcasting Forum, in the dark days of local host broadcasters, incomplete coverage of sessions and a dearth of interactivity, there was one oft repeated vision of the future by the congesgetti. And it was an inspiring one. An Interactive service to succeed the defunct F1 Digital +, to let us see other battles on track and ride onboard with any driver. The amazing archive sitting in Bernie’s Biggin Hill bunker to be prised out of his hands. And all of the above put on video streaming via broadband, available anytime….and preferably for a good value fee, although Bernie would probably ruin that!</div>
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Well guess what, I’m an emissary from the future…it happened!!!! And just three and a half years ago, still in the Bernie era, it would have been unthinkable…</div>
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<b>The</b> <b>Present</b> <b>Day</b></div>
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Now where I live, I am limited to seeing the present races on F1TV until two weeks after I will have seen the race live. By then I will have read copious amounts about the race, so that moment on Lap 35 where Riccardo passes Kyvat round the outside for 10th never jumps out of the TV at me like a zombie in a horror movie. And yet, even two or three weeks after the chequered flag has fallen, F1TV still retains a capacity to enrapture me, and feel like I am gaining more insight into the sport. The very ‘2019’ spin has been the addition of the Pit Lane Channel, with the very agreeable soundtrack of Alex Jacques. I would like to think I follow the races live closely, with live timing, watching with knowledgeable friends, and keeping a weather eye on the timing tower on screen. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Kevin Magnussen hurtles towards a group of spectators (including the author) perched on the base of the Monza banking at Ascari, during FP2, 2019</i></td></tr>
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And yet, the past year, it has stunned me how much I get from the Pit Lane Channel. There is extra radio, Jacques is sharp at catching action, constant track coverage (for example all of Vettel’s snafu at Monza live) and it adds so much more context to moments that were just numbers on the timing tower (I painfully felt Gasly’s struggle in the Red Bull last year after spending a hurtful 30 minutes watching his onboard, marooned behind Stroll in Canada last year, this <i>brought it home</i>). <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>As the main feed unfathomably cuts to the crowd, the Pit Lane Channel keeps us updated on how terrifyingly close Vettel is to Stroll......</i></td></tr>
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Combined with this is the almost overwhelming freedom to go onboard with any driver at any time. Onboard with any driver at the start is truly scary, and a reminder that I never could do this. You can pick out individual moments, or join a driver for a whole crazy race. And the genius of the onboards is that because it is synched with the radio, you can totally immerse yourself in a ‘driver’s day’. You can really go up and down on the rollercoaster with them – Riccardo’s Monaco 2018, the nailed on win, the anguish and panic, and the fight to retain the win with a broken car.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjli5FaXxMcmNOQYvHNSrK8q7562z52Sj6AbSICA_L86IRgRzkJARg7AMUJk0c-Tej0o5ifLPOpPOyJviG1ebLDZqpOiRFruaYh_O_3ViacCzTRQrCUa2TVLGeIT13_zXPxokdgtRZ6Lb5o/s1600/Screenshot+%25284%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjli5FaXxMcmNOQYvHNSrK8q7562z52Sj6AbSICA_L86IRgRzkJARg7AMUJk0c-Tej0o5ifLPOpPOyJviG1ebLDZqpOiRFruaYh_O_3ViacCzTRQrCUa2TVLGeIT13_zXPxokdgtRZ6Lb5o/s400/Screenshot+%25284%2529.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>As the eyes of most of the world focus on the lead battle, Gasly does not escape the harsh glare of the pit lane channel capturing his attempts to pass Stroll.....</i></td></tr>
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And yet all this amazing stuff isn’t even my favourite bit….</div>
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The archive, the archive, THE ARCHIVE!!!</div>
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This is where the bugs in the bytes really hurt the perception of F1TV I feel. As someone who started watching the sport in the early 1990’s, the Archive is a real Treasure Trove. It’s great to be able to read a memorable feature by one of our great motor sport written journalists, say about Alex Caffi’s great races, or one of Jean Alesi’s day of days (or days he shouldn’t have turned up). You can have really cool ‘theme weeks’ with yourself, (ummmmm or friends I guess…) like I did with every Italian GP on there before going to Monza last year. <br />
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The amount of tidbits you then pick up from the very good quality audio, and the pictures, especially on the longer races, is great. I didn’t know Warwick’s tyre nearly hit Piquet’s head in Adelaide 89, nor that Ken Tyrell was having a full throttle argument with the stewards <i>before</i> the race! Instead of burrowing round YouTube and not getting what I really wanted, I get more than I asked for – in a good way! I love to just sit down on an evening and know it is all there, and ready, and you can scope about or go on a random ‘I fancy this’ (I always end up back at 1991-1993 though!). The joy of listening to Murray Walker and James Hunt again never abates….add in a few Sky Sports Tales from the Vault shows, and an increasing amount of documentaries from F1 themselves, and it’s a great mix – (no offence I like you too), Netflix, <i>but</i> <i>for</i> <i>me</i>. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpCgTMwAzXHNeh44qUwSDYhppr4MKY9L8188VtkAemwr1F_-fZLYP5kvkhACN-0P2LrlhIHjIIK60LcQpGo2MtBT1YKUGtNRDLBXl55_-mnC8KWEYVE0Yk6bIF5NVDGsZt7xK1XWozG816/s1600/Screenshot+%252857%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><i><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpCgTMwAzXHNeh44qUwSDYhppr4MKY9L8188VtkAemwr1F_-fZLYP5kvkhACN-0P2LrlhIHjIIK60LcQpGo2MtBT1YKUGtNRDLBXl55_-mnC8KWEYVE0Yk6bIF5NVDGsZt7xK1XWozG816/s400/Screenshot+%252857%2529.png" width="400" /></i></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Leyton House realise their 'Independent Front Wing' prototype has a large flaw...</i></td></tr>
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And yet…..</div>
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I can’t say I am not desperately wanting improvements myself. I’m just enjoying what I have too, and not staring at the half empty glass (looking at you Twitter!). I’ve had a list of potential imporvements knocking about in my head for sometime, so why not (virtually) jot them down?:</div>
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<b>Personalisation (I have a name you know)</b></div>
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We have seen the effect in the past decade where data drivrs personalisation, which drives recommendations to users, which drives engagement. It can have some sinister effects, but some benefits too (I tend to think of my Youtube or podcast subscriptions as my own ‘package’ a la cable TV, and it jolts me back to the real (boring) world when it logs me out. And yet on F1TV, despite two years of copious data gathering (I hope?!), the personalisation level is currently….</div>
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Zero!</div>
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Everytime you login to the app (or even window it!), its like you were never there. When you open the app. This is where it gets really quizzical. The aforementioned login is with your F1 account, which has your nationality, favourite driver and team, store purchases and fantasy team (even race tickets purchased through them!). Given the way the world has evolved, I find it astonishing this information is not (visibly) linked to F1TV, nor is your data feeding into the rest of the service. In 2020, its mystifying the act of logging in gets everyone the same generic homepage. I’m voluntarily registered with Formula 1 as a Lewis Hamilton and Williams fan – would it be beyond F1TV to give me a ‘greatest hits of’ Lewis or Williams when I open the app? Even more bizarrely, no video you watch triggers a ‘you watched this so you’ll like this too mate’ recommendation. Unbelievable that F1, in modern tech parlance, has created its own walled garden, but left a huge hole in the wall. </div>
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The basic lack of algorithm driven personalisation is even more frustrating when the amount of personalisation links is…non existent as well. F1TV doesn’t link to any other part of the F1 ecosystem. So if I’ve watched Brazil 2008, I don’t get a link to Germany 2011, but I also don’t get a link to Lewis’ Beyond the Grid Interview, or one of his cool caps in the store. The Internet has evolved from the walled gardens of AOL et al, to smashing these down, and then putting them back up…but F1TV isn’t too concerned with keeping people in. And if you won’t F1, Netflix will….</div>
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<b>Personalisation (Let me be me!)</b></div>
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Now although many of us, may want more, the selection of stuff on F1TV is pretty epic in my view. If you want my list of favourite races from the app….</div>
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There isn’t one! </div>
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Yes that’s right, you CANNOT favourite races in the app. I know it is unfair expecting F1TV to be as sophisticated as Youtube, but I don’t think YouTube copyrighted the concept of favourited videos….</div>
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The worst of this is that there is such a diversity of videos, that even a simple favouriting system wouldn’t be enough. Oh no….for example, back when I started watching F1 I loved Nigel Mansell as much as I do Lewis now…what if I wanted to create separate playlists for Nigel’s best races then and Lewis’s best races now? What about the Aguri Suzuki fan who wants to bookmark Suzuka 1990 and Bahrain 2006 (think about it)? And wouldn’t it be brilliant to ‘note’ moments during races – I would note Mansell’s stunning pass of Senna in Barcelona 1991, but also him pulling into the pitlane at the same track four years later to end an era…</div>
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Sad face!</div>
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<b>Personalisation (Let me be me…..in front of others</b>)</div>
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Now Nigel’s McLaren pulling down the pitlane that sad day is an example of a moment more significant than it seems on first viewing. So I’ll tag, and I know it is there, and the race might even make my putative ‘Top 5 Nigel Mansell Daft Moments’ playlist. But…why should I only see it?!</div>
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Spotify only has a finite number of tunes, and the algorithm won’t always throw up enough new, interesting ones to keep people on there. But another way they drive engagement is by making playlists, visible to everybody. You might see a playlist, posted by a friend on Facebook or a celebrity on Instagram. These might be uber mainstream, or ridiculously specific. But no matter either way, they do their job for the major platform. One that F1TV, coldly and harshly, is competing for people’s time with. And yet F1TV seems set up not to do extra things to keep people there. Set it up, and drive discussion and engagement. Get the drivers to create their own playlists, and celebrity fans too!</div>
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<b>Personalisation (Its Good to Talk)</b></div>
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Probably the most risky one here (have you seen the comments under YouTube videos?!) but enable a comments system under the races, or a related forum, and link it to the tagging system, let the discussion and comments flow, and keep people in F1’s ecosystem that little longer. </div>
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<b>Shows Shows Shows</b></div>
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Now to be fair F1TV is doing pretty well with adding shows. Tech Talk, Paddock Pass, and some very good documentaries. On top, I’d like to see F1TV take advantage of the fact they can’t take their paddock pass away from themselves. Play around with the freedom, do a hard hitting ‘Big Debate’ show, do a comedy show taking the mickey out of paddock personalities (in a sport that takes itself very seriously, even funnier) and even stick a fun cartoon on there…</div>
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<b>Get</b> <b>Everything</b>!</div>
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The burglars have made a good start in raiding the vaults of Biggin Hill, and hopefully there is more pre 1981 content to come with the Brunswick Films acquisition, but I can’t help fixating on comments made when the service was launched that the amount of footage in the adults is just staggering, probably needing Oceans Eleven to cart it all off. If possible, just let us have all the full length races, all those old qualifying sessions and onboards and pit lane footage. Maybe few individually will watch each video, but remember once the sunk cost of finding and uploading has been incurred, more videos will drive more engagement, more discussion, tagging, playlists, social media and keep people subscribing!</div>
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<b>What is everything</b>? </div>
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Now this might be trickier, but it might be worth exploring if F1 wants a comprehensive mega platform that can compete with giga platforms. Part of the inexorable rise of the tech superpowers has been their capacity to monetise things traditional media companies wouldn’t have given a second look, and get others working for them. When I take lovely little videos like my favorite ever by the Ascari Bridge at Monza (3 views), even though it was taken within the track and F1 is the copyright holder, its YouTube who gets more of that millionth of a cent (and they all do add up!). And think of all the camera phone videos from F1 fans on there….</div>
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Hang on….</div>
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So instead of letting Google/Alphabet count the cash and reap the commitment of hardcore fans….get in there yourself F1…on your own footage! Let fans upload directly to F1TV, to sit alongside FOM’s own footage in a separate folder on the app, that can be recommended, commented and playlisted by F1 fans. Why have F1 fans leak out to Youtube, when you can keep them for yourselves? </div>
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<b>The Bleedin’ Obvious</b></div>
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Lastly…the obvious ones that are always brought up….I have a Chromecast, a Firestick, a Smart TV and a PlayStation 4, yet can’t get F1 TV on any of them. Make it much easier to get on the big screen and surely the numbers of satisfied customers go up. Fix the crashes that especially seem to afflict live viewers from what I read. And for goodness sake, if I pause the 1988 Italian Grand Prix at 44 minutes in on a Tuesday, please make the app remember that by Thursday….</div>
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So that’s my suggestions - F1TV is excellent and what I’ve dreamed about for years, but my goodness is there a load of unused potential within it. I’ll continue to enjoy it immensely, and I hope my ideas are heard by those poor F1TV researchers….</div>
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Ben Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265881322870750854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2664146975551490376.post-4631862460640892702015-04-04T08:02:00.003-07:002015-04-04T08:03:38.196-07:00Vorsprung Durch Madness!It was very depressing news to hear that the German GP had been
cancelled. Having started watching the sport in 1991, Germany was
synonymous with the old Hockenheim, that breathtaking blast through
the woods, briefly out of the light into the stadium section. This
period coincided with the inexorable rise of Michael Schumacher,
which created teeming throngs of crowds in the stadium. It was
thrilling watching the new star, in a Ford V8 powered Benetton, hold
off Riccardo Patrese, in a Renault V10, active suspension and
all the trimmings Williams! The cars visibly teetering on a knife
edge at a high speed - that was Hockenheim. It would have been dull
if all the tracks had been like it, but it was something different,
and added to the variety of the sport.<br />
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Sadly Hockenheim was homogenised (You've Been Tilked?), but in a
country that was building its motorsport heritage, and had a decent
smattering of fans (and a stellar collection of drivers) it still for
my money should have been one of the first races on the line up. And
the 'new' Nurburgring was a very enjoyable track to watch and
produced some great races.<br />
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I think F1 should be a WORLD Championship and not just confine
itself to Europe, but surely this does not preclude including
historic races, countries with a large fanbase and an opportunity for
plenty of money to be made. Take tennis as the model - they play
anywhere and everywhere, and everywhere in between, but don't drop
Wimbledon for the sake of a few quid! The traditional events with big
passionate crowds look great on global TV, and this helps get people
round the world watching, and surely the financial arrangement for
the core tracks should reflect this.....<br />
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Sadly it does not seem it will be the case anytime
soon....so let me indulge with my own fantasy calendar - all tracks
upgraded to safety spec but no changes to the layouts!<br />
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2015 F1 Calendar:<br />
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Race 1: Australia, Bathurst<br />
Race 2: USA, Laguna Seca<br />
Race 3: Mexico, Mexico City<br />
Race 4: Portugal,Portimao<br />
5: San Marino,
<br />
5: Monaco, Monte Carlo,<br />
6: France, Paul Ricard<br />
7: Germany, Nurburgring<br />
8: Britain, Silverstone<br />
9: Portugal, Esteroil<br />
10: Czech Republic, Brno<br />
11:Belgium, Spa<br />
12: Italy, Monza<br />
13: Turkey, Istanbul
<br />
13: Britain, Brands Hatch<br />
14: USA, Road America<br />
15: Canada, Montreal<br />
16: USA, Austin<br />
17: Singapore, Sinagpore City<br />
18: Japan, Suzuka<br />
19: India, Delhi<br />
20: Australia, Adelaide<br />
<br />
Errrrrrr whats that Mr Ecclestone? Im very sorry for publishing this, here is the corrected calendar.......<br />
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<br />
2015 Formula Bernie Presented By CVC<br />
1: Abu Dhabi<br />
2: Baharin<br />
3: Qatar<br />
4: Dubai<br />
5: Japan, TI Aida<br />
6: Korea, Yeongram<br />
7: USA, Las Vegas Car Park<br />
8: USA, Phoenix<br />
9: China, Shanghai<br />
10: USA, Indy Road Course
<br />
11: European Classic, Valencia Street Course<br />
12: Austria, A1 Ring<br />
13: Japan, Fuji<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
14: Russia, Sochi</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
15:Argentina, Buenos
Aires
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
16: USA, Dallas</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
17: Belgium,
Nivelles
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
18: Italy, Fiorano
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
19: France, Le Mans
Bugatti
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
20: Abu Dhabi
(Double race, double points, double $£€)
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
Ben Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265881322870750854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2664146975551490376.post-27763185696918533082015-02-22T16:23:00.000-08:002015-02-22T16:23:02.843-08:00Put Your Visor Down and Close Your Ears........
<div align="left" style="font-weight: normal;">
Truth be told, I am not a
fan of the FIA. They seem to be doing a very effective line in acting
as a chocolate fireplace over the myriad issues in the sport at
present. The distribution of the revenues, the calendar, promoting
young drivers.....they often have little to say, or pour petrol on
the flames of an inferno! But finally, last week dropped in a
collectors item, a sensible decision that will make F1 better for
casual and committed fans alike...........a ban on changing helmet
designs.</div>
<br /><br />
<br />
And with that, the F1 twitterati and forumrati and downthepubrati
erupted with scorn.....<br />
<br /><br />
<br />
....And I would have to disagree with them!<br />
<br /><br />
<br />
A stultifying inability to do the small things should be no reason
to do the big things. While there is a mammoth amount still to do
(and I have minuscule faith in the their ability to do much) we
cannot as fans deride the organisation for never thinking of the
fans, and proactively change the sport, and then propel mud and rocks
through the doors of the palatial Place de la Concorde offices when
they do so!<br />
<br /><br />
<br />
To me it parallels the driver numbers change which was similarly
lampooned last year. While it hasn't single handedly fixed all the
problems in F1, it has been something that I have enjoyed greatly.
Learning the reasons different drivers used choose their numbers,
having them assimilate into memory though the nifty placement of them
on the tv graphics, wondering what numbers new drivers will
take.....it is all good fun. And I think this new change (or
stopchanging change?) will be A Good Thing before the end of the
year. Reasons to be cheerful............<br />
<br />
A driver's helmet colour is his identity. Now the colours will be
on for every race (no more tired Monaco specials, yaaaaawn) we can
get used to the colours, and blend them into our mental image of the
driver. No bizarre helmet changes like <a href="http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/ferr-alon-helmet-indi-2013-1.jpg">Alonso's
(not)famous '1571'</a> (you won't remember!) effort in India 2013. I
won't go on about the absurdity of changing a recongnisable, unique
helmet design for a random helmet focused on a record number no one
would have a clue about, that didn't mean a lot anyway (the points
given out for a win had increased markedly from Fangio or even
Schumacher's day) and for something that created zero
excitement....apart from for the guy who gets paid to do his helmet
designs?! Anyway, I won't go on about it (cont. page 1571)<br />
<br /><br />
<br />
It might even force the drivers to produce stronger simpler, more
recognisable designs, now that they have to think about the downside
of plumping for the wrong choice. Some more James Hunt or Ayrton
Senna style designs would be nice.....<br />
<br /><br />
<br />
For new fans, some of them possibly very young ones (the ones who
sneak past the opprobrium towards them from the promoter...) it means
when they tune in for their second race they might be able to
actually recognise drivers they saw in their first race...radical
that!<br />
<br />
With permanent designs and numbers, maybe we can even have some
kick ass driver merchandise! Make it happen!
<br />
<br /><br />
<br />
And it will be such a boon watching classic races now - no more
trying desperately to figure out who that guy in the Toro Rosso is,
having to Google and find out Vergene had a tribute helmet to Total
Oil because it was the fifth anniversary of them changing their logo
etc........<br />
<br /><br />
<br />
So drivers - get those good designs in for Melbourne, and let us
all enjoy a change for the better!<br />
Ben Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265881322870750854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2664146975551490376.post-84731391916888595082015-02-09T12:33:00.003-08:002015-02-09T12:38:12.276-08:00Woking WorriersWell thought I would be original on the blog so..............<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The new McLaren livery.........I hate it!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
After all the hype about global title sponsors, retro Marlboro
liveries (yes please!) It was the red surround round the front nose
that did it for me....a bizarre homage to the two year departed title
sponsor Vodafone. But hey, logical enough, given supreme head
honcho/leader Ron Dennis said during the Jerez test that there was no
point changing the colour scheme until a putative title sponsor
ponied up some moolah?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
They took the red off last year. Ron...?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
So not a good look, not good 'vertical brand external exposure
imagery synergy' from McLaren! But all would be a temporary
distraction if it did not hide some uncomfortable portents for the
coming years.....<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
McLaren have long been rightly famed for the stable, heavyweight
long term sponsorship deals they have been able to make. Marlboro,
West, Vodafone, Boss, Mobil......high paying sponsors, on long term
deals. Bullseye for the sponsorship team! But lately, they have been
not reaching the board. The new McLaren is barren, bereft of sponsors
large or small, and while I am sure the <a href="http://www.mclarenstore.com/stores/mclaren/products/product_browse.aspx?category|category_root|48835=Collections&category|cat_48835|48876=Signature%20Collection">£50 polo shirts</a>
are nice, I doubt they are taking up the slack in the same way shirts
do for a football team....<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The problem may not be the sponsorship, at a time when costs are
escalating, F1 is struggling for audience, and advertisers have a
great number of other global outlets. But with Red Bull and Mercedes
able to whack huge sums in from the parent company, who in the
Darwinian world of F1 will have sympathy? And something is definitely
wrong, with even Santander off the McLaren overalls despite the
presence of Senor motorsport (don't mention the emails) Fernando
Alonso. I wouldn't have thought even me making a presentation drunk
with an upside down Powerpoint could have turned Santander off with
Alonso there......<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
And can McLaren find the money to keep competing at the top table?
They subidised their own team last year, have free Honda engines
(although less FOM prize money) this year, but when the accounts for
2013 show <a href="http://companycheck.co.uk/company/01967715/MCLAREN-TECHNOLOGY-GROUP-LIMITED/financial-accounts#financials%20and%20income">£8 million in cash in the bank</a> potentially down to £100 million this year, does the team
rely on shareholder generosity (from Baharian?)? And Alonso will not
have decreased the wage bill.......<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
And in this uncertain environment, when the team need a strong
year, comes the new Honda engine. It was in recalcitrant mood at
Jerez. Are Honda a year behind, destined for a frustrating year as
the others pull ahead thanks to a year's experience?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Against these questions, McLaren have a lot of plus points. A
driver many consider the best, and another World Champion. A designer
fresh from Red Bull, who has produced a sleek agressive car (albeit
inartfully monikered). IF Honda have used their year of observation
wisely (will the split turbo work for them like Mercedes?) and get
over teething troubles, odds are the drivers and chassis can
capitalise with hatfulls of points, and maybe a lot more. And if the
title sponsor follows, McLaren may well have fallen through the
crossroads.....to years of victories and titles.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
In F1, teams ebb and flow as the creative, personal and
situational evolution drives ever forward. It is always fascinating
when a team reaches a 'pivotal year', and it will be fascinating to
see how McLaren do.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Good luck the boys and girls from Woking........and please repaint
the car ;)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBGtwUZnOCrSgBZcjgto1g3_aVAeVJWEY_mJJIu5h4TT5GRJPY6BNwSycAIEW7DGt2vpkM1gZKH9s3YRoc6JLGLF_dFU8r0DTQdpGpkVwSMLIz5BD9TgpsmPhtox_tasfpXIQeqQSqhziJ/s1600/PICT1709.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBGtwUZnOCrSgBZcjgto1g3_aVAeVJWEY_mJJIu5h4TT5GRJPY6BNwSycAIEW7DGt2vpkM1gZKH9s3YRoc6JLGLF_dFU8r0DTQdpGpkVwSMLIz5BD9TgpsmPhtox_tasfpXIQeqQSqhziJ/s1600/PICT1709.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
Ben Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265881322870750854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2664146975551490376.post-2568228902481555642015-02-08T08:46:00.004-08:002015-02-08T08:46:51.059-08:00Return To Blogging :)Okay popped out to the shop.......for 3 years :) Lets try and get some regular posts up here.......and do better this time! Ben Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265881322870750854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2664146975551490376.post-31797093042466457352012-07-31T12:26:00.001-07:002012-07-31T12:26:57.237-07:00The Greatest Race That Never Was: London 2012<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>Putting something a bit different on and posting up a short story! I wrote this in the wintertime but forgot to post it up at the time...which explains the start of it - at Christmas! Thought it might be interesting to put this up now that the Games are in full swing...</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The floor was strewn with bits
of pinecones, tinsel and all manner of other detritus, the tree listed to one
side, the lights flickered – was that down to my haphazard handiwork,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>or was the electricity failing thanks to the
howling wind and snow outside? Well, it was most likely my poor workmanship,
but <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">come on, </i>I only got to practice
this once a year, in pursuance of the whole ‘Christmas’ circus. I found
‘Chrimbo’ a mite contrived, and more importantly, it represented a massive
obstacle to my constant quest to watch as much live motorsport as possible, in
person or on TV. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Britain</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">’s race
tracks were long under snow, and the gushing torrent of live motorsport on
telly had reduced to a trickle. Was that Andros Trophy in the planner a rerun of
last year’s race? Oh, look, V8 Supercars at the weekend!.....ah, darnit, the
final race was two weeks ago....how long till the </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Dakar</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">OH GOD! </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I sat down on the armchair,
truly exhausted after a few hours of the ‘fun’ of decorations. I poured myself
a whisky, and lay back. Why couldn’t Bernie have extended the season even
further? A Grand Prix would have been <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">just
lovely</i> to sit down to now. Instead what was flashing up on my screen was a
‘celebration of the Olympics’. There were thousands of people gathered. ‘Less
than 100 days to go’ boomed the presenter, with it written in huge neon lights
on </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Trafalgar Square</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">just in case</i> you hadn’t heard. Oh crumbs,
that will be another thing that disrupts motorsport, wedged right in the middle
of the season. No doubt we will have to pretend to enjoy it, while we miss
loads of great track action! Just like Christmas, and just as contrived. Don’t
give me all this spiel about plucky amateur values and grass roots sport, given
the whole thing was just a bizarre arms race between Governments, showering money
on teams for medals and prestige? And surely there were some professional
sports there anyway, cricket golf...but only the lucky few? Who decided that? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we were facing an Olympics without motor
sport, but also rugby, cricket, snooker, darts, in a British festival of sport!
Oh for goodness sake! It made me angry, although given the long day decorating,
that made me feel even more tired. I pulled my cushion up, shimmied under my
nice thick rug, and my eyes were <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">weightlifting
heavy</i> within seconds. All went black......</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I suddenly regained vision again,
and struggled to focus. Strangely, there were no decorations in sight, it was
warm, and very sunny outside, and I was wearing my beach shorts. I was massively
confused....mind you, the telly was still blaring away on full volume, just as
I had left it. Okay then, fine. Mind, the pictures had changed – was that the
Olympic Stadium with thousands of people in it? Test event? What was going on? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘The OLYMPICS, the nation unites
around OUR festival of sport’ shouted the announcer. Oh purrlease.....so give
it to me then, our good old festival of sport, where you’re probably about to
cut to the obscureville arena for some sport you never knew existed.....</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Hi I’m Jake Humphrey, here at
Brands Hatch, for the Olympics motorsport events. First let’s talk about the
new event with Lewis Hamilton, Dario Franchitti, and Sebastien Loeb, part of
the greatest driver line up ever assembled!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What the fu............</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘But first I’ve got Bernie
Ecclestone, the instigator of all this. Bernie it was a bit of a shock when you
and the IOC announced this in January?’</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Well yes Jake, but as I said
at the time, we all mellow a bit....eventually.....and I just thought elite
level motor sport had become too associated with money, with Formula 1 far too
dominant. I just wanted a fun event, that showed off the Corinthian spirit of
the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">athletes </i>from the diverse parts
of our great sport.’</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Huh?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So I planned this event myself
and I have paid for all the cars, the circuit, and the marshals. So when I went
to the IOC, they were so tempted by the prospect of boosting viewing figures by
enticing some F1 fans to actually watch the damn thing....and, er, of course,
the great contribution to the sporting spirit of the Olympics this would be. So
we will have three separate one make races, in V8 Superstars, around the
rallycross course in Ford Fiesta WRC’s and finally in Superleague Formula cars.
And may I just say isn’t this track marvellous, far better than some of the
Tilke tracks I’ve, perhaps, mistakenly flooded the calendar with....’</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This was ridiculous now. It had
to be a dream. I pinched myself. I didn’t wake up. There was a pencil lying on
the sofa, and I pricked myself on the arm – ouch! Still didn’t wake up Well, it
must be a <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>pretty realistic dream.....</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Thanks Bernie, well there was
so much debate about what 40 drivers would be selected, including the now
famous article on the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Motor Sport</i>
website that attracted 850,000 comments, entering the Guinness Book of Records.
In the end the FIA and IOC settled on last years champions in Formula One,
Indycar, NASCAR, GP2, WTCC, BTCC, DTM, V8 Supercars, Formula Renault World
Series, WRC<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and IRC, plus 29 wildcards
selected by a committee. Sadly it was just too last minute to get racing bikes
involved, although they will compete in 2014 for a separate medal, and
Valentino Rossi is one of the wildcards thanks to his previous car racing
experience. Here are the drivers displayed on your screen.’</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-insideh: .5pt solid windowtext; mso-border-insidev: .5pt solid windowtext; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;">
<tbody>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">S.Vettel</span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">C.Edwards</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">T.Stewart</span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">J.Johnson</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 2;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">D.Franchitti</span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">D. Earnhardt Jr</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 3;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">S.Loeb</span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">J.Gordon</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 4;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Y.Muller</span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">J.Montoya</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 5;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">M.Tomczyk</span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">R.Gordon</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 6;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">J.Whincup</span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">C.Lowndes</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 7;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">R.Grosjean</span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">M.Hirvonen</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 8;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">R. Wickens</span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">S.Oijer </span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 9;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A. Mikkelsen</span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">J.Kopecky </span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 10;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">J.Button</span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">T.Neuville</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 11;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">M.Webber</span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">V.Rossi</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 12;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">F.Alonso</span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">M.Neal</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 13;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">M.Schumacher</span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">J.Plato</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 14;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">K.Raikonnen</span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">M.Ekstrom</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 15;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">J.E. Vergene</span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A.Prialux</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 16;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">W.Power</span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A.Lotterer</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 17;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">S.Dixon</span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A.McNish</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 18;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">H.Castroneves</span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">T.Kristensen</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 19; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">S.Bourdais</span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">R.Huff</span></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Points system: 40 for first,
down to one for last.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Wow, what a field. What a
field! All racing together, at Brands Hatch! I could rightly live with the
Olympics now thank you very much! Although I was still slightly bemused by
Bernie Ecclestone’s attitude. Less so the drivers.....</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Lewis, are you not pining for
your F1 car after the two days testing in these three cars?’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘No way man, this is frickin great! That V8
touring car is awesome, you can get the rear end to slide so good, and the superleague
car with a V12! I remember the V12’s from Senna’s day....the SOUND! What a
SOUND!!’</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘And Sebastien, you’re a wild
card, how do you think you can do in the racing cars, is it too steep a
challenge as a rally man?’ ‘Ah no....I don’t think so. I always
have....pride...in being an all rounder, I’ve done track racing successfully
before, and I really think I have the all round ability to beat these guys. I
will certainly beat Ogier easily!!’</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘And Dario, you’ve put so much
effort into your preparation for this, what does Olympic Gold mean to you?’
‘Ah, so much, so much. I was delighted that the FIA resurrected the Jim Clark
Trophy to be presented along with the Gold medal. I’m a big student of the
history of the sport, and even now I can’t believe how Jim Clark could jump
from Formula One, to Touring Cars, rally cars, anything.....To have the
opportunity to do the same, even for one meeting...is just such a privilege. So
I really want to win! Some people have said that carving out a replica of the
rallycross track at my ranch, and buying a Ford Fiesta WRC to practice was a
bit much, but we racing drivers always want the unfair advantage!’</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Wow....I couldn’t believe some
of all this. 40 of the world’s best drivers in V12 single seaters, rally cars,
high powered touring cars...bring it on!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Now we will show you highlights
of the first two races before we go live to the third race’.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The V8 supercars appeared on
the grid for the first race, with the star studded line up. The fireworks were
about to go off, and my goodness they went off with a bang. But first, astonishingly,
confounding the predictions of each and every one of the pundits, the cars made
it through Paddock Hill bend without contact. But that was just a lull in the
storm, as it really degenerated at Druids, with Tony Stewart taking a massive
yahoo up the inside of Jamie Whincup, the two cars slewing all over the place
on the exit of the corner, before Matt Neal gave them a little tap, pushing them
offline, with the concertina effect causing a lot of banging around through the
field. The onboard camera caught Stewart gesticulating and shouting furiously.....As
the cars screamed down the hill and the end of lap one, the order was: Lowndes,
Edwards, Prialux, J.Gordon, R.Gordon, Plato, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Hamilton</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">,
Whincup, Stewart, Vettel, Johnson and Franchitti. As the race went on the pace
was furious, with the non touring car drivers adapting very well to the bashing
and boring. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In just a few of the
flashpoint areas the highlights editor had picked out, Michael Schumacher put
Montoya on the grass on the run down the hill to Hawthorn, before Juan nerfed
him into the gravel at Dingle Dell. ‘I’ll show you ONE MOVE!’ he thundered on
the radio. There was a right shemozzle at Paddock Hill on the next lap as Robby
Gordon and Jason Plato banged fenders on the way in, and as they did so, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Hamilton</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">
blasted past on the outside, powersliding the car on the grass in a wonderful
manoeuvre, to the frenzied noise and applause of the packed crowd on the
banking. Astonishing! But then it was quickly all shattered, with Robby Gordon
locking up hugely in the run into Graham Hill bend, knocking into the rear of </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Hamilton</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">’s car
and knocking the rear wing off. But this did not deter Lewis and he kept
charging round, powersliding everywhere and entertaining the crowd. But it
began to wilt his tyres, and he was overtaken by first Vettel and then Johnson.
They had bided their time, and saved their tyres, and gradually worked their
way up the field. 10 laps from the end Johnson slipstreamed past Vettel, after
following him the whole race, and relentlessly then picked off everyone else,
with a series of incisive manoeuvres, finally taking Lowdnes round the outside
of Surtees on the last lap. So the final order was: Johnson, Lowndes, Edwards, Prialux,
Borudais, Vettel, J.Gordon, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Hamilton</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">,
Franchitti, Loeb, Stewart. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘And if you thought that was
chaos, here are the highlights of the second race.’</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The cars appeared in screen for
the rallycross event. Loeb and Ogier were on the front row. The commentator <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>was excitedly burbling about this being a
grudge match between Loeb and Ogier, after the recent war of words between the
two in world rally. And true to the form, the two indulged in an orgy of wheel
banging throughout the race, as they left the rest of the field in the mists.
Behind there was utter chaos, with the F1 drivers in particular using the
license to pull out some spectacular power slides. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Hamilton</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> showed
a great aptitude for this, joking over the team radio that it was a joy to do
two races with no downforce at the back, and that he wished he could do it more
often! Franchitti was well up after his extra testing and had a ding dong with
the exciting Theirry Neuville, that ended up in their bumpers littering the
track. After 50 minutes of absolute chaos, it came down to the last lap, with
Loeb slingshoting Ogier at the last corner to won, much to his joy. The final
order was: Loeb, Ogier, Neuville, Hirvonen, Franchitti, Kopecky, Hirvonen,
Stewart, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Hamilton</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">, and
Vettel.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘And now we go to our final
race, in the V12 superleague formula cars’. The standings going into the race
were:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Loeb: 71</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Franchitti: 68</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Vettel: 66</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Hamilton</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">: 65</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Vettel had taken pole, sharing
the front row with </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Hamilton</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">, with
Franchitti in 5<sup>th</sup>, and Loeb in 12<sup>th</sup>. All still had shots
at the Gold Medal. It promised to be quite a race, and so it was. Vettel roared
off from the start, while </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Hamilton</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> got an
awful one, and was passed by Alonso, Webber , Button and </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Dixon</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">.
Vettel immediately built up a big lead. But inexorably, cheered on by the
capacity crowd, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Hamilton</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">
started to move up the field. He went round the outside of </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Dixon</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> into
Surtees, slipstreamed Button down the hill into </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">McLeans</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">, and
dived past Webber into Paddock Hill bend. After that he barged up the inside of
Alonso into Graham Hill bend, and started to reel in Vettel. He looked good for
the win. But this seemed to spur on Alonso, and he passed </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Hamilton</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> in an astonishing
manoeuvre that started with him going up the inside at Paddock, but thanks to </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Hamilton</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">’s obduracy
lasted till Alonso got the drop at Dingle Dell! It was all absolutely crucial,
as although Alonso could not realistically win Gold, he could take it away from
Hamilton and Vettel by winning – </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Hamilton</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> needed
to win the race, second for Vettel would not be enough if Franchitti was 5th,
or Loeb 9<sup>th</sup>. And intriguingly Franchitti, cannily saving his tyres, was
in 7<sup>th</sup>, but catching Schumacher and </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Dixon</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> for
that 5<sup>th</sup> place, while being pressured by Castroneves and Vergene.
But catching them all was Loeb, a quite astonishing performance for a man who
had been refused an F1 superlicence, but was finally fulfilling his dream of
racing against the best of the best in single seaters. And he was in
tantalising reach of the Gold medal....</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The race got momumentally
intense towards the last 5 laps, with the TV director furiously flashing up ‘As
it stands’ tables every 5 seconds – and rightly so, because the position was
constantly changing. At various points, Franchitti, Vettel, Hamilton or Loeb
were all theoretically top of the table. The top 3 had got into a ding dong
battle and were swapping the lead nearly every corner. Franchitti had briefly
got into the hallowed 5<sup>th</sup> place, but Schumacher and </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Dixon</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> were
proving obdurate and sparked off another desperate bout of passing and
repassing. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Loeb had joined a furious
battle with Castroneves and Vergene for 8<sup>th</sup>. If Loeb was 9<sup>th</sup>
he would win Gold providing Franchitti was not 5<sup>th</sup>. If he was 8<sup>th</sup>
he would definitely win Gold. If either Vettel or Hamilton won they would win
Gold providing Loeb or Franchitti were lower than 9<sup>th</sup> or 5<sup>th</sup>
respectively. Get it? Well I didn’t, but with the help of Mr ‘As it Stands’, I
was enjoying it immensely! It really was all up in the air.....</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And who to win? They all had
mighty claims to be deserving of the first Olympic Gold. Vettel was the World
Champion, had been breathtakingly fast in everything and had really thumbed
‘the finger’ to anyone who thought he couldn’t do wheel to wheel racing – he
had executed, what, a million clean and brilliant passes in one day! </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Hamilton</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> had
brilliantly got into the spirit of it, relentlessly attacking, creating nonstop
excitement for the home crowd, even when he had no rear wing. Loeb had showed
how much of great all rounder he was, possessing real single seater prowess,
and as a bonus had vanquished his emerging rival Ogier. And Dario.....he had
been great, and his respect for the history of the sport and adulation of Jim
Clark, in some way, it make it so fitting if he was up there on the podium in
front of 100,000, the Gold medal round his neck and lifting the Jim Clark
trophy. There was just one thing for sure – they had all thrown themselves into
the event, created a magnificent spectacle that would be the talk of the Olympics,
and motorsport fans would be proud of them, whoever the winner....</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The last lap started. Somehow
the director had contrived a three way split screen to view the crucial battles
that would decide the Gold. The front three battle was unbelievable, throwing
all caution to the wind, going on the grass sliding, darting around,(maybe
thinking they were still in the touring cars?!) but still showing respect for
each other.....just about! It was more Villeneuve/Arnoux than dodgem cars,
thankfully. As they went through Clearways and into Clark, Vettel appeared to
have it, but Alonso had saved a little power boost and used it just before the
braking area, and dived down the inside brakes locked, both cars lightly
tapping and slewing a fraction sideways, both drivers struggling to put the
traction down and beat the other to the line. While they were doing this, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Hamilton</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> had
thrown his car into a crazy powerslide, two wheels slightly on the grass, still
behind, but crucially carrying more momentum than the other two. HOW WAS THIS
GOING TO END?! And the thing was, the lead battle possibly wasn’t even decisive.
The other split screen showed Franchitti in 6<sup>th</sup>, but diving down the
inside of Schumacher into Stirlings, with the door rapidly closing! Could he
sneak through? And at the same time, Loeb had sneaked up to 8<sup>th</sup>. But
there was Vergne going round the outside of Loeb into Dingle Dell! I could not
believe this!!! Everything was happening at once, yet somehow in slow motion.
It was madly exciting, who was going to win Gold out of all this pandemonium!!
I stood up and punched the air –‘This is the Olympics! Gold!! COME ON!!!!!!!!!’</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Huh??????</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I was still shouting and
punching the air like a madman, but suddenly....I couldn’t understand, I
couldn’t focus on the TV. Was there a problem? Oh no, had the satellite signal
lost it at the crucial moment? I NEED TO KNOW HOW THAT ENDED!!! NOW! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But hang on, now I refocused my vision, the TV
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">was</i> still displaying pictures. But
they were of the lithe figure of Usain Bolt, ‘the fastest man on earth’. THEY
HAVE CUT AWAY FROM BRANDS HATCH FOR THAT?!!!!!!! I smacked my hand against my
trousers in utter disgust.....</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Trousers? What had happened to
my beach shorts? And why was it so cold? In summer? What?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I looked around. Oh no. Oh no.
The Christmas tree was still up with the lights flashing.....</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A dream!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Oh darn, now I would never know
who won....mind you it was the best dream ever. And Usain Bolt the fastest man
on earth, Olympics hype la de dah...you got to be kidding me! There are faster
out there don’t you worry about that. He wouldn’t have got near 40<sup>th</sup>
place in my dream!</span></div>Ben Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265881322870750854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2664146975551490376.post-14754003637917325662012-02-27T08:33:00.000-08:002012-02-27T08:33:50.616-08:00Williams Keeping Their Principles...?Well, I was definately a tad pessimistic in my last post, with my opinion that the Williams team would find it very hard to return to past glory and that their decline was all the worse for the way their principles seemed to be gradually floating away with the winds! I did read one thing last night that reassured and amused me. In Jonathan Noble's excellent interview with Rubens Barrichello, http://plus.autosport.com/premium/feature/4241/rubens-barrichello-im-smiling-big-time/ Rubens let slip that Sir Frank had been "cold" duirng the phone call where he told him that he would not have the 2012 drive, and Rubens was not happy at not even being thanked for his two years of service! The Williams old 'no nonsense' school of driver management is still around! And maybe it is filtering down to the new generation of leadership as Barrichello states that Adam Parr has still yet to contact him.....it certainly is a reminder of past times with Williams, who managed to lose/let go of four World Champions immediately after they won the World Championship in the space of under a decade - Piquet, Mansell, Prost and Hill.<br />
<br />
I say this half in jest of course, a case can certainly made for the other drivers they took in place of their World Champions. It is still an astonishing statistic, and anecdotes like those of Rubens Barrichello still indicate a distinct 'no bull' attitude! My eyes are still blinking at the realisation Jacques Villeneuve raced with the number one on his WILLIAMS in 1998......!Ben Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265881322870750854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2664146975551490376.post-70003795168156934812012-02-16T11:39:00.000-08:002012-02-16T11:39:20.305-08:00Williams And Principles<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-GB</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">All us motor sport fans, bloggers, forumites and general fanatics resemble Aladdin on speed around this time of year, fervently pleading for our wishes to be granted: “If Mark Webber could win the championship and five manufacturers suddenly enter the World Sportscar Championship and the Grand Prix ticket prices get reduced and…..(continued ad nasueam). And I am no different, with a melange of different hopes, fancies, fears and lunatic impossibilities filling my mind about a variety of different areas of the sport. But what keeps tapping me on my minds shoulder is the most enticing one, that Williams Grand Prix Engineering might just shock everybody this year and move up the grid. Wouldn’t it be just brilliant? The performance of Williams in recent times, and especially last year, was enough to make one weep. Reading the Williams thread on the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Autosport </i>Racing Comments thread was sometimes like walking into an episode of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cheers </i>when the regulars were at their most morose (and this is not a criticism of them, such pessimism WAS perrenially justified). So definitely an <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">annus mirabilis </i>then. And what makes this more painful is how Williams have deviated from the values which have won them so many fans.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Two incidents underline these values, which make me happy, sad, fascinated, laugh, despair and bewildered depending on which way I look at them, but are all uniquely <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Williams. </i>The first was when they rejected the offer of keeping their Honda engine supply in favour of buying normally aspirated John Judd engines in 1988. McLaren had cleverly spirited away Senna from Lotus, and along with him a supply of the ‘best in class’ Honda turbocharged engines. But Honda were not up for burning all their bridges with Williams, and offered them continued engine supply, as long as they reserved a place for their favoured son, Satoru Nakajima, who had been at Lotus. Williams could have kept a free supply of the best engine, while negotiating with alternative manufacturers if they wished for future years, while providing a viable challenge to McLaren, comparing themselves against Ron’s men with the same engine. How different would the Senna/Prost domination of 1988 been with Nigel Mansell buzzing around in a Williams Honda? Well, we don’t know, because the Williams answer to Honda’s generous offer was: NO. And no doubt delivered in a fashion that wouldn’t have been ‘Lost in Translation’! That is Williams, delivering themselves pain in the short term, to stick to their long term principles. But would they have it any other way?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">They certainly didn’t in 1996, when they let go of one of their boffins. And it wasn’t any old boffin....it was a certain Adrian Newey, and it has not turned out well for the boys from Grove. The story goes that Newey wanted more recognition for the astounding job he had done with the cars, helping Williams reap from 1991-1996 a massive harvest of victories, championships and glory. Specifically, he wanted shares in the business, around 10% if what I read at the time was correct. The Williams response? Well you can probably guess by now.....NO! And look how it cost them, as Newey went to McLaren, and then Red Bull, inspiring them to championships, while Williams have won none since the 1997 chariot that Newey left netted the Drivers and Constructors titles.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So, while by turn maddening and frustrating, the two examples at least show a team that sticks to its principles no matter what. So what if they are enjoying bad times, at least they can be beaten by no one for those principles eh? Well....no. The breaking of the first principle was painfully and ironically evident. Just in case it didn’t dawn on people in 2007, 19 years on, that Williams were breaking their principle to take a Japanese driver, in order to get a discount on their engines, this Japanese driver had to be.......Nakajima san, KAZUKI Nakajima, son of Satoru. Generational changes....And when Patrick Head stepped down, and wanted to sell his stake in the team, the shares that Adrian Newey wasn’t good enough for, are now owned by.....Tom, Dick and Harry. Well they very well COULD be. They were floated on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, so go and buy some for yourself right now if you fancy it. So did Williams’ credibility float away with it? Well that would be excessively harsh. They are Williams, they are privateer, Sir Frank is still at the helm, their core business is still racing, there is no mega-rich sugar daddy behind it all (not even Qatari) and my goodness they even have Renault powerplants in the back of the things this year. But undeniably, something has changed. Adam Parr now seems to be a big public face of the team, pay drivers come and go, and they are now involved in a multitude of other projects, opening a technology centre in Qatar, or working with road car manufacturers. ‘Diversification’, and maybe more sensible for the bottom line, but more McLaren than Williams. Something seems to have been lost from the Williams ethos. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And yet, if they were a stock................oh, they are(!)....................well anyway, I would be recommending ‘Buy’ for this season. A Renault engine that apparently allows them to fully exploit their svelte gearbox, a ban on exhaust blowing that the Cossie couldn’t manage last year, and a new design team including the talented (albeit controversial) Mike Coughlan, and I think Williams will safely leap from the no man’s land of last year right back into the upper midfield this year and ‘overperform’ expectations – never a bad thing. But that is this year....in the long term I worry that Williams, increasingly under Parr’s leadership, will hit a ceiling where that is all they are able to achieve, and future race wins are beyond them. The seeming gradual tearing apart of the RRA, and Williams’ financial weakness would leave them exposed in a new era of financial arms racing. And lead to further reliance on pay drivers, which when from dubious regimes like the Venezuela of Hugo Chavez, will lead to less interest from other sponsors, less money, less performance, which will lead to less interest.....and repeat. I worry that this year may be as good as it gets for Williams. And I’m just not sure potential future decline will be accompanied by them sticking to their guns as resolutely as in the past either. </span></div>Ben Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265881322870750854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2664146975551490376.post-78283590130304228792012-01-26T13:07:00.000-08:002012-01-26T13:07:27.373-08:00Cars and TracksFurther to my post about 'Cars and Tracks' below, and what I see is a bit of a crunch, where Formula One has hit a ceiling with the amount of 'raw' pace the cars can have, on tracks where the spectators and marshals are still vaguly close to the cars, I lobbed in a question to the Motor Sport magazine podcast, this month with Pat Symonds, and was delighted to hear my question read out. Mr Symonds put the (far more well informed!) counter view to me, that new safety initiatives like SAFER barriers increase the ceiling for performance, and many of the things that are happening with energy recovery will be very exciting.<br />
<br />
The question is at about 45 minutes in, and the podcast is at http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/f1/opinion/januarys-audio-podcast-with-pat-symonds/comment-page-1/#comment-129784 and on iTunes. But do listen to the whole thing, the Motor Sport podcasts are always top notch, and actually make me look forward to long walks/runs (a minor miracle there!). And as for the magazine which just landed on my doormat with the Williams FW14B on the front and all the stories about Williams, it is really superlative even by their high standards!Ben Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265881322870750854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2664146975551490376.post-12617190158332893522012-01-23T11:59:00.000-08:002012-01-23T11:59:16.152-08:00Is It Just Me, Or....?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-GB</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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</style> <![endif]--> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I would think everyone has it in life, but as I hurtle through the years I find the ‘is it just me’ moments are increasing, stopping me in my daily business, tapping me on the shoulder and having a little chat. One such moment came last week, with the budgies twittering that Bruno Senna was off to Williams (on the money again Joe Saward) and the subsequent announcement. And before you say it, the ‘Is It Just Me’ moment was not so much for the announcement of Senna getting the seat. I think he will do pretty well. A lot have forgotten he showed promise in GP2 and British Formula 3, and did well I thought given the ‘poisoned chalice’ of a seat midway through the season last year. No, he didn’t blow his teammate Vitaly Petrov away halfway through the calendar. Neither did Messrs Algusuari, Grosjean and Heidfeld to their dancing partners in similar situations in past seasons. Although it does frustrate me the way Williams have (again) insisted that a driver choice is ‘nothing to do with money’. Let them cling to that splintering liferaft if they must, but it doesn’t stop me hankering after the old Williams ‘no bulls**t’ philosophy. And never mind the days when they would fearlessly let a factory Honda engine deal evaporate, to avoid taking Satoru Nakajima (must write another blogpost about all that someday...). My faith wasn’t exactly at hands clasped, kneeling down, looking at the sky levels when I heard the ‘nothing to do with money’ comment. What really didn’t help was that I had played a game of ‘spot the sponsor’ bingo watching an interview with Senna on Sky News. On my cards I had Gillette, Embratel, Head and Shoulders, OGX.... a big list of all the sponsors that joined Renault once Senna got the race drive last year. Guess what, full house! I don’t think it would be ‘balderdash and piffle’ to suggest they did not move to Williams purely out of an altruistic desire to return Sir Frank’s men to World Championship glory.....</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Indeed. But all such tomfoolery, while a bit wacky in places, is all TOO believable in the context of modern day Formula One. But what did give the ‘Is It Just Me’ moment was a number of comments from journalists and on forums that it was a really great thing to see the Senna name back in Formula One. And for that matter there were many of the same happy welcomes for Williams running the ‘retro’ Rothmans style livery last year. I come to this from being a fan who was very fortunate to get into Formula One during the Senna/Prost/Mansell/Piquet ‘golden era’, and even had the great fortune of seeing Prost and Senna race live. Even now, I still can’t truly believe what happened to Ayrton Senna that awful day in 1994, and question myself ‘did it happen’ when it comes up in writings about the sport. That year started with Ayrton Senna taking pole for the first race, and Nigel Mansell winning the last one, seemingly standard for the ‘golden era’, but in reality, amongst the various awful things that happened that year, the golden era was definitively shattered, the number two Williams evoking enormous sadness, as it marks the passing of the golden era, and the very last milestones of two superlative racing drivers. Notwithstanding the superb and dramatic championships Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve achieved in Rothmans livery, and the maiden race victories of David Coulthard and Heinz Harald Frentzen, I associate the Rothmans livery with sadness more than anything. Also, I’m not in the camp that said it was one of the outstanding liveries anyway – I thought what Rothmans did with the Porsche sportscars in the 1980’s was far more effective! </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Therefore, I was a bit confused by the widespread acclaim of Williams bringing back the Rothmans livery last year, with some of the sad memories it engenders. Maybe it shows my age (or how young a tod I was when I started following motorsport!) that I can’t see it from the perspective of those who only remember that glorious morning in Suzuka Damon carried home the World Championship, the sizzling afternoon in Jerez Villeneuve faced down thuggery from Schumacher, and so forth. For me the livery I remember with childlike enthusiasm is the Camel/Canon one from the 1980’s and early 1990’s. My goodness, what a good looking vibrant car! It just really WORKED to my eyes. And it brings to mind one of the most dominant high tech and brilliant cars, the FW14B. And I was fortunate to see its successor the FW15C, race live (and see it again 18 years on at Goodwood a few months ago). For me this livery is prettier, and evokes great memories of an era where Williams blitzed everybody, took a massive tumble off the cliff for their Nakajima point of principle, and then relentlessly, determinedly fought their way back to the top, partnering with Renault to overcome the powerful starship McLaren International/Honda/Marlboro, while unleashing Adrian Newey on a top Formula One team for the first time. Fantastic! And this livery would also be appropriate to Williams’ strongly South American flavour. White, yellow and blue wouldn’t be totally incongruous to the mix of colours in the Brazilian and Venezuelan flags, and could be easily tweaked to satisfy ‘the corporates’ and purist fans nicely.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">As for Senna going to Williams, it does make me feel a bit weird. I am very glad to see him stay in the sport, and love the Senna name being back on the leaderboard, but Williams.....not so much for memories of the accident, but maybe just because it is so sad thinking of all the great achievements Ayrton Senna could have had at Williams, and the sense of unfufillment with Williams and the Senna name. Maybe it would be more....comfortable, if Bruno was going to McLaren, where Ayrton Senna won so much, and left us with that wonderful memory of beating Prost one final time in Adelaide in the red and white McLaren. With Williams, sadly he never had the time (and with his brilliance and the quality of the team behind him, surely all it would have needed was time) to carve the same wonderful memories in the minds of motorsport fans all around the world. Maybe it is just nerves that Bruno is going to a team where the Senna name did not have success. Maybe this is something that will dispel as time goes on, and of course what would help is if he achieves really good results, and helps Williams get moving towards the front again. Indeed, if that happened, it would probably turn into a wonderful story, and be such a heartening thing to see the Senna name achieve success. But until then – ‘is it just me’? </span></div>Ben Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265881322870750854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2664146975551490376.post-64470458289839386942012-01-18T11:17:00.000-08:002012-01-18T11:17:54.654-08:00Cars and Tracks: Hitting the Rev Limiter, Or A Wipeout 2097 Future?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One thing I always puzzle over is the long term relationship between the speed of the great cars that grace our sport, and the tracks we are blessed to see them race upon (or the bland autodromes that are sometimes foisted upon us). Earlier I was watching grainy footage of the 1973 British Grand Prix (doff my hat to ESPN Classic) and it was so apparent there was a severe lack of runoff area on the track. Yes, it was probably too dangerous for the cars then. But oh my goodness, if it was dangerous with the big chunky cars of yesteryear, could you imagine racing on the same track with the lithe carbon fibre monsters of today?! The flimsy barriers, rough track, open grass would all have made the whole thing hairier than an Eskimo. Except of course, for one teeny fact....Silverstone ISN’T the same track as today. It does a great job of combining the old (airfield layout, Copse, Hangar Straight) and the new (Maggots/Becketts, Abbey, the new ‘stadium’ section) and all in a much safer environment. The helter skelter arrangement of flimsy barriers an agricultural long grass has given way to Armco barriers, gravel and neatly mowed grass, and through intensive research even some of that has given way to abrasive tarmac, tyre walls and SAFER barriers. So, though we have more power, grip, aerodynamics, tyre stickiness (just to match the bigger egos!) than 1973, the tracks have sprouted new safety facilities to ‘match’ the improved performance of the cars, when we spool back 39 years from 2012 to 1973. So on the face of it, very logical, and, as our dreary politicos would have it, ‘a sustainable development model.’ Or in layman’s terms, if the cars get faster, just have safer tracks and bigger run offs. Simple eh? But......</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Exponentially where would it all end? If the cars kept getting faster, could new technology be invented, or the run off areas be extended, to maintain the symbiotic relationship between cars and tracks? Well yes......but only by making such a great acreage of run off areas that the spectators would need telescopes to see the cars! And of course, when we think about 1973-2012 in more detail, there have been many movements of the hand on the tiller to restrict speed. Engines, aerodynamics, mechanics, materials, tyres, electronics, have all been limited (but not those drivers’ egos!). If left unregulated, the speed of cars would be simply massive, and just not be able to race on the circuits we love. And indeed they have rarely exceeded certain limits – horsepower rarely hits over 1000 BHP, the cars frequently power down the straights at over 200 MPH, but rarely 250 MPH, and aerodynamic grip is continually ferreted away, before being clawed back by the genius designers. Things oscillate and reverberate, at some tracks we have new lap records being laid down, at others the records of 2004 and earlier stand firm. Truly, in terms of raw speed, if not ingenuity and refinement, Formula One is locked into a cycle of ‘hitting the rev limiter’, inching up to and then bouncing off it with regularity. But what are the likely consequences? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Well, as we have seen, the constant rule changes are surely here to stay. Going ‘over the rev limiter’ in terms of pure raw speed and grip will endanger the tracks. But what will the long term effects be? Looking at the broad sweep of history, the rate of development of Formula One cars is striking, with a ‘breaking the mould’ innovation every decade up to the early 1990’s. The active suspension, computerised cars of pre-1994 are the last gasp of a more laissez faire style of regulations. After that, the emphasis is more on refinement, budget and ingenuity in limited areas, no better exemplified by the relentless Schumacher/Ferrari machine, remorselessly grinding its way through a succession of championships. Indeed, what is an (yet another) impressive thing about the genius of Adrian Newey is that his genius has won true in such different eras, smashing the competition with the legendary FW14B, loaded to the gumballs with gadgets in the laissez faire era, and cleaning up with the RB7 in a more dirigisme time. But, notwithstanding the obvious change in the environment, have we seen the full effects of this restriction on the regulations? Formula One is still very popular worldwide, with no challenge to its top motorsport status. And indeed, you could say, why should it be? Although not conclusively the fastest car in a straight line worldwide (a Bugatti Veyron tank could lay better claim to that!) nor the most technically innovative (sports cars would have their towels down on that deckchair!) but they are the fastest round a single, road race lap, and with Indycar struggling with a ‘specish’ car, A1 GP gone, sportscars and DTM still slower, and NASCAR still based on 1960’s technology, I do not see any change to this in the foreseeable future. But what would happen of a new series was able to challenge Formula One’s dominance of the hot laps? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This could be a powerful challenge indeed. Being able to lay claim to Formula One’s pedestal as fastest over a single lap, and have more technical freedom, would be a blow to Formula One’s prestige, and call into question its brand image as a mainstream extreme sport, on which the patrons of Red Bull, Monster and so on find worthy for purveying an edgy, dynamic image to the worldwide viewers. Surely they would have a natural attraction to a genuinely faster series? But of course, to be genuinely faster, such a series would hit the same ‘rev limiter’ as Formula One, with the state of the modern tracks (optimised for Bernie’s circus of course) being a natural constraint. What options would a challenger series have? Go to non- Grand Prix circuits, where on average, run offs and barriers are even less? Race at an airfield with no fans? The alternatives are barren. Hitting the rev-limiter, and the decreasing intersection between the speed of cars and the space available on track, will surely define events in the future of the sport, and make it hard for people to challenge Formula One. But what if someone could truly break the mould?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It is pretty clear that a tyres on track Formula would find it hard to break through the ‘rev-limiter’ of natural constraints. So how could it break out? Well, this is again a matter for innovation and technology – let us hope the best at it will still be British! Could a ‘Wipeout 2097’ style anti-gravity series open up the potential for extra speed and innovation? Going to the air could open up new types of tracks, and allow for continued safety for spectators and drivers....one day. It is of course a long way off. But anyone first told the concept of the Harrier jump jet usually says the same.....and it has already been in and out of service with the British Navy! Innovation can make the impossible possible.....</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If it doesn’t, then Formula One’s dominance of the shrinking triangle of car speed, innovation and track safety will continue, although at the expense of slightly eroding its status as an extreme sport, and the fastest over a single lap. But what would truly blow this status apart is a new, hereto, unseen innovation that could widen this triangle, and would be a serious challenge to the status of Formula One.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>Ben Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265881322870750854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2664146975551490376.post-19462003479785733412011-12-23T15:22:00.001-08:002011-12-23T15:22:50.599-08:002012, The Sub Plots Take Shape....<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-GB</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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</style> <![endif]--> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Well, well, I am looking forward to 2012. Or just let me refine that, I am looking forward to great racing in 2012! While the year may be variously heralded as Olympics, City of Culture this and Titanic Quarter that, it as much as I always think – where is the great racing going to be? And as ever, there are just so many things to think about, so many great potential great individual performances, flashpoints, conjecture, interest and technology. Just two little parts of the menagerie were confirmed recently, and they show how the battle between team mates can be so intense, and so fascinating. And the key link in both, is 2013.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">2013?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Surely you meant 2012? No, no, no! In two recent driver moves, the state of contracts in 2013 adds intrigue to the inter team battle. These are at the Toro Rosso and Force India teams. Here we have had the recent announcement of Jean Eric Vergene and Daniel Riccardo at Toro Rosso, and Nico Hulkenburg and Paul di Resta at Force India. These are four great drivers, and would be fascinating battles in themselves. But what adds some petrol to the bonfire is the driver situation at Red Bull and Mercedes.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">At Red Bull, Mark Webber has signed another contract extension, and as a great fan of his attitude, plain spoken demeanour, effort(and he was an absolutely lovely guy when I had the opportunity of meeting him and a very brief chat!), I really hope he nets a World Championship before he stops Formula One. And with his fighting attitude, it certainly still is possible – look at the age of Nigel Mansell, and the struggles he went through, before he pulled it off! But it remains that in a car where Sebastian Vettel smashed plenty of records (although not as near a superior car as the Williams FW14B in my opinion), Mark was only able to win one race, seemed to struggle with the less durable tyres, and when Vettel did not win, Webber could usually not. <span> </span>So the one year extension leaves Webber with all to prove in 2013. With Red Bull preferring drivers from within their own stable (of charging Bulls!), it means the battle between Riccardo and Vergene is potentially fascinating. The two are great drivers, and it will be great seeing them, and I’m glad they have both ended up on the grid, as they are just the kind of exciting, stellar young talent that is continually needed to sustain and strengthen the rich well of talent we already have in the sport. I have been excited to hear about the entry of Vergene, after his domination of British F3 and his competiveness in Renault World Series (honourably beaten by the talented Robert Wickens). I really feared that he might be relegated to a test driver role, which I always find disappointing as I think there should be more young talent in Formula One, and at times the lack of seats on the grid can mean a lack of driver changes and things getting a bit staid. Having said this, I think that Jaime Alguserauri, who really impressed me with his intelligent use of tyres this year, still deserves a seat. The problem is, many drivers still do – get those new teams on the grid! Personally I hope he can get his derrière in a Williams or a Caterham. But it looks like he will not be in the Red Bull team in the future, having had the strings cut by the parent mega-corporation, and now he has to cycle without stabilizers. I’m sure he will be very capable of this. But for Riccardo and Vergene, this prospect is tantalizingly open to them, if Webber does not pick his pace up. Predicting who will win in the tussle of the young tigers is almost impossible. In some ways Riccardo seems in prime position, as he has half a years experience in Formula One. To my mind during that truncuated run out he was outstanding. He was at HRT, up against Viantonio Liuzzi, the 2004 Formula 3000 champion, and still surely a decent peddler. Giving away half a seasons Bernie miles to the bestudded Italian, I watched Riccardo's progress closely, and I thought his performance was really good. After a couple of races to warm up, he outqualified Liuzzi four times and when he didn’t, it was often tight, a couple of tenths or thereabouts. By doing so, he may have permanently edged Liuzzi out of Formula One. His already impressive pedigree and knowledge of half the tracks puts him in a strong position. But, in the <i>equipe de France </i><span> </span>corner, we have Vergene, who lacks this experience, but does possess obvious natural talent, pulverising the competition in British Formula Three, and coming within a whisker of the Renault World Series. He has been touted as a special talent, and overcoming Riccardo would be a big first tick in the box of potential future champion. With the added interest of wither of both possibly fighting for a seat in Adrian Newey’s magic carpet in 2013, I will enjoy monitoring how things are progressing at Toro Rosso.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I also see a similar effect at Mercedes and Force India. One thing that has become apparent is that the 2012 Mercedes might be the cracker of a car the board at Stuttgart have been waiting for. The recent hiring of Bob Bell, Aldo Costa and Geoff Willis, while potentially not having a full effect on the 2012 car, may make the 2013 vehicle a force to be reckoned with. Given that, I would posit that even after all the championships, controversies and records, 2012 is a vital year in the career of Michael Schumacher. Having done the hard slog of three years hard racing during his comeback, even at 43, would one expect Schumacher to hang up his helmet and retire to his sofa? Not a bit of it! If there is a championship winning car he will surely want it. But of course Mercedes will be under no contractual obligation to take him. If he doesn’t start beating Nico Rosberg more, or at least continue his upsurge of form in the second half of 2011, he could well be forcibly offered re-retirement. In that case, many drivers would want what could turn out to be a real plum seat, but one would think two prime contenders would be two men from another Mercedes powered team, Paul di Resta, with his Mercedes links, and the German Nico Hulkenburg, now managed by Schumacher’s long time manager Willi Weber. Both had impressive first seasons in the sport, Hulkenburg even sticking the Williams on pole during a memorable qualifying session in Brazil, and di Resta having some great races, especially in the first half of the year. So again, this will be a close battle, and it is hard to call a winner, and we have the added spice that the winner of it might find himself in the Mercedes in 2013 and give a real leg up to his career.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">There are always a million different stories and sub plots to a Formula One race, and season, and it is always fun trying to spot them, or highlight them before the season starts. On the first look, the midfield ‘play off’ between the Toro Rosso and Force India drivers for a plum seat further up the grid will be one of them, and I very much look forward to taking a close look at it during 2012. </span></div>Ben Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265881322870750854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2664146975551490376.post-58213668470026079192011-10-23T12:17:00.000-07:002011-10-23T12:17:11.629-07:00A Sad Week for MotorsportIt has been a sad week to follow in motorsport, with the passing away of Dan Wheldon and now Marco Simoncelli in horrible accidents. They were both exciting, personable and greatly likable racers and will be sorely sorely missed. I hope the reaction to the accidents by the authorities is calm and meaningful, taking time to reflect on the lessons learnt, not ruining the sport, but implementing practical changes that improve safety. I read a comment many years ago from Stirling Moss comparing motor racing to tightrope walking (in that walking a tightrope wouldn't be exciting if it was done a few centimetres above the ground), and on one level I do agree, but I think motorsport should be always working to make the tightrope element NOT refer to injury or worse (and in todays enviroment letting it be so would be seen as disrespectful and a ridiculous attitude). It should be about losing time or places, losing rhythm, all about racing, what the fans have come to see, not the big accidents which I find (rightly) core motor sport fans detest. Of course as part of that core elements should persist - the cars should be very powerful, with more power than grip, and encourage variables to affect the car (for example tyre wear). None of these factors if impelmented correctly should make for fundamentally unsafe racing, neutering cars to make sure they don't possess these attributes is also in my opinion disrespectful to the sport, and of course leads us towards Stirlings 'tightrope off the ground' motorsport, which of course through being dull would threaten the future of motorsport in its own way. The rule makers have a constant challenge, avoiding this fate, while continually keeping a rein on the machines getting to the point where the tightrope goes beyond racing and threatens worse. I see that the new Indycar has 'bumpers' on the back wheels, although a purist, this is something I would have no problem with other single seater series looking at, as launching of cars appears to me to be happining more often in other open wheel series as well (with a large accident in Superleague last year coming to mind), and it is incrediably important to guard against as the consequences of a car launching can be severe, and if one got near the crowd, then the ramifications for motorsport would be potentially very high.Ben Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265881322870750854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2664146975551490376.post-71069890156579957332011-10-13T12:23:00.000-07:002011-10-13T12:23:54.093-07:00A Hungry Man!Really looking forward to a great weekend of watching motorsport - I am very interested in how the Grand Prix will go now Pirelli have said that they are going for even more 'edgy' tyre selections now the championship has been decided, and then after that the BTCC decider, now that could be explosive! I am out late on the Saturday but have no worries about staying awake for it all.....and this after a great Grand Prix and schintellating Bathurst last weekend. Bring it on!Ben Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265881322870750854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2664146975551490376.post-54845823947440359742011-10-13T12:19:00.001-07:002011-10-13T12:19:58.377-07:00Lewis<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-GB</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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</style> <![endif]--> <div class="MsoNormal">Well well well, even mentioning the name seems to start the sirens rattling. Niki Lauda, countless British journalists, teeming internet forums, the clarion calls abound, Lewis Hamilton has monumentally lost it! But...I just don’t buy into this analysis, while conceding he has hit a big dip in the rollercoaster. But I think he has the talent and ability to pull himself out of the trough, and start cresting the rises again.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">What informs this is my belief that we are dealing with the best potential of any driver on the grid. Potential isn’t everything of course, but if all drivers perform to their maximum, I can’t see anything better. Yes, as the experts say, Alonso is a magnificent all round driver. But who tied him in the championship (and made him look frankly silly at many points) in his first year? I think that either people have forgotten this, or enough time has not passed to put this achievement into perspective. Fort oh my goodness, it was an <i>astonishing </i>achievement! I think when Lewis Hamilton is retried it will form a key part of the narrative of his career, much more then it does now, when it has evaporated into the mist of 24 internet news and comment. But I think it was sensational, and to put it in its present context, if say Jules Bianchi or Jean Eric Vergene were announced right now as the second Ferrari driver, and tied on points with Alonso next year, then my goodness, my cap would be off to them, just after my jaw hit the floor! Of course, there is one very good argument why this should not be treated as gospel, that is implicit in much of the media coverage. This is the ‘flash in the pan’ theory, where we can hypothesis 2007 was a brilliant drive by a focused young man, eager to impress, and it has been all downhill since. Certainly you won’t find much argument from me to the proposition that Lewis drove better in 2007 to not win the championship than when he won it in 2008. But then....I thought he was absolutely magnificent in 2009, carrying a dog of a car round ahead of this teammate, being really competitive at the end of the year, and producing one of my favourite ever Formula One moments (when he crashed the car out of third place at Monza on he last lap, and when asked of it had been too chancy risking all for second place, started on a long explanation of how he was going to take second, and then in the last few corners would have taken the lead...born racer!). And then in 2010, again for my money he was absolutely brilliant, gunning what was for long stretches the third best car close to the championship. I thought last year he did so well to remain in contention for so long, and again was unfortunate that two incidents in a largely error free season came consecutively, at Monza and Singapore, giving more credence to the ‘Lewis is a wildman’ theorists then it should have.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Against these fine drives I will fully admit that 2011 seems a comedown, He has in the last few races been outraced (and sometimes even outqualified) by Button, and the mistakes have wracked up at a faster pace. But some of this stems I think from his instinct to attack, to want to win. We hear he is unfocused, but then from the same journalists hear that he made an exhibition of himself ‘chatting up’ Red Bull and Christian Horner in Canada, reportedly due to angst that Sebastian Vettel is storming ahead in the acheivement stakes. Not the sign of an unfocused driver to me! I admire the hunger, and even the semi paranoia, and think this will stand him in good stead, in what could be a viciously competitive next five years, with such a strong field of drivers. And I think this ‘reaching for the stars’ attitude explains many of the misdemenours this year, when the McLaren has simply been not as good as the Red Bull. Such an uncompromising pursuit of excellence led his idol Senna to three world championships after all. And I think he has ‘lost’ nothing. What sticks in my mind is the German Grand Prix. Simply put, I have severe doubts that <i>any </i>of the other drivers could have pulled of the <i>coup de main of flat out driving, instinctive passing and speed on new and worn tyres that Hamilton did. </i>And I just can’t in my mind apply that to any of the other drivers this season. For example, Button was absolutely magnificent in Japan, but I don’t think you can rule out the possibility that Alonso could have pulled off the same victory in the McLaren. And the same could be said of Hamilton and Alonso in the Red Bull. His drives in China, Australia and Spain were top levels as well. More mistakes have crept in, and he hasn’t been to the level of previous years, but his capacity to produce these high-level; performances makes me confident that when he has a more competitive car, his tendency to ‘reach for the stars’ will lead to wins, not flying into the hedge. And as for his focus and hunger, his obvious will to be back at the front confounds that.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Against this there is one cloud on the horizon. In more articles than I can remember, top journalists have referred to Lewis needing to ‘sort out issues in his personal life’ or somesuch. It is there I question whether these journalists are hinting at the problems of having a celebrity girlfriend based in the United States, or something more serious. I don’t know, but whatever way I hope it is sorted! Either way, Lewis does seem to be turning into a modern Nigel Mansell, drama at every turn, every press conference! But did it really hurt Mansell? <span> </span>As long as he can get winning again I can’t see this having a long term effect. Neither can the rather spurious stories of his management not turning up to races – after all Vettel manages without such figures, and for goodness sake Hamilton is 26 now, and would such a free sprit appreciate having someone there trying to control him? He is, after all, already at his ‘family’ team. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I guess I have a big soft spot for a driver who creates constant drama, can pull off incredible victories, amazing passes, and chucks the car in the hedge on the last lap pursuing victory. Things are a longer game that the 24 hour media sometimes admit, and I would be stupefied if Hamilton never wins another championship, and that man Vettel had better watch out, as McLaren and Ferrari will be closer next year, and Mercedes the year after. I don’t think he is ‘finished’, and my best guess is that after some more public moping around, he will win one of the last four races, go into the off season in good spirits, and ne a mighty contender next year. And if he doesn’t, it will still be fund finding out, because he is such a passionate, explosive, attacking ten tenths racer, with so much ‘tiger’. Good luck Lewis!</div>Ben Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265881322870750854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2664146975551490376.post-2524174171561516782011-10-13T12:18:00.000-07:002011-10-13T12:18:16.589-07:00Schumacher<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-GB</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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</style> <![endif]--> <div class="MsoNormal">Much of the reaction and comment over the Spa Grand Prix weekend was about the 20<sup>th</sup> anniversary of Michael Schumacher’s debut in Formula One, in the beautiful Jordan 191 at Spa. It was interesting reading, and listening, and recently I have been thinking back over his career, and is place in the pantheon of greats.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">My assessment of Schumacher is bound around one thing, which has been little explored, and may be a personal peccadillo of mine, but I think is interesting. And it is this: did Schumacher improve the sport by being there? By that I don’t mean being the greatest driver ever, or his strengths or weaknesses, but did he in some way make the sport better by being there? If he had taken up a job as a mechanic in his home town would the sport have improved, or been massively hurt? It is there where things become murky.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Well the first certainty is that we would have been robbed of the early years, the fresh faced young German, in the gorgeous Jordan, and then the rough and ready manual gearboxed Benetton, fizzing and glistening with promise, when anything was possible. Socking it to the greats, racing with and beating Mansell, Senna, and Prost. Destroying Piquet and Patrese, fighting off an exceptional rearguard from the wily Martin Brundle in 1992. Racing, overtaking, smiling on the podium, defending, scrapping, fighting, winning. I must admit at the time, as a younger man myself, I was a TREMENDOUS fan of this vibrant young driver, rocking the established order. I couldn’t imagine him as part of the old generation of drivers, and was so excited about watching him grown, and be a champion, and continuing on....well you though he could be timeless (as it seems to have turned out). No question, the Schumacher of 1991-1993 brought another dimension to the sport, challenging the established order, propelling a Benetton that could quickly, with Ford engines, have run out of steam, and deservedly becoming one of the big beasts himself. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">But...did this vibrant young man subsequently add to the sport? Did his being there make a significant contribution, even if you were not a fan of his, similar to, say, Fernando Alonso today? My contention would be that he did not. If you had taken Schumacher away from the late nineties and early noughties era of Formula One it would probably in my eyes have significantly improved the sport. In some ways it would have been lacking, but the sport could have made a virtue of it. There was discernibly a drop in quality of the field post Senna, Prost, Mansell, but <i>sans </i>Schumacher the field could have been flattened out, and the pressure of competition between <i>Messer’s </i>Hakkinen, Villeneuve, Montoya, Hill et al could have been close, competitive, and exciting, a field of equals racing hard. After all, late nineties Champ Car only needed fields headed by Zanardi, Vasser or Montoya to be absolutely riveting. The absence of Schumacher would also have taken away from the feeling that one side (in this case the Schumacher/Ferrari axis) was being unfairly favoured by the FIA. Perhaps we might have had a level playing field...?.... well, probably not, but maybe not quite such a jaundiced one either. All in all, it would have been a fitting response to the state of Formula One, an interim era between the big beats of the eighties and nineties and now. Of course we would have missed Schumacher’s wet weather skills and his ability to prostitute a car to do multiple qualifying laps in a race, flat chat, to pass people ‘at the stops’. Well, for the first, Jean Alesi and others would have provided their moments, and for the second... you can take it or leave it as far as I’m concerned! I did not find it monumentally fascinating at the time....</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">And this is why I have enjoyed Schumacher more in his second incarnation. All the refuelling rubbish has gone, and he actually has to <i>race</i>, and finally I feel there is some sort of connection again with the young Benetton driver in the thick of the pack from all those years ago. His performances have been a lot better this year and he has....mostly....kept it clean, apart from reverting to the revolting old antics with Hamilton at Monza (and I make a distinction between this year and last, just ask a Mr Barrichello about that!). He is even only three points behind Rosberg at the time of asking in the championship. Although he is defiantly still a ‘but...’ driver! </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So, I enjoy him more since his comeback. But a lot of that is down to the different Formula he races in. Do I value him as an essential part of making Formula One great? No!</div>Ben Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265881322870750854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2664146975551490376.post-64664527859924416052011-06-25T09:33:00.001-07:002011-06-25T09:33:26.731-07:00Big Business or Corner Shops<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-GB</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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</style> <![endif]--> <div class="MsoNormal">Following on (rather belatedly) from my last post, another of my ‘irrational’ beliefs I have long held (among many, but I guess life would be dull if we all followed the herd) is that car manufacturers are bad for motor racing. Yes CAR manufacturers, the people that churn out road cars by the million, and have a deep vested interest in high performance technology, and are the most relevant sponsors/investors in motorsport bar....not a lot! And look at all the motor sport programmes they have started over the years, producing many wonderful cars, like the Silk Cut Jaguars, the turbo Renault F1 cars, the Lancia Stratos, the DTM Alfa 155, Subaru Impreza, and on and on and on. None of these cars would have been produced without the involvement of their manufacturers, from concept to the much needed finance. So how on earth can it be a bad thing? Well if absolute power corrupts absolutely, then manufacturer power can ‘manufacture’ the excitement out of racing.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I take you to a shining exhibit of this, the BTCC. About 15 years ago, Super Touring was in the throes of conquering the world, and BTCC was in the vanguard. After the superlative title battle of 1992 (Soper/Cleland would probably merit a lot of OMG WOW LOAZ for the Twitter generation if it happened today!) and the early 1990’s adoption of Super Touring, the BTCC just exploded into a period of runaway growth, with foreign stars and over ten manufacturers, allied to masses of fans at the tracks and TV, with their fans entertained by full racing days, open paddocks and accessible drivers. I was one of them myself, three times having made the trip to Knockhill, and oh my goodness the full autograph books I came back with! Disparaging comments were made the excitement of a sterile Formula One compared to the BTCC, and the strength of Touring Cars seemed to have no end; there were even championships in the U.S., Australia, Asia and South Africa. At one point the German<span> </span>were playing host to the insane, <i>awesome </i><span> </span>‘old’ DTM and the STW for Super Touring, which was at about the level of the BTCC for a couple of years. There was even an excellent magazine set up around this time, exclusively to document the growth of Super Touring round the world, called, wait for it, <i>Super Touring </i>magazine! (And excellent it was too, does anyone remember it? Disappeared around 1997 if I recall?). At the time it seemed as if Super Touring would grow and grow and grow. If you’d told me then, that Super Touring Cars in 2011 would be limited to a declining two manufacturer world series, and isolated national level series in Britain, Scandinavia and South America, and the British series with NO manufacturers, I would have eaten my hat... What happened to stall the seemingly limitless growth and goodwill towards Super Touring? Simple, one word which I fear in motorsport – MANUFACTURERS! </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">There is a conceptual distinction which I feel is important. For my mind, the BTCC grid that has been on display this year, in fantastic races like the meeting at Croft last weekend, was vibrant, diverse and colourful. No manufacturer involvement, but I really didn’t care. Instead there have still been a wide variety of CARS, from a mix of teams, and a mix of old and new drivers. But instead of largely all of them being under the writ of car manufacturers, they were financed by an eclectic range of companies: (all now more visible in great looking HD, thank you ITV4!) Ebay Motors, Aon, Halfords, Dunlop, Airwaves...there were many (and that being a good thing because I always prefer more ‘freestyle’ livered series like NASCAR than series with rows of identikit ‘Noah and the Ark’ pairs of cars). So what is the difference between that and when manufacturers wrote the cheques? Well, I think large scale manufacturer involvement such as the BTCC has had <i>to the point where they become reliant on it </i>was ultimately destabilising to the series. Because there is a fundamental truth about manufacturers involvement in motorsport, that holds true for all series, no matter how rich nor grand. A manufacturer, lasting long in a series, is the exception not the rule, and for good reason. Manufacturers are different to most other types of sponsors. While the focus for say, ebay motors is to raise awareness (put your cheque in the post now you’ve had a mention on the blog guys!) or increasingly now, build ‘brand to brand’ relationships, it is different to manufacturers. Of course ebay motors want to be preferably emblazoned on the side of a winning BMW (indeed that would be usually one of the most exposed cars in the media) but it is not a bad reflection on the brand if they do not win, for it is very simple for the public to deduce ebay motors do not prepare and buy the car (now there’s an idea: ebayracing.com!. Instead, they publicise their brand, make people interested, and increasingly in today’s world, do enough to make someone Google them, and the rest is up to how adept the company is. All good for them. But with a manufacturer, it is somewhat different. Even though in some cases it may not be of the most <i>actual </i>relevance (how does Toyota producing a race winning NASCAR full of antividean and largely standardised technology relate to their standing in their passenger car market?) on track performance is seen as <i>relevant </i>to a car manufacturers reputation, in the way it isn’t to a chewing gum company or a newspaper. I guess it’s like if there was a competition every year for who could build the most powerful super computer: the companies would have to entrust the building of them to specialist teams, and any innovations they made would take a long time and have little in common with mass market devices, but....if Sony, HP or Lenovo entered, it would be a big feather in their cap to win, and good for their image, in a way it wouldn’t be for <i>Vanity Fair </i>or <i>Daves Cash and Carry. </i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So...at least the manufacturers who have success will be all happy and placated then? Of course not! For the manufacturers that win, for example Renault in Formula One, will find if this isn’t replicated on a consistent basis then the recognition of their technology by the public and the media will decline. It was a huge deal when Renault by immense efforts unseated Honda as the top engine dog in Formula One. It wasn’t when they were pulling off their seventh consecutive constructor’s title as powerplant to the winning car with weaker competition. The results based upside to being in motorsport will gradually decline over time, in parallel to those manufacturers who are becoming disenchanted and want out of the sport. And of course that is what happened to the poor old BTCC. Ford were successful with the Mondeo, Renault with the Laguna, Audi with the A4, Volvo with a series of cars. They got what they wanted...and left. Even doyen of the series Vauxhall has done the same, tired of racing themselves among manufacturer teams! But did the less successful manufacturers fill the wake they left? Not really. Look at some of the unsuccessful manufacturers who slipped away from BTCC over the years: Mazda, Peugeot, Toyota, the results didn’t come and they didn’t hang around long to see if they would. And why should they have, because their reputation would have been suffering in some way all the time? The same has happened in Formula One, with escalating costs, and not a chance for all the manufacturers to be successful. And I’m glad it has – I like personal, <i>racing </i>teams like Williams and Sauber, financed by sponsorship, not the dull and boring Toyota motor corporation doing not a lot. And look at the World Rally Championship, at the turn of the century cresting the wave of manufacturer involvement, and now in the worst of both worlds – during the recent barren years, thanks to only Citroen and Ford staying around, we had a situation where privateers could not win, but yet there were not a terrible lot of factory cars to choose from who would beat them in the final reckoning (with one particular brilliant driver taking the lions share, although that wasn’t the championships fault). I’ll explore this later in more detail, but....wouldn’t the WRC have been better banning manufacturer teams a while ago? I really really think they would! </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Some people may see madness in what I say. But ultimately I want to see creative, dynamic, colourful, diverse and individualistic teams competing hard and fairly on the track, in series that has lots of cars, and a substantial number of them that can win. Ultimately, I put it to you all, I struggle to think of a single series where car manufacturer involvement has helped, or will help this, apart from sometimes creating little mini booms. If I was Alan Gow, when I wasn’t under verbal assault from Jason Plato and had some quiet time to think, I would be very proud of BTCC 2011, which fulfils these criteria and then some, and has just provided some wonderful racing and excitement at the fine racetracks we have in Britain. And if I were him that pride would lead me say to the car manufacturers if they are attracted by this spectacle: thanks, but no thanks. <span> </span>In fact I would darn well introduce a rule outlawing manufacturer backed teams! <span> </span>If the BTCC chooses the alternative, they may as well appoint Gordon Brown as the series boss. For the days of boom and painful bust, would be well and truly back.<span> </span>Leave the car companies to their rightful place of buying banner ads on ebay, or arranging competition tie ins with Airwaves or Halfords. And let those boys do a proper job of financing some great, viable, exciting racing.</div>Ben Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265881322870750854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2664146975551490376.post-17782839108678699602011-04-07T15:44:00.001-07:002011-04-07T15:59:03.050-07:00Reflections on Melbourne<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Well I don’t know if I’ll do this all the time, but I really wanted to outline some reflections on the first race. Had enough time to think about it now! Well the first thing I have to say is that most of my thoughts since, have been along the lines of ‘when’s the next one? Hurry up! When’s the next one...’ ad nasueam, and this can’t be a bad sign! Certainly as I found last year, I always look forward to the next race, each one feels like a real big event again, and there is plenty to think about with the strength in depth of teams and drivers, and lots of stories to look at. And I think, on balance, this was a good race, and for some reason seems to be being somewhat talked down by the consegetti, for reasons I don’t quite understand. Is this just a function of the internet era, where if it is not the greatest first race ever, all manner of chaos breaks loose? Possibly (says blogger!). But for me, this race was deeply encouraging. Yes it was not the greatest race of all time, but I think this is not important (this time). I think a key problem with Formula One is that for a long time the ‘base standard’ races have been very weak. What I would term a ‘base standard’ race is one where it is dry, no one does anything exceptionally stupid (which of course can bring out a safety car) and there is no other big point of interest, for example a championship showdown. I mean Formula One is monumentally good at producing exciting races in the wet, outside of Barcelona 1996 (half the field off in the first few laps, zzzz!). I can’t really remember many dull ones. But unless we go down to the level of Bernie operating the sprinklers (thank goodness there is not support for such a lunatic idea from within high echelons of the sport!) then we won’t have them every week. Formula One got away with it for years with the weak base standard. Take Monza 1999. Everyone remembers it for the crash of Mika Hakkinen under the pressure of the title fight, with him then going on for a cry in the bushes (which was amazingly all caught by the usually incompetent and chaotic Italian host broadcaster, thankfully the days of hosts have gone...). Dramatic, exciting, passionate, what a race you’d say? Was it f**k! The truth was, the base standard of that race was awful, little passing, no variety in strategy, cars on rails, but like much of late 1990’s Formula One it was about getting your 30 seconds of dramatic footage, so we all could pretend that dull races in dull cars with maybe the weakest crop of drivers ever to contest a World Championship was the best thing since sliced bread...well bo**ocks to that! And I could get away with such uncouth verbiage then because at the same time Champ Car was churning out races with an excellent base standard, and you never had long to wait. Yes, each race was not necessarily up to the standard of the classic three wide finish, or Zanardi passing the whole field to win, but you could sit down in the safe knowledge that it would be interesting, and a real ‘tortilla chips’ race. Tortilla chips, are you crazy, I hear you say? Well yes, but I was already, and I will explain. I am a naturally fidgety person, whose attention span isn’t brilliant, but it is breakable, as a good book, magazine or programme will testify. A tortilla chips race for me is a race where you could just sit in front of the screen, and (this is a terrible habit of mine) be so interested in what was going on in the race, that you would sit there putting everything else on auto pilot, and just mechanically keep reaching for a crisp, until the packet was done, not noticing you had eaten far too many. But if the race wasn’t this good, you would notice, or either you would get up and do something else. If it was not wet, or there wasn’t a big pile up, no problem, Champ Car would right royally enthral you. NASCAR and touring cars are past masters at this as well. But the shocking base standard of Formula One meant they couldn’t consistently play the same role. For another example, let’s go back to Monza 2002 (a place remember with lots of straights and chicanes, necessitating low downforce. Any racing series worth its salt should be able to reel off half decent races there!).That race really depressed me at the time, and still does! There was history made on the Saturday, with Montoya taking his Williams round to the fastest average speed ever. Great stuff from a driver and team of racers, lovely to hear. Race day dawned with Jim Rosenthal, probably Mark ‘DI’ Blundell, and especially James Allen, getting to my mind quite hysterical about the ‘excitement’ of the organisers building a new podium hanging over the start finish straight so the Tifosi could stand under it. Not as interesting as hearing from er, teams and drivers, with intelligent argumentative debate then...but hey, can’t argue that the podium is good for the fans, let’s hope they give them a race to remember, let’s go racing.....and so the lights go out, on a lovely sunny day, and....nothing happens. Nothing. No passing. About halfway through James Allen talks about the ‘excitement’ and passion we have waiting for us on the podium. And then he gets excited about the ‘strategy’ element of the race which seems to be most cars on a one stop, the odd person on two, all stopping on pre determined laps, tyre wear not an issue, and trying to drive a really fast in and out lap, although this isn’t really radical, because in those days, they just went flat out from stop to stop. It seemed to me that the ‘pre-strategy’ era, before Formula One turned into a ‘game of chess’ (copyright M.Mosley), with drivers conserving tyres, making snap decisions to pit, different cars gaining or losing speed as fuel was substantially burnt off, and so on, contained far more...strategy?! Anyway, James Allen seems to like it. After the fascinating 'strategy battle’ (by this stage I would have closed the bag of crisps and probably have been mentally focused on the paint drying...) James tees us up for the big moment in the closing laps with more talk of the ‘passion’ of the podium, before we then have the flag, James talks about the new podium and then...hail be! The drivers WALK ON THE PODIUM! THERE ARE FANS STANDING UNDERNEATH IT! THE DRIVERS ARE WAVING TO THEM! WOW! HALLEYUAH! ADELAIDE 1986 HAD NOTHING ON THIS! Not knowing how I was coping with all this primal excitement in one day by now, I watched the drivers move onto the press conference, where Michael ‘is Magny Cours 1998 Ferrari’s first one-two’ Schumacher was asked about what the ‘passion’ of the fans and the podium meant. Then we returned to the ITV ‘analysis’ team, with more original theory and insight like....how great the podium was. Look, I wasn’t against the podium idea at all, but my point is, in tirelessly pedalling this ‘moment’, and ‘passion’ of the podium, they had all forgotten that, quite frankly, these ‘moments’ should be spontaneous, and earnt! And the race had done nothing to earn that at all, in fact for all they talked about it, they may as well have gone from the five minute board to the bloody podium ceremony! There has to be something good in between the talk of the podium and the damn podium itself! And to make it worse, many of the assertions of the James Allen line that the ‘passion’ and the ‘devotion’ and ‘fanaticism’ of the Tifosi were being shown off rested on sandy ground. Thanks to the always questioning, assertive and wonderful journalism of Nigel Roebuck, I knew for long before a waning enthusiasm (although not respect) for the dry Schumacher ‘League of Nations’ Ferrari, even though their results were a world away from the all-Italian circus that Ferrari had been in the early 1990’s. This was not just a hunch, but backed by declining television and attendance figures in Italy, from the ‘fanatical’ Tifosi. So the ‘ITV’ take on events was made up of a lot of utter bulls**t! Of course one hopes that the said effluent wouldn’t be such a problem these days and you might have messers Couthard, Jordan and Brundle, ably compared by Jake Humphrey, chewing the fat, dissecting these issues and speaking out frankly about the lack of excitement. But what even those talented broadcasters would not have been able to do was to make the MOST IMPORTANT thing good.....you know the race? It’s the bit they do before the podium just for future reference. </span></div><div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">But you would have known little from the small amount most people saw of it on the news broadcasts of these Monza races. All the tedium would be tightly edited into a package of all the ‘emotion and drama’ – start, pitstops, Hakkinen crying, chequered flag, people round the blasted podium, bang bang, bang. Formula One as a sport was truly ‘phoning it in’, and yet most of the population would not have had the clue. Indeed until a few years ago Mr Ecclestone had the temetry to label these news watchers as active viewers of the sport! But if they were flying over the radar with a substandard base product in those days, today, bizarrely, the opposite is happening, and now I would say Formula One is unduly suffering, being pushed under the radar. I reference you to the BBC News report on the night of the Australian Grand Prix. The reporter (Kevin Geary) pilloried the race for being dull, and mocked the DRS system. For me this is a simplistic, wrong analysis from someone who should realise he may be wrongly influencing options. When we look at the Australian race what I call the ‘base standard’ was shown to be in good, solid form. The race on first inspection had all the ingredients for a dullathon – it was dry as a bone, there was no strange goings on in qualifying that would have mixed up the grid, Melbourne was apparently easier on the new tyres and the Red Bull seemed so much faster, and it looked impossible to believe anything but Vettel blowing everyone away Mansell/FW14B style. And of course we had high expectations for the season to match up to, so things could have taken a fall. But they really didn’t, and in my opinion built on the ‘base standard’ of Formula One 2010 and moved it on in some areas. So Mr Geary, did you <i>really</i> find the whole race boring? Hamilton pushing Vettel seriously hard in the first stint, even looking like he might take the lead at the first stop? Boring? Rubens Barrichello going to the back, passing over ten people (very browned off the usually excellent FOM direction missed this, hope this won’t be regular) then throwing it away with a mad manoeuvre on Rosberg? Boring? Jenson Button’s escapades with Massa and the cut corner? Boring? Buemi passing Sutil, and Sutil eventually sneaking in front of Di Resta? Boring? Kobayshi <i>getting passed, </i>yes, <i>passed, </i>by other drivers? Boring? The tension as Alonso was catching Petrov towards the end? Boring? The Perez/ Pirelli miracle (will he start feeding the five thousand next?!) of the one tyre stop? Boring? And of course we have the centrepiece of the report, the alleged ‘lacklustre’ debut of the DRS. Here we have to really question the entire premise of this, and I will have to go out on a limb. Firstly, I have to say I am a big opponent of the DRS, as I will outline in a future post, because it is inheritantly artificial. Yes, overtaking is a problem, but we need less ‘dirty air’ to fix that. ‘Push to pass’ KERS is a ‘good ‘push’ as it is fair to both drivers, and creates fascination in how both drivers will use it. When it is not (a la Raikkonen/Fisichella at Spa two years ago, when only Raikkonen had it) it is not very exciting. The DRS isn’t, and leads to a danger with the inheritant ‘unfairness' of only giving it to the attacking driver, that it will lead to boring passes. Thankfully, this was mostly averted by quite sensible setting of the system, and our good friend KERS. During the Button/Massa fight, Massa was actually able to use his KERS to override Jenson’s DRS in a high speed game of top trumps, before having to then defend against Jenson’s KERS deployment elsewhere around the lap. This created a fascinating contest for a few laps, which could have lasted longer, but only ended as Jenson left out a corner from his itenary. Still great fun though. There were still many other passes in the race though. So did Mr Geary want more dull passes a la Raikkonen/Fisichella, or the fascinating action we did get? My sense is that he doesn’t know, and he doesn’t care, and probably would be satisfied with a new podium and some ‘emotion’ shots. But it is a pity he outlines this at a time when the ‘base standard’ of Formula One is better than for 20 years, and improving all the time. Having unfairly pedalled the impression they had an amazing series for years, Formula One is now, unfairly, suffering from the exact opposite in the mainstream media! And what I really fear is it will lead to panic in the top echelons of the sport to appease people like Geary. I don’t want DRS but if it has to be here, it should be Melbourne style, or less, but what I fear is they might lengthen the distance it can be deployed, and then....welcome to a race of a billion passing manoeuvres, all utterly dull! They must hold their nerve and be sensible (or even better, turn the damn thing off, or....have it on PERMANENTLY! Now that would be real fun. No downforce sir.....)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">One thing I also haven’t heard enunciated is that Vettel took pole, led the entire race bar when he pitted, won the race by over 20 seconds and...I think he should be thourougly disappointed. They always say winning a title again is harder than the first time, but I’m sure somewhere there is a very small legal disclaimer saying if you have a dominant car and a demoralised team mate, it isn’t really, you know? Well, given that this was the first time Red Bull had a full testing programme coming in, and looked seriously fast, well....Vettel had a serious chance of having this. And one aspect of the plan worked out well – Ferrari were well, well beaten (although they say warmer climes will help them) but there was a shock in the pace of the McLarens. Remember Vettel was challenged by Hamilton very hard in the first stint, Lewis firstly stopped him pulling away and then got the gap down to two seconds, and at one point I was convinced that he was going to take the lead at the first stop. He didn’t. But it would have been interesting to see how things would have turned out, if his undertray hadn’t broken, To challenge Vettel that closely in the first stint with a car that didn’t have a full test programme, was dog slow in testing, and had a series of last minute revisions which took away some of which was unique about the car and were deliberately simple (Martin Brundle saying on the grid that they didn’t even have time to make some of the new bits carbon fibre!) was just a fantastic achievement, and I’m sure there is more to come. The scales partially dropped here, Red Bull are quick, <i>really </i>quick. But not dominant. Sebastian Vettel, you are a wonderful young driver and World Champion, but you are in a fight for it again!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Well at least Mr Geary could then inject some of the ‘emotion’ of a good points race into his reports. I’m off to now kidnap him, make him watch some late 1990’s Formula One races from Monza, and then make him re-watch Australia and challenge him to broadcast the same piece about how dull it all was. But before that, after all this writing, I think I deserve a big munch on a packet of tortilla chips – they are not just for motor sport watching you know......</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div>Ben Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265881322870750854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2664146975551490376.post-67544894252940960432011-03-03T15:37:00.000-08:002011-03-03T15:44:30.525-08:00Welcome!<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">It’s good to be here’, one might say. Not that I would be clever enough to know how, but the eagle eyed among you might spot that I have had this blog registered for a year, but this is my first post. And this first post is all about my passion for motor sport and blogging about it...bit of a misnomer you say? Well...you’d be right, but I hope I have some good excuses! But first, let me explain why I will be blogging about motor sport.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">‘It’s just cars going round in circles’...well everyone is entitled to their opinion, but it is fair to say that if the types who would express this stand on the North Pole, I’ll be pootling around in the South Pole! I certainly have not approved of everything that has gone on these past years in the sport, but fundamentally, ‘all things being equal’, motor racing is fundamentally, for me, the best and most exciting sport in the world. The speed and propulsion of the vehicles, usually in close proximity to each other, the multitude of drivers and cars to follow in a race, the fundamentally different character and location of tracks (Tilkedromes excepted), the multitude of factors that can influence one driver’s performance, the noise, the smell, the bravery of the drivers...and if you’re fortunate enough to be at the circuit, to give you a good view of them, they even ‘go round in circles’...can’t do better than that! I would be partial to watching or attending cricket, tennis, snooker, or even football if I’m in a good mood, and all have considerable merit, but the ‘base standard’ of motor sport is simply aeons ahead of them, for my two cents. And while County Cricket, or Challenger level tennis say, may be enjoyable but retain the same essential ingredients, pitch, players, equipment, just the steak without the chips, motor sport is different. We go down from ‘Eff One’ and we have other open wheelers, sports cars, tin tops, ovals, dragsters....you name it...from good ol boys to bobblehat brigade, it’s all there. And the level of diversity means there is an element of balancing out, as series rise and fall. When the FIA embarked on their plan to remove the ‘all things being equal’ part of my ‘best sport in the world’ certainties, with refuelling and cars which rarely overtook each other, Champ Car was sensational. Now, the Indycar series is somewhat weaker compared to halcyon days, but Formula One flourishes in what I think is a great period for the sport. If ever you find ALL forms of motor sport dull, then I will eat your white coat, riding a hat, and wearing a flying pig. Or something similar....</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">So how did I come to follow this wonderful sport? At this point I would love to spin a ‘love at first sight’ yarn of attending a race, seeing the speed of the cars, but the reality is more...prosaic. I was 7, and for some reason, left alone in front of the TV one night, managing to tune the button to the 1991 British Grand Prix, and was captivated by the closeness of Senna and Man sell racing. And they reminded me of Scaletrixc....I watched the next races, but what really burst the floodgates was the 1991 Italian Grand Prix. I think my father had the genius idea of videotaping the race (something to keep me shut up?) and so we did. And that video tape had to bear some strain over the next few days. What a magnificent race, the cars looking wonderful in the Monza autumn glow, Mansell hunting down Senna for the win, from Prost, Berger, Schumacher and Alesi. No tuggers in those days eh? Fantastic. I had to find out more. But where? No internet, wifi, multichannel, even Ceefax in our house then. But luckily, thanks to the encouragement of my mother, I was always a voracious reader, and after forays into local newsagents, was swiftly a <i>Motor Sport, Autosport</i> and <i>Motoring News</i> reader. Oh the hours I would read and read and re-read the wonderful prose such of Jenkinson, Roebuck, Arron, Tremayne, Saward...I think I got lost in a few Motoring News race reports, but I was airlifted out....I will expand on this in future, but suffice to say the British motor sport press was wonderful, an inspiration, and I didn’t bother much with comics and ‘kiddies TV’ after that...</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">....but I’m still very much bothering with motor sport twenty years on. And thankfully, experiencing top class writing has been supplemented by personal experience, seeing Senna and Prost in a Grand Prix, the Goodwood Festival of Speed (I still mispronounce that as ‘Charlie in the Chocolate Factory’), rallying, and much more, up to a couple of weeks ago, as a very lucky competition winner at the <i>Motor Sport</i> Hall of Fame ceremony (thank you so much <i>Motor Sport</i>!). And I still can’t get enough of them going round in circles...</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">But anyone still here might be asking, why your terrible tardiness in setting up a blog? Well I have had the great fortune to be a long-time student, completing a PhD after my undergraduate degree. While I may get (rightly) pilloried and ribbed for avoiding ‘proper work’ for far too long, one drawback was that (play the violin!) if I was writing or reading, it was always nagging away at me that it should <i>really </i>be something to do with my thesis – all the material wouldn’t read and write itself...So after a fit of optimism after completing a big deadline, and a violent spasm of excitement about the impending <i>2010 </i>Formula One season, I took the sensible (and rather dull) decision to concentrate on my studies, and here we are, 2011, thesis completed, passed, and ready to blog! And why blog? Well my goodness I don’t expect to become rich, nor generate thousands of readers, but my goodness I love the sport, and if it gets me writing and thinking more about subjects relating to motor sport, even if no one reads it, it will have been a very good thing...although I would much prefer if people read it! And it generates a frission of excitement. I will never hold a candle to such as Roebuck, but given how their writing has inspired me it is inspiring to think I am writing about some of the same topics too – although it they are checking into the top floor of the Empire State building in terms of pay and status, I would be somewhere in the basement doing the plumbing! And as I will expand later, there are some wonderful magazines and blogs out there, lots of news, and little I can realistically add to that. But hopefully I can bring my own unique view of some of the ‘big picture’ topics. I always thought the sadly stopped (hopefully it will restart) <i>Motorsports Ramblings </i>blog had it right, a meaty, well written essay once a week. While I won’t make the same guarantee on my output, such a methodology seems about right. I certainly will not produce a few lines on each press release or similar. Although I reserve the right to wack in a few betting posts, because I would be partial to a flutter on the sport. Oh and for the really eagle eyed amongst you, yes you are right the colour scheme of the logo, and the name <i>Motoring Views </i>is a little homage to the glorious old style <i>Motoring News. </i>So here we go, I hope it is enjoyable!</span></div>Ben Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265881322870750854noreply@blogger.com0