Formula One
 

Well i was up at silverstone all weekend working....ish, and i had the chance to watch a little of the practice, and then the first few laps of the race.

I have to say, whats the point? ..............It just didnt blow my frock up!

Cars Borrrrrrrrring, shame you didn’t get Snottyten, now that made good watching

:D

[Edited on 10-7-2005 by ericthered40]

I wish...... Its just all the cars, from the fast ones to the alsorans sound exactly the same. At least with the moto gp you can distinguish a yam from a honda etc..........

It’s the processional way they follow each other round lap after lap, race after race.
You wait weeks for something to happen overtaking wise. It is undoubtedly the pinnacle of four-wheeled racing but my frock is not even ruffled by it now. I used to be a big fan in the Rosburg Sena Mansel days.

Now if you get the telly on at ten tonight (RACING) you will see

:lol::lol:

Oh yes! Poxy grand prix has had me up at 0400 last four days..............finished now, so red wine, steak, moto gp, and....track day at Donnington on thurs..........woo hoo!

Have a good day :burn:

Has F1 reached it's peak? As in, have the cars gone as far as they can within the current technical specifications that they're all the same and now it's down to how well you start (or how well your traction control starts you!) and then whether or not it goes bang in the race?

Might be the reason why it's just a procession these days - wasn't MotoGP going the same way when it was 500cc 2-strokes?

Just a couple of thoughts...

You could certainly hear the traction control overiding the driver as they exited farm to go under bridge...... put your foot down and let the car sort it out.......hasnt the 999Fo5 got traction control?? Doh

It's a lot harder to fall off a car though :D

From watching the preamble to the weekend grand prix the problems seem to be :-

1. for safety reasons, the design of the cars is very heavily regulated, so end up looking and performing very similarly

2. the design of the aerodynamics is such that the cars do not handle properly within about 100 yards of each other (dirty air, reduced downforce) hence no overtaking

Well, as they're reducing the engine size in the near future why don't they do away with the advanced aerodynamics so that they don't get this problem? Lets see the best drivers in cars that are a bit slower and loose!

Then driver skill would come into the equation more and we'll see some better racing.

I believe that's the plan Tony - much reduced downforce.

Everytime they legislate to reduce the aerodynamics, the teams spend more money trying to claw back what they've lost, and end up producing cars that are even more sensitive aerodynamically, hence the inability to run close to the car in front and therefore the lack of overtaking.

Another point - do away with refueling. It's too easy for teams/drivers to rely on a better strategy or pitwork to make their moves - without pitstops the drivers would have to have a go at getting past a car in front...

Just my thoughts... or some of them...

If they do away with refuelling/ pitstops, the only time you'd see a change of position is if a car breaks down. Mind you, at least you could watch the 1st lap, then go & have some fun on the bike :burn:

Didn't used to be like that when cars ran the entire race distance on one tank of fuel and one set of tyres. At the moment there is no incentive for drivers to take a risk in going for an overtake - it's easier to wait for the pitstops. Take out the pitstops and the drivers are faced with either holding position and accepting where they are for the entire race, or having a dive down the inside of someone and taking a chance.

Unfortunatly, Bernie won`t listen to anyone at all about F1 being boring. You only have to look back at the way the 500cc class was going downhill then thank god someone listened to what people were saying and changed the rules bringing back the interest to the sport with all different formats of engines etc.

For F1 to carry on he needs to listed to joe public and to the drivers and teams, do you really think all the cars having 2.4 litre v8`s is going to be exciting....................not!


Specify the max leanth, width and engine capacity of a car then let the manufacturers decide how many cylinders etc they want to build into a car.

They could even have a reduced engine capacity if a car maker wants to use a turbo or supercharger.

Make it exciting not even more boring. Let then employ ground effect, slick tyres etc but get rid of the fly by wire part of it and give control of the car back to the driver.


While I`m having a rant, let them go back to the 12 lap qualifying rules etc .

Having been to roughly 50 grand prix`s all over the world it has a great atmosphere, at times!, but the organisers need to listen!

Listen???

Look at the USA Grand-prix messup??? If theres a problem 'sort-it' not leave it and blaim someone. I blaim the organisers for being so political!!!

er, the bike race wouldnt have got to that level.....

Read the word 'RACE'!!!!

Andy

Andy

Couldn't agree more Andy

I used to watch Nigel Mansell and then Damon Hill - at times edge of the seat stuff - now BORING. If you watch old film clips of James Hunt and earlier you realise how sanitised it has all become.

Why not just have two rules, A standard safe cell for the driver & no dangerous driving - other than that just say " There's the track, 70 laps, pit if you want, First over the line wins & that's it!"

F1 seems to have become the same as certain other institutions - so far up it's own b*m that it's forgotten what it's there for.

Its marginally better than it was a couple of years ago with the occasional good race followed by a few boring ones. Not as good as 15 years or so with Prost, Mansell, Senna etc And nowhere near as good as back in the 70s. The recent rule changes have spoilt a lot of it, qualifying was always good in the past when the drivers had one hour and 12 laps max to set a good time. Was always good to watch the top drivers jumping back into the car with minutes to go to find clear space to get a good position.

Refuelling has spoilt many a good race but also made a few a little more interesting. It was more interesting when the cars all started with full tanks and you got to see how the drivers coped with the changing fuel loads as the race progressed. Likewise it was good to see who made full use of the extra sticky qualifying tyre that were only good for a lap or two. Its all a bit dull now, I still like to get to a race a year but it does not hold anything like the same excitment it used to.

Something needs to be done about it as people are losing interest, the most watchable thing about it this year is the fact that Schumacher is doing so badly!

Couldn't agree more - this year was the first year I've missed in ages down at Silverstone and I really can't say I missed it at all. Result - I probably never will get back into going regularly.

The main problem with the 500 strokers is that there was/are only about 6-8 people in the world who can ride one properly-they are evil! The 990 MotoGP diesels are MUCH easier to ride-for now. My main concern is that they are reducing the capacity to 800cc-to reduce the power and speed-but the engineers will still get about 250 bhp out of them and they will end up as evil rev boxes-rather like the 500cc strokers they replaced.
I watched the F1 race on Sunday-first time for years-it'll be years before I bother again............

John

I guess my point is, i had to be there! I couldnt for the life of me work out why the people attending were so enthusiastic to be there ( after the expense of getting in!!!)

I just couldnt find it remotely interesting, and i ought to really, because i can get excited about all things technical.

They probably think the same of us going to the bike racing!

Yeah but no but....i dont think they have an arguement for that at the moment. The two are completely different.
I have to say the majority of them looked a completely different animal to your motorcyclist....:o
the words square and anorak spring to mind...... none of them here...........
:lol::lol:

They should modify the cars to reduce grip.... removing two wheels should do it! :lol:

There is another type of F1................................................ ....

F1 stock cars. The fastest men start at the back, BIG V8s, power far exceeds grip, Huge wings that make no difference, if someone doesn't get out yer way you offer assistance in the form of a tap on the rear bumper!

Perhaps Bernie and the boys could learn something from the short oval racers??


The easy way to sort motoGP is to limit the RPM. Don't know why its never been taken up by bike racing as a way of leveling performance?? any techies know why??

Ray

Ray
Why level performance, everything becomes more "samey"

Level performance is maybe the wrong way of saying reducing costs, i.e. big R&D budget and expensive tech. doesn't mean you buy results.

If you limit the revs on the current engines wouldn't you reduce the speed for the cost of a limiter system rather than having to design a whole new 800cc engine?

"Samey" bike engine performance is no bad thing? There are plenty of other things to spend cash on, the chasis, tyre development, and more importantly the best rider!

Having said that, at the top level it's not always about cash it's about the whole package unless you have a specific mega advantage in any one area.

The reason for going 800cc is to reduce power/speed. Rev limiter does that for the fraction of the cost. Sure engine development will still go on but be focussed on making the best usable power up to what ever the rev limit is.

Ray.