Yesterday I added a new statistics section to the site I’ve been working on.
As always if there’s anything in particular you’d like to see on F1 Fanatic please post your suggestions in the comments.
Here’s today’s round-up:
Links
Lotus’s radical £650k F1 track special (Autocar)
“The Lotus T125 is aimed at wealthy private buyers who want to the live the F1 dream; power comes from a 631bhp Cosworth V8 racing engine offering near-GP2 levels of performance, thanks to a dry weight of just 650kg. Only 25 examples will ever be built, with each buyer gaining access to a club – the Exos – that will allow them to sample the F1 lifestyle.”
Comment of the day
Jarred Walmsley’s been talent-spotting:
Now, this isn’t for 2011 but a name to look out for in the future at Toro Rosso or Red Bull, mark my words is Mitch Evans, 15-year-old won the Toyota Racing Series last/this year and is currently 2nd in the Australian Formula 3 championship.
Oh, and he is also being mentored by Mark Webber and sponsored by the aforementioned multi-millionaire
Jarred Walmsley
From the forum
Here’s a thread I started recently: Which racing series has the best calender?
Happy birthday!
No F1 Fanatic birthdays today. If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is by emailling me, using Twitter or adding to the list here.
On this day in F1
The first F1 race at the Hungaroring was held on this day in 1986. This year’s race was the 25th world championship Hungarian Grand Prix.
However the race had been held in the days before the modern world championship. A race was held in Nepliget Park in Budapest in 1936. The country’s historical connections with Grand Prix racing run even deeper. Ferenc Szisz, the man who won the first Grand Prix in 1906 at Le Mans, was Hungarian.
The first world championship race at the Hungaroring is best remembered for victor Nelson Piquet’s marvellous pass on Ayrton Senna – the third pass in the video below:
Setroc
10th August 2010, 0:09
I must have seen that pass about 50 times now, and it really never gets old.
macahan
10th August 2010, 1:29
Wow yeah no kidding. Driving that F1 car like it was a cart. Amazing pass to bad we don’t see any like that these days. Guess to much aero grip in the cars these days to do such a powerslide. Absolutely brilliant.
BasCB
10th August 2010, 7:11
I just kept thinking that Schumi (and maybe other drivers as well) would have just pushed the other guy off at the first pass shown in that video.
A great move, anyone think he planned on doing it that way?
Jack Peekoc
10th August 2010, 9:33
Funny thing about this pass is that it was not really intentional. He passed, locked his right tires, lost control and the car dived right into a spin, but he caught it and recovered. He gained a place because he was lucky. He wouldn’t be able to pull the same trick off again without flying off the track.
East Londoner
10th August 2010, 10:17
They showed that on Top Gear during the Ayrton Senna tribute. I miss that era of F1, even though that race happened 9 years before I was born.
fyujj
10th August 2010, 18:09
You’re wrong here, Jack.
Piquet had a faster car (typical of Ayrton driving his Lotus to a better place than it ‘deserved’) but he couldn’t manage to pass because of it being somewhat simple to block in Hungaroring and because Ayrton was really taking care of the inside after the earlier passes. So what he did was kind of the only way he could pass, go outside and block the inside at the same time. True skill from Piquet.
Cunning Stunt 8
10th August 2010, 0:13
I’m sick / jelous of bloody Mitch evans. 15 years old and just comes over to Australia to race in the national Formula Ford series, then does F3, then misses a few rounds of that to just pop over to Vallelunga to do some Formula Abarth tests. I wish my dad was that rich :(. But yes he’s obviously very talented.
Harv's
10th August 2010, 4:26
i think he is a kiwi boy, read about him in the paper about 5 months ago
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
10th August 2010, 6:21
Yeah, I’m sick of him, too. He passed over a chance to go into the V8 Supercars to concentrate on Formula 3 with an eye to joining Formula 1, but all we’re hearing is Evans-this, Evans-that as if he’s already there. I mean, look at Jules Bianchi: talented, dominated Formula 3, but is yet to shine in GP2.
Hamish
10th August 2010, 6:38
The Evans family has stood on many a toe in the NZ motorsport scene to get him where he is also.
Cunning Stunt 8
10th August 2010, 10:11
Yeah I reckon he made the right move to head for F1, I know I certainly would have if I were in his situation. But yeah to be honest Australian Formula 3 is hardly up to it’s European counterparts at the moment. 15 drivers and 8 of them are in the National class. http://www.formula3.com.au/Championship.asp
Don’t get me wrong there are some decent drivers there (I didn’t realise Tom Drewer did a round), but he definately needs to be walking them if he’s going to be any contender in a European category, which I guess he’s doing at the moment.
Personally I’d prefer to see Nick Percat or Scott McLaughlin going overseas.
jsw11984 (@jarred-walmsley)
10th August 2010, 10:40
Maybe, However Evans is 3 points behind the lead in the Aussie F3 but he has missed three rounds to test a Formula Abarth car. And he has won 6 races this season thus far, his family is very well respected in the New Zealand racing circle. Oh, and he won the Toyota racing series on DEBUT at 15 years old, against much older talent such as Earl Bamber who represented New Zealand at the A1 GP coming 2nd in the sprint and 3rd in a feature race. FYI Mitch hasn’t finished off the podium in ANY of the races he has competed in in the Aussie F3 with 6wins, 2 seconds and a third. That is natural talent, there is no denying that
Also, just had a look at Jules he hasn’t done much outside of F3 so maybe that car just suited him.
Cunning Stunt 8
10th August 2010, 14:46
Yeah Jarred I agree he’s clearly got talent, but he’s also clearly got the money to go straight to the top teams. Don’t think BRM took him on because they thought he was talented or anything, you only get to drive for them with a lot of money.
And unless i’m mistaking how F3 works, 15 drivers total, 8 drivers in the National class makes 7 drivers in the… top tier class. Which makes the podium more or less the top 50% in his class. And yes he’s obviously better than them but when someone from the National class is leading the Gold Star, you have to wonder how tough the competition really is at the moment.
It will be interesting to see how he fares when he makes the inevitable move overseas.
Spud (@)
10th August 2010, 0:40
Who says you can’t overtake at the Hungaroring?
Nobody seems to have told Piquet and Senna. And that was before they changed the track to make it more overtaking-friendly.
Are there any good DVD’s of old races?
I’d love to be able to watch them. I’d never seen that particular race before since I was only three years old at the time.
Anyone have any recommendations??
dragon
10th August 2010, 1:17
Overtaking manual – pick a stable braking point on the outside line, grab a tight apex and pass up the inside
Piquet – ‘To hell with that, I’m just going to brake late and turn in ahead of Ayrton here – oh my car is oversteering, no big deal’
Who said you can’t drift F1 cars? :D Stuff of legends!
Felipe Bomeny (@portugoose)
10th August 2010, 2:18
Did your hear? Hans-Joachim Stuck is in the hospital after a surgery. Looks like he’s STUCK in the hospital. Get it? Haha.
rfs
10th August 2010, 3:14
0/10
…………
Magnificent Geoffrey (@magnificent-geoffrey)
10th August 2010, 3:32
Nice try PortuGoose, but I held my head in my Hans after reading that pun. Could somebody please Joachim as punishment for me?
Felipe Bomeny (@portugoose)
10th August 2010, 4:23
hahahahaha. oops, tried to hard.
BasCB
10th August 2010, 7:19
That new lotus looks great. Not really a comparison to a ferrari FXX, this is a lot more extreme.
Even though the Lotus Racing team is not involved, could we expect any future cooperation between the team and Lotus racing in the future? Cosworth is working closely together with both (at least for now)
What about the gearboxes, it would be great if Lotus Racing would not have to rely on the unreliable X-track thing.
This car might also become a platform for development of the IndyCar aerokit Lotus is planning to do in 2012.
US_Peter (@us_peter)
10th August 2010, 8:11
Yeah, it would be great if there were more of a relationship between Lotus and Lotus Racing. That car is fantastic. If I had a million bucks I’d sign up for one in a heartbeat.
UneedAFinn2Win
10th August 2010, 8:27
My suspicion is that Lotus is positioning itself as a potential supplier of open-wheel chassis in the future. Dallara has dominance over the sport, supplying all major spec-series, the ADAC masters, F3, gp3, world-series, GP2 and IndyCar. I think F2 is from some UK company, at least design was from WilliamsF1.
IF this is the case, good on them. It should open up the field for innovation and give racing teams more choice. Monopoly is NEVER an ideal situation.
BasCB
10th August 2010, 8:25
Craig Scarborough (scrabsF1. see http://scarbsf1.wordpress.com/2010/08/09/753/) has dug into the background of discussion of what Red Bull (and Ferrari) is doing, or alleged to do, to get their front as close to the tarmac as wanted.
This time he highlights what the splitter does and how teams try to work it to the best advantage.
Victorface
10th August 2010, 8:45
The Hungary race edit is now formula1.com
Some interesting radio transmissions are revealed in the video, mostly from Vettel.
Cunning Stunt 8
10th August 2010, 9:56
He really must have been sleeping. I love the bit where he asks “How is it possible that Mark can be back out infront?”
What were Red Bull thinking on the pit wall as well? Were they not telling him information about what Mark was doing? Were they not looking when he dropped back behind Mark under safety car? I reckon Formula 1 and other European style racing series should look at how the NASCAR driver-spotter relationship works, the spotter is constantly telling the drivers things like that (the closest to this seems to be Massa-Smedly). So even if Vettel was starting to drop back, they could have told him to catch back up again.
Karan
10th August 2010, 9:18
Could Lotus test aero on their new car? Is there a rule that prevents the garages making a consumer car like Lotus did just to test the F1 car’s aero?
Mike
10th August 2010, 9:56
This is a wee bit off topic, Bu I was reading around and I found this, it’s about Pacific folding before the 96 season.
http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns00384.html
The reason I bring this up, is because of the change in atmosphere F1 has experienced in the last 15 years, 15 years ago, there were some really dreadful teams, But most, were welcomed into the sport by the other people involved, or at least this is my impression, keep in mind I was 5 at this time…
Anyway, what I would like people to see is how the three new teams, who, relatively speaking have incredibly quick cars, are getting such a ribbing from, well, Luca mostly, but the community in general.
The 107% was brought in to make the racing safer, and not have stupidly slow cars on the track, but I think this idea is now being taken too far, Being allowed to enter and compete or not, has changed from being an issue for safety to an issue of weather you are accepted into the club.
I know that there a 110 good reason why Stefan GP would not be a good team, but was the point in not even letting them try? … … Reading this old article makes me think that the FIA having a strangle hold on who can race isn’t how it has always been.
I don’t see, and I’m sure I haven’t considered so many possibilities, why a group, having built a safe car that is competitive and complies with all F1 regulations, they can’t compete.
Should the FIA, really get to choose who gets in? the Rule Makers make the rules, they shouldn’t choose the competitors. This is a common theme within most others sports.
Right, (Braces for attack) I’m done.
UneedAFinn2Win
10th August 2010, 11:37
Short answer: Bernie
Ok, so you have a multi-billionaire building a series based around premium motorsport that attracts a worldwide television audience unrivaled by any other in the world. The series attracts a cache of premium brands willing to fork out the cash to participate in this marketing exercise, tobacco industry in the forefront(80s-90s). After tobacco was forced out first locally then pretty much globally, international finance and technology takes it’s place and the show goes on, creating a premium image and a ridiculous amount of money is thrown around (90s-00s). Then the automotive industry becomes involved, and the money keeps flowing(00s). It’s still relatively cheap to reach the 18-35, 36-54 male demographics through television. Formula 1 brand keeps growing, as does the perception of “premium” motorsport. There simply is no room for a men-in-garden-sheds teams anymore.
Then things start to happen:
Automotive pulls out in droves in a very short period of time, global financial crisis strikes out financial giants and technology and internet changes the face of marketing. Reaching the same audiences they could get through this biggest televised event in the world becomes significantly cheaper. F1 has grown bigger than its britches, as witnessed by the blakc HRT:s and the white Saubers
But Bernie can’t see that, he has lived in a world of billions for 40 years, as has Montezemolo.
BasCB
10th August 2010, 11:57
And to add to the developments you sum up here, the major sponsors have now formed a forum (F100 – the 100 biggest sponsors) to discuss and help them make themselves and their requirements known.
This will also influence what FOM does in the future
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
10th August 2010, 11:54
F1 Fanatic mugs in development by Luke at Unlap:
http://twitpic.com/2dd63h
BasCB
10th August 2010, 11:59
T-shirts, now mugs, whats next to come (caps, mouse mats, …).
Nice to see this developing further Keith!
Mike
10th August 2010, 12:27
Our Keith, A true capitalist *tear*
Robert McKay
10th August 2010, 12:53
I actually already have a mug that says “F1 Fanatic” on it, although not the logo of this site :-D
Was given to me as a present. It’s nowhere near as classy as that one would be though!
IDR (@idr)
10th August 2010, 15:28
Great to hear about this, Keith.
And I like so much the font you have used for the mug, than the font you use for your current logo!!!
Cari Jones (@cari-jones)
10th August 2010, 20:55
Wow – can I have one?
Icthyes (@icthyes)
10th August 2010, 15:39
Seeing that drift reminds me of when I went karting the other day.
Even at the lowest level of motor racing, there are still so many fundamentals relevant to F1. Picking the right line, braking at just the right amount at the right time, and the importance of not getting too greedy on the throttle or you’ll slide and lose traction.
My respect for Piquet’s move is even higher after feeling for myself what sliding does to your speed and control.
TrueF1Grit (@truef1grit)
10th August 2010, 17:07
Speaking of “From the Forum”
How do you upload a picture?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
10th August 2010, 22:42
Do you mean like an avatar?
https://www.racefans.net/2008/08/16/get-a-picture-next-to-your-name/
TrueF1Grit (@truef1grit)
11th August 2010, 1:52
Thanks Keith.
I’m bored of just being a reader. I want to get involved more at F1Fanatic.com.
TrueF1Grit (@truef1grit)
11th August 2010, 1:53
.co.uk :o
I have it saved on my favourite bar so i never have to write it in the address bar :)
sato113 (@sato113)
10th August 2010, 19:36
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8304965.stm
still makes my heart race…