It’s the end of another week so who’s got motor racing plans for the weekend?
I’m going to be at Rockingham on Sunday to see the British F3 championship where I will try not to grumble about the introduction of mandatory pit stops.
Here’s today’s round-up.
Links
The Secret Life of Sebastien Buemi (F1.com)
“I am afraid of not being able to show my real potential. In Formula One everything goes so quickly. If you don’t have a good car at the right moment you could maybe walk out of the paddock without ever having been able to show your true colours. ”
Austin promises unique F1 circuit (Autosport)
Tavo Hellmund: “I would say that, hopefully, people will view it as a throwback to some of the older, traditional tracks – although obviously with the added safety features and requirements that the FIA has. It will be a track that the drivers will walk through and think: ‘Man, I have to be on my best game today!'” As someone who wants them to build a new Osterreichring this all sounds very encouraging…
Comment of the day
CharlieAndSuzie is (are?) off to Spa – with a little help from the F1 Fanatics in the 2010 Belgian Grand Prix discussion:
I’ve just ordered my tickets (Bronze weekend) from spagrandprix.com, instructed my bank to send payment for a stay in the Elephant campsite and booked my Eurotunnel ticket – Spa 2010 will be our first GP ever and we’re VERY excited!
After reading the many great tips on this forum, we’re planning to arrive on the Thursday morning and take things from there. Woohoo!
CharlieAndSuzie
From the forum
The 2011 silly season has been short of crazy rumours so far – but here’s a good one: Villeneuve planning F1 return with own team?
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to the fantastically-named Whewbacca the Cookie!
On this day in F1
Johnny Herbert scored his first F1 win on this day 15 years ago.
Driving for Benetton, he scored a popular home win at Silverstone after a controversial collision between Damon Hill and Michael Schumacher at the now-bypassed Priory corner.
We’re you at the race? If so, please tell us in the comments.
Here’s a video looking back on the 1995 British Grand Prix. Warning, there’s some cheesy and predictable music ahead…
Michael Griffin
16th July 2010, 0:22
Yesterday I got a KFC. In the bucket, there was just one wing.
I wonder what Christian Horner would’ve done?
Couldn’t resist, apologies.
Karan
16th July 2010, 5:54
Hahaha good one :)
Patrickl
16th July 2010, 11:06
Oh come on, there must have been an old wing in there somewhere …
Rits
16th July 2010, 11:29
Oh bloody hell.. LOL… :-)
Gman
16th July 2010, 13:25
I actually went to KFC yesterday, haha!
Ned Flanders (@ned-flanders)
16th July 2010, 1:12
Johnny Herbert: talented but unlucky, or a mediocre journeyman?
I’m leaning more towards the latter, as my first years of following F1 coincided with the fizzling out of his career (flukey Nurburgring 99 win aside). But I suppose he did relatively well as team mate to Michael Schumacher, and he excelled at times earlier in his career.
glue (@glue)
16th July 2010, 8:25
he was immensely talented, but his career was tainted with injuries early on (culminating with his leg-shattering crash at Brands Hatch) and then ridiculous bad luck in the 90s (I think he managed to age Murray by about 10 years because of the exasperating bad luck occurrences)..he had a huge potential which was attempted to capitalize on in the wrong circumstances
Lenny
16th July 2010, 12:55
Also, because of that crash, he couldnt left foot-brake which put him at an even greater disadvantage. The same problem also happened to Martin Brundle.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
16th July 2010, 1:16
I hope the Austin circuit is more than just a Greatest Hits collection of the other circuits …
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
16th July 2010, 1:23
Especially since the circuit is said to have over 100 feet in elevation to it. It would be a waste to simply copy everyone else.
feynman
16th July 2010, 2:59
I’d not get too excited about 100feet.
All the PR for Yas Marina was trumpetting the millions spent to create 100feet of elevation change … no, me neither.
100feet doesn’t guarantee you a new cork-screw or an eau-rogue, especially with you know who on-board. But let’s wait and see what they come up with.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
16th July 2010, 4:20
One hundred feet is roughly thirty metres of elevation changes. Abu Dhabi’s elevation changes have been descibed as the equivalent of a three-storey building. One storey is roughly eight feet, which means that Abu Dhabi’s full elevation is twenty-four feet, which is less than ten metres. After all, when you’re standing on top of Abu Dhabi’s rise, you’re no higher than the pit complex. To put it in perspective, one hundred feet is roughly the size of a twelve-storey building.
So if Austin has an elevation change of one hundred feet, it’s going to be up there as having one of the greatest elevation changes on the calendar. Spa, I think currently has the largest, mostly because of Eau Rouge. That’s certainly not a difference of thirty metres from top to bottom. Istanbul also has a pretty good elevation, as does Monaco.
feynman
16th July 2010, 5:55
Some of the very early Yas Marina press releases talked of 30m (100ft), then it became 15m(50ft), which is what it ended-up, a 15m drop over 100m.
Hardly white-knuckle stuff.
50ft looks as flat as a pancake if you stretch it out enough. So organisers just saying ‘100ft elevation change’, without context is all pretty meaningless.
… So like I said, we’ll all need to wait for the CGI. (and then the circuit, if it ever appears).
BasCB (@bascb)
16th July 2010, 7:59
I hope they use their 100ft as good as possible. Some nice corners going up/down or around hills woul be nice.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
16th July 2010, 9:00
The difference between Austin and Yas Maria is that Austin is on natural terrain. Yas Island is completely man-made.
And the only reason why you’re antsy about the possibility of it being built at all is because of USF1. If the team had have made it to the grid, you wouldn’t have had any such reservations about it.
feynman
16th July 2010, 17:31
>>>
And the only reason why you’re antsy about the possibility of it being built at all is because of USF1. If the team had have made it to the grid, you wouldn’t have had any such reservations about it.
Where do you get any of that from?
Nothing to do with USF1 chief, everything to do with raising hundreds of millions of dollars in the aftermath of an economic meltdown, to construct a venue for an event that no other circuit manages to turn a profit on.
The legacy circuits crushed by FOM sanction fees, despite full houses, barely hang-on by their fingernails cross-subsidising the loss-leading GP with a full calandar of minor events.
All other new tracks are bought and paid for, and written-off, by the state, usually as ego-projects for some very dubious regimes.
Neither of these apply here, so they will struggle, struggle hard. Nothing to do with USF1.
Scribe (@scribe)
16th July 2010, 1:23
That Austin article sounds alright few niggles though, having good corners is fantastic, however good corners are no good if the drivers just follow each other around them. Im all for 100ft of elevation change, sounds fantastic, but for the love of of v6 1000bhp turbos PLEASE let the cars overtake!
Best possible way of capturing the US market ain’t a shiny venue, it’s good racing, good racing is what truly matters in a country like the US, were the crowds will show up for the first few years.
Also anyone that uses the word liberal as a byword for bad is to be treated with suspicion. Not sold on you Tavo, especially as you use Fox and Friends language.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
16th July 2010, 1:25
Um, they can overtake. 2010 has proved that overtaking and good racing are a by-product of car design, not circuit layout.
Scribe (@scribe)
16th July 2010, 1:39
Really? Why then is there nearly never overtaking in Spain and Valenica, yet loads of it in Canada and Intergalos, an a decent amount in places like Turkey? Don’t get me wrong, I know the cars are the culprit, but seeing as there is a variation in the amount of overtaking that goes on upon different circuits, it’s undeniable that circuit layout makes a substantial differance.
If you acept that different circuits, or even better, if you acept it’s next to impossible to overtake around certain corners yet much easier around others it’s also clear that overtaking with the cars that we’ve got is circuit dependent.
Sure if the cars were different, then overtaking, or as it should be said, the “possibility” of overtaking would exist whatever they build in Austin. But there not, so overtaking under current regs with current technology is circuit dependant.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
16th July 2010, 2:34
But considering that we have no clear example of what makes a circuit good for overtaking, no idea of how to translate that into regular circuit design and that it’s far easier and cheaper to change cars than it is to change circuits, I’d say the onus is squarely on the designers to promote overtaking, regardless of how circuit-dependant overtaking is.
George (@george)
16th July 2010, 15:34
It’s pretty easy to put the proposed design on a simulator and test it that way though. The main way to promote overtaking is a long ass straight with a tight(ish) corner at the end, it’s not that hard.
Joey-Poey
16th July 2010, 3:17
“some of the liberal media”
“some of the bad media”
?
No, I’d say he simply means media outlets that lean toward a liberal viewpoint or bias. The potshots themselves are what I took in his sentence to be a negative thing, not the adjective liberal.
Scalextric
16th July 2010, 4:04
Very similar to the GPWeek article that was mentioned in comments here a couple of days ago. So at least he’s consistent.
http://mag.gpweek.com/ pages 22/23
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
16th July 2010, 4:24
From the sounds of things, we’ll have more details by the end of the week. At least of the site. I think Hellmund’s done a pretty good job of keeping things under wraps, but it looks like FOM spoiled the part a little bit. I think Hellmund wanted to say “Guess what, guys? Formula 1 is coming to America!” and announce it all at once. That obviously didn’t happen; I recall him mentioning that he was surprised when FOM announced the race contract.
Scribe (@scribe)
16th July 2010, 11:38
I know it’s not an exact science but we have enough examples of sequences were overtaking is possible to understand roughly what kind of layout will probably be condusive to overtaking.
An while it’s true it would be better to change the cars than change old circuits, they are building a brand new circuit, extra expense won’t be incurred by applying the fairly extensive experiance we have with old circuits to this one.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
16th July 2010, 13:37
f1yankee
16th July 2010, 1:48
“They are not subsidising anything – the state of Texas has basically passed legislation, just like they did for the Superbowl, that allows for the contribution of incremental sales tax revenue that is created by that event. So, some of the liberal media in Texas have been trying to take shots at that, but that [the subsidy claim] is a fabrication.”
now the liberal media is invading my f1! noooooo!
somebody tell tavo that the liberal position would favor higher taxes and government spending, not oppose it. i guess “liberal” in texas is one step above (?) “sexual offender”, which i think is kind of ironic.
what kind of name is tavo hellmund, anyway? why don’t you love america, tavo?
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
16th July 2010, 2:42
I’ll never understand American politics. Here in Australia, “liberal” generally means tax cuts for the rich and tax increases for the poor (liberals represent the white-collar community), while “labor” means takes cuts for the poor and tax increases for the rich (as labor represents the blue-collar workers).
Also, Tavo Hellmund is from a Nordic background.
Joey-Poey
16th July 2010, 3:20
It’s the opposite here. The stereotypes are that conservatives tend toward tax cuts for big business and the rich while liberals are currently more associated with something of a socialistic lean.
f1yankee
16th July 2010, 6:11
the “liberal media” is the propaganda boogeyman used by radical (white collar) conservatives. everything from the global warming lie, homosexual recruitment, communist subversion, you name it. the dominant player is rupert murdoch and his carefully aligned companies.
the fact is most tv, radio and print steers clear of bias and controversy, for fear of offending someone in a non-profitable way.
Patrickl
16th July 2010, 11:09
America is just so incredibly far to the right that even the Liberals are considered “left”.
RobR (@robr)
16th July 2010, 4:36
“what kind of name is tavo hellmund, anyway?”
I was going to argue with you, but after reading that sentence it’s clear that I’d be extremely overmatched in the intellectual arena…
f1yankee
16th July 2010, 5:53
oh, i don’t know…try me :)
Maciek
16th July 2010, 8:13
RobR – You do understand that he’s parodying xenophobic bigots, right?
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
16th July 2010, 3:17
I hope Austin keep their promises & all the best to CharlieAndSuzie for the trip in Spa.
Charlie
16th July 2010, 7:15
I’m off to Spa for the first time this year too! We are camping at Elephant, driving there via Eurotunnel and watching at Eau Rouge.
Last year we did Singapore (with a little trip around Malaysia and Thailand to make it worthwhile, also saw Sepang from the airport) and I went to Silverstone twice in the eighties as a kid.
BasCB (@bascb)
16th July 2010, 7:58
Have a nice time at Spa. Looks like the weather might be pretty good as well, maybe a splash of rain or two to spice things up!
Charlie
16th July 2010, 9:46
Hmm not sure about rain + camping! Maybe rain during the day and nice warm evenings. I can work with that! ;o)
BasCB (@bascb)
16th July 2010, 8:17
The moment FIA announces who will get the 13th spot for next year is getting closer at last and we have seen a lot of things being said in the last couple of weeks.
First Villedeprat warned, that it would be getting tight with the delayed desicion, then ART announced they were pulling out. Cypher announced they have a agreement with Johnatan Sommerton to drive for them.
Yesterday we had information on VilleneuveF1 and Cypher being on the shortlist with a 3rd unnamed team. Now i read some more hints about what the Cypher groop bid might look like.
Now i read, that Brawn GP’s Steve Brown and Nelson Piquet are with them as well (http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/238982/brawn-gp-s-brown-and-piquet-connected-to-cypher/)
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
16th July 2010, 9:01
What’s your point? Your post just sort of … ends. Like you’d meant to say something more, but got cut off.
?
BasCB (@bascb)
16th July 2010, 9:12
I had wanted to finish that with something about Epsilon Euskadi being silent for quite a while now.
Does that mean that Villeneuve and Cypher are bringing out information to get their bids back into the running or is Epsilon Euskadi silently turning down their hopes?
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
16th July 2010, 9:33
Releasing more information does nothing for their cause. They’re being chosen by the FIA, not the public. The amount of information or lack thereof has nothing to do with their chances of being seelcted.
US_Peter (@us_peter)
16th July 2010, 20:03
I hope Cypher gets it and can succeed in making it to the grid. It would be great for F1 in the US, which would in turn be great for F1 worldwide.
Jim N
16th July 2010, 9:07
Maybe I’m just cynical but the Texas announcement fills me with anything but confidence. To me it sounds far too much like a Jam Tomorrow sales pitch, offering everything people want to hear but without any firm details. Until we know the venue, the track layout and at least some reasonable details on funding I remain far from convinced. Maybe next week will prove me wrong, but my bet is one month from now we will still know nothing.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
16th July 2010, 9:31
Tavo Hellmund says he’s not going to release details on the funding because of the project’s backers want to remamin anonymous. The fact that he convinced Bernie Ecclestone to sign a contract should be proof enough – don’t read too much into the whole “penalty clauses” thing because they’re been a standard part of any contract since the failed South Korean Grand Prix in 1997. You’re judging Hellmund on Anderson and Windsor’s failures.
Jim N
16th July 2010, 10:11
Donnington was backed by Ecclestone up until very near the end, so that means nothing. But we will see what comes out in the next week …. or month…..or year….. I would love to be wrong. I think the US needs a GP and if what they say about the track is true it should be very good. But when anybody says “you are going to get this, and that. I can’t give you the details because they are confidential, but trust me” then I run a mile…..
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
16th July 2010, 10:19
Donington fell apart because of its own mismanagement. No doubt Ecclestone learned from that just as he did from Korea in 1997. Just because Hellmund does not want to disclose his financiers – he is legally obligated not to if they have requested anonymity – it does not mean the project is some kind of hoax.
Steph90 (@steph90)
16th July 2010, 17:34
As Ferrari’s mistake last weekend has been a big talking point here thought I’d mention it that apparently Ferrari have released a minute-by-minute account of what happened. Charlie allegedly said that Alonso should give the place back but it was not the final decision. Yes, Ferrari were thick and should have been on the safe side but of course they were going to fight it if they didn’t get a straight answer so it isn’t so cut and dry. Charlie or whoever should have given an absolute answer and Ferrari should have told Alonso to give it back.
Calum
16th July 2010, 19:09
It’s just F1 teams leaving everthing to the last possible minute.