For MINI enthusiasts to discuss the world of F1 racing...

July 7th...I feel like I just woke up from a dream...Williams BMW have won three of the last four GPs and have completed two 1-2 finishes in a row, in dominating fashion...

What has happened to Ferrari besides inferior Bridgestone tires?

 

>>For MINI enthusiasts to discuss the world of F1 racing...
>>
>>July 7th...I feel like I just woke up from a dream...Williams BMW have won three of the last four GPs and have completed two 1-2 finishes in a row, in dominating fashion...
>>
>>What has happened to Ferrari besides inferior Bridgestone tires?
>>
>>

I think just that: inferior Bridgestone tires. In addition, Williams-BMW have finally gotten their act together (as in reliability), and with that happening, both Schumacher (R) and Montoya can drive in a slightly more relaxed manner without having to push their cars beyond their limits.
The season has certainly become much more interesting, thankfully!
M

 

Great topic!!! I've love seeing Ferrari win in recent years, but....my how things can change in a season! Its so great to see other teams doing well...I heard Jaguar is actually having a better year. Ferrari's recent cars have been quick, and so were other cars...but the Ferraris were just bulletproof in reliability!!! Maybe Williams have sorted this out so they are finishing more races....God knows they have drivers who can do the job! I have to admit haven't kept up with the tire wars much, though.

 

I believe the Ferrari regin is over, but we have to not be exited about it, Mclaren, renault and a few more teams still there, next year F1 is going to be a blast.

BY ANY CHANCE DID YOU KNOW THAT MONTOYAS FAVORITE CAR IS HIS MINI, ok CONIES MINI

 

Just a hair off topic from the previous posts on this thread, but how do the shifters work on F1 cars. I never see the drivers doing anything but steer. On the downshifts the shifting is so fast that I doubt a driver could do it even with steering wheel paddle shifters. Anyone know?

 

mckinney - they are full automatics...they have buttons that will allow them to hold a gear(prevent a shift) if they don't want the car to shift, and they can also override up or down shifts if they want..but vast majority of the time they don't shift - its fully automatic. I love F1 - but they really need to get away from some of this stuff....drop the fully automatic, drop traction control, drop launch control, drop abs...it is getting to the point that the driver can be removed from the car. If they remove these technologies out of there the lesser funded teams will have a better chance at being competitive and as advertising goes down in F1 due to cigerette advertising being banned in most countries, they need to reduce the cost to operate a team. CART is my passion! The series where they driver DOES matter. To win a f1 championship in the current format you need to have the best car and one of the top 4 or 5 drivers(do you need Schumie - nope....in the past 3 years if JPM, Villi, DC, Kimi, etc were in that ferrri they would have won the championship too.

Now the technology is cool, but the parade of cars gets old and i find it hard to keep getting up at the wee hours of the mornings to watch them for a stupid parade.

BTW - anyone hear on what was up with JPMs car during the 3rd stint? He said he just backed off since he didn't get ralf in the pits, but that seems unlikely as williams always lets the drivers battle, plus he wouldn't have dropped off 2-3 seconds a lap....wonder if it was the typical excuses so that you don't have to say your engine was going etc...but generally "it was electrical" is the excuse to get around that.

 

I've had the pleasure of meeting Juan Pablo Montoya, as he lives down here in Miami.

 

Here is a great link to that info and more about F1 Cars and off course BMW F1.
Basically they do not shift... the computer does everything... But still a lot more complicated than that, just check the link.

GEARBOX

BMW MS

 

Casey,

As incredible as it sound he just backed up because he knew his car was a bit slower, the season still on and is better 8 than 0 on the points.

I will get some inside info and posted here.

Hey how many of us are planing to attend to the F1 US grand prix in INDIANAPOLIS.


_________________
Julian Vasquez

 

Glad somebody started this thread.

Williams has made great strides this year. They seem to have solved their balance issues, the engines are holding up and Michelin is kicking Bridgestone butt.

I do want to see Monty win some races. Way to go minicoopersgirl!

I wish Jordan would get its act together. :???:

 

Casey and Julianwh,

Thanks for the info on shifters and transmissions et al. Normally F1 technology rolls downhill to the consumer and we have seen that in the distant past with disc brakes, fuel injection (not Lucas!), multi-valve overhead cam engines and the like. More recently we have seen traction control like on our MINIS. My question is why do auto transmissions on domestic cars not have auto downshift on deceleration? You get to a turn, turn and 9 times out of ten the car is in the wrong gear and has to shift down. It should have been in the right gear for the speed of the turn. When I drive domestic automatics I shift manually and match the rpms between downshifts. Sounds like this F1 technology is a bit late rolling downhill. A bit off topic but hey I have questions!

 

Well you can get that technology in your car - but be prepared to spend more on the gearbox then you did on your MINI...the new Enzo has a gearbox very very similar to the one they use in their F1 cars.

I don't buy that montoya backed off - he wouldn't have backed off that much to where MS was only 7 seconds behind him - one small mistake and that is gone...he would have backed up 3-5 seconds tops...but almost 2 seconds a lap? Driving that slow typically gets them out of sync and they start to make mistakes so drivers don't like to slow down much...there had to be problems...just a matter if he wants to say outloud on tv that their Engine had problems or tyres etc(bmw/michilen etc don't take to kindly to that)

 

are you sure about the full auto? to the left and right of the wheel are 4 paddles, the 2 top paddles on each side Kimi Raikkonen called them clutches, (one clutch pedal on each side) the 2 bellow were the shifters.(rightlower to downshiftand left lower to upshift) when both were deppressed at the same time he said it was some sort of launch controll , (well at least on the Mclarens) personally I would love to see Raikkonen take Hakkinen's place as Mclarens lead driver. they should just drop the "worlds fastest restauranteur" for a driver who actually tries to win points.

and I wish Toyota would get they're act together

 

Fully automatic or not you chose the word you like. There is no torque converter. They have clutches thay are operated via electric silenoids. (this thing needs a spell checker) you select the gear you wish, next higher or lower. (no skipping gears on most) Press the button/paddle/etc and the computor/program takes over. it handles the cluch, engine RPM and everything else to allow the perfect shifting something around .05 sec. That is full power in one gear to fullpower in the next. launch control is about the same. Press a button and hold it, bring up the revs, release the button and hold on, because secound gear comes up soon. I suppose a better term is an automated sequencial manual sequecial or ASMG gearbox or in BMW speak easy SMG (sequencial manual gearbox). Noboby wants the term automatic tied to their product. I guess it brings up visions of grandpaws Edsel. Think automated, not automatic.

Aside from the technical side F1 has to be the most boring racing in the world. The present rules have made for a pass-less parade interupted by pitstops using failure prone fuel hoses. Skio the race watch qualifying, the first and last lap. The rest is a yawn. The machines on the otherhand are mind boggling.

Motor on

 

Thanks COOPERation for starting this thread - good job !!!

Aimee !! . It appeared to me that Montoya had a little more class this year !! You must have rubbed off on him !! (If you haven't met Aimee, she's a classy lady that goes FASSSTT !! )

F-1: I'd like to see Michael Schumacher retire ............ after he wins his sixth World Championship !! He's broken just about every record in the book, and the way he drives -- he deserves it!! I followed F-1 during the 20 years that Ferrari DIDN'T win the World Championship.
But I do agree that this season is really shaping up to be the best in recent memory with Kimi, Juan and Ralf giving Michael a run for his $$,$$$,$$$.00 !!

 

If you watch Formula One decade on Speed TV, you can see a replay of the 1993 season which allowed any technology you could build I believe. Antilock brakes, auto-trans, traction control & active suspension were all allowed (I'm not sure but active aero too). I think was great racing. You get to see Senna, Prost, Schumacher, Damon Hill, Barichello, and a lot of today's sportscar drivers early in their careers.

I personally love the technology, the racing, and of course Michael Schumacher. I have been following F1 for about 10 years and have no doubts about my love of this sport. Every team has to produce their own beautiful race car. Even the worst car is pretty awesome I'm sure. (Like you wouldn't want a Minardi :smile:

 

The shifters are for overriding the auto...but most time they don't shift...it is only in particular cases where they really want to run the revs higher for example in passing before a tight corner where they don't want the car to shift right before braking.

A few years back they were using the paddles...but right now I think everyone cept 1 of the backmarker teams run full autos.

 

All I know is I can't wait for September, its going to be a lot of fun in Indiana. WHOOOO hoooo

 

Yeah, Indy will be fun - we've been every year so far.......up high in the West Vista......
But anyway........ Ferrari is history, sports fans., The BMW Williams is on top now, so stand back for Ralph and Juan Pablo!

 

You can never count Michael out! (I'm NOT an MS fan, BTW)

 

The tires have had a lot to do with the recent finishings. Just look at the other teams (not Ferrari or Williams). After Ferrari, it is Michelin tired cars all the way, then a block of Bridgestone tired backmarkers. That said, the BMW lump is probably the best engine on the grid today, and since Williams fixed the aerodynamics of the car, its brought the racing standard up to F-1 standards of yore. No more tours through the countryside. We are back to racing in F-1.

I've been impressed with the qualifying times of late, 3 to 5 drivers within one second of pole, and judging from the pit stops, most are running similar fuel loads.

Looks like we are in for a great year in F-1, Finally!

 

thanks a lot for starting this thread COOPERation. i've been an F1 fan since i was about 8 years old when i attended my first race and have been hooked since. Being italian i am a ferrari fan by blood tifoso. i'm loving this season so far and the Canadian Grand Prix that COOPERation and i watched was the best and most exciting of the year, so far. Love to see JPM and Ralfie taking advantage finnally of the BMW's power advantage. But don't worry Schumi and Ruby are not quitters and never will be. I just can't wait for Renault and Toyota to catch up so we can really see some action! Fernando Alonso makes the absolute most out of an underpowered car and does it with class. Schumi has just signed on until 2005 with Ferrari as did team Principal Jean Todt and Barrichello, so the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro dynasty as we know it is far from over. FORZA FERRARI!!!!

 

It's official...the Bud BMW Williams...

 

Burp!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good for Frank and Co.!

I hope Jordan can pull in some Pilsner Urquell bucks like they did before.

 

Now there ya go...great brew! I drank my first PU after seeing the Raffanelli team car at the Petit LeMans several years back and now I can't help myself... ...sponsorship works!

Sorry....back to F1...