I did 4 takeoffs and 5 landings on grass which seemed quite easy though Jeff was on the rudder ahead of me on the landing rollout, he thinks his rear cockpit position allows him better feel of yaw (I agree) He let me taxi down the main paved runway and back to the hanger to let me see how much more sensitive it was on pavement. Can't imagine a crosswind takeoff on pavement ! Seems so long ago now, 2005


Too bad for Webber, hope he doesn't get fat ! and as usual Bernie is an idiot...

 

Unfortunately I haven't been at the controls of anything for many years. Too bad--we greatly enjoyed our Yankee. It was sort of a sports car in the air at that time, and we had the fast-wing version, which was even more sensitive. We sold her when we moved to Houston. We thought we'd be able to get back into flying when the kids were a little older but it didn't work out that way, with all of the medical problems our daughter had.

On the other hand, look what we got in return--MINI-owning Ms. Wheelchair America!

 

Red Bull to take over Toro Rosso

Formula One team Red Bull are set to regain 100% control of sister outfit Toro Rosso after buying out the 50% share owned by Gerhard Berger.
The deal is pending approval by regulatory authorities.

If it goes through, Red Bull chief Dietrich Mateschitz will wholly owns two teams on the F1 grid.

Toro Rosso have been seen as a development team but, running with Ferrari engines, they outperformed Red Bull in the 2008 season.

Sebastien Vettel won the Italian Grand Prix in September and has moved from Toro Rosso to Red Bull for 2009.

The German became the youngest winner in Formula One history at the age of 21.

It will be good news for F1 with Red Bull backing the grid we will not lose STR.

"I am very happy that I can support Didi (Mateschitz) - who has committed himself to Formula One with so much dedication - with the reorganisation of the team and in this process to make use of my knowledge so effectively," said Berger.

"A 100% financing of a joint project by one partner can only make sense, to my mind, at an initial stage. This stage is over now. That's why Red Bull will take over the shares again."

Mateschitz added: "I'm very grateful to Gerhard for his enormous input.
"Together we have made Toro Rosso a team which, from 2008 onwards, will regularly qualify for the top 10 and collect championship points.
"Red Bull will now run Toro Rosso alone on this basis."

Red Bull suffered a blow last week when Australian driver Mark Webber broke his leg in a bike crash but the team expect him to be fit to start the 2009 season.

 

"Team orders" will be a bit more complicated eh ?

Instead of two drivers beating each other up for the numero uno spot it will be four

 

Team orders??? No such thing!

 

errr......oh yeah.....Massa's well thought out pass on Kimi.....a demonstration of driver skill for sure, it took the great skill of Kimi to lift on the throttle and keep the back end from coming around.......

Speaking of a great pass.......Hamilton has had two of the best in years....on Massa at Malaysia 2007 and this year's pass on Kimi at Spa - sweet !

 

I do hope you caught my tone of cynicism.

Team orders also includes FIA, too...

 

Well, it doesn't come as a surprise to hear that Honda is withdrawing from F1.

What with their poor on track performance and the global economic crisis I am not surprised that this has happened... actually I have been expecting this from Honda and also from Toyota.

What Honda's action does is make one wonder if any of the other manufacturers will subsequently withdraw also due to the hard economic times we are facing.

Here's an excerpt from the F1 website concerning Honda...

Honda to Withdraw from F1

Honda have announced that it plans to sell its Formula One team after the Japanese car manufacturer’s decision to withdraw from the sport in light of difficult conditions in the global auto market.

The current Honda team was formed in 2000 after the company took over the former BAR squad, transforming it into a works team in 2006. Honda now hope to have new owners in place ahead of the 2009 season...

 

The bad news isn't limited to Honda.

I just read that Audi will debut the R15 at the 12 Hours of Sebring in March, but other than that Audio Sport North America has withdrawn form the ALMS. Audi will only race the LMS and DTM series in Europe in 09.
It's a shame. Audi has been a big draw at ALMS races. Another big draw has been Corvette Racing. I've heard the Pratt & Miller Corvette Racing program will continue in ALMS (in GT2 after the 24 Hours of Le Mans), but who knows with GM's fate.

While it's not as bad news as Honda withdrawing completely, Audi Sport NA closing down has the same effect to us since with Speed Channel --being the steaming pile of smelly crap that it is -- we have no hope of seeing any of the races. And no doubt a significant part of the 24 Hours of Le Mans will be preempted by Craftsman Truck testing or something equally important like a Pinks rerun marathon.

 

I wish Honda the same good luck Super Aguri had in selling their team.

Well, maybe endurance racing will get back to what it kind of was in the old days, where cars that anyone could buy were modified to run the race.

 

Don't count on it. They will be hit just as badly. The current field for the 24 Hours of Daytona (not that Rolex Grand Am is taken seriously by anyone outside NASCAR) is half of 2007, and the starting field for Sebring looks to be half what is was for Petit Le Mans (39 entries) a few months ago.

 

They aren't doing the LMS series either.... Only Sebring, LeMans, DTM, and providing customers with the GT3 R8 LMS cars....

Hopefuully everthing that was right with Roadracing will be right again in 2 or 3 yrs time....

 

We're planning to attend Sebring (as we did the last two years), but we've been wondering how many cars will even be on the grid. Peugeot planned to bring a 908, but now I wonder whether they will after all. I'm mostly looking forward to the debut of the Rahal-Letterman M3 GTRs.

 

Don't forget about Acura's new P1 effort this year....which will be without any competition now that Audi is withdrawing. I was really looking forward to some consistant action in P1 this year. Not sure if Mazda will be around now that BK motorsports withdrew as well.

 

Dave Richards (Prodrive) is rumored to be buying the Honda F1 team..........

Williams and BMW are both on the brink of losing their major sponsors so I wouldn't be surprised to see them drop out too. I was concerned about Toro Rosso, but now that Red Bull stepped up they should be safe at least for this season. Wonder if there are any rules about one owner owning two teams?

Also wonder if Farce India can continue with their effort, after all the restructuring they did at season's end, I wonder if they'll even suit up for '09?

Where are they gonna get a Kers, for example?

Toyota has plenty of money, but will they decide it's woth spending for this years championship? My bet is yes, since they improved considerably last year, but what about Renault? There were rumors all last year that they would end the F1 team any time. My guess is that their second half performance was largely a "do or die" deal. Fortunately for them, they "did", and well too.......

 

Dyson is running 2 Lola/Mazda coupes last I heard. When BK closed/retired Mazda said they would have a program. I think the Lola coupes look cool. I was very disappointed when the BK coupe crashed out before the race at Petit Le Mans.

But if Honda is closing shop on F1, can the ALMS program be far behind? It's not as expensive, but it isn't cheap either.

 

Where the hell did you read that!

 

I'll bet my buddy Lewis is smiling all the way to the bank......arm and arm with Kimi Their financial futures secured.......

It really sucks to see Honda go, I've always been a Jenson fan since his early days. Hope he is able to get with a good team.....T/R isn't the place though...

It looks like all the teams are talking cutbacks except the red car team though they're probably too proud to admit it.....

 

Which part?

Prodrive is a rumor (as stated) that a well connected friend told me........

BMW's sponsor just got a majority stake bought by the govenment to keep it from going insolvent, so you'd think F1 would be way down the list of things they'd want to spend state money on.......

Williams is sponsored by the Royal Bank of Scotland, who's share price has dropped 80% in recent months and a 63% share of the business was recently acquired by the British gummint, and the man at the bank who forced the sponsorship thru has been "retired"......

I think they're both in trouble money wise, and I don't think Farce India is far behind.......

 

It will probably take a few seasons to shake things out.

 

Motorsports could take a catastrophic hit. We might see all the major series fail and be reborn later when the economy starts to recover. I'm already starting to think about ideas for vacations if there aren't any good races to attend.

I won't weep if NASCAR is one that fails and never comes back.

 

Here-Here !

 

Oh yeah...I remember hearing that. Too bad Dyson wil have to learn yet another car make now and be behind right from the get go. Acura will walk away this year with the P1 crown.

 

I'm betting D Richards jumps back into F1 will a reborn Honda team.

And Farce India will/is teaming up with McLaren...

 

Except that David Richards is also in the automative industry and is probably hurting as well as anyone else. I expect a buyer for Honda F1 to come from the middle east if anywhere.