Well look at it this way, when we do have a pass, such as at Spa, the pass is judged to have given an advantage even though the advantage was given back and then the slower car was passed again, therefore according to the unwritten code of passing, said driver is penalized.

Now since pit stops seem to be the only way to pass, we do away with the stop.........

So do we want passing or not

 

Is it possible.....just maybe....that the reason drivers complain about the aero package limiting their ability to pass is used more as an excuse rather than the fact that they simply aren't as fast as the guy ahead of him ?

Remember Hakkinen's pass on Schu at Spa in 2000 (I think ?) he was faster and had the brass to get the job done, if everything in F1 is highly engineered, why not the driving too ? The past two years have been wonderful........

I know aero does make a difference but drivers never seem to be at fault......

Here ya go !

 

FIA tinkers with the rules again:

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/131220...uts-costs.html

And it's not just testing--look at the number of engines allowed per season, no refueling, "standard" parts, etc. Also possibly shorter races.

These don't sound like improvements to F1 to me, and I doubt that a Honda-situation would have been prevented had they already been in place. I also think that freezing engine development has actually HURT the sport in some of these areas, since the goals would normally be toward more efficient and longer-lasting engines, anyway.

Thoughts?

 

Frees up quite a bit of time to wash and wax !

 

Hahaha.....Carl Edwards beats M Shummacher in the semi's at the ROC.

 

Hahaha...David Coulthard knocked Carl out soon thereafter, to go up against Seb Loeb for the final.

 

Who wants to wash and wax? Besides, I married a car-cleaner. (That was the whole point!)

Besides, I'd much rather get up at 5 in the morning (or, more likely, stay up all night).

 

Sorry daffy, wash and wax is a wonderful stress relief for me. It pays off too, I had a "dude" in a work pickup asking me about Wensley this afternoon. "Hey man is it quick ?" I'm thinking, "Oh boy here we go" Yeah its quick, won't win a drag race though.....but give me a corner and these things are incredible......he says "Oh yeah....have you gotten on it yet?" That made my day ! He thought it was brand new...."Sure, its two years old" He says "Really ?"

and if I'm not waxin' or motorin', I'm out at the field flying ! Screw Bernie, Max and their rules.....

 

Well of course he did! Do you think that Carl would really last all that long? My point was that MS lost to a NASCRAP driver on a road race type circuit....and by 2 seconds! WTF...

 

Ha, Spit! I'm not much on washing, mainly because it kills the back I broke in a wreck a few years ago. Actually, and it's a good thing Hubby doesn't read this site, the best of all worlds is motoring in a clean car, right?

I haven't had many people ask me about my car since the price of gas went back down. When it goes back up. I'll have all those drivers of pick 'em ups and Stupid Useless Vehicles hanging around again. Of course, I'm always "apologetic" when I tell them how much fun I have when I push on the thing that makes the turbo go!

I'll put up with Bernie a little while longer, peeved though I am. And when I see Max, I'm always amused at the thought of someone standing over him with a whip...

 

Crazy Brits and their kinky ways

 

I agree wholeheartedly! The Bernie & Max show may just ruin F1 if they continue on the course they have chosen!

On a separate note, Spitfire, are all those scale RC planes yours?

Very nice collection if they are!

One question though, where is your namesake?

I see a P-40, P-47, P-51B, a D.H. 82 Tiger Moth and what looks like a Dewoitine D.520 at the extreme left of the photo. No Spitfire MkI?

 

Sab,

Yep that's my squadron, the Tiger Moth now lives with a friend (I plan to build a 1/3 scale one) The P-47 is for sale (to pay for the Tiger) The Dewoitine was a visiting flyer but I got to fly it, way overpowered and the guy is a bunch of nerves standing next to you. I feel like telling these types "relax I fly planes that cost well over $100,000" but then I understand their hard work is beyond price.

Spits....well I have had a number of them, mostly small ones and they fly ok but not what I would consider "excellent". The scaling effect does not work well for Spits, if you look at most spit models the tails are enormous compared to the full size bird, the smaller the more out of proportion they become. With that, I have never held onto these planes. Now, with that said.

I have currently awaiting to be built:

1/5 scale 84" Brian Taylor / Vicrc Spitfire MkI - I have all the goods except the cockpit and engine.

~1/5 scale 88" Yellow Aircraft Spitfire MkXIV - Again, no cockpit or engine, partially started.

1/4 scale Miles Magister - Hope to have this one done by spring

1/5 scale 84" Bf109E-4 This one will be paired up with my MkI, nice model but the foam core wing and lack of landing gear structure detail is a headache. This project is waaayyyy out there.

~1/4 scale 92" Hurricane MkII - Built by another flyer, I have started stripping it down to redo the fabric and fiberglass plus build a whole new tail. The current one is about as crooked as you can get

Thinking to do my MkXIV like NH749, I got to sit in her out in Camarillo,CA in 2004 but I will have to purchase the bubble canopy conversion.






My MkI will look like this but be coded XT-M that's Richard Hillary's 603 Squadron plane.

 

So, what kind of 1:1 scale plane do you fly?

 

No PPL yet, just a wanna be, I have about 12 hours in a 172sp, 2.5 in a Stearman, 2 or so in a Citabria and just got back from England where I flew a Tiger Moth for a quick clip. So little time I can remember just about everything about the flights.

I'm actually a UAV Pilot by day.......

I have passed ground school with flying colors but my plan to start lesson this past year went up in smoke with my 20% pay cut. With flying being as expensive as it is, getting stick time with friends and such makes a lot more sense to me right now.

BTW- I flew the UAV from work for a demo in Costa Rica from Tobias International from the main runway with full coordination from the tower, just like being in the cockpit but, on the ground, really cool to hold short while an Otter comes in full of tourist a heli launches from taxi bravo, and another small job is put in a hold awaiting my takeoff on 9.

Believe it or not, the actual flying of a R/C or UAV is harder than flying the full sized bird. Obviously with the one you're in, there's more on the line to get it right

 

Cool--military UAV? I can believe they're harder to fly--video games would probably be helpful, right?

I remember the good ol' days when I learned to fly. Can't remember a thing about ground school, and little about the written. I do remember the truly squirrelly guy who gave me the checkride for my ticket. (He insisted on things like taking off on a dark morning without a preflight. I didn't have a clue how much fuel was on board, but it flew like the gauges said--more on one side than the other. Like I said, he insisted, and I was just a kid at the time. He did other weird stuff, too.)

 

Reminds me of the long list of seemingly counterintuitive concepts a few of us had to sort through about 12 years ago (or so) when we started up the operationalization of the Predator UAV into the Air Force. It was a lot of fun for me, but my wing-wearing (pilot) counterparts (I was an Intel Officer) had a tough time getting their brains around the challenge.....I'm sure it was partly because their hearts really weren't into it.

Imagine telling a US Air Force pilot (and yes, some were even fighter pilots) that his next cockpit will be on the ground, and it might not even be anywhere near his UAV's airfield! I once made up a little animated graphic showing a guy in a flight suit with an old leather flying helmet and goggles sitting at a desk with his hand on a joystick and a little table fan sitting in front of him blowing air in his face so his scarf would flap in the breeze behind him. Needless to say, the wing-wearers were not amused.....but everyone else about split their sides!

 

The guy I flew with in the Citabria would kick the tires and off we'd go, hell one time we jumped started it - I look back now and think "what the hell was I thinking getting in this thing ?" What a wonderful plane to fly ! The stearman is still my favorite, she just felt so right.

Our UAVs are actually doing commercial and civilian govt. work

Here's some of the things we do:

http://www.fs.fed.us/eng/rsac/RS2006...zajkowski2.pdf

http://www.ars.usda.gov/research/pub...lications.htm?

http://www.vectorp.com

 

Interesting, Spit. I had no idea they were available outside the military! BTW, link 2 doesn't work.

When I was in surgical tech training, it was often said that the "older" generation of doctors, as in those already established in paractice, didn't have the ease of transitioning into laparoscopic surgery as the newer ones did. Not that the students and young doctors were any brainier--it was because they were used to playing video games. And with surgical robots now really coming into play, I'll bet that's even more so.

I remember when laparoscopic gall bladder surgery came along, it took HOURS, rather than minutes, and that was at a university hospital.

But, we've strayed somewhat from the idea of dog-collar clad Max, and doofus Bernie trying to kill the goose that laid the golden egg...

 

+1
I'm about to check out of this thread and maybe check back after the season starts. This thread hasn't just gone beyond F1 but seems to have left motorsports discussion altogether.

 

Yep, we do get carried away from time to time, but we always manage to get back on track (no pun intended).

 

Besides, at this time of year, how these guys tinker with the rules and policies impacts what you might (or might not) see next season!

Oops, no pun intended in my post, either...

 

Lewis has it right when he thanks the fans....."if it were not for the fans, we would not be here"

As for going off topic, tough not to when the season is over and all the guys are on holiday or in training. Hate to rehash old subjects......

 

Is this what they do during the off-season?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NpjUjTFJxc&NR=1

 

My wife and I are planning a trip to Italy around the Italian GP.

Anyone here have any experience with going to that race and have any advice or recommendations for hotels?

Thanks!