hi
(hi jim)
i am a F1 newb, just got speed vision to be able watch.
have ghosted this forum for a while, just don't have any knowledge.
so the current posts have to deal with the fact that there is no US GP?
and there is talk of having one? sounds like the location hasn't been decided yet, has the date?
thanks
boxcars

 

No US GP this year Jim....Some entity in New Jersey had proposed a track next to Ellis Island with NYC skyline as a backdrop but that was shot down this past week by city officials, thank god! It would have been a mickey mouse track design at best. Sadly anything were may get in this country is probably going to be a crummy track because nobody is going to spend the $$ to build the facilities at one of our better tracks here.

Laguna spent some money updating the pit lane facilities but I don't think the track is long enough personally. I think in '06 the Toyota F1 car did a 1:06 in a demo run so I could imagine the minute mark being toyed with if the circus came to town.

 

That must explain why we seem to have a problem hosting a USGP?

 

Welcome to the nuthouse!

Well, we're probably a somewhat bigger sports car market than India, anyway.

 

Ken wanted to use Coil-overs instead of torsion bars? WTF?

Just got done reading the whole thing.....wow, what a clusterf***!

Or Korea. With all the scooters riden around there, they ought to have a MotoGP race before an F1 race.

 

Welcome to the forum!

You will find that the folks here are friendly so don't be afraid to ask questions. They have great insight and astute observations on the goings on in F1 and are willing to share their knowledge with others.

You got Speed-Vision?

I thought that Speed-Vision was bought out by the Fox Network affiliate SPEED Channel. Have they made a comeback? I hope so as they had more diversified programming (instead of NASCAR 24/7 and pimp my ride reality shows) and aired more road racing.

 

Sabre,
you are correct, it is just "speed "channel now,
and thankfully not just Nascar 24/7.
It has F1 qualifying, F1 practice, some enduance races and
American Lemans, enough to keep me entertained!
boxcars

 

Speed Channel is now NASCRAP 21/7

 

I think Speed is doing more than their fair share in getting many racing folks to utterly hate NASCAR with all the stupid-as% pre & post shows...

Not to mention the reality and talent shows with a NASCAR theme..

 

it is amazing how a INDY race takes 2 hours with pre show,
an F1 race takes 2.5 hours with pre show and a NASCAR race takes
FIVE HOURS!
ha-ha
boxcars

 

I'm going to digress for a short here so please bear with me... gotta vent!

I could not believe that SPEED stooped so low as to air a cooking/food show... The Racing Chef.

What drivel! If I wanted such programming I'd watch the Food Network.

Tell me now, what has a program like The Racing Chef got to do with racing (other than the tenuous connection via the title)?

It really irks me that there are few (if any) replays of F1 events and if they are they are aired at the oddest hours (usually at the wee hours of the morning 3AM).

With so many quality racing series out there I cannot fathom why SPEED chooses to become a slave to NASCAR and other non-racing shows.

I'd watch SPEED more if they chose to air quality racing instead of the inane crap they are dishing out to the viewers.

 

I would prefer to watch SCCA runoffs than the "reality" crap SPEED Shows.

 

Blame FOX Sports.....they own Speed. They have so much money tied up in NASCRAP that it's a no brainer that we're gunna be overloaded with this crap.

I used to love watching Nascar back in the 80's early 90's - wouldn't miss it, ever. Now I only watch Dega & Daytona for you guessed it - the big one. Doesn't mean I don't follow it thru the internet and/or news outlets but I just can't watch all the hip hop slant of it all now. Celebrity this, celebrity that -- let's interview the tire changer. Paaaaaleeez! Enough already.

Boxcars is right......give 'em a half hour preshow and victory lane interview, that's it.

 

I really miss Speed-Vision and the coverage that they gave the SCCA Runoffs!

I wish that SPEED Channel would wake-up and realize that their audience consists of more than those who follow NASCAR.

Listen up SPEED Channel, you could truly be the motorsports authority you claim to be if you'd air something more than NASCAR (in all its guises).

If it were not for the likes of David Hobbs, Bob Varsha, Steve Matchett and Dave Despain and the F1 and limited sportscar (ALMS, Le Mans) coverage, I would have dumped SPEED Channel long ago.

 

Yeah, the F1 crew is great. And when they cover races like Sebring or 24hrs of Daytona, when their shift starts, it's amazing how much better the show is to watch.

And Wind Tunnel is very good also. I like how Dave is just a racer. He likes all racing and can appreciate the different aspects of different racing series.


Qualifying was interesting today. Too bad about Alonso. I guess he hit the wall so hard, it cracked the chassis. I'm curious if it's going to rain like they've been saying all week.

 

When Leigh Diffey sat in for Bob Varsha a few races ago my wife and I both thought the F1 commentary was much improved. We like him from the ALMS commentary team.

 

Well, here we go again...

Dare we hope that the US will get a home grown F1 team in the near future...


New American Team Eyes F1 Debut

SPEED Staff / GMM | Posted May 15, 2010 GMM Newswire

In the wake of the USF1 calamity, another American group has signalled its intention to race in Formula One next year. Cypher Group confirmed on Thursday that it has submitted a "letter of interest" about obtaining the 13th and final spot on the 2011 grid. The company said it consists of "experienced F1 engineers, designers and businessmen" whose objective "is to create a successful US-based F1 team." Cypher said it "recognizes the significant challenges" of building a team in a short amount of time and will therefore "utilize 'best of breed' components throughout the car. In support of this strategy, Cypher is in contact with established manufacturers of Formula One racing cars and components," the outfit added. Cypher clarified that it has not yet lodged a formal entry to compete next year. The outfit said it will only do so "should we achieve fully the budget we believe is necessary to do this properly."


Hmm... fact, fantasy, or fiction?

I guess time is the arbiter in this matter.

 

Reguarding the above story ^^^^^......I'm all for it and only hope that it is/can be a possibility that can be realized. We're approaching the half way point of the year so I hope they are very ambitious.

What did everyone think about the interview with Michael Douglas on pit lane? Me and my roommate thought he sounded drunk!

I think the MS pass on Fernado was brilliant if in fact it turns out to be legal, although I would rather had seen Alonso get 6th...but I'm thinking it will be judged an illegal pass. Good traffic work by Alonso and team strategy by Ferrari to pit him on the first SC incident.

 

The rules regarding the Safety Car were changed this year, and now they're even more ambiguous than before. The call went against MS, and he was sent down to 12th.

Good drive by Webbo, and good on Vettel for getting past Kubby on the start.

 

Yeah, I saw MS pass Fred and was like WTF? Read a story today laying the whole incident out so everyone can clearly understand it and a comment was made about how till now, the year had been free of controversy.

And I was just thinking, "Big surprise, controvery being stirred up by Michael."

I am surprised that they gave him a 20 second penalty though. Even with Damon as the steward, I would have thought they'd just give Alonso the position back and everyone would be friends.

Especially, with all of the warnings that they've been handing out at previous races. Hamilton's gotten two of them, but no penalties. But they didn't give Michael a warning? Sounds like racism to me!!!!! At a racing event...ROFL!

 

I'm not so sure that the rules are vague. The FIA rule on use of the safety car is rather clear I believe...

Rule 40.13 If the race ends whilst the safety car is deployed it will enter the pit lane at the end of the last lap and the cars will take the chequered flag as normal without overtaking.

What does seem to be arbitrary is the handing out of penalties as benjam has stated.

Though I have not looked further into the rules, there seems to be no apparent consistency to the stewards rulings penalizing Schu rather than letting him hold onto his finishing position before the incident.

 

The sporting regs also say....

Sporting regulations, article 40.7
40.7 All competing cars must then reduce speed and form up in line behind the safety car no more than ten car lengths apart. €n order to ensure that drivers reduce speed sufficiently, from the time at which the “SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED” message is shown on the timing monitors until the time that each car crosses the first safety car line for the first time, drivers must stay above the minimum time set by the FIA ECU. With the following exceptions, overtaking is forbidden until the cars reach the first safety car line after the safety car has returned to the pits. Overtaking will only be permitted under the following circumstances :
- if a car is signalled to do so from the safety car ;
- under 40.14 below ;
- any car entering the pits may pass another car or the safety car remaining on the track after it has crossed the first safety car line ;
- any car leaving the pits may be overtaken by another car on the track before it crosses the second safety car line ;
- when the safety car is returning to the pits it may be overtaken by cars on the track once it has crossed the first safety car line ;
- any car stopping in its designated garage area whilst the safety car is using the pit lane (see 40.10 below) may be overtaken ;
- if any car slows with an obvious problem.


Which is confusing as hell to me, and leaves a lot of room for interpretation, had the course stayed YELLOW and the marshals continued to hold up the SC cards, then yes, the race would have finished under SC conditions.

But that was not the case, the green lights where clearly shown, green flags were being waved.

The race DID NOT finish under safety car conditions.

I also think simply setting him back to his last place would have been the accurate way to resolve this, instead they gave him a drive thru penalty - hence the 20 sec. Now, how in the hell is that right? In other races we've seen someone pass inappropriately and they're not given a drive thru - they simply get on the radio and tell the driver to give the place back.

 

Yes Dave, I can see where one might be overwhelmed by such rhetoric. It is daunting but not ambiguous. Like all ruling bodies they (i.e. FIA) try to cover every contingency and it can get very wordy almost requiring a lawyer to decipher it.

Yet, I believe that the following is the operative line (in addition to FIA Rule 40.13)...

As professionals the drivers have to be aware of the do's & don'ts of track behavior. Addtionally they have their crews pitside keeping them informed via radio as to what to do.

Now if the race was not under the SC (full course yellow) and green flags were being shown (I must have missed this and apparently so did Matchett, Hobbs & Varsha as I heard no commentary on it) then the race was back on and Schumacher got a great re-start ... he caught the field napping and raced to the checkers for a well deserved finish!

Well that's my .02 on this one.

 

More information has come to light and it appears that you are right Dave as the race did not finish under the safety car and the course was green. Mercedes GP should file a protest if only on the merit of principle not to mention valuable finishing points.

I don't understand why they are not following through with it...



F1: Mercedes Gives Up On Monaco Penalty Appeal

Michael Schumacher's 12th-place finish in the Monaco Grand Prix will stick...

Adam Cooper | speedtv.com | Posted May 18, 2010 Balen (BEL)


Mercedes GP has dropped its appeal against the decision that dropped Michael Schumacher from sixth to 12th at the Monaco GP.

While the team (and some of its rivals) believe it has a good case, it has accepted that is is unlikely to win a legal battle, despite the obvious anomalies in the rules. This was the first time that a safety car had been withdrawn on the last lap of the race under the new rules that allow drivers to race from the safety car line at the pit entry.

What the FIA should have done to avoid any confusion was to use the message "The race will be completed under the safety car" on the timing screens, instead of saying that it would be "in this lap."

Had the stewards not acted on Sunday, rival teams would have protested - and Toro Rosso, which stood to gain 10th-place, were literally first in the queue. However two teams, not surprisingly those with nothing to gain from Schumacher's penalty, told SPEED.com that Ross Brawn's interpretation was perfectly valid.

Mercedes has also questioned the scale of the penalty. Logic suggests that swapping of Schumacher and Fernando Alonso in the results would have been fair, which could have been achieved by a 1sec penalty. However, the only weapon the stewards had was a drive-through. Mercedes says the FIA has agreed to look into both that and the safety car rules at the next meeting of the Sporting Working Group.

The team's statement reads as follows: "On the final lap of the 2010 Monaco Grand Prix, MERCEDES GP PETRONAS instructed our drivers, Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg, to race from safety car line one until the finish line as permitted under articles 40.7 and 40.11.

"MERCEDES GP PETRONAS were fully aware of article 40.13 which states that no overtaking is permitted if the race finishes under safety car conditions. However we believed that the combination of the race control messages 'Safety Car in this lap' and 'Track Clear' and the green flags and lights shown by the marshals after safety car line one indicated that the race was not finishing under the safety car and all drivers were free to race.

"This opinion appears to have been shared by the majority of the teams with cars in the top ten positions who also gave their drivers instructions to race to the finish line.

"It was clear from our discussions with the stewards after the race that they understood the reasons for our interpretation and acknowledged that this was a new and previously untested situation but ultimately disagreed with our interpretation.

"MERCEDES GP PETRONAS would like to emphasize that we fully support the inclusion of past drivers on the stewards panel and are completely satisfied that the Monaco Grand Prix stewards acted professionally, impartially and properly in this matter.

"The FIA has agreed to include article 40.13 on the agenda of the next Sporting Working Group for discussion and to consider the scale of post race penalties. We believe that the 20 second penalty imposed on Michael to be disproportionate in the circumstances.

"Whilst we cannot be happy with the outcome, we are pleased that the FIA has recognized the reasons for our interpretation. Therefore in the best interests of the sport, MERCEDES GP PETRONAS will not be submitting an appeal."

 

A couple things. The press has misidentified what the guest driver does. He's not a steward, he's an advisor to the stewards to give the cockpit point of view. Damon Hill (or the other drivers) can't hand down a decision.

They leveled 20 seconds at MS because that's about how long it take to perform a drive though penalty, which is the usual penalty given out for passing when you shouldn't. Since the race was over, they tacked the 20 seconds on the finish time.

MS got off lucky, as I recall the bogey time for the pits at Monaco is actually about 21-25 seconds.

I'm not a Schu fan, but because of the mix-up with the lights, etc, they should have just dropped him to seventh again.

On the third hand, no one else was confused by the end of the race rules.