Johnnie Tolan Alejandro de Tomaso Charles de Tornaco Tony Trimmer
Thursday, March 31, 2011
V-8 Red Baron
I`m a big Tom Daniels fan and have always loved the Red Baron, but being one of those people that can never leave well enough alone I decided to make a V-8 Baron. Dont really know for sure what the motor is because everything came from the parts box then built a set of heads to fit the valve covers and topped it off with a homebuilt intake scoop. All I know is that its big and loud and hope T.D. would approve.
Had to do a fair bit of cutting to get the big block in there. Stretched the frame 7mm then gave it a bit of a rake for a more aggressive stance. Lowered the front 3mm by lengthening the height of the uprights on the front axle, reshaped the firewall, interior floorboard, and bottom of the body to make room for the Transmission. Engine plate up front and a new tranny mount out back then added a huge set of Mickey Thompsons out back that came off of a Slammers snap together Caprice cuz it really needed a set of monsters out back.
Rubens Barrichello Michael Bartels Edgar Barth Giorgio Bassi
Awesome Vettel lays down intimidating marker
"I don't think it was an easy race," Sebastian Vettel said after winning the Australian Grand Prix, but it certainly looked that way.
The world champion was never more than nine seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton's chasing McLaren until the Englishman ran into trouble with a damaged floor on his car midway through the race. But the Red Bull driver always appeared to be in total control.
The German was 2.5 seconds clear after the first lap, when admittedly Hamilton had been compromised by having to hold off Vettel's team-mate Mark Webber at the start, and he pulled out another 0.8secs on lap two.
Although Hamilton pegged him after that, the suspicion must be that Vettel was already in cruise mode, even though he said after the race that he was struggling with tyres in that first stint.
It was probably not a coincidence that the margin between the two men on that second lap was pretty much exactly the same as it had been in qualifying. That's how much faster the Red Bull appeared to be in Melbourne, at least in Vettel's hands.
There was a sharp intake of breath along the pit lane in Albert Park when the sheer speed of the car was finally unleashed in final practice on Saturday morning and nothing that happened after that did anything to diminish that impression.
Following Vettel's pace in qualifying, his fastest race lap was nearly half a second quicker than Hamilton's. On that evidence, McLaren and the rest have some work to do if they are to stop Red Bull running away with the championship.
That said, it is unwise to read too much into the results of the first race of the season - particularly in Melbourne - and it remains to be seen whether Red Bull's advantage will be as big at other circuits this season.
Albert Park can be a bit like that. If a driver and team get everything just so in conditions that leave others struggling a bit - exactly what appeared to happen in Saturday's cool weather - it is possible to eke out a quite extraordinary advantage.
The mind immediately turns to 1997, when Jacques Villeneuve was on pole position in Australia by 1.8 seconds from his Williams team-mate Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Michael Schumacher's Ferrari was third on the grid that weekend, 2.1 seconds slower than Villeneuve - and yet the title battle went to the last race of the season between the Canadian and the German.
The common denominator between that Williams and this year's Red Bull is Adrian Newey, then Williams's chief designer, now Red Bull's chief technical officer and for some time F1's pre-eminent genius - and I do not use that word lightly.
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Like the Williams FW17, the Red Bull RB7 is the third iteration of a car-design concept. This is what Newey is like - he does not always nail the key to unlocking a set of regulations but when he does, as he has with this generation of Red Bulls, he just keeps chipping away, refining the concept, and the others find it very difficult to catch up.
Further evidence of Newey's uncompromising approach to design emerged after the race on Sunday, when Red Bull team principal Christian Horner revealed that the team had decided not to use their Kers power-boost system after Friday.
The fact that Red Bull's drivers did not use Kers in qualifying led to tongues wagging in the F1 paddock on Saturday, when there was speculation they had a mini-Kers system that would be used only at the start.
The truth was more mundane. Red Bull have been struggling with Kers reliability all winter and the team decided it was more trouble than it was worth in Melbourne.
Red Bull's problems with Kers have been created by Newey's absolute determination to make the car as fast as possible - and to trade off performance as little as he can.
"Adrian being Adrian would not compromise the car around the system," Horner told BBC Sport, "so the systems had to fit into his aero shape."
This has led to problems with reliability - not for the first time with a Newey design honed to the nth degree. In this case, the car is so tightly packaged that the team are finding it hard to manage the heat the Kers system generates.
Red Bull say they are working hard to get the system on to the car for the next race. But Vettel's performance in Melbourne may well reignite the debate that has been raging in F1 since Kers was first introduced to the sport in 2009.
That is as follows - putting Kers on a car makes it about 0.3secs a lap quicker. But, under the current regulations, can a car optimised without it - or in the case of Red Bull, designed with fewer compromises than normal - actually be made to be quicker? There is no definitive answer to that question for now; perhaps one will emerge over this season.
There were many more subjects about which the same could be said.
Most striking of all, perhaps, is what on earth happened to Webber in the second Red Bull? He and the team both shared the general mystification about the massive gap between the Australian and Vettel.
Fernando Alonso's post-qualifying prediction that Ferrari would be stronger in the race was proved right with a fighting drive back to fourth from a terrible first lap, during which he was briefly down in 10th. There was nothing fake about Ferrari's pace in pre-season testing - what can they achieve when they have a smooth weekend?
Alonso just missed a podium thanks to a superb drive from Renault's Vitaly Petrov in a car that is genuinely quick. It immediately made you wonder what the injured Robert Kubica could have achieved in that car.
There will be no quick answer to that one as the Pole continues his recovery from the terrible injuries he received in his rallying crash last month. But even with Petrov in it the car is a contender. The Russian's experienced team-mate Nick Heidfeld will surely bounce back from a poor start. Can Renault keep up with the breathless pace of development at the front?
The much-talked-about moveable rear wing, or drag-reduction system as it is officially known, seemed to work pretty well - in that it made overtaking possible but not too easy, although the debate about whether it is a step too far in terms of artificiality will doubtless continue.
If Sauber's Mexican rookie Sergio Perez continues in the manner he has started - notwithstanding the team's disqualification for a technical infringement - how long before the rumour mill starts wondering about this member of Ferrari's driver academy replacing Felipe Massa as Alonso's team-mate?
All these and more will keep people guessing for much longer than the two weeks before the Malaysian Grand Prix.
But there is no doubt about the biggest question of all. Hamilton said afterwards that he was confident McLaren could catch Red Bull. Is he right? On the evidence of Melbourne, the season could depend on it.
Paolo Barilla Rubens Barrichello Michael Bartels Edgar Barth
Hamilton and Button expect more from McLaren | 2011 F1 season
Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button expect to make more progress with the revised McLaren.
Clay Regazzoni Carlos Reutemann Lance Reventlow Peter Revson
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Sauber decides not to appeal
The Sauber team has decided not to appeal against the verdict of the stewards following the Australian Grand Prix which deprived Sergio P�rez and Kamui Kobayashi of seventh and eighth places. The post-race scrutineering check by the race stewards revealed that a radius on the upper rear wing element on P�rez?s and Kobayashi?s cars contravened [...]
Pierluigi Martini Jochen Mass Felipe Massa Cristiano da Matta
Testing teams get to grips with new technology
Valencia
At the end of the first Formula 1 pre-season test, three teams emerged as pace-setters for the hotly-anticipated new season.
It was no real surprise to see Red Bull's world champion Sebastian Vettel become the first to lay down a marker before Fernando Alonso went faster for Ferrari the following day.
But there were also intriguing early signs in Valencia this week that Renault have taken a competitive step forward over the winter.
Kubica set fastest time seen so far in winter testing on the final day in Valencia Pic:Getty
The team had produced a self-proclaimed "brave" design concept over the winter and in Spain they revealed the so-far unique approach of having the exhausts exit at the front of the sidepods either side of the driver.
Robert Kubica went on to show it was not simply style over substance by scorching to the fastest time seen so far in winter testing on the final day.
The Pole's time was 0.163 seconds quicker than Alonso and 0.625 secs ahead of Vettel's best.
F1 insiders calculate those three leading times were all set on similar levels of fuel, even though Kubica and Alonso set their times on a five-lap run while Vettel's best came over 10 laps.
Those runs were not in qualifying trim and so all three could, in theory, have gone even faster.
Kubica also encouragingly showed good pace over a 25-lap run with most tours in the 1:16s bracket, while Mark Webber exhibited consistent pace for Red Bull on Thursday in a 20-lap run which mainly consisted of 1:15s.
Kubica, Alonso and Vettel may have tantalised the top of the timesheets but in testing headline lap times don't tell the whole story.
Valencia was the first opportunity for teams to trial their technical updates for the 2011 season.
Yet another raft of rule changes - the return of the Kers energy boost system, the introduction of a moveable rear wing to aid overtaking and the removal of the double diffuser and F-duct aerodynamic aid - has meant a major re-think for design departments.
On top of that there is the problem of understanding how to tease performance out of the Italian Pirelli tyres, back in F1 for the first time since 1991 as single supplier in place of Bridgestone.
It is, in fact, the tyres that have leapt to the top of the teams' concerns about what fortunes lie ahead.
"Tyres are more of an unknown," commented Ferrari technical director Aldo Costa, throwing back an espresso in a single gulp.
"It is a very, very big job to develop the car around the tyres because they have a lot of implications on the car consistency and performance."
Even Red Bull's seemingly unflappable design guru Adrian Newey described it as "difficult to design for the Pirellis".
To a man, the drivers agreed that the Pirellis "went off" - reduced significantly in grip - much quicker than they were used to.
McLaren's Lewis Hamilton said the new rubber did not have "as much grip as the Bridgestones" and was "harder to control over a longer stint".
Kubica agreed with that assessment, adding: "That is why I think the tyres will play a crucial role. You may have to adapt your car set-up, or make the tyres last longer, or work better - that can make a big difference."
Pirelli has been asked to deliberately design less durable tyres in the hope that this will spice up the racing.
The company's motorsport director Paul Hembery batted away the drivers' disappointments.
"There will be no developments [to tyres] made following this test," he explained. "The teams now have to work out how to get the best out of the tyres."
Eight teams rolled out the first interpretations of their 2011 challengers in the Valencia sunshine, while McLaren, Force India, Virgin and Hispania ran last year's cars.
The main priority for teams with the fledging class of 2011 cars was to find out if the new parts were reliable. Only much later will it become clear how much, if any, performance they have added to the car.
"Looking only to our car, yes we are very happy," Costa said. "It needs to be a very balanced approach to be a fast and winning car.
"About the competitors, it's very difficult to understand where they are because it is difficult to see if they are using Kers or not, the rear wing or not, what kind of tyre they are using, how much fuel..."
The teams fiercely protected their secrets behind towering screens, guarded garage doors and under billowing sheaths. When Felipe Massa dramatically stopped on track on Thursday, crimson-clad Ferrari employees remarkably managed to hang a concealing cover underneath the car.
As always, the teams were keeping their cards close to their chest about the specifics of their programmes.
Most teams testing the 2011 cars had Kers installed for the majority of the running, even if they weren't actually powering it up.
Ferrari, Renault and Red Bull ran smoothly while Mercedes reported their Kers system was behind some of their teething problems, even though Mercedes had the most reliable when it was last deployed in 2009.
"We've got some areas that were getting a little bit too hot," Mercedes boss Ross Brawn said coolly.
The moveable rear wings also seemed to be a relatively trouble-free addition. The concept is such an integral part of the design rules that even if the wings played a passive role in testing they were still worth having on the car.
It will be up to the drivers to master the devices and with more buttons to press on the steering wheel that may not be quite so straightforward.
"In terms of all the other things we are operating from the cockpit, last year we had quite a bit to do and that was quite a challenge," Webber said.
"It's no big surprise to us that we might have to learn some new techniques this year but as long as you can still watch the road, that's the most important thing."
In less than a week, round two of testing begins in Jerez, where McLaren will also introduce their new challenger - which is being unveiled on Friday - to the pack.
Teams vying to rein in Red Bull talked with a beguiling mix of mystery and confidence about unspecified new developments in the pipeline.
But the clock is already ticking and there are just 12 days of testing left before the teams face up to reality in Bahrain's opening grand prix.
Tim Schenken Albert Scherrer Domenico Schiattarella Heinz Schiller
Ferrari offical plays down Rome race talk
Ferrari chief Stefano Domenicali has cooled talk that the Italian capital Rome could host a grand prix in the near future.
There have been calls for several years for an F1 race to be held in the Eternal City but plans have never really got off the ground.
Circuit designer Hermann Tilke did put forward a proposal that would have seen the race take place in the south of the city but ...
Di Resta out to prove winning potential
Paul di Resta has bumped up the British numbers racing in Formula 1 this year by finally signing for Force India.
But unlike his compatriots, McLaren drivers and world champions Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, Di Resta is out to prove he deserves his place on the grid.
The likeable 24-year-old Scot, whose promotion has been expected for some time, has plenty of reasons to feel confident about his first season in F1.
Over the course of 12 months as Force India reserve in 2010, Di Resta has already managed to galvanise the team's support.
His manager Anthony Hamilton, father of Lewis, revealed: "There hasn't been anything negative from the team. Paul has done a great job and they love him."
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The team were so smitten by Di Resta that his seat does not depend on sponsorship - in stark contrast to 2011's other rookies, Pastor Maldonado of Williams, Virgin's Jerome D'Ambrosio and Sauber's Sergio Perez.
In fact, to partner Di Resta with German Adrian Sutil, Force India will have to pay a financial settlement to Sutil's 2010 team-mate Vitantonio Liuzzi for breaking the firm contract the Italian had for this season.
Force India must be certain Di Resta has something worth paying for.
The son of racer-turned-businessman Louis di Resta and cousin of three-time IndyCar champion Dario Franchitti, Di Resta has described having racing "in his blood".
After winning the 2010 German touring car championship (DTM) for Mercedes on his weekends off from F1 duties, Di Resta arrives as a proven champion.
In his junior career, the Scot raced against future F1 world champions Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, notably beating the German to the Formula Three Euroseries crown.
Di Resta recalled in a 2008 interview: "Sebastian was my team-mate in 2006. I definitely beat him on far more occasions than he ever beat me.
"I'm not saying that I'm a faster or better driver than him but you'd have to say there's at least parity between us.
"As for Lewis, when we had the same machinery we were equally good."
In terms of raw talent Di Resta may well be a match for two of F1's fastest men but it will be difficult for him to prove it when he rejoins them on track.
The laidback Scot's first task will be to adapt his racing mindset from DTM's slower 'tin-top' cars to F1's open, single-seater speed machines.
The difference between driving a touring car with 500bhp and an F1 car charged with 750bhp and tonnes of downforce can be compared to handling a family estate car and a supercar.
"It requires a different style to drive both [cars] on the limit; it's not easy," explains McLaren reserve and driver Gary Paffett, who was one of Di Resta's Mercedes team-mates in the DTM last year.
"But if you can win in DTM it puts you in a good position to do a good job in F1. Paul will do a good job - but how good?
"If you're used to winning you might have to get over the fact that you're not going to be beating the McLarens and Ferraris week in, week out or beating your team-mate 100% of the time. That's something you have to learn."
In eight first practice sessions over grand prix weekends for Force India last season, Di Resta was only able to out-pace either Sutil or Liuzzi, who alternated in the other car, once.
Improving that niggling statistic will be a target for the Scot when the season begins with free practice in Bahrain on 11 March.
Beyond that, barring a major surprise Di Resta will not have the machinery capable of reigniting his teenage rivalry with Hamilton and Vettel, Red Bull's reigning champion.
Force India finished seventh in the constructors' championship last season with Sutil collecting best-place finishes of fifth in Malaysia and Spa. In terms of pace, both drivers failed to qualify inside the top 10 in the final six races of 2010.
The development of Force India's 2011 car has had to absorb some unsettling changes at the team's Silverstone factory, with two technical directors, James Key and Mark Smith, as well as chief designer Lewis Butler leaving for rival teams in the space of a year.
Force India intend to fine-tune the new VJM04 car in the wind tunnel before introducing it at the second pre-season test in Jerez - a policy also adopted by McLaren, but not by Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes, Renault and Williams, who will all have new cars ready for the first test in Valencia next week.
After the flashbulbs and fanfare of being unveiled as an F1 driver have died down, Di Resta will start the process of making his opportunity count in Valencia driving a modified 2010 car.
Di Resta may still have everything to prove in F1 but like the rest of 2011's rookies he also has nothing to lose.
Carl Scarborough Ludovico Scarfiotti Giorgio Scarlatti Ian Scheckter
Ringing the changes for 2011
Well, here we go then, my first blog of a new year - and it will take me a while to type it. I've just returned from a skiing trip to France and used so many muscles that even my fingers ache. Mind you, I've promised my wife Harriet a six-pack as a New Year's resolution for the past few years so maybe it's actually the perfect start to 2011!
It may only be January but another F1 season will be upon us before we know it - and judging by the tweets I've been receiving it can't come soon enough for lots of you! There's a lot going on and you might have read about changes to the BBC team - I'll come onto those in a bit.
But there is no doubt that since taking this job it feels as though my life has has entered a warp-speed stage. I look at the calendar ahead of the season and feel rather daunted by the travel, the hours of live television, the garish Eddie Jordan outfits and the drama that awaits us... but before I know it, we'll be at the final race of the year with the champion crowned.
The winter break is the same. Knowing when the season starts meant that even before we signed off in Abu Dhabi we had already announced how many weeks it was until the 2011 season. So I've spent most of the winter (in between sore throats/colds/flu) ticking off the weeks until we're back in Bahrain.
I can't believe it's time to turn our attention towards Sebastian Vettel's defence of his crown already.
Coulthard (right) will dove-tail his pundit's role with his new commentating duties. Photo: Getty
I vividly remember coming off air in November, having signed off from the final F1 Forum of 2010, and immediately feeling really down. I mentioned it to Martin Brundle, who told me that it's par for the course. After giving so much both mentally and physically to a gruelling nine-month schedule, it's natural that you experience a dip the moment the adrenalin leaves your body and the slog is over.
Mind you, my dip wasn't quite as big as Ferrari's, was it? I'm sure over the winter you've read the revelations that team principal Stefano Domenicali considered walking away after the Scuderia's strategy calls contributed to Red Bull's double success. Well, to understand what Domenicali must have been feeling, you need to realise how much emotion is involved in a sport more famed for its technical element.
Many of the Red Bull engineers and mechanics have worked for that team throughout all the name changes, back-of-the-field struggles and double retirements they have experienced in less successful years, so you can imagine the outpouring of joy that greeted Vettel's title in Abu Dhabi. And from men who spend their days in the macho world of racing there were plenty of tears as the best partiers in the paddock lived up to their reputation of working hard and playing hard, too.
As I left them to their celebrations, I walked into the pit lane and looked along the garages, where I was met with the clearest example of what suspect calls on the pit wall can lead to.
Right next door to the loud music and joy emanating from the Red Bull garage, there was just one lonely mechanic standing and talking on the phone in a still, silent Ferrari garage.
The money they'd spent, the car they'd devoted thousands of hours to, the flights they'd taken and the dreams they'd had eventually came to nothing. The car was now obsolete, the season over and all because of one split-second decision on the pit wall. That is what makes this such a fascinating sport.
I think we all felt a bit odd at the end of the season. Imagine how it was for our own former Red Bull driver David Coulthard, seeing the team you raced for achieving the ultimate success. He must have had all sorts of emotions.
You'll get the chance to hear for yourself next season just how emotional grand prix racing makes David because, as well as chasing around the paddock with Eddie and me, he is stepping up into the commentary box.
I'm really excited about a 13-time winner sharing his knowledge in the race with you. Remember, David has raced most of the guys on the grid, has first-hand experience of the inner workings of current champions Red Bull and, most importantly, has driven contemporary F1 machinery.
There is no doubt that it is a daunting prospect for him but I think he will fly once he settles in. I always tell him that the pre- and post-race "waffle", as I jokingly refer to it, is important and an interesting way of adding depth to a race weekend. However, we don't directly affect people's enjoyment of the actual racing.
In my mind, the commentary is a somewhat more responsible role for that reason and is also the trickiest job going. I wouldn't swap the pit lane for the commentary box for all the sand in Bahrain!
Although David is moving to the commentary box, the 'three-o' of myself, DC and EJ will remain. We love working together and, when you get an on-screen chemistry that people seem to enjoy, it would be foolish to break it up.
However, David will need to hustle his white jeans to the commentary box a little earlier so immediately pre- and post-race will be a chance for EJ to get on his soap box and share his views at a time when the audience is joining us in their droves for the racing.
The most fascinating part of any race weekend for me has always been settling down to watch the grand prix with Eddie and David as they discuss the race unfolding while regaling me with anecdotes of their first-hand experience. Well, I won't get that anymore but my loss is certainly your gain and I think we've a really strong team in place for 2011.
And who will be alongside David in the box? His long-time friend, one-time business partner and full-time expert on the sport - Martin Brundle.
Martin has had more races behind the microphone than behind the wheel - and what better qualifications can you have than to have taken part in the sport for so long, commentating on almost every race for the past 14 years? I thought in 2010 his instincts, ability to read the race and general enthusiasm for the sport he has dedicated his life to were as prevalent as ever.
I don't envy the work that lies ahead for Martin, though. It might seem like a small change on paper but, in reality, while DC will be sharing his views on drivers, strategy and taking us as close to the cockpit as possible, Martin will need to be aware of every little story, political development and technical development as he calls the action. Racing drivers only exist to be the best, so expect to see him giving it his all to make it a huge success.
Clearly, however, the changes I've talked about mean that Jonathan Legard will no longer be part of our team - I know I'm going to really miss him.
I first met 'Ledgy', as we affectionately call him, at Craven Cottage, where we were both covering football. It was November 2008 and we had both been lined up for the new F1 season. We got talking and were both brimming with excitement and anticipation about the adventure ahead.
I remember before the 2009 season started and we were both incredibly nervous about taking on something as important and prestigious as F1 and I told him how worried I was about the challenge ahead. His instant reply was: "We can both either have an easy life or an exciting life and I know which one I want!"
That is typical Jonathan - always encouraging, incredibly enthusiastic, a good friend to us all, and without doubt the hardest working member of the BBC's F1 team, doing an incredibly difficult job. I know I speak for every member of the production when I say we're all going to miss his entertaining company and his absolute dedication to the job. All the best for the future Jonathan!
One thing you may well also miss is standard-definition coverage. Finally, we are delighted to bring you F1 in high definition, which I think will make the sport even more dramatic and addictive than ever.
So why will you miss SD? Well, mainly because in HD I think Eddie's shirts might be un-viewable. I've warned him, but I'm still expecting something outrageous come March!
So, the clock is ticking for the new season and March will be here in a flash. We have a new Indian driver, a new Indian Grand Prix, the prospect of three British drivers battling it out if Scottish DTM champ Paul di Resta gets the nod at Force India, six world champions on the grid... and once again the whole season will be live and uninterrupted of the BBC.
I can't wait to share the 2011 season with you all. Feel free to leave comments below about the kind of stuff you would like to see in our coverage this year and remember that throughout the season I post plenty of exclusive pictures and other juicy stuff on my Twitter page.
Eight weeks and counting...
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Spring Training 2011: Michael Waltrip, NASCAR team visit Chicago White Sox
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Two days before the green flag drops on the Cactus League schedule, NASCAR driver Michael Waltrip brought his racing team into the Chicago White Sox clubhouse.The former Daytona 500 winner, in town this weekend for Nationwide Series and Sprint Cup races, found there was plenty of NASCAR love emanating from the room. ESPNChicago.com White Sox blog The latest news and notes on the White Sox. Related posts:- VAR team hit with $25,000 fine after Michael Waltrip win CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- NASCAR has penalized the Truck Series team...
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Harry Schell Tim Schenken Albert Scherrer Domenico Schiattarella
2012 Mercedes SL spied near the Nürburgring
Our spies have caught the redesigned Mercedes SL undergoing testing near the Nurburgring. See the pictures inside
Bahrain F1: Live Race Results and Positions after 1st Lap
Sebastian Vettel has started from the Pole Position at the Bahrain F1 Grand Prix but its the Ferrari of Filepe Massa which has taken the lead.
Here are the standings after the 1st lap at Bahrain F1 Grand Prix:
1 VETTEL ? Red Bull
2 ALONSO ? Ferrari
3 MASSA ? Ferrari
4 ROSBERG ? Mercedes
5 HAMILTON ? McLaren
6 [...]
Here are the standings after the 1st lap at Bahrain F1 Grand Prix:
1 VETTEL ? Red Bull
2 ALONSO ? Ferrari
3 MASSA ? Ferrari
4 ROSBERG ? Mercedes
5 HAMILTON ? McLaren
6 [...]
Collisions spoil Mercedes? start to the season | 2011 Australian GP team review
Both Mercedes drivers retired after being hit by rivals in Melbourne.
Ferrari look for answers on missing pace | 2011 Australian GP team review
Ferrari were 1.5s slower than Red Bull in qualifying and needed an extra pit stop in the race.
Formula One Goes High Definition
This week FOM, the Formula One Management company run by Bernie Ecclestone, has announced it will be providing native High Definition Formula One coverage for the very first time. �This heralds the entrance of the sport into the super clear broadcast territory. High Definition television has been available for some time now in the United [...]
Monday, March 28, 2011
1963 Holman Moody/Fred Lorenzen Galaxie
I finally got the grip on posting pics and thought I'd show you folks my nearly exact replica of Fred's car from the first race or two during the 1963 season. I tried to add every detail to the model that I found in my research; luckily for me I was able to find both the original pics of the car, as well as inprogress pics of its restoration. Fred Lorenzen was the first driver to win 1 million dollars in 63...not bad for a start ! Hope you enjoy the pictures and let me know if I messed up the link...Jay
http://s1177.photobucket.com/albums/x357/drjay2/Galaxie/
Rob Schroeder Michael Schumacher Ralf Schumacher Vern Schuppan
Seat to launch four new models starting in 2012
Seat CEO James Muir has confirmed plans to launch four new models starting in 2012. Details inside 
Mike Fisher Giancarlo Fisichella John Fitch Christian Fittipaldi
AMT 1963 CORVETTE
Looking for a few parts kits, trying to restore a few original issue 63-65 I recently picked up ,looking for hoods, bumpers, some interior and engine part, complete or parts kits, built ups, willing to buy or trade, let me know what you may have, any help greatly appreciated.
Thanks Troy
JeanPierre Beltoise Olivier Beretta Allen Berg Georges Berger
Lotus Renault confirm Heidfeld as Kubica stand-in
The Lotus Renault Formula One team have announced that German F1 Driver Nick Heidfeld will replace the injured Robert Kubica as a starting driver for the beginning of the F1 2011 season.
Robert Kubica broke several bones and almost lost his right hand in a horrific rally accident earlier this month. He is out of action [...]
Robert Kubica broke several bones and almost lost his right hand in a horrific rally accident earlier this month. He is out of action [...]
Team orders in spotlight again
 Will Christian Horner regret not utilising team orders in Brazil? |
?The extra seven points Alonso collected when Ferrari ordered Felipe Massa to move over for him in Germany earlier in the season are now looking even more crucial. ?And the �65,000 fine they picked up for ruthlessly breaking the rules will seem loose change if Alonso clinches the title in his first year with the Maranello team. ?Red Bull could have switched the result yesterday given their crushing dominance and still celebrated their first constructors' championship just five years after coming into the sport. ?That would also have given Webber an extra seven points, leaving him just one behind Alonso.?The Guardian?s Paul Weaver says that if Fernando Alonso does take the drivers? title in Abu Dhabi, Ferrari owes a debt of gratitude to Red Bull for their decision not to employ team orders in Brazil.
?If Alonso does take the title next week it would not be inappropriate were he and Ferrari to send a few gallons of champagne to Red Bull's headquarters in Milton Keynes. ?While Red Bull should be heartily applauded for the championship they did win today their apparent acceptance that Ferrari might carry off the more glamorous prize continues to baffle Formula One and its globetrotting supporters. ?Their refusal to make life easy for Webber, who has led for much of the season and is still seven points ahead of Vettel, means that whatever happens in the desert next week Alonso, the only driver who was capable of taking the championship in the race today, only has to secure second place to guarantee his third world title.?The Independent?s David Tremayne is also of the opinion that Red Bull may regret not using team orders in Brazil.
?Had Red Bull elected to adopt team orders and let Webber win ? something that the governing body allows when championships are at stake ? Webber would have left Brazil with 245 points ? just one point off the lead. For some that was confirmation of his suggestion that Vettel is the team's favoured driver ? which generated an angry call from team owner Dietrich Mateschitz in Austria and was much denied by team principal, Christian Horner. ?And it sets up a situation where, if the result is repeated next weekend, as is likely, Vettel and Webber will tie on 256, five behind Alonso.?The Mirror?s Byron Young has put Lewis Hamilton?s fading title chances down to an inferior McLaren machine and he admits the 2008 World Champion now needs a miracle.
?Sebastian Vettel's victory sends the world title fight to a four-way showdown for the first time in the sport's history. ?Hamilton goes there as part of that story with a 24-point deficit to Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, but with just 25 on offer in the final round in six days' time it would take more than a miracle. ?Driving an outclassed McLaren he slugged it out against superior machinery and stiff odds to finish fourth.?
Sunday, March 27, 2011
2012 BMW 3-Series teased in new promotional video
BMW has released a new promotional video which gives us our first official glimpse at the redesigned 3-Series. 
Ferrari Launch Their 2011 Car The F150
Ferrari have become the first team to launch their 2011 Formula One car – named the F150. Thw F150 name comes from the fact it is 150 years since Italian unification, the flag bearer for the nation decided it was important to increase exposure of the major event in the country’s long history. �The cars [...]
Robert Kubica Hospitalised Following Rally Accident
UPDATE ON KUBICA’s CONDITION: �http://wp.me/p3uiu-11K Renault Lotus F1 driver Robert Kubica has been airlifted to hospital following a car accident while competing on a rally. The incident, described as a high speed accident, left the Pole injured and he had to be airlifted to hospital. �His co-driver Jakub Gerber was uninjured in the incident. While [...]
Slim Borgudd Luki Botha JeanChristophe Boullion Sebastien Bourdais
Journalists shocked at Korea award
 Scarecrows adorn the entrance to a barren Korean International Circuit |
Why Michael Schumacher Could Win The 2011 World Championship
Michael Schumacher?s 2010 comeback was somewhat abortive.� The results, the driving standard and the overtakes were well below par for the former champion.� He even let his team mate beat him for the first time in his career.� So why can Schumacher, the fallen Ferrari hero, win the world championship for an 8th time? It?s [...]
CERTAIN DETAILS ON MODEL CARS
AHA ! Did that get your attention? Good ! Now what I am going to do is take you on a walk-around of a real car and you see if you can tell what details are always forgotten or just plain omitted ! The first thing is the body . Are there any details here that aren,t on your favorite model .Good that,s why we add them . Now , lets open the door . What do you see ? look good now because this is where one glaring omission is in %98 of model cars built , even the ones that garner a lot of hardware in show after show. Look , carefully now .See the slot in the door and vent window frame for the windows to ride up and down in . Why don,t folks put these obvious things on their cars ? Next how thick is the edge of the door ? Now I know scale thickness is darned near impossible. So fudge a little and put that edge in there . Not as thin as stock , that,s okay at least it,s there. How about those vent windows on the older cars ? Why don,t the builders show them open ? I dunno , I do and folks notice that too .Open the hood and trunk . How many times have our fine friends at the mag recommended the support frames you see under the hood and trunk ? I lost count . This includes little bits representing the stabilizer wedges that keep the hood and trunk lids from closing cockeyed . Now how about the interior of the doors ? You do know that I have seen many models with open doors (late models ) . Okay , where,s the little light that lets folks see an open door at night ? Yes , I am picking nit and for good reason . With all the aftermarket goodies out there ,why omit the obvious . I got picked to judge at a contest last year and boy , did I catch it . Why . because even though they were models, I looked for the OBVIOUS. The things that are THERE and NOTICEABLE ! You might say " ,Well , I weathered my model to look dirty , fine , then put wiper sweeps on the windshield . You see them every day . Now about the underhood area . I know of no one that sells a sheet of decals of underhood markings . There may be . If you can,t find any then use artistic license (the same urge that drove you to do that model) A few squiggly lines on an apparent label aren,t readable, so what ? I don,t know of a judge , including myself , that uses a magnifier to see if that,s a prestone sticker from your local service provider . The point is it,s there . Now about those other little bits of stuff inside the car . How many of you when you put in the rear view mirror have it facing the right way ? I have seen many that were in the position one might see if a young lady in the passenger seat checked her makeup ! Now , YES , that,s picking nit . I very rarely use aftermarket stuff because of cost . I still build them the way I was taught . If it,s there put it in there or at least make folks think that is what is there . Now to the underbody . We all could go nuts down there . Why? It looks cool . Well how about that almost factory stock beauty you put so much effort into ? Did you detail the engine bay , ? Good , now I have to ask where,s the fuel lines ,the A/C hoses ad infinitum. I turned one car over (this club makes it clear your models will be handled unless you say not to ) Guess , what I didn,t find on a kick butt custom with at least 12 to 14 hours spent on the engine and all the surrounding goodies , No fuel lines to the gas tank , no parking brake linkage , and the exhausts were solid as a rock ! Now do you see why I wrote this . I have spent at least seven months on a BUICK that is box stock . Now I am building a full house superdetailed CHRYSLER 300 (that,s 1957 type) and it will have all the stuff I am talking about if the real car had it . WHY ? well I want to enter it in next years show ,without using even ONE aftermarket part and see how it does in "FACTORY STOCK" . No lie ! I am not a perfectionist , but ,I will put in all the obvious things that you would see if it was the real car sitting on display with all the doors , the hood and trunk open to the world . No , I will not forget to put a spare tire under a cover I will make for it , and the jack will be under the spare and held in place by the jack base and the wingnut , But,it will be there ! . That includes , but is not limited to the ignition key in the ignition with an accompanying key ring . Now want to meet me at ALAMO SQUADRON /I P M S show next year ? Look for the deep maroon CHRYSLER 300 . oldcarguy
Saturday, March 26, 2011
FIA wrongfoots teams with late change
The FIA has given the teams a headache by adjusting the moveable wing rules on the eve of the first race. The section of track on which the wing can be operated was set at 600m for race day, on … Continue reading 
Mercedes to unveil two new vehicles at NY Auto Show - report
According to a recent report, Mercedes will unveil two new vehicles at the New York Auto Show. 
Team order rule needs a re-think
 Jean Todt arives for Wednesday's hearing |
?Whether you are for or against team orders, if the FIA could not back up its own rules and nail a competitor in a blatant case such as this the rule really does need reviewing. Perhaps Ferrari?s thinly-veiled threat to take the matter to the civil courts if they were punished too harshly scared the governing body, who as much as admitted the flimsiness of its rule."Paul Weaver, reporting for the Guardian in Monza, was in favour of the ruling which keeps alive Ferrari?s slim chances in an enthralling championship.
?The World Motor Sport Council was right not to ruin a compelling Formula One season by taking away the 25 points Alonso collected in Germany. That would have put him out of the five-man title race. But the council was widely expected to increase the fine and possibly deduct points from the team, as opposed to the individual. In the end, it could be argued that common sense prevailed. But the decision will dismay those who were upset by the way Ferrari handled the situation as much as anything else.?The Daily Mail's Jonathan McEvoy expressed outrage at the FIA tearing up its own rule book by allowing Ferrari to escape unpunished.
"Although the race stewards fined them �65,000 for giving team orders in July, the FIA World Motor Sport Council, to whom the matter was referred, decided not to impose any further punishment. It leaves the sport's rulers open to derision. It was, after all, their rule they undermined. In a statement, the WMSC said the regulation banning team orders 'should be reviewed'."
Friday, March 25, 2011
F1: Mercedes buyout ?won?t change team?
Mercedes buyout 'won't change team' By Edd Straw Monday, February 28th 2011, 12:50 GMT No changes will be made to the way that Mercedes GP is run after Daimler AG and Aabar Investments took full control of the team, according to the German firm's motorsport boss Norbert Haug. It was announced this morning that Mercedes and Aabar had acquired the remaining 24.9 per cent of the team, which was owned by the five shareholders involved in the original management buyout of Honda in 2009 - Ross Brawn, Nick Fry, Caroline McGrory, John Marsden and Nigel Kerr. Related posts:- F1: Mercedes working flat out to catch up Mercedes working flat out to catch up By Pablo Elizalde...
- F1: Haug: No doubt Mercedes will win again Haug: No doubt Mercedes will win again By Jonathan Noble...
- F1: Mercedes denies management friction Mercedes denies management friction By Jonathan Noble Tuesday, September 28th...
Prost joins Senna? At Lotus Renault
The Prost and Senna names will be connected once again in 2011 after Nicolas Prost joined Gravity Management, the sister organisation to the Lotus Renault F1 team. Prost will do some demo runs in a Renault R30 at Renault World … Continue reading 
Why Michael Schumacher Could Win The 2011 World Championship
Michael Schumacher?s 2010 comeback was somewhat abortive.� The results, the driving standard and the overtakes were well below par for the former champion.� He even let his team mate beat him for the first time in his career.� So why can Schumacher, the fallen Ferrari hero, win the world championship for an 8th time? It?s [...]
Thursday, March 24, 2011
F1 teams battle over cost-cutting
The first race of the 2011 season is still two months away, but the fight for a competitive advantage in Formula 1 is still raging away behind the scenes.
As their engineers put the finishing touches to their new cars in time for the start of pre-season testing next month, team bosses are trying to thrash out a new cost-saving agreement. And it's getting a bit nasty.
Rivals - almost without exception, I'm told - believe Red Bull exceeded en route to winning the world title last year the limitations laid out in the document that defines how teams commit their budgets. They also claim that Red Bull are blocking a new version of the so-called Resource Restriction Agreement to take the sport through to 2017, where the current one runs only to 2012.
One insider at a rival team said Red Bull had been "flouting" the RRA. This is quite a serious accusation, as it effectively claims Red Bull either spent longer developing the aerodynamics of their car, employed more staff, or spent more money - or all three - than they were allowed to. In other words, they had an unfair advantage.
Red Bull deny outright that they overspent in 2010, and insist they are objecting to the revised agreement only because it is flawed in its current form and they want to ensure it is "fair and equitable". More of which in a moment.
"We've worked in accordance with the RRA limits since they were introduced," Red Bull team principal Christian Horner told BBC Sport. "With tremendous hard work and internal efficiencies, we believe we've absolutely adhered to it.
"Red Bull has committed its budgets wisely and it's obviously surprising that people will feel that way, but it's inevitable, I guess, when you're at the front and winning races."
No one will go on the record to confirm their suspicions about Red Bull, but Virgin Racing chief executive officer Graeme Lowdon, while making it clear he does not know about Red Bull's budget, says: "On something as fundamental as this, on something that's there to make the whole business you're in sustainable, if someone was to even breach the spirit of that, then that's extremely disappointing.
"I cannot see how anyone can level a criticism at an RRA. If it made a worse show, or watered it down, then there would be a case to answer. But it doesn't so it's very disappointing if teams ignore something as fundamental as this."
In many ways, this financial dispute echoes the technical rows that enveloped Red Bull in 2010.
Unable to explain or understand how the RB6 car was so fast, rivals first accused Red Bull of having an illegal ride-height control system, and then of an overly flexible front wing. Red Bull insisted the car was completely legal, and the FIA, F1's governing body, never found otherwise.
Horner finds Red Bull in the middle of another controversy about 2010. Photo: Getty
"We expect other teams to potentially challenge [whether we have over-spent]," Horner says, "as they have done on front wings and ride heights and everything else in the course of last year. But we don't have any issue.
"Red Bull probably has the third or fourth biggest budget in F1. We spent prudently and have achieved great efficiency within the factory, and we have to top that in 2011."
This row has come up in the context of negotiations over revising ways of controlling F1's costs. Keeping a lid on budgets is, along with ensuring the racing remains as good as possible, one of the central themes for F1 stake-holders at the moment, as the sport's bosses seek to ensure it remains both compelling for its audience and affordable for its competitors in a difficult economic climate.
The RRA is the document the teams drew up in 2009 to control costs in F1. It defines a series of limitations on resources, getting stricter through 2010, 2011 and 2012, and the penalties for exceeding them. But it was always meant as a stepping-stone to a longer agreement.
In the current agreement, there is a sliding scale of penalties covering the following main areas of resource commitment:
- Aerodynamic development, measured in wind-tunnel hours or computational fluid dynamics data, with the more you do of one, up to a given limit, meaning the less you can do of the other;
- Total staff numbers, from 350 in 2010 down to 280 in 2011, and total external spend, from 40m Euros in 2010, down to 20m Euros in 2011, with the more you commit to one, the less you can spend on the other.
The penalties were based on a sliding scale. For example, a breach of up to 5% is punished by having that same amount taken off your resource allocation for the next year; a breach of 5-10% means having 1.1 times that amount taken off; and so on.
The new document - the fundamentals of which were largely agreed at a meeting at the Singapore Grand Prix last September - changes that.
One team principal, who did not wish to be identified, said that the new RRA relaxes the restrictions on resources - teams can spend a bit more money and employ a few more staff - and in return the policing is stricter, both in terms of how teams' spending is analysed and the penalties for exceeding the limits.
But the detail is proving problematic, with Red Bull in particular unhappy about the new document as it stands.
Horner says his objections are rooted in ensuring the new RRA, which would run until 2017, does what it is intended to do.
"The RRA is a positive thing for F1," he says. "I think a solution can be found for the outstanding issues, it just needs some sensible discussion between the teams, because the thought of an unrestricted spend in F1 is unpalatable for all the teams.
"So it is a matter of achieving transparency and a fair and equitable system between all independent and manufacturer-owned teams so that no party is at an advantage or disadvantage."
"The resource restriction needs to be sorted quite quickly because at the moment it is unclear what rules we are working to in 2011 in many respects, so it's important a solution is found and I think one will be found."
Bernd Schneider Rudolf Schoeller Rob Schroeder Michael Schumacher
TopSpeed Rendering: 2013 Ford Mustang Mach1
A couple of days ago we showed you our 2013 Ford Mustang Bullitt rendering and told you how we think Ford will start announcing new special edition models in order to keep up with Chevrolet and all of their Camaro special editions (they?re shooting for one every six months).
With a Bullitt being added to an already crowded stable including a base coupe, a GT, a Boss 302, a Shelby GT500, and possibly a Bullitt in 2013, a lot of you may be wondering, ?What else could Ford possibly do?? There are already almost as many Mustang models as there are Porsche 911 models (for the record Porsche?s currently in the lead with 22 911s to Ford’s 11). Just like Porsche dips into its heritage for inspiration for each new 911 model, Ford is notorious for doing much the same. That?s why we bring you our exclusive rendering of the 2013 Ford Mustang Mach 1.
TopSpeed Rendering: 2013 Ford Mustang Mach1 originally appeared on topspeed.com on Thursday, 24 March 2011 12:00 EST.
Prost joins Senna? At Lotus Renault
The Prost and Senna names will be connected once again in 2011 after Nicolas Prost joined Gravity Management, the sister organisation to the Lotus Renault F1 team. Prost will do some demo runs in a Renault R30 at Renault World … Continue reading
'The point of no confidence is quite near'
 The wreckage of Jochen Rindt's car at Barcelona |
?Colin. I have been racing F1 for 5 years and I have made one mistake (I rammed Chris Amon in Clermont Ferrand) and I had one accident in Zandvoort due to gear selection failure otherwise I managed to stay out of trouble. This situation changed rapidly since I joined your team. ?Honestly your cars are so quick that we would still be competitive with a few extra pounds used to make the weakest parts stronger, on top of that I think you ought to spend some time checking what your different employes are doing, I sure the wishbones on the F2 car would have looked different. Please give my suggestions some thought, I can only drive a car in which I have some confidence, and I feel the point of no confidence is quite near.?A little more than a year later Rindt's Lotus suffered mechanical breakdown just before braking into one of the corners. He swerved violently to the left and crashed into a poorly-installed barrier, killing him instantly.
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