F1 engine warming up-Very cool!!!!!

[E46_guy]

I think i broke my speakers... That can't be good for an engine.

Any of you Bimmer guys in the CCA?

<--- tells you my poision: E46 guy

TB

 

[gnx99]

I'm an E36 guy on bimmerforums

 

[SennaP1]

F1 Start

I think the most amazing thing in motorsports is the F1 start, nothing like 20/22 of those cars revved, ready to GO. I have been to 3 GPs and have always left out the earplugs for the start, you just gotta do it.

Probably not good for the hearing, but good for the soul...

Probably the only time I can say that sound has hurt.

 

[Groundpounder]

NASCAR is boring? At least there is passing in NASCAR, and when two cars bump, it doesn't knock both of them out of the race.

I love all motorsports, but F1 isn't really high on my list.

 

[gnx99]

The first two laps of F1 is very exciting to me, after that, I get bored.

Personally I care zero about the competion aspect of auto racing. I want technology, speed and danger.

IMO, World Rally Championship (WRC) is BY FAR the most exciting form of auto racing.

 

[smartnetjetwife]

Naturally, today's cars would leave for dead those machines of the early 80's due to advances in tires, suspension, aerodynamics, brakes, chassis stiffness, etc

not quite true. there have been a number of rules in the last decade to slow the cars down to increase safety and whatnot. off the top of my head, they have reduced ground effect (which effectively created a vacuum under the chassis), smaller diffusers, minumum width of chassis, and most notably grooved tYres (no "i" ).

cars now a days do have better brakes, suspension, for a while traction control, launch control, and safety features (15 years ago shumi would have died in that wreck at silverstone a few years ago)

SMARTERnjawife

 

[I.P. Freley]

3 liters and natutrally aspirated??? That is AMAZING!!!

Indeed. Also keep in mind that these cars are now designed, because of a rules change, to use the same engine for two full race weekends or incur draconian penalties in the case of an engine change. By "race weekend" that means all practice sessions, qualifying (formerly two qualifying sessions but now one), and the race... And then the same engine has to be used again for the next race.

If they change an engine, they take a 10-spot penalty at the starting grid from wherever they qualified... Unless they don't finish a race, in which case they can reset the "counter" and start with a fresh engine at the next event.

So... 900+ RELIABLE horsepower. Amazing what a quarter-billion dollars can buy these days.

 

[I.P. Freley]

not quite true. there have been a number of rules in the last decade to slow the cars down to increase safety and whatnot. off the top of my head, they have reduced ground effect (which effectively created a vacuum under the chassis), smaller diffusers, minumum width of chassis, and most notably grooved tYres (no "i" ).

cars now a days do have better brakes, suspension, for a while traction control, launch control, and safety features

The rules changes of the last decade are just part of a continuing effort, going much farther back than even ten years, to slow the cars down (they still have traction control, by the way). Every rule change is counteracted by the engineers. Don't forget that the TRACKS have been changed, too. No track has remained untouched, with every single one being altered to limit cornering speeds, additional runoff areas (sometimes kitty litter, sometimes just grass or pavement), added chicanes, etc.

Just to show you how much faster today's cars are than the older ones, I looked up the pole position times for a few data points for a few tracks that are least changed, but will just give up three years' worth as representative of the general decline in lap times. I chose 1984 as the starting point, which was, as I recall, the last year of unrestricted turbocharging (in any case, the '84 lap times were uniformly faster than the '83 lap times), meaning no boost limits. The second year I chose was 1992, the year of the Williams FW-14, with the wide slicks, full-active suspension, semi-auto transmission, traction control, ABS, and the old formula 3.5 liter V-10 engine. The last year I chose was 2004, the last year for which all results are available, and keep in mind that '04 is the only of the three years chosen with a SINGLE qualifying lap with RACE fuel on board, not the best of several attempts with minimum fuel.

Below are the year's respective lap times.... Note that there was no race in Belgium in '84 so I used '83, and I used Belgium '02, since rain in qualifying skewed the results in '04 and there was no race there in '03:

Monaco- 1:22.6/1:19.5/1:13.9 [8.7secs faster]
Canada- 1:25.4/1:19.7/1:12.2 [13.2secs faster]
Belgium- ('83)2:05/1:50.5/('02)1:43.7 [21.3secs faster]
Monza- 1:26.5/1:22.2/1:20 [6.5secs faster]

The brackets show the lap time improvement in the 20yrs between '84 and '04. I tried to use tracks that are substantially unchanged, which knocked out such places as Imola, Hockenheim, the Nurburgring, etc. Keeping in mind, again, that in each case the tracks above have been altered over the years so they are not 100% accurate comparisons, but since each track is now either longer or redesigned to be slower, or both, I think it's a decent comparison.

And before you ask, yes, I really should find something better to do with my time.

 

[CUEBOAT]

NASCAR is boring? At least there is passing in NASCAR, and when two cars bump, it doesn't knock both of them out of the race.

I love all motorsports, but F1 isn't really high on my list.

There is passing in F1, I doesnt happen as much as in other racing, thus making it that more exciting when it does. F1 is a chessmatch, anyone can take a car and bump people out of their way to get ahead, in F1 you have to pass with out touching, this is more difficult than "trading paint".

 

[El Cóndor]

Wrc

IMO, World Rally Championship (WRC) is BY FAR the most exciting form of auto racing.

Hear that. I grew up watching F1 (Nigel Mansell is my all-time favorite driver, with Senna a close second) and lately it has been boring with Ferrari winning everything. This year looks like a much more exciting season so far.

Anyways, WRC is the most interesting racing championship for me because I WILL probably have a chance to drive (or better yet, own) the "un-tuned" version of one of the cars that are being used in the championship, as opposed to seeing a F1 car only from a far and dreaming about driving one.

By the way, has anybody had a chance to test drive the Mitsubishi Evo 9 yet?

 

[I.P. Freley]

Good day for BMW in qualifying today...

 

[wrxpilot]

Good day for BMW in qualifying today...

So did you guys watch the race?? I used to be a die hard F1 fan (I wanted to be an F1 engineer BAD!), but got kinda bored with it the past 2 yrs. After reading this thread I figured I need to watch the Euro GP and do some catch up. **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED** how things have changed! I don't like the newer qualifying rules, but still the qual session was really interesting.

The race was pretty awesome. I can't believe Raikkonen's front suspension failed in the last lap! And congrats to Alonso and Benetton (ok, Renault now). It was a great race, and I'll be getting back into F1 again. I'm shocked at how much Ferrari has slipped back this year, figured they'd be dominant as long as MS was around. Should be an interesting season...

P.S. As far as the differences in varying racing orgs, I've been to numerous SCCA, CART, and IRL races. I also saw F1 in Indy in 2001. That was one of the most incredible events I've ever seen. The actual sounds far eclipse what you hear on TV, and the size of the cars was amazingly small compared to CART/IRL. If you're an F1 fan you gotta see them live some day.

 

[mudkow60]

NASCAR not cool...?

Lots more driver personality in NASCAR. I became a fan last year, and like drinking and relaxing during the race. Then, taking out the Vette afterwards and burning up and down the beach.

 

[Steveair]

Espn = Bs!!

Has anyone seen that movie of the Indy Car racing an F-18? They show the indy car passing the F-18 as it takes off but that's a bunch of BS! The F-18 didn't even have its afterburner kicked in. I vote for a rematch!

 

[I.P. Freley]

The race was pretty awesome. I can't believe Raikkonen's front suspension failed in the last lap! And congrats to Alonso and Benetton (ok, Renault now). It was a great race, and I'll be getting back into F1 again.

Welcome back, oh stray one.

I for one was not at all surprised that his suspension failed, after watching the in-car camera shots of the vibration he'd picked up on that right front tire... You gotta feel bad for Kimi, retiring on the first corner of the last lap after dominating most of the race, but to be fair he did it to himself. His off-track excursion around the halfway point, when he was nowhere near any other cars nor being pressed to maintain his lead, was the first indication that maybe he didn't have his full concentration directed to the race. The loooooooooong lockup that gave him the flat spot on that tire further on was pretty bizarre, but still HIS FAULT. It just got worse and worse until it got to the point that trackside cameras had slo-mo shots of the whole wheel assembly hopping up and down.

Of course, if we didn't have these stupid "one set of tires" rules, this never would've happened...