Formula 1

[Pistonpilot]

Actually, the way I remember was Senna had a weld in the steering column break and he went into the wall as a result. It was at the San Marino GP while Schumacher was in pursuit. The case went through the Italian courts trying to find fault with the Williams F1 Team.

Senna was having problems sorting out the Williams during the first few races that season. It would have been great to see the experienced Senna go against the rising star Schumacher in the Benneton was to become that season.

There are many who feel Schumacher to be the best of all time, but Senna will always be the one on top to compare him against.

F1 today needs to get rid of some of the electronic driver aids. When the guy who gets the best start is because the software package was better, there is something wrong. Get rid of single car qualifying, it's boring. Do any of you remember the days when Senna would go out in the last couple minutes of qualifying with all the cars on the track and snatch the pole.

F1 needs to remain at such great circuits like Spa, Belgium or the A1 Ring in Austria. These are great F1 tracks that won't see F1 anymore because of the ban on tobacco advertising. That shouldn't be.

 

[I.P. Freley]

Errr... Get rid of the electronic driving aids? There is only one now, the semi-auto gearbox with launch control/traction control. That's it. There were many other electronic doo-dads in Senna's day, with the full-auto gearbox (auto upchange and downchange), active suspension, ABS, electronic differentials, 4-wheel steering, etc. (not to mention the turbos and the long-outlawed ground effects). The cars are now as electronics-free as they are ever likely to be.... Semi-auto gearboxes save engines (a much-needed money-saving scheme), and traction control is impossible to police. This is as good as it gets.

You may think that Senna is the be-all, end-all of drivers, but I will still put drivers like Clark, Fangio, Stewart, Hill (Graham), Lauda, etc. ahead of anyone that raced after 1980. Senna was a phenom to be sure, but he was an insufferable brat and just as two-faced and as much a cheat as Schumacher ever was.

I do agree, however, that F1 should stay at the grand old European tracks, as it's their history and abandoning it for China and Bahrain (!!!) is a travesty and a move brought on by the ever-incroaching spectre of money and power. Gimme Montreal and Magny-Cours, leave Moscow and China out of it.

Just my two cents.

 

[Flat-tire]

I stand corrected about the 28000 rpms. I was hoping someone would get a rise out of that.

Well, it looks like Kimi has pole. Now if we can hold it together till the end we should be on the podium. I just hope we have more than 10 laps of fuel on board.

When one mentions great tracks don't for get about Silverstone. How come there aren't any American drives in Formula 1? I think there are a few in F3 or F 3000.

 

[bart]

Kimi is on the pole, lets just pray for a cool overcast day so that Michelin and Bridgestone will both have a good race. I will bet that Kimi will not win this one. I would expect it to come down to a slug-out between JPM and MS. I don't know that Kimi will have what it takes to get through a serious, high pressure race. Maybe he does, but it is yet to be seen.

 

[gnx99]

More Technology, PLEASE

Developing and racing all the driving aids and technology is good for the car consumer. Hence, Mercedes, BMW, Ferrari, Jaguar, Toyota, and Honda make the best street cars.

It also explain why GMs and Fords for the most part, SUCK. If their racing doesn't allow them to seek out every little advantage and technology, you'll never see it in your street car (unless they buy it from the Germans)

 

[Airpiraterob]

no americans in F-1?

Flat-Tire,

the answer is because of the horrendous road-course support for the american drivers. All this force feeding of NASCRAP and its being piled on top of us even more is doing nothing for the road-racing presence of americans in the international scene. The american companies go and sponsor all kinds of new talented drivers for road racing across the globe...but the problem? well those new talented drivers are all foreign. There is nothing helping the american youth on their home turf at all develop through a competitive series of road-racing....its 'go to england and do well then well see how good you are in the champ-cars'. the companies for sponsorship are not interested. the only way to make it happen is for the parents so send their kid to england to drive...and thats all kinds of money. so how many rich kids get to go do that and actually have talent to start with?...well a bunch get to go...but ZERO have talent. the only one thats promising is Dannica Potter....and **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED** shes hot! a Bobby Rahal proptoge who got 2nd at miami this weekend in the formula atlantic.

last one in F1 was Michael Andretti and he had absolutely no testing and practice time. Imagine your first laps on a track youve never been on is the qualifying sesion? thats what he had to do. their testing driver got all the track time. through all that he did place 3rd at Monza (italy). if things were done right....he would have done well i think.

America lost a great ammount of progress and experience when Mark Donahue died....if yall wnat a good book, go read "the unfair advantage"

 

[I.P. Freley]

As a past fan of Andretti's in his CART glory days, it pains me to say the following... But it's true.

His failure in F1 was just as much his fault as it was the regulations. His refusal to move overseas to take part in the testing program was inexcusable, and a shortage of testing does nothing to explain how he did in the first three races of the '93 season... As I recall, he completed a total of four laps, if not less, due to collisions and other mishaps that he could've avoided by being less agressive.

In any case, there are plenty of "Americans" in F1. Just not Americans from the United States.

 

[I.P. Freley]

BTW...

Saw a Subaru WRX STi in one of the lots near the track yesterday, with a license plate that said "FLAPS 9".

I guess my question now is "What airplane does that individual likely fly?"

 

[Swass]

If one just wants to feel the power, nothing, absolutely NOTHING, beats sitting near the christmas tree for a nitro burning NHRA event held at night.

The only thing that beats that is the Margarita Mixer that my buddy made from spares off his Funny Car (he is the crew chief for Checker Schuck's & Kragen number two car). Loudest freaking way to make a frozen margarita I've ever seen. We were partying pretty late at Pamona acouple of years ago and cranked that bad boy up pretty late, cops showed up and everything. We didn't get in trouble as the locals were race fans and laughed their asses off when they saw the margarita machine. I wonder what the cost is to mix a batch up?

 

[Swass]

Didn't mean to bring this old thread up again, but, did you guys see Del Worsham's car blow the body off his dragster this weekend? Dang that must of hurt. My best friend is the one mentioned above in my last post. Even though he lost I bet they fired up the blender, just because he didn't hurt himself. Good bit of driving.