Hello world!
Sunday, May 2, 2010 at 10:09AM
Welcome to my Blog. As those of you that have read my work previously will know I am passionate about motor sport and not afraid to voice my opinions. So this is not a news blog, although I will use it to update on events in my world, but rather a commentary on current events.
This last weekend was a busy and interesting one, with the Spa 1000 km being particularly bizarre. The race was red flagged because the power went off! I had stand by generators at races in 1985, and needed them, so how in the 21st Century do we let that happen at a major event like this? The Peugeot won, but the Audi's were not that far off the pace to suggest that Le Mans will be a forgone conclusion.
The Formula One race from Barcelona produced a typical race for that track. It has too many long fast corners and no great overtaking place. The corner they have made tighter, the new chicane is a joke and has failed to produce the desired effect of making it easier to follow someone through the corner on to the straight and then set up an overtaking opportunity. Talking of that who else believes that Jenson was way too nice to Michael and some other drivers we know would have been past and gone. Who else thinks Mercedes have done wrong by Nico Rosberg? Here he is second in the championship and we change the car to suit his team mate! Nico is too professional to tell us what he really thinks, but I bet there are some harsh words being said internally. An example of manufacturers doing things for their own reason, and not the good of the sport?
The whole Vettel incident is questionable. Now I was not driving and not in the team, but it seems to me that if your team is telling you your brakes are critical and liable to fail at any application it would be the correct thing to do for the driver's safety and others on the track to stop? Vettel said this morning that the team asked him to, but that was a transmission we did not hear. All the ones we heard on the broadcast were slow down your brakes are going to fail. Opinions?
One suggestion this morning is that the brake problem was caused by a stone, just as Hamilton's wheel/tire failure has been blamed on one. Looking at the on-board it did seem as though it was a wheel/suspension failure rather than a tire, but it is so quick it is hard to tell. The tire did not de-laminate though so it is hard to see that it caused the damage to the suspension. Is there a problem with the stone used at Barcelona? Hamilton had a similar accident at the Nurburgring a couple of years ago, but I do not remember as many problems with stones being lodged as there have been here. It is not as if the drivers are dragging a lot of stone on to the track, especially now there are asphalt areas behind most curbs.
We hear this morning that the F-Duct is to be banned next year, but KERS is likely to come back. Why? The same argument applies, if all the teams have it there is no advantage and we are spending a bunch of money for nothing. Some argue the F-Duct is potentially dangerous, and KERS is not? All in the name of being "relevant." Horse racing stopped being relevant to transportation nearly 100 years ago, but people still do it and enjoy it. Baseball and football are not relevant to anyone but their fans. Stop messing with motor racing!
On the same bill at Barcelona young American Alexander Rossi did well from the back of the grid in the first race and won the second. Well done Alexander. Perhaps we finally have an American that will go all the way and we can have someone to cheer for!
And last, Max Biaggi won both rounds of the World Superbike at Monza. No offense to Max, but he was racing when I worked on Kenny Roberts team in 1992! Either the motorcycles are too easy to ride or there are no good young riders to beat him. I fear that the feeder series in motorcycles are in decline and not producing the future champions sorely needed. Let's hope Dakota Mamola can prove me wrong.
This last weekend was a busy and interesting one, with the Spa 1000 km being particularly bizarre. The race was red flagged because the power went off! I had stand by generators at races in 1985, and needed them, so how in the 21st Century do we let that happen at a major event like this? The Peugeot won, but the Audi's were not that far off the pace to suggest that Le Mans will be a forgone conclusion.
The Formula One race from Barcelona produced a typical race for that track. It has too many long fast corners and no great overtaking place. The corner they have made tighter, the new chicane is a joke and has failed to produce the desired effect of making it easier to follow someone through the corner on to the straight and then set up an overtaking opportunity. Talking of that who else believes that Jenson was way too nice to Michael and some other drivers we know would have been past and gone. Who else thinks Mercedes have done wrong by Nico Rosberg? Here he is second in the championship and we change the car to suit his team mate! Nico is too professional to tell us what he really thinks, but I bet there are some harsh words being said internally. An example of manufacturers doing things for their own reason, and not the good of the sport?
The whole Vettel incident is questionable. Now I was not driving and not in the team, but it seems to me that if your team is telling you your brakes are critical and liable to fail at any application it would be the correct thing to do for the driver's safety and others on the track to stop? Vettel said this morning that the team asked him to, but that was a transmission we did not hear. All the ones we heard on the broadcast were slow down your brakes are going to fail. Opinions?
One suggestion this morning is that the brake problem was caused by a stone, just as Hamilton's wheel/tire failure has been blamed on one. Looking at the on-board it did seem as though it was a wheel/suspension failure rather than a tire, but it is so quick it is hard to tell. The tire did not de-laminate though so it is hard to see that it caused the damage to the suspension. Is there a problem with the stone used at Barcelona? Hamilton had a similar accident at the Nurburgring a couple of years ago, but I do not remember as many problems with stones being lodged as there have been here. It is not as if the drivers are dragging a lot of stone on to the track, especially now there are asphalt areas behind most curbs.
We hear this morning that the F-Duct is to be banned next year, but KERS is likely to come back. Why? The same argument applies, if all the teams have it there is no advantage and we are spending a bunch of money for nothing. Some argue the F-Duct is potentially dangerous, and KERS is not? All in the name of being "relevant." Horse racing stopped being relevant to transportation nearly 100 years ago, but people still do it and enjoy it. Baseball and football are not relevant to anyone but their fans. Stop messing with motor racing!
On the same bill at Barcelona young American Alexander Rossi did well from the back of the grid in the first race and won the second. Well done Alexander. Perhaps we finally have an American that will go all the way and we can have someone to cheer for!
And last, Max Biaggi won both rounds of the World Superbike at Monza. No offense to Max, but he was racing when I worked on Kenny Roberts team in 1992! Either the motorcycles are too easy to ride or there are no good young riders to beat him. I fear that the feeder series in motorcycles are in decline and not producing the future champions sorely needed. Let's hope Dakota Mamola can prove me wrong.
Reader Comments (5)
Hello Bob,
Regarding World Superbikes, I"m not sure teams from Moto GP are considering it a feeder series anymore(excluding the phenomenon that is Ben Spies of course). The Moto GP machines are just so different to ride compared to World Superbikes and riders from the production based championship like James Toseland have struggled to make the required change in their riding styles and riding habits to totally master the prototype machines. I think future talent for Moto GP will come from Moto 2.
That"s a championship I"m personally finding rather entertaining this year despite the fact that the machines themselves struggle to match the lap times of World Supersport machines but you can"t argue against the closeness of the racing, Jerez proved that.
Just a further point about World Superbikes, in the mid 1990"s they were allowed to run carbon brakes. I think a return to that would help greatly any rider in that championship looking to further their career in Moto GP because the thing a Superbike rider struggles with most when riding a GP machine for the first time is the difference in braking peformance. Allowing carbons on a Superbike would greatly ease that transition in my opinion. We have the Superstock support class that can remain purely production orientated.
I"m enjoying the blog by the way.
Actually Eddie I personally would like to see the return to steel brakes for both cars and bike, I think it will improve overtaking, and I do not see it has too much relevance to production versions of either. Hugely expensive, so if we are looking for ways to cut costs let's start there.
I am not sure WSB was really a feeder series anyway. I know we had some good guys come up that way, but mainly from their national series. I agree with your thoughts on Moto 2. I really was sad to see the end of 250 cc 2 stokes. I would have thought an option like Kenny and I worked on for the Spanish Championship back in 1993 of no works bike, steel brakes and no trick tires would have reduced costs and still produced good racers and races. But, I suppose the manufacturers have this thing about four strokes, even if the spectators would rather watch two strokes, but that has been a problem of mine about motorcycle racing for years.
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