Saturday, January 1, 2011 at 01:43PM
So welcome to 2011, wasn't that the sequel to "2001 A Space Odyssey?" At least we do not have HAL running the cars yet. But as Rubens Barrichello said in his interview with Autosport, "As a driver we're just concerned that we're going to have to press so many damn buttons that it's going to be tough!" Rubens was talking about the 2011 Williams which he believes will be a more "aggressive" design thanks to his input. With over 300 races under his belt he certainly has the experience, and with top teams, and it is nice that the team at Williams are listening. I'm sure most of us fans have a soft spot for Sir Frank and wish him well for the new season.
Luca di Montezemolo is not giving up on the four cylinder turbos for 2013 and is looking for "friends" to help him get it changed to at least a V6. Cosworth are saying it will only cost 30m Euros to design, only? I suspect teams like HRT would like that as a budget. What happened to cost cutting? It's like the ethanol deal, it seems to be "green" until you look at what it takes to produce it.
I talked about losing the sound of F1 and Mark Hughes of Autosport also raised the likely sound of these new four cylinder cars. "A 12,000 rpm turbo four will sound flatter in tone and lower in volume." Perhaps that is another "green" agenda? Noise is a bigger issue for tracks than fuel economy, but it seems that people living near tracks will accept the major events such as F1, NASCAR, V8Supertourers etc, it is the daily use all year long that gets to them. When I ran Phillip Island the locals asked if we could just have the MotoGP thank you. They certainly make enough money from that one event, it is a pity that the tracks do not. So, do not mess with the sound of F1. Wait till we have electric cars racing, they will have to have extra horsepower to run the "boom boxes" providing the noise.
Talking of noise, I always loved the sound of a Ducati, so distinctive, so I am glad that they say they are not out to produce a Yamaha "replica" with the GP bike, despite Rossi and his crew coming into the team. I've not had the pleasure of hearing the GP bike so maybe it does not enjoy the same notes as the street versions.
tagged Autosport, Barrichello, Cosworth, Ducati, F1, Ferrari, HRT, Mark Hughes, Montezemolo, MotoGP, Noise, Rossi, Williams
Reader Comments (1)
Bob,
Happy New Year. Have you ever seen Giorgio Piola's book " Formula 1 Technical Analysis?"..... Really interesting book and it shows in great detail on all the cars every year. I discovered the book a couple of years ago, and have them all now, bar two issues...Those ones are fetching big $$.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=giorgio+piola&x=14&y=18
It covers the steering wheels on every car, and some of them have 28 different controls to operate. Thats why Rubins is complaining.
Re the DUCATI GP bike.......... They are loud !!
I think the " new" F1 will be awful. Think of the mixture in the 90's of V8, V10, and V12. We will definitely be able to say..." The good old days "