Entries in F1 (259)
Hero to Zero?
Friday, January 14, 2011 at 10:55AM
One month you win the FI Promoters Trophy and the next your Company fires you. That's Mr Chung's "reward" for staging such a great event apparently. Most of us could not work out why he got it, and neither can KAVO, the ones putting up the money. "Investors felt that KAVO Management under Mr. Chung could not guarantee success this year." So who did they appoint in his place, the ex-ambassador to Switzerland. An obvious choice.
I've actually been there. In Adelaide we won the same trophy, for what it is worth now, and after the second year I was "let go." It seems the Board thought I spent too much, but my successor is quoted in the next year's program that when there is a problem you just throw money at it to get it fixed. When you are staging a race to promote a State or Country and it starts at 2 pm on Sunday you do what it takes to make it happen. Not suggesting this is what Mr. Chung did, he barely staggered over the start line. In truth he is the scapegoat for false illusions. If KAVO thinks its going to make money on an F1 race then they need to fire the guy who did the feasibility, and as Chris Pook told me, "If Bernie thinks your making money he will put the price up."
There is a very interesting post about England's anti-bribery laws about to come into effect. It seems it casts a pretty wide net over what is considered bribery, and could include corporate entertainment and tickets. So the British based GP teams are concerned that sponsors are going to think twice about handing over loads of cash in future. Australia brought in a tax on entertainment back in the late eighties, which covered company cars and meals etc., but the employer paid it, not the recipient. Could not upset the union members with their perks. Not sure if that is still in play, I cannot see a Government giving up a tax, but it did increase the cost of taking corporate boxes for example, as you had to pay a tax on it instead of it being a tax deduction. All very topical with the Gribkowsky bribery scandal going on.
A line in the quote from Mercedes about the launch of this year's F1 car struck me as odd. "The Brackley based team said its' new single seater." Haven't see a GP car with more than one seat for quite some time.
It appears all our fears about the 2013 engine sounding awful are ill founded. Alonso says he is sure his engineers can make it "sound sexy." This must be a first, engineers trying to increase the noise coming out of a car.
News on the sportscar front has Honda confirming it will race in the LMP1 class while still producing an LMP2 car. It's goal of an outright win at Le Mans by "I can do it without a wind tunnel" Nick Wirth sounds a bit far fetched, but anything that adds to the fight at the front is welcomed. Aston Martin are working to have one of their new for 2011 cars ready for Sebring and David Richards is satisfied that the ACO rule #19 will ensure they can battle the Peugeots and Audis. I will not hold my breath on that one.
I've actually been there. In Adelaide we won the same trophy, for what it is worth now, and after the second year I was "let go." It seems the Board thought I spent too much, but my successor is quoted in the next year's program that when there is a problem you just throw money at it to get it fixed. When you are staging a race to promote a State or Country and it starts at 2 pm on Sunday you do what it takes to make it happen. Not suggesting this is what Mr. Chung did, he barely staggered over the start line. In truth he is the scapegoat for false illusions. If KAVO thinks its going to make money on an F1 race then they need to fire the guy who did the feasibility, and as Chris Pook told me, "If Bernie thinks your making money he will put the price up."
There is a very interesting post about England's anti-bribery laws about to come into effect. It seems it casts a pretty wide net over what is considered bribery, and could include corporate entertainment and tickets. So the British based GP teams are concerned that sponsors are going to think twice about handing over loads of cash in future. Australia brought in a tax on entertainment back in the late eighties, which covered company cars and meals etc., but the employer paid it, not the recipient. Could not upset the union members with their perks. Not sure if that is still in play, I cannot see a Government giving up a tax, but it did increase the cost of taking corporate boxes for example, as you had to pay a tax on it instead of it being a tax deduction. All very topical with the Gribkowsky bribery scandal going on.
A line in the quote from Mercedes about the launch of this year's F1 car struck me as odd. "The Brackley based team said its' new single seater." Haven't see a GP car with more than one seat for quite some time.
It appears all our fears about the 2013 engine sounding awful are ill founded. Alonso says he is sure his engineers can make it "sound sexy." This must be a first, engineers trying to increase the noise coming out of a car.
News on the sportscar front has Honda confirming it will race in the LMP1 class while still producing an LMP2 car. It's goal of an outright win at Le Mans by "I can do it without a wind tunnel" Nick Wirth sounds a bit far fetched, but anything that adds to the fight at the front is welcomed. Aston Martin are working to have one of their new for 2011 cars ready for Sebring and David Richards is satisfied that the ACO rule #19 will ensure they can battle the Peugeots and Audis. I will not hold my breath on that one.
Arrivederci Roma
Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 11:00AM
Sung by Dean Martin originally, but by Bernie today. He has written to the Mayor of Rome to tell him there should only be one F1 race in each country. Never mind Spain has two, don't bother me with details, and Mallorca is an Island like Singapore. So given the Mayor's commitment that he would not push Rome if it means Monza losing the race, it's arrivederci. I wonder if Flammini's little city redevelopment scheme will go the same way?
There is a curious piece from Marussia Virgin today telling us they have doubled the computing power of their CFD, and "With the new CFD facility due for completion in the next few weeks, Wirth believes his team will be unmatched in terms of how much it uses computer simulation to design its 2011 car." With the first test a couple of weeks away I would have thought that it is a bit late to be using this new simulation power to design the 2011 car?
Ian Gow is all up beat about the British Touring Cars for 2011 with the inception of their version of the "Car of Tomorrow," the NGTC, i.e. next generation. The cars will be better looking, better looking all the same, and "We are not trying to make a race car out of a production car, it is a proper race car underneath," Oh good, it just looks like a Toyota Corolla on the outside. We will put on our X-Ray glasses to see it is a real racing car underneath. More spec racing is what this is about, and he should ask NASCAR how the CoT worked for them. Now I am not saying people will not pay to see a bunch of biffing and barging, BTCC is good fun and good TV, so maybe I'm just an old fashioned purist. I can see DTM taking over the world.
According to Auto Motor und Sport in Germany only Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes have their finances in place for this and future years. That leaves eight teams they see as struggling to survive, and given the numbers for those they are not in danger of worrying the RRA anytime soon.
Not many compliments going around about the Rossi/Ducati color scheme. Rhubarb and custard seems to be the theme.
Alonso says he is most afraid of Michael in 2011. "There will be five world champions on the track and the most dangerous champion for me is always Michael." After Michael's move on Rubens last year I'm not surprised.
There is a curious piece from Marussia Virgin today telling us they have doubled the computing power of their CFD, and "With the new CFD facility due for completion in the next few weeks, Wirth believes his team will be unmatched in terms of how much it uses computer simulation to design its 2011 car." With the first test a couple of weeks away I would have thought that it is a bit late to be using this new simulation power to design the 2011 car?
Ian Gow is all up beat about the British Touring Cars for 2011 with the inception of their version of the "Car of Tomorrow," the NGTC, i.e. next generation. The cars will be better looking, better looking all the same, and "We are not trying to make a race car out of a production car, it is a proper race car underneath," Oh good, it just looks like a Toyota Corolla on the outside. We will put on our X-Ray glasses to see it is a real racing car underneath. More spec racing is what this is about, and he should ask NASCAR how the CoT worked for them. Now I am not saying people will not pay to see a bunch of biffing and barging, BTCC is good fun and good TV, so maybe I'm just an old fashioned purist. I can see DTM taking over the world.
According to Auto Motor und Sport in Germany only Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes have their finances in place for this and future years. That leaves eight teams they see as struggling to survive, and given the numbers for those they are not in danger of worrying the RRA anytime soon.
Not many compliments going around about the Rossi/Ducati color scheme. Rhubarb and custard seems to be the theme.
Alonso says he is most afraid of Michael in 2011. "There will be five world champions on the track and the most dangerous champion for me is always Michael." After Michael's move on Rubens last year I'm not surprised.
Indycar
Wednesday, January 12, 2011 at 11:07AM
Well it is better than Indy Retirement League. Actually it works well, most people know what an Indycar is in the US, not sure anyone knew what a "Champ Car" was. Indycar has woken up from it's winter slumber with a raft of rule changes which will just make it harder for us to understand what is going on, but of course it is for the fans. Engines are the news as in F1, with efficiency being the watchword. The move from V8's to V6's makes sense as most road cars here are running V6's, but to reduce the capacity from 2.4 to 2.2 liter hardly seems worthwhile. Who makes a 2.2 liter? And did 0.2 liters really make it lighter and more efficient? We are still running E85 even though the case for ethanol being "green" has long since been discredited, but I guess if they get sponsorship from Iowa's corn farmers it makes sense. Oh, and we opened an office in LA, just so we can be closer to the media industry. Just what we need is more Hollywood in our racing. If you have a great product they will come to you, it's about the racing stupid.
Christian Horner is assuring us that Red Bull did not break the Resource Agreement, but FOTA are checking anyway. Domenicali said "that he was sure that all the signatories to the agreement would have respected it, although there are always questions of interpretation to be taken into account." I bet there are. That's the problem. Not that I agree with this BS anyway. No one questions Bernie's resources or how much is spent on the tracks and their viability, so why bother with the teams? If a team has broken the Resource rule it seems the recourse is to take that out of future spending, ouch! But is it only a gentleman's agreement or does it have teeth? That always presumes there are gentlemen involved. Domenicali also commented on how quiet the politics were at the moment, but with the new Concorde Agreement yet to be signed there is the dreaded (or welcomed) breakaway series apparently still hanging around , which is there to get a better deal presumably. Domenicali also questioned whether the movable rear wing is going to be better or not, and as I have said, are the fans going to know who is doing what and why.
It turns out that Kimi is going rallying with his own team, Ice 1 Racing, with a Citroen DS3 and his own sponsors. He has run his own team before in F3, so he is no stranger to doing it.
The Nextgen Auto web site has an article with more on our friendly banker Gribkowsky. "It has emerged that the German magazine Stern in its latest edition on Thursday will link the payments to Gribkowsky with a company called Petara — a word made up from the names of Ecclestone’s daughters Petra and Tamara. It is claimed that Gribkowsky’s company GG Consulting was registered on 22 February 2006, a day after he was made a director of Petara." Now is that a stretch linking Petara to Bernie's daughters names? Watch this space.
Norbert Haug has no sympathy for Red Bull complaining about their Renault engine being down on power and wanting "equalization." F1 is not about equalization he says. Here here.
Christian Horner is assuring us that Red Bull did not break the Resource Agreement, but FOTA are checking anyway. Domenicali said "that he was sure that all the signatories to the agreement would have respected it, although there are always questions of interpretation to be taken into account." I bet there are. That's the problem. Not that I agree with this BS anyway. No one questions Bernie's resources or how much is spent on the tracks and their viability, so why bother with the teams? If a team has broken the Resource rule it seems the recourse is to take that out of future spending, ouch! But is it only a gentleman's agreement or does it have teeth? That always presumes there are gentlemen involved. Domenicali also commented on how quiet the politics were at the moment, but with the new Concorde Agreement yet to be signed there is the dreaded (or welcomed) breakaway series apparently still hanging around , which is there to get a better deal presumably. Domenicali also questioned whether the movable rear wing is going to be better or not, and as I have said, are the fans going to know who is doing what and why.
It turns out that Kimi is going rallying with his own team, Ice 1 Racing, with a Citroen DS3 and his own sponsors. He has run his own team before in F3, so he is no stranger to doing it.
The Nextgen Auto web site has an article with more on our friendly banker Gribkowsky. "It has emerged that the German magazine Stern in its latest edition on Thursday will link the payments to Gribkowsky with a company called Petara — a word made up from the names of Ecclestone’s daughters Petra and Tamara. It is claimed that Gribkowsky’s company GG Consulting was registered on 22 February 2006, a day after he was made a director of Petara." Now is that a stretch linking Petara to Bernie's daughters names? Watch this space.
Norbert Haug has no sympathy for Red Bull complaining about their Renault engine being down on power and wanting "equalization." F1 is not about equalization he says. Here here.
tagged Bernie Ecclestone, Domenicali, F1, FOTA, Ferrari, Gribkowsky, Haug, IRL, Indycar, Raikkonen, Red Bull
Bernie Ecclestone, Domenicali, F1, FOTA, Ferrari, Gribkowsky, Haug, IRL, Indycar, Raikkonen, Red Bull Santander throw their cap in the ring.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011 at 11:01AM
It is a bit sad when the news includes items like "Santander ups Ferrari presence with a cap deal." A salary cap perhaps? No, they now have their logo on the front of the Ferrari Official Cap. Now I guess they paid a lot of money for that privilege, but personally I don't give a toss. The front of a Ferrari cap should say "Ferrari" or better still the prancing horse. Santander are certainly throwing their money around at a time when I heard the Spanish banks are not doing so swell.
Is anyone else fed up with the non-stop nonsense about HRT, horrible racing team. They have left or been thrown out of FOTA, they do or do not have more money coming, they are suing Chandook, and they are going to run an "updated version" of the 2010 car this year, i.e. we have no money to make a new one. They need to just go away, as Bernie said, they are an embarrassment. If they were the real deal surely Santander would throw a few caps their way?
According to Helmut Marko every man and his dog are trying to steal Vettel away. This is another man who just needs to shut up and go away. After the Turkey affair who cares what he thinks anymore.
One of my friends commented on the Rossi photo from "Wrooom" that he looks like a clown. Certainly an odd combination of colors, and he has always played the fool to his adoring crowd, perhaps that is part of his attraction. Apparently his shoulder is taking longer to heal than expected. More games, who knows anymore. No I am not a Rossi fan any more than I am a Schumacher fan. There are some people who may be excellent at what they do, but I just do not like who they are. Watching the BSC Bowl game last night I can admire Farley for his ability, but with so much ability he does not need the attitude.
Kimi Raikkonen has been entered in the WRC by Citroen so that ends the "will he or won't he" that has been going on about returns to F1, driving for Ford, or not driving at all. Now I know people say Kimi has no personality, and on occasion may not "turn up" but I still miss him. When he wanted he could really put on a show and F1 is poorer for not having him.
Is anyone else fed up with the non-stop nonsense about HRT, horrible racing team. They have left or been thrown out of FOTA, they do or do not have more money coming, they are suing Chandook, and they are going to run an "updated version" of the 2010 car this year, i.e. we have no money to make a new one. They need to just go away, as Bernie said, they are an embarrassment. If they were the real deal surely Santander would throw a few caps their way?
According to Helmut Marko every man and his dog are trying to steal Vettel away. This is another man who just needs to shut up and go away. After the Turkey affair who cares what he thinks anymore.
One of my friends commented on the Rossi photo from "Wrooom" that he looks like a clown. Certainly an odd combination of colors, and he has always played the fool to his adoring crowd, perhaps that is part of his attraction. Apparently his shoulder is taking longer to heal than expected. More games, who knows anymore. No I am not a Rossi fan any more than I am a Schumacher fan. There are some people who may be excellent at what they do, but I just do not like who they are. Watching the BSC Bowl game last night I can admire Farley for his ability, but with so much ability he does not need the attitude.
Kimi Raikkonen has been entered in the WRC by Citroen so that ends the "will he or won't he" that has been going on about returns to F1, driving for Ford, or not driving at all. Now I know people say Kimi has no personality, and on occasion may not "turn up" but I still miss him. When he wanted he could really put on a show and F1 is poorer for not having him.
ALMS
Monday, January 10, 2011 at 10:49AM
The "Great Leap Forward," sorry that was Chairman Mao not Vice Chairman Atherton, for ALMS coverage this year has met with mainly negative reactions. This I guess is indicative of how the die hard fans feel about it, so whether it really is the way we watch sport in future we will have to wait and see. The Last Turn Club has a nice thoughtful piece on the pros and cons, http://lastturnclub.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
I've watched Le Mans and Sebring and Petit on the web the last couple of years and actually prefer it as I can tune in to Radio Le Mans and be spared the TV commentators. The Radio Le Mans guys are passionate fans, and always seem to know exactly what is going on, not being distracted by an infomercial. I guess I will have to buy an HDMI connection to my flat screen.
HRT have either left FOTA or been thrown out for non-payment of dues depending on who you listen to. HRT are complaining that FOTA only looks after the interests of big teams, and that the distribution of the money is not fair. Who ever said F1 was fair? It has ever been so that the successful teams get more money. This is not the USA where the draft system tries to even up the competition, this is Bernie's world, and in Bernie's world you sink or swim. Aside from Ferrari think about where the other teams have come from. Sir Frank used to do business from a public phone box. These guys paid their dues and made it, they are not about giving the sucker an even break. F1 is merciless competition, on and off track. Having said that it seems Red Bull over spent by 60m Euros! That's more than the small teams spent, let alone overspent. That's probably HRT's real concern. They were lured into F1 with promises of resource limitation, and the RRA is certainly more "enabling" than restrictive.
I've watched Le Mans and Sebring and Petit on the web the last couple of years and actually prefer it as I can tune in to Radio Le Mans and be spared the TV commentators. The Radio Le Mans guys are passionate fans, and always seem to know exactly what is going on, not being distracted by an infomercial. I guess I will have to buy an HDMI connection to my flat screen.
HRT have either left FOTA or been thrown out for non-payment of dues depending on who you listen to. HRT are complaining that FOTA only looks after the interests of big teams, and that the distribution of the money is not fair. Who ever said F1 was fair? It has ever been so that the successful teams get more money. This is not the USA where the draft system tries to even up the competition, this is Bernie's world, and in Bernie's world you sink or swim. Aside from Ferrari think about where the other teams have come from. Sir Frank used to do business from a public phone box. These guys paid their dues and made it, they are not about giving the sucker an even break. F1 is merciless competition, on and off track. Having said that it seems Red Bull over spent by 60m Euros! That's more than the small teams spent, let alone overspent. That's probably HRT's real concern. They were lured into F1 with promises of resource limitation, and the RRA is certainly more "enabling" than restrictive.