So remind me, how does this work again? We're down one Sidepodmember today, as the girl picked up a bit of a cold after experiencing fresh air recently - it's a dangerous world out there people, be warned. As a result I'm left to write the daily post and all I've been doing all day is geeky things, the kind that bore people senseless at parties.
However, if you're so inclined, you may like to check out Christine's other site - F1 Minute, and tell us if you can spot any noticeable performance improvement. I'm busy looking for the elusive last tenth that should make the everything feel snappier, and just like Valentino Rossi in charge of four wheels, I'm finding it's tougher than it looks.
Regardless, there's plenty to discuss in the ever changing world of F1:
- It's the final day of testing in Jerez. McLaren just revealed their grotesque side, by rolling out the '09 spec front wing, who's left to show their hand and how late can they leave it?
- The Motorsport Business Forum continues in Monaco. Max was truly on form yesterday, but what will the major headlines be before everyone heads home this evening?
- Sato's already talking like he own's that STR seat and Buemi finished ahead of Bourdais again, so what happens if Button takes up the alleged offer for one of those seats? Who will accompany him?
There's bound to be plenty more to discuss, it's Formula One, there always is. Yell if you hear anything exciting or if you happen to find my missing tenth.
Don't you do geeky things all the time, Me? :P
Also, writing in capitals must feel kinda strange compared to what you're used to :P
Morning everyone!Been a hectic last couple of days for me. :O The 19th can't come soon enough (last workday of the year for us). :)
So, how's things?
Oh and something I was trying to post earlier.
Some sheikh has given Michael Schumacher as a present for his retirement - an island.
Heh, he has Spell Checker to do that for him.
Wasn't that from last year? Or is it ANOTHER island?
the lady insists when it's a post.
The 19th can’t come soon enough (last workday of the year for us). {Journeyer - 2 comments ago}
My last day is the 22nd.
Some sheikh has given Michael Schumacher as a present for his retirement - an island. {Scott Woodwiss - previous post}
Nice present if you can get it! Will there be a skyscraper on it when Michael's done?
Your last day's a Monday? That day seems lonely all by itself. It's like, "Hey, let's have this one extra day after the weekend before Christmas!" :P
i break up for christmas holidays in 1 1/2 days :D roll on friday lunch time!
Gavin, about your NZ trip. You went to Rotorua, which I believe is where they held the Option Speed Trial in 1999. There was tuned versions of an MX-5, Lexus GS300, Impreza, Evo 2, RX-7, Supra and R34 Skyline all trying to reach 200mph down a long narrow straight piece of road out in the countryside. I think they did it in 2000 there as well, but I know nothing about what happened there that year. I do have the 1999 Trial on a DVD though :P
I can't imagine Alonso would've said the same things about Sato in Canada had they 'tustled'...
I can't imagine Alonso would ever say anything like that about anyone ever.
They do a lot of 'home-style' speed runs in the South Island of NZ outside the town I live in, also. No professional racedrivers in the 1000+HP Japanese monsters - just big balled farmers and their racecars.
I've seen that Rotorua Option Speed Trial video and even driven the roads. They are pretty special. But NZL roads are not known for being smooth, so you'd have to inspect it closely before you started anything serious...
sidepodspace
Sometimes science advances at a rate that scares me. It was only a few years ago that we learned to spot planets orbiting stars other than the sun. Now NASA is analysing the make up ofthe atmosphere of some of these planets. They have found one the size of Jupiter which is the biggest planet in the solar system which has carbon dioxide in its atmosphere. This is seen as an important breakthrough in the search for life on extra-solar planets. The planet concerned HD 189733b (Not a very catchy name) is thought to be too hot for life as we know it to exist but the development of the new technique could speed up the search for ET.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/news/CO2.html
They didn't have quite a long duel, so nothing to be happy about for Alonso. Sato - in a Super Aguri! - made mincemeat out of him there.
It's quite amazing stuff, really. Can you imagine the impact when they announce they've found a 2nd habitable planet?
Why do you think that that is? That they didn't have a long duel, I mean.
:D
i think we should name it.
Why did Sato win so quickly? I think that's because Alonso was taking care of his tyres, which were going off badly.
Any suggestions, Mr. Hawking? :P
Yeah - I totally agree! But I also think Alonso was taking care of his LIFE :).
I love Sato, but if I saw the 2007 version of him coming up in the mirrors and I didn't need the position, I'd absoluetely let him go. The same would have to be said for David Coulthard during 2008. Some people can be trusted to drive their line, others can't.
Yeah I saw a video of this once - it was pretty insane considering that a year before on the same road, a guy got really munted when he lost control of his Porsche 911 trying the same thing.
NZ roads are pretty hairy - for those who have added me to their Facebook, I am uploading pictures now of our trip to Taupo where my Dad took pictures of the 'Desert Road' (I was driving :-) ). The Desert Road is a stretch of road in a Volcanic desert south of Lake Taupo, where the road twists and winds it's way through a National Park.
Think Nurburgring Nordschleife but with Volcanoes and in the desert. Well worth a trip in a decent sportscar and completely free (in fact, it was one of the highlights of the trip)!
For those of you who have seen 'Lord of the Rings', the 'Black Gate' and 'Mordor' scenes were shot here - Mt. Doom is in fact Mt. Ngauruhoe, a volcano that is part of the area.
Another famous Volcano is Mt. Ruapehu, which famously erupted in 1996 (when we emigrated from the UK and flew over it as it was erupting!)
So yeah, good times had by all :-)
it's massive, it's full of hot air, and has no means of sustaining life... how about honda?
could you drop.io them too? only if you don't mind.
The trouble is that even if they do there would be no guarantee that it would be habitable once we got there.
The first sidepodplanet. Planet Cupcake?
Sure can... These were the 'tame' corners - there are hairpins, narrow bridges and all sorts :-)
Desert Road 1
Desert Road 2
Desert Road 3
Desert Road 4
You can find a time lapse video on YouTube that shows off the whole road much better than my photos did - pretty awesome stuff :-D
I've also drop.io'd the menu card from a cafe we went to called "Nuvolari's" - all the foods were named after famous Italian Racing Drivers. It already has the 'Woodwiss seal of approval' :-)
Nuvolari Menu Card 1
Nuvolari Menu Card 2
Plan(et) 9 from Outer Space?
Hey guys, I put links to stuff about the Desert Road like 'me' asked, but it has been moderated. Could you please save it for me?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wenny_wu/sets/72157610896214655/?page=3
Some great new photos from the test...
With special attention paid to the new wheel covers that McLaren has
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wenny_wu/3098324300/in/set-72157610896214655/
and nice 3/4 view of the front wing
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wenny_wu/3097486273/in/set-72157610896214655/
I just remembered. In the UK from around 4pm if you look to the south west (ish) fairly low in the sky you will see what looks like a very large bright star. You will see it even if you can't see other stars unless there are clouds in which case you will only see clouds. The bright star thing is the planet Venus.
Just heard on the news that German astronomers have proved that at the centre of our galaxy is a black hole 4 million times the size of the sun. I hope we don't fall in before the Autosport show.
The follow up story was Bernie saying that the President of the black hole wants a race at the new circuit they are building.
Can we all assume that Hermann Tilke will design the circuit.
#80- The number of podiums for Ayrton Senna
look at that road!
i swear they ran those last year, but only in testing? do they have sensors hidden inside or something?
hehe :D
Erk! There's a new swanky version of Wordpress available for those that use it (2.7). How ridiculously difficult is it to upgrade?!! Get it wrong and it's bye bye blog!
do let us know how you get on :)
Well one hour later, and I think it's gone ok. Seems as though everything is working (touch wood!). The new dashboard interface will take some getting used to, looks very grey and drab at the moment but I'm sure you can alter it. Also, big plus is that any upgrades to Wordpress can be done through the interface now without having to download, unzip and then upload everything.
Other than that, no difference. Ho hum.
everytime I go and upgrade Wordpress first I go say my goodbyes to the site :-)
I am still on 2.6.1. :-)
your site's still working, what more can you ask?
tbh, we're not interested in any of the "enhancements" like threaded and paginated comments, but it would be nice shake off the shackles of the dumb admin interface introduced in 2.5.
:D
i'm liking this man less and less:
"Force India team boss Vijay Mallya has said the team has not finalised its driver line-up for the 2009 Formula 1 season yet. Even though the businessman from India has said both Fisichella and Sutil would continue their jobs for the team next season."
http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/news/2008/12/11/force-india-undecided-about-2009-driver-line-up/
the wing's so big the cover doesn't reach:
Max was on form in Monaco yesterday. Amongst the gems was the following quote about what is wrong with F1.
"What is wrong with Formula One today was wrong before any of the present economic problems cropped up. Essentially it's the rules, which have become ever more restrictive compressing the work of the engineers into an ever smaller area. As such, success in F1 today consists of optimizing every single part of the chassis to the ultimate degree and that is both extremely expensive and utterly pointless."
http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns21037.html
Now who was it who wrote the rules that caused the problem? I wish I could remember.
here's an ing/f1r stat for you:
"The Internet remained the main channel for Formula One fans to get their news updates from the sport, with 90 percent of fans going to dedicated F1 websites – up from 87 percent in the last survey in 2006."
i guess you could argue that's to be expected when you ask the question in an 'online' survey. also a 20% drop in people sourcing info from newspapers.
more stats here: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/72438
It looks like Bernie is trying to upset Lou.
http://www.itv-f1.com/news_article.aspx?id=44754
"Speaking about their hopes for the future of F1, 96 percent of respondents said that they wanted more exciting racing and overtaking"
Racing fans want more racing. That must have come as a shock to them.
hope bernie's taking notes :D
1. Stupid annoying Bernie, upsetting Honda fans (there are many of us i'm sure)
2. I'm a little confused... so is Bernie helping honda to find buyers then?
he says -
“I’m keen for the team to be kept in place.
“We have whittled it down to three serious potential buyers.”
Bernie desperately needs to stop teams disappearing off the grid. You can bet he is doing everything he can to find a buyer. That may actually be the point of his statement. What he may be trying to get across is that the team is basically good but only failed to achieve better results because of Honda's mismanagement.
I'm having a BIG problem with lclt, refreshed, not worked. Cannot get any tags, cannot quote. And, forced to use ye ol 15th Century blog commenting
Seems to be working for me.
Its working now, wasn't before.
..., it looks nice under that
18th for I, sweeeeeeeeeet!
I have used the lclt a couple of times today without problems.
I logged on at quater past 4, font was like courier, absolutly no tags, quotes were not a problem.
Just hope it happens for me just that once.
Also have time for my season review! Will be sending very soon.
I'm somewhat concerned for the 4% of respondents who don't want more exciting racing and overtaking. They don't want Formula 1; they want a big mug of cocoa and a Last Of The Summer Wine video.
:D
http://www.f1minute.com/ now upgraded to wordpress 2.7. nothing to report. nothing to complain about either.
how disappointing.
we'll do the same here if it remains stable for a week or so.
Autosport to show RoC live: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/72446
yippeeee.
Darn, in the middle of my season review and the call ends.
I'll have to do it in two parts, grr.
soz. 10 min limit.
Alreet, I think I was up to Japan.
although it looks as though anyone can embed the live video feed. should we put out the following press release?
sidepodcast.com to broadcast roc live
for the first time in its 20-year history, the race of champions will be broadcast live on the internets thanks to sidepodcast.com.
this blogging business is easy innit? :)
What a press release for our first one! :)
I'm not bad, I just waffled for 20 minutes and finished at the same time the call ended, as in cut off.
very much appreciated.
Just out of curiosity, how many have you got?
you'll have to wait and see :)
Y'know, its people like you who make tv what it is today
Jolly good point! Cheeky so-and-sos!
I won tickets to Race of Champions this weekend (yes, another competition!) so I have no excuse not to go now. I'm scared it's going to be absolutely blimmin' freezing through :-(
Mweh, be a man. Just think, if its cold in London, its gonna be colder in the north and scotland.
coool! please do let us know how it is / was.
i'm so grateful christine's not going. the girl will never get better.
Dunno if this has been said yet
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7777566.stm
I'm cold all the friggin' time though! Even in the middle of summer (if you can call it that) I shiver like a man possessed. I think I need to get some meat on my bones :-D
just think, it'll be the last time you ever see coulthard live... for at least three-and-a-bit weeks :)
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/72446
Autosport.com are broadcasting it live, so she won't have to die of more coldness...
Or a jumper.
That is going to be awesome! Now I don't have to try and pursuade my parents to give up their TV for six hours on Sunday.
I'm afraid it will be. When I went last year, I stupidly thought that being in an enclosed space surrounded by thousands of people would be nice and warm so I didn't wrap up nearly enough. It took ages to get the feeling back in my extremities.
Do you think Lewis believes this or is he just toeing the Mercedes company line?
Pursuade??
When BTCC used to be on there was no pursuation needed, i had the tv to myself on sundays :D
Is it common knowledge that Vijay Mallya visited the Honda F1 factory in Brackley last Saturday? Reckon he's looking to poach their facilities?
I didn't know about it. He is probably getting a look round to ee if there is anthing he fancies in the auction should it go belly up. Of course he coul have been interviewing Ross Brawn and this was convenient cover.
oh great, i'm going to freeze then.
it'll be worth it to see yer man.
:D am hoping he does well this weekend. hehe
Well known rumour
Jenson Button is set to withdraw from the ROC, that, or be force to sell the Hungarian GP winners trophy. He was funded by the Honda team, and also had a bank account within the team, which contains his entire assests.
i heard that he had to pull out AND that he had to sell his trophy too lol
Yeah, just heard that by one of my close sources
My close source has just got even closer, its Jenson himself, he's downsized from Monaco and has moved next door to me (that would be Essex...)
where abouts in Essex? :P
;)
Next to him
The cardboard box next to Morrisons.... :P
*Jumps behind desk
:D
lol ok, i'll come round tomorrow after school with a flask of tea for him :P
i hear he's more of an expresso man...oh well, i guess he's gonna have to start making cut backs somewhere....
one minute he's bringing you cupcakes and now you're having to provide tea?
;)
Apparantly he's having to make do without a roof and a pillow.
without a roof and a pillow? he doesn't know how lucky he is!
Do you sleep in the shed?
i thought you couldn get him to bring me cupcakes? well in that case, we can have a picnic ;)
i can bring espresso too ;)
Next to Morrisons? Wouldn't they move you on and force Jenson out of a home?
loll well Jenson can always come and stay in our spare room. we are going up to the RoC, we could give him a lift ;)
lol ... well he can watch :P
Have you got a spare ticket? ;)
no but theres a spare drive in the English team lol
What a shame I'm bringing Paul Di Resta :)
i might do actually... dad is a little ill, and is unsure if he will want to go. :P so yeah he could take dad's ticket ;)
speaking of spare drives, does anyone know who is taking over from webber?
in what sense?? race driver or testing?
I thought he would be fit in time, but my guess if he isn't, would be whoever there test driver is.
David Coulthard according to wikipedia.
as in RoC drive. not f1 drive :P
nah it would be their 3rd/reserve driver, thats not necessarily the same as test.....
i dont really know any other aussy drivers :S
Jamie Alguersari or something like that
On Donny
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7778554.stm
Your last day’s a Monday? That day seems lonely all by itself. It’s like, “Hey, let’s have this one extra day after the weekend before Christmas!” {Journeyer - 112 comments ago}
Well, work were going to make us all work until 5pm on Christmas Eve, but they used the recession as an excuse to tell everyone to stay home on Christmas Eve and not come back until the Monday afterwards. Saves on heating, lighting etc, even though we're all getting paid for that break. Since I don't work Tuesdays in any case, that means I have a one-day week that week.
When you put how many comments ago it was....do you count them? or do you have some special way of finding out?
Racing fans want more racing. That must have come as a shock to them. {Steven Roy - 74 comments ago}
Even more so since the FIA collected that startling fact in both of their surveys - conducted in 2005 and 2006.
Is it common knowledge that Vijay Mallya visited the Honda F1 factory in Brackley last Saturday? Reckon he’s looking to poach their facilities? {Dank - 41 comments ago}
Where did you hear this from? Would be quite a scoop if it is true.
When you put how many comments ago it was….do you count them? or do you have some special way of finding out? {Jon Waldock - 3 comments ago}
Both. I count them, and this case I had a special way of finding out:
1) Find comment.
2) Count from there to the beginning of the blog post.
3) Subtract total from the "x comments" counter above the first comment.
In case you're wondering, I do not count sheep to go to sleep in bed...