Late again, oh well, I agree with Lou who said the day only starts when you wake up anyway. That should get me out of it this time. There seemed to be an entire discussion going on yesterday about ways for "me" to conceal his identity in public, including dressing up as a giant panda, as the Stig, and bizarrely, as Batman. Please feel free to continue this discussion, as it does make me chuckle. However, in Formula 1 news:
- Two tests got underway yesterday. Ferrari were at the Algarve, although Massa only did a couple of hours running before retiring - feeling ill. Poor lad. At Jerez, Buemi was the star again, only this time for Red Bull. When are we going to be able to compare the cars a bit better?
- Hockenheim has called for government help, are they likely to get it? And South Africa has said there's no way they'll be ready for F1 before 2011. Can Bernie wait, or will he move on?
- The Trulliometer has swung upwards with the Italian saying that he's going to get a win with Toyota this year. His reasoning? He can just feel it. How long before we get the opposite from him though?
More testing will continue today, so we'll be keeping our eye out for any pictures of those 2009 spec wings. Let us know if you find any, and if you've got anything else to share, please feel free.
So quiet... :-/
yay, daily post.
morning.
to answer your earlier question. we're experimenting with caching servers to speed up sidepodcast. as you're in a different part of the world to lou, the header comes from an alternate server to the one the uk is looking at, thus you'll see it at a different time.
all content is still located in california, we're just testing the header. comments and posts will still update simultaneously. we just forgot to write one at midnight :)
Bestest header yet - well, the most subtle one anyway!
Off-topic: can anybody with an Xbox 360 recommend me any half-decent driving games? Colin McRae DiRT? Forza 2?
The awfully named 'Zavvi' are flogging Xbox 360s for just under £100 at the moment and I was planning on buying one in preparation for the F1 game Codemasters are due to release next year.
Speaking of Colin McRae,
Subaru is pulling out of the WRC. David Richards has said that Prodrive will NOT participate in the WRC in 2009, but will be back in 2010.
This comes a day after Suzuki announced their pullout from the WRC. That leaves Citroen and Ford as the only major manufacturers in the WRC.
Given that, I've lessened my chances to see Prodrive buy the Honda franchise. Why? Well, as it is, David Richards just has too many other problems to deal with.
On Trulli, does his mood vary with the quality of vineyard's vintage? I think we need to do some drinking and make graphs...
That Williams F1 documentary is pretty good. I've got the 1993 McLaren Series around somewhere and one about Benetton.
It also looks like the WRC is going to be severly depleted next year. Seat, Prodrive.... Who's next?
Well, Seat is from the WTCC, and it looks like they're staying for next year. I think you meant Suzuki?
Well, since you mentioned Seat, WTCC is faring pretty well... well, so far, anyway. No manufacturer pullouts from them so far. But then again, there's only 4 manufacturers there - BMW, Seat, Chevrolet, and Honda.
OK if Richards out of the running who else is going to buy Honda? Why do I feel the rope around Honda's neck getting tighter?
Too bad you don't have a PS3, then I would demand you buy GT5 Prologue plus some other stuff.
DiRT and its' street counterpart GRiD are OK. The driving engine stinks and not really realistic but they are fun. You get to explore a lot of different types of motoring disciplines and get to race some neat tracks. I personally didn't like the artificial grittiness of them. However, they do have a decent damage engine and is fun to play with friends.
I actually picked up the new MotoGP game last night. Left a lot to be desired but a hell of a lot better than any F1 game that has been around the last five years. I love the MotoGP calander with Laguna Seca, the new Indy road course, Brno, Jerez, and some familiar F1 tracks. Worth buying used in a few months to give it a try. I won't mention the NASCAR game because well... its' NASCAR.
I'm still giving Richards a 50-50 chance. Barring that, I say the Arabs will buy it and leave Brawn to run it.
seems to be related to quantity, more than quality :)
excellent idea. i think we have some drinking games planned for sunday (non-alcoholic ones for the youngsters of course).
what about fry?
Out on his arse hopefully.
Agreed. I still think it was Fry's way of running things that began Honda's fall from grace.
Bugger... It's a bad time to be a Motorsport fan right now :-(
Thing is though, Subaru have been also-rans for a long time and the FIA changed the rules to the S2000 format, so I guess we should have seen this one coming ...
Time to get Loeb into F1! Someone please do it!
But unlike Honda's withdrawal from F1, which saw us lose 1 of 6 manufacturers, the WRC have already lost 2 of 4 manufacturers, which is a lot more dangerous in its impact.
Which team will pull him in at this point? I see RBR doing it (dropping Webber in the process), for obvious sponsorship reasons. A French motorsport legend driving a Renault-powered car. Wow.
I can help you there! :D From what I know:
Forza Motorsport 2
Project Gotham Racing 4
Race Driver GRID
DiRT
Need For Speed Most Wanted
Test Drive Unlimited
Midnight Club: Los Angeles
SBK 08
Burnout Paradise
Also, watch for Race Pro coming out - it's pretty much a mix of two PC racers, GTR Evolution and Race 07, rolled into one for the 360 and it looks awesome! :D There's DiRT 2 on it's way as well.
And of course there's the Codemasters F1 game ;)
I'll eat my hat if that ever happens. In fact, I'd eat several thousand hats!
Muchos gracias amigo!
Unfortunately my local Zavvi store doesn't have any Xbox 360s for sale at the moment as folk have been buying them in their droves this morning. Dagnabit!
Will they release it on all platforms (i.e. PS3, PSP, XBOX360, Wii)?
Sometimes you'd think we're not in a recession when you see things like that happen.
As far as I know it's PS3 and 360.
Oh dear...
The S2000 spec doesn't sound that good for rallying.
FIA specifications include the following:
Derived from production model, of which 2500 have been produced in the past year
Maximum of 2 liter (2000 cc) displacement
Normal Aspiration, 8500 rpm maximum for 4 cylinders, 8750 rpm maximum for 5 cylinders, 9000 rpm maximum for 6 cylinders.
All wheel drive is permitted in rally cars, but not in touring cars.
6-speed sequential gearbox (Control specification), or 5-speed MT gearbox retaining original gear ratios.
Front and rear McPherson suspension
No electronic driver aids
Must be for sale at a maximum price of €168,000.
Can we have Group B back again?
A French manufacturer called PSA have been linked to the list of possible buyers. They make Citroen and Peugeot cars, I think.
That's right, PSA make Citroens and Peugeots. But they have already both publicly and privately denied the rumors.
a few of my friends love the game that Scott mentioned earlier. - Race driver GRID. Apparently it's brilliant :)
I've got Forza 2 for xbox 360. There's a massive list of cars and the gameplay is great. The only niggle is that there isn't a whole lot of circuits, but you still get to drive on Silverstone GP circuit... :)
I disagree. I just went to an S2000-spec Rally and I reckon the cars look and sound brilliant.
Look, Group B was great fun but stupid and dangerous. We can't have cars like that running rallies anymore. Group A and the WRC have run their course and nobody wants to make cars like that anymore. It's time for a change and at least under these rules we have at least four confirmed manufacturers and the possibility of many more :-)
If they denied it, it must be true then ;-)
Indeed it is! If you're not one for all the tuning side of cars and racing and just want a pure racing experience and just get in and go, GRID is the best. It is more of an arcade racer than a sim but the graphics are mind-blowing. Plus the online aspect is amazing, and you can have some truly fantastic races. So long as some of the idiots online don't take you out at the first corner.
They recently released a long overdue downloadable pack of cars including a McLaren F1 GTR :D
Well, Loeb said he'd retire if they switch to S2000, and as a leading driver, he'd probably know what he was talking about.
You know, I'm not sure why he said that. Perhaps he thought they would be 2WD-only or perhaps he just prefers WRC spec cars.
If Loeb left the WRC that would be good because there is nobody else who can match him. Frankly, rallying is all about the cars for me so more manufacturers would be a good thing.
This change in the rules is more necessary than those for F1 because we don't have anyone that wants to make a WRC-spec car anymore. Give the S2000's a chance. I promise you, they're much better than they sound on paper :-D
Mind you, wasn't that what we said about the 2009 F1 regs? Look where we've ended up so far. :O
ha!
I wouldn't make any connection between the rally team and Honda. Prodrive has a ridiculous number of projects on the go at any time and Richards juggles car suppliers better than anyone. I saw a list ofthe programs he was running at one time and it ran to something like 15 different manufacturers.
If there is a business case for him doing F1 regardless of the rally team he will do it.
But setting up TWO teams at the same time in two major championships isn't easy. Also, he'll need to find fundings for both projects now, and he won't readily have that type of money. He'll need to find at least 2 or 3 big players to fund both of them.
The difference is an S2000 car doesn't look like a picnic table on wheels!
He is speaking about things from the point of view of someone who has had a car advantage for a few seasons and doesn't want to lose it. His comment is identical to Alonso's comment about standard engines. It is a certainty neither of them will retire for the reasons given.
alonso's had an engine advantage?
I disagree here. I actually think Loeb WILL leave if WRC makes the switch. He has nothing else to prove. Why take a risk on something he doesn't really support?
nothing left to prove, rather. he's already won everything there is to win.
He has a rally team set up. All he has to do is design a new car. Richards has no hands on involvement in the rally team. He handed responsibility for it to Dave Lapworth and when Lapworth was pulled out to set up the abortive F1 team someone else was given the responsibility for the rally team.
Two groups have already approached Richards to run the Honda team if they put a bid together. One is the Magma group which is is run by Martin Leach ex of Ford and the other is an Arab consortium.
Dave Richards will do F1 if there is profit in it as he did both times before.
No but he may next year since Renault have been given a free upgrade which won't be checked before it races
So has Valentino Rossi but he is still racing and he has won more championships than Loeb.
he wasn't fast enough on four wheels though, limits his choices somewhat. loeb doesn't have that issue does he?
But that's because he likes the current regs as they are. also, motogp have been more attentive to rossi's needs, even allowing him to switch to bridgestones even though his teammate was on michelins. no such case for loeb.
Rossi is good in a rally car and S2000 requires a lot less specialist technical knowledge and set up than WRCs do.
which is probably why loeb doesn't like it. maybe he thinks it unneccessarily dumbs down the sport?
I disagree again.
You know, there is a lot of snobbery against the S2000 cars which I think is based on a technical basis - E.G. if the cars don't have loads of grunt, complicated electronics and are so specialised then they must be worse :-(
The S2000 cars are NOT dumbing down rallying - the same driving techniques to be quick are required and the same technical know-how is required to make sure the car is set up right. Sure the cars are less complicated, but most of the stuff lost makes little difference to what you see on the rally stage.
But switching to S2000's doesn't mean that the sport will be dumbed down - look at the difference between the current BTCC/WTCC and the old Super Touring Cars - less technical and complicated but just as good to race/watch.
Just wait and see - S2000's will revolutionise rallying and take the sport back to the golden days of pre-Group B where the drivers were fast and the cars road-relevant and more 'elegant' :-)
question then, from someone who knows nothing about rallying.
how does the introduction of s2000 compare to nascar's move to CoT?
Do i count as a youngster?
i'm not talking about racing talent - that will definitely still be there. i'm talking about the lack of technology, which is what racing has more or less been about in the last 2 decades. motorsport has taken that step to be the proving ground of new technologies, and that's what drivers of today have gotten used to. for them, it's like taking a step backwards, and that's why they don't like it.
let's remember, just because we're trying to take a step back doesn't mean it'll go back to the past as we remembered it.
I'm a teetotaler. :D
are you legally allowed to drink al-ki-hol in your country of residence?
another one? this party's gonna be a riot!
Every time anyone has ever suggested anything that takes the performance level of cars down the top drivers complain about it but I have never known one to actually retire even though over the years many have threatened it.
Being quick in an F1 test is a long way from being an F1 driver. There are a lot of drivers give n the time in testing who can put in a few really quick laps but doing it during a GP weekend with the time pressures is a whole different matter. I would like to see Loeb try F1 but regardless of the rules in rallying he will always have a better chance to win in that than in F1. I wonder how he would feel after two seasons in a mif-grid F1 team when regardless how well he drove he had no chance of winning a single race.
well... legally i am at home... :P
:D
al-ki-hol. niiiiice.... :P
don't worry. the party will be at 5 AM my time. i'll be as good as drunk, given my sleepy state. :P
well, prost's retirement was somewhat related to the banning of TC and electronics. does that count? and again, there's that factor of loeb having nothing left to prove.
I guess you can drink then so long as you don't get drunk, smash the place up and blame sidepodcast.
:D WAHAHAHA! that's hilarious!!! :P
won't it be out on PC too?
hahaha XD isn't that more likely to be 'me' if he is planning on drinking and doing the live streaming? :P
The year Prost went to Williams was the year after a lot of technology was taken out of the cars. Mansell's Williams the year before had active suspension etc and a lot of people consider that the most technically advanced car ever. At the end of 93 Senna went to Williams so Prost wouldn't stay there. There was no point going to McLaren because they were in a mess which was why Senna had left. Ferrari had sacked him and taking on Schumacher in a team that was wrapped round him was not an appealing prospect. Regardless of any other reasons Prost quit because the only decent drive available to him was to stay at Willimas and be Senna's team mate and he had tried that before .
i don't mind what you do to your own house, just try not to spill wine on the new header ;)
:) lol
Oh no. No PSP? If not, I have to seriously begin considering getting a PS3. Missing out on F1 2009 AND GT5 is almost a sin!
I seem to be wrong! This is from an FAQ thread on the Codemasters forums about the game:
1: What Formats will you be releasing the F1 Game on Home Consoles, Handhelds, and PC
I should imagine the modding community will have a field day with this new f1 game :P
One thing which I think should be made available is for Codemasters to release downloadable content featuring cars, tracks and data from 2007 and 2008. I'm quite sure not everyone wants to race in these new fugly aero packaged cars, or miss out on Montreal and Indy. :P
Indeed. Expect them to make up for the missed seasons, and try out vintage seasons as well.
That all depends on Bernie, of course. And knowing Bernie, chances are, he won't let it happen.
Here's something which I bet Christine might want to take a gander at. It's the first of 12 parts of the final Champ Car race at Long Beach, which a certain Mr. Montagny took part in and finished 2nd ;)
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=3Bk52mSlG8U
Afternoon all.
All well (to the northerners)
And why is everyone trying to sneak Mr C out into the public eye, for all we know, he could already be out there, dressed as a fat geordie, actually be the mayor of Cheshire (I have a hunch thats where they live) or even be Franck Montagny in disguise.
It all makes sense.
Why Cheshire, of all places? :-/
I don't know. My brain is a very complex piece of equipment
he isn't Franck... he doesn't have a french accent ;)
Which contributes the 'in disguise' part of it.
hmm... i suppose he could be Franck...
would franck wear a panda suit to a party?
If he did, I think Christine would just die. :P
if he wanted to disguise himself then...possibly ;)
how would she know it was him?
I think she'd be able to recognised his muffled French accent. :P
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/72498
It's nice to hear Jenson's view on the cost cutting measures, and good to see him thinking positively :D
Soo, WRC falling apart quicker a poorly put up christmas tree.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/72492
So how does he live comment when Franck is racing?
He hires his younger brother to do it for him.
i dunno... i'm just going along with R.G's idea :P
Kimi wore a gorilla suit so why not. If DC can dress as Superman on the Monaca podium why not Franck in a panda suit.
"The Subaru World Rally Team has created true champions such as Colin McRae and Richard Burns" Interesting quote from Dave Richards. You could almost take it to mean that he is no fan of Petter Solberg.
http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns21047.html
PSA are not buying Honda
To be fair to Petter, Colin and Richard are both no longer with us. Maybe a bit of a tribute to them?
As we thought. Move on, nothing to see here.
:( so they weren't one of the three then..
Not to interupt the conversation, but there is a new facebook game. LINK: http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=6730&uid=22534566720
Actually, here is the post linked above:
It's possible that they expressed interest and when they studied the costs involved in F1 they lost interest rapidly.
http://images.itv-f1.com/ImageLibrary/51650_2.jpg
This pic kinda sums Honda's season
Sorry for the late reply (had to take the train home and have dinner :-D )
The introduction of S2000 are a new set of regulations for the WRC (as no one is prepared to make a WRC spec car as it's as complex and expensive as a prototype) while the CoT is basically a template for a spec-racer series, which could happen as Dodge have pulled out, Ford are reducing input and Chevy are consolidating. In contrast, the S2000 regs will mean more manufacturers will be part of the WRC, so it's all good.
Technology costs money. Car companies are run by lawyers and accountants, not the engineers. Therefore we have to ditch the technology to keep the manufacturers in Motorsports.
Look, it's sad to see these manufacturers leave F1/WRC/ALMS/BTCC but the fact is, unless we have all these new regs and efforts to cut costs, there will be no motorsports as no one will be able to compete. If it makes the action better then it's an added bonus as well.
got ya, cheers.
why are you assuming that it has to be manufactures involved in order to have some form of racing?
How would you have WRC/BTCC/WTCC without manufacturers? These series are about the cars themselves more than anything...
Also, nobody seems to be able to make an engine without some sort of financial backing from a manufacturer to stay solvent. Look how far Cosworth dropped behind in 2006 because they were 'independent'.
We don't need manufacturers in F1 (see the 1970's for proof), but as most people here subscribe to the fact that returning to the past may not be a good thing, then returning to the 'Garagiste' era of the 1970's where everyone except Ferrari bought a Lola chassis, modified it a bit and slapped a Cossie and a Hewland 'box on the back may not be welcome :-D
ok, but f1 was in your original list :)
sure. but if everyone is independent...?
In the 70s the vast majority of the teams designed and built their own chassis. Some teams supplied customer chassis but generally they achieved little.
I went a bit off-topic though. I tend to follow everything with an engine and wheels ;-)
They were in the 70's too. If that's what it takes for F1 to survive, then so be it. People want to see 'Great Racing' 'The Pinnacle of Technology' and 'Relevance to Road Cars' whilst at the same time we have to 'Cut costs to survive'.
All of the above are incompatible and the fork in the road for F1 is the choice between a maximum of one or two of the above four quotations.
The question we have to ask ourselves is "What kind of F1 do we want?"
Not necessarily. A lot were customer-chassis or they were slightly modified and the the teams claimed them as their own. Sort of like Toro Rosso claiming their car is different to a Red Bull because of the different engine mounts and other small modifications.
I am trying to remember the last successful 'customer car'... I remember Jackie Stewart won his first world championship in a Matra MS10 and Rob Walker used to run a decent Lotus team with Stirling Moss... Anyone care to add any other successes?
Honda's departure should be the final nail in the coffin of the road relevant nonsense. By walking away Honda are saying that theey can devlop road car technology more efficiently without F1. Of course anyone with any sense can work out that if you ran a manufacturer and F1 was the best way to develop the technology the last thing you would do is buy a team and incur all those costs. Instead every couple of years you recruit someone senior from the team that has most successfully developed what you are interested in and pay them stupid money to spill the secrets. You can do that easily and save 99% of the cost of running a team.
great racing, and survival. road relevance is a myth propagated by max. technology is important to me, but no many others.
All the top teams built their own. Lotus for example did not make all the chassis break throughs by buying off the shelf. McLaren did not get the M23 or M26 off the shelf. There were a lot of customer chassis in the missle of the grid but the top teams pretty much always designed their own.
With such restrictive regulations and so much cost cutting, it is hard to see where the innovation can come from that could develop new technology that can be fed down to the road cars. Even KERS is very different to the hybrid technologies that are being developed.
We need more open regulations if we want a 'road relevant' series. In truth, race cars are so far apart from road cars these days that there is no series where this applies anymore :-(
be we don't want that do we?
No, we want 26 cars that aren't all the same car and that can run side-by-side, where proper overtaking is a regular feature :-D
:)
i likes it. will have a think.
I've never really got the F1 - road car crossover thing. The engine is in the wrong place on a road car for starters (says the VW Beetle owner :)). OK, flappy paddle gearchange, but wouldn't that have happened anyway?
most paddle gear changes in cars are rubbish anyway, so f1 cant be that good for it!! lol
New "I'm a Mac" adverts for the holidays:
http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/
I just watched the Monaco vid someone has dropiod. That is a great hour's entertainment.
more? oh, jeez!
;)
Hamilton to appear on stamps - but in the Isle of Man only.
not good enough for england?
bet you that gets a mention on top gear this week :)
Bet you it doesn't. ;)
problem with the argument is i can't win it, cause i won't see it :)
Bet you it doesn't since its not even on this week.
oh.bugger.
bet you it never gets mentioned ;) the next is in the new year and a top gear special only ;)
Sorta what I was hinting at. :P
What have I told you about gambling without having all the facts?
right.
i didn't gamble anything but my pride, and that's basically worthless.
i'm learning :)
So what's wrong with the panda suit if you have no pride? :)
He still has a small bit of dignity.
Very small though
i don't want to die.
thanx :)
December 28th I 'eard. Don't quite think that's the new year ;)
Only ever bet on certanties.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/columnists/miles-kington/welcome-to-the-world-of-the-absolute-certainty-585408.html
No probelm Mr C
:D
And also don't promise people Doctor Pepper.
Certainties like this one:
http://www.slinkycity.com/gambling-joke.html
and then fail to deliver.
That sounds like it was a painful mistake...
Promising every american dr pepper...id say so...
I think it refers to the promise by Dr Pepper that if Guns `N' Roses released their new album before the end of 2008 they'd give everyone in the US a free can of their drink. When the album was released, Dr Pepper announced a coupon would be available for one day only.
I've just finished watching the Williams documentary. Extremely interesting stuff - that Sir Frank was considering Mika Hakkinen over Damon Hill for 1993 and that Patrick Head agrees with me over the F1/road car crossover thing - he said that they develop things to make the car go faster and that anything that trickled down to road cars was an added bonus.
Was that the Extraordinary People documentary about Williams before the 1993 season?
geeky question for anyone who's around...
facebook connect, worth looking into for sidepodcast.com?
Yes :)
whats that?
i think it means you can comment here using your facebook login details, instead of the usual three boxes. also your comments get synced back to your fb profile.
Ah excellent. I have pretty much all of that on a video tape somewhere. It cuts out at the point where Prost is going back out on circuit sometime. Must watch the full doc. I love one bit where this guy walking past the back of the pits catches Prost putting his helmet on and just stops and stares and the narrator says "Well, if you were a portuguese builder, you'd stop for a look!" :D
so people kinda of have their own profile on here-ish?? man, if lou does 1000 comments on here then id hate to see her fb when it shows on there lol
erm not sure that's really needed. the amount of comments some of us make here our whole facebook profiles would be full with comments from here. Personally i wouldn't use it.
it wouldn't work with live commenting. you'd be banned from fb within the hour :)
it seems to be all the rage at the moment, but no point spending lots of time on it if no-one would use it.
i don't even have an fb profile :)
thats because no-one can find out your secret identity...
umm, fb would let me create an account with the name "me". apparently they claim it's not a real name or something?
pfft, of course it is :P
you could always call yourself Mr C :P
:)
i'll give it a try.
:D
get christine to change her name to Terresa or something, and then you can be Mr T :D
Did anyone hear about Porsche leaving the ALMS as well?!?! Goddamn economic downturn! :(
haha!
here's fb's response:
"Our automated system will not approve this name. If you believe this is an error, please contact us."
should i mail and point out the error of their ways?
yes, you should. although you probably shouldnt send them an email from an accoun that is [email protected]
that might help to disprove you :P
But then me couldn't ever fly again, fool.
i don’t even have an fb profile {me - 13 comments ago}
Join the club - I don't have one because I can't get Facebook to load properly on my computer. Any site that looks like it fell out the back of a word-and-blue-blobs truck, with hardly any sentences that actually make sense, is probably best put on the "avoid" list.
My computer is quite picky about its websites...