Following on from yesterday's discovery of what kind of holiday it was, today I can tell you it is St George's Day. It's not a bank holiday, though, so it's off to work as normal for us at Sidepodcast Towers. Anyway, here's some F1 stuff to discuss:
- Supposedly, AUTOSPORT has found that Red Bull are looking into maybe switching engine supplier next year. The article suggests reading the magazine for more information, but from the quotes they've published on the site, the only hint that Horner is looking at Mercedes is he referenced Brawn's ability to switch at the last minute.
- Force India will be bringing lots of new parts to Bahrain, including a new floor and the ever-popular rear diffuser. The front wing and sidepods will also get some slight revisions, so will we see improved performance in the desert?
- Finally, am slowly catching up with my feed reader, and discovered Dan Brunell's latest Power Rankings on his Racing Eagles blog. Definitely worth a good look, and there's even a little joke at the bottom.
That'll do it for now. Don't forget there's plenty of podcasting goodness been released this week to keep you busy: F1 Debrief, Sidepodchat, Sidepodpanel. While you catch up with those, I'll see you in the comments.
we have a new person in the top 5 most talkative list:
http://drop.io/sidepodcast/asset/journeyer-top5-most-talkative-png
go journeyer! again unsure how i'm in 3rd...
A friend of mine works at the St George Bank in Sydney. When Zoe told me a few days ago that St George's Day was coming up, I sent a text to my friend asking if she had the day off.
She didn't think it was funny either! :D
reply -> type -> post
comments like this one?
Commenting in the normal blog post is slightly broken for me in Safari 4 Beta on Mac. When I select text and hit the quote button, the tags appear before the quoted text and I have to manually move the "" tag to the end of the quote.
I hope that makes sense and I'm not pointing out something that has already been mentioned.
so thats how you do it... im impressed.
it does, and i can repeat it, cheers. hope it's a beta bug, but will investigate.
Note to everyone here who's looking to be at Silverstone this year - I MIGHT be there on Friday if Dad can get tickets from his mate from Santander. So if any of you guys are planning to go on Friday, I might see you there. ;)
Yeah, I've been playing with weblinks here and discovered myself being listed in my old myspace disguise. Me, you gotta put the new link there, the one that appears when you click on my name (I can't paste it here because the post is likely to end up in moderation). I think I'm no longer "vocal" but rather "moody" and into photography and F1-related mad art, so to speak. Too lazy to type these days, use words or think. Pictures speak louder than words. Something like "the Wombat of the Blue Orange Lion - brought to you by the ever moody Blue Orange Lion, his amazing Wombat & (the) Dog" will please the BOL clan. Sounds like Sgt. Pepper's LHCB though...
I've got a weekend ticket, hope you can make it!
consider it done sir. great description too!
if anyone else spots errors/omissions on the links page, please do yell.
Thanks. I would like to enter my Williams' song into the SidepodIdol contest.
I thought there was a rule which stated a manufacturer can only supply two teams on the grid. If that is true then it breaks down like this next year:
Mercedes: McLaren - Force India
Toyota: Toyota - Williams
Ferrari: Ferrari - Toro Rosso
Renault: Renault - ?????
BMW: BMW Sauber - ?????
The standard FIA-Cosworth: ????? - ?????
Unknown (if the story is to believed): Red Bull, BrawnGP, USGPE
I makes me beg the following three questions:
1: Would Red Bull work with BMW? That engine deal would make a fair amount of sense to me.
2: Next year, would Brawn get the special premission to use Mercedes engines again? I get the feeling that people like Flavio the Loudmouth would try to game it so they would get stuck with the Cosworth. Would Renault give a engine deal to Brawn?
3: I've always thought that the Cosworth options was a way of leverage for USGPE againist the other engine manufactures. However, seeing how this is working out, they may not have a choice. Ehhh. This will not go well.
Actually, I would add a question number four.
4: If Red Bull want to cut costs, would they force Toro Rosso to a Cosworth engine and take over the Ferrari deal themselves?
+44 121 28 87225
;)
just for the record... it was chris' question.
*runs*
Hell has no fury like James Allen' scorn...
Be afraid Sidepodcast... be very afraid...
*can't hear you, still running*
http://drop.io/sidepodcast/asset/get-me-out-of-here-aif
Mr Allen, if you're reading - less talking, more writing please!
P5, baby! Yeaaaaaah! Hahahahahahahaha!
Now if only I could show up during the live podcasts, I can make a bid for P1. :D
Nice article by Dan, by the way. Loved it a lot. :)
The previous rule was that a manufacturer could only supply one other team. Ferrari then asked for special dispensation to supply two teams. Mercedes have asked for, and been granted, the same dispensation.
First comment of the day duly gets moderated. ;)
But BMW has never shown any intention or desire of supplying their engines to another team. No idea why, but that's always been the case.
Brawn and Mercedes' deal is for more than a year - 2 or 3 years, I think. So there's nothing Flavio or anyone else can do about it. Besides, why would Mercedes let go of a winning outfit?
Team USF1GPE have an array of concerns with picking up a Cossie.
a. They can't have that engine all to themselves - it's the FIA who set up the Cossie deal. Which leads to...
b. Lola - if they enter F1, I'm 90% sure they'll use a Cossie engine.
c. As Steven Roy (or was it someone else?) mentioned yesterday, the Cosworth employees are now in other engine companies. Who will develop those engines during the course of a season? Williams struggled with this when they ran Cosworths in 2006.
But didn't RBR move their Ferrari deal to STR so that they could get the Renault? Besides, Newey must be loving that Renault lump right now - he's been able to optimize his design around it, so there's no way he's letting that go.
hehe :D
Let's hope he has as good a sense of humor as David Tremayne
Welcome to Sidepodcast ;)
And nobody around to unmoderate it ;)
Morning all... Glad you went in yesterday Jackie :)
Liked the pictures.
How did I manage to put my own sentence I was typing, in a quote box?
:D
That's the bit I can't understand. He pushed massively for the Renaults. Not just because they were fast but because he preferred their shape to Ferrari's. I can't see how that would have changed.
Oh gosh I really am dumb, I though all engines were of a fairly standard shape
It was apparently because "No customer Ferrari engine had ever won a race". D'oh!
Not exactly. They may not be as radically different to each other as before (with varying layouts, cylinder angles, and number of cylinders), but they still differ in such areas as weight distribution.
Philosophical question, why is a works engine called a works engine .. is it because it works better?
Good point
And heat distribution. Say for example the Ferrari engine got hotter at the top and the Renault hotter at the back. It might change what you literally put them next to. I seem to remember them saying something about this was important to them too in the design phase.
Firstly, you are right to assume all engines are the same shape as these days they do not differ so greatly, but there are small differences.
Secondly, a works engine is defined as the latest and greatest spec from the factory, whilst a customer engine tends to be an older version of it. What makes a mockery of the engine freeze is the fact that there should be no difference in performance if the specs were frozen, but clearly there is because some engines were developed a bit (remember Renault's troubles last year?)
I'd best get back on the daily :D
Good thinking we don't want to get Mr C angry!
Took me a minute to get the joke .. try saying the last line out loud :D
Yes I should have mentioned it. Both have the same property to them I guess, they need to be out loud really.
Hmm, well what am I going to do with myself today .. apart from increase my comment count on SPC
But most engines are of the same spec now anyway - I know Ferrari and STR have the same spec of engine, as do Williams and Toyota, Renault and RBR, and McLaren, Brawn, and FI.
It is a nice day out there (or at least it is here).
:D I'm waiting for the formula1.com video - if memory serves me right, it should be coming out sometime today. :)
Maybe you should also try looking for F1 channels on JTV and watch some old races. ;)
What if one of the customer engines offered was a 2007 model for example? That would be down on power wouldn't it?
I think it will be here as well .. or I hope so. I'm getting double glazing put into house today so it'll be blooming cold otherwise
Which reminds me, I'd best go get dressed .. don't want to be running around in my pj's when the workmen get here
BTW, has this been mentioned?
Gascoyne applies for job at Ferrari
Also, Jackie, did you have a quiz last night? ;)
What? I am commenting here in suit and tie and I'm in my bedroom! ;)
Not that he had applied for a Ferrari job as far as I know.
And yup .. there was a quiz, questions (and hidden answers) here http://www.pitlanefanatic.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=879
All engine specs being used in the 2009 championship have to have been frozen at the end of the 2007 championship. Renault is the only exception to this rule, but I believe the rules require them to supply the same lump to RBR.
well now that I'm a lady of leisure ;)
How do you do that linky thing on here without writing the full link?
This should work:
<a href="sofaf1.com">The Sofa F1 website</a>
OK, but why were Force India complaining about their Ferrari engines being a bit duff and why did STR demand a better engine from Ferrari as well? You are right by saying that the engines were frozen at the end of 2007, but the engines continued to be developed (which is why Renault were allowed to catch up) and clearly not all customer engines are at the same spec.
except... Sorry you should put http:// in there other wise it won't work.
Now the next logical question is how can you write the thing without it turning into a link... Well that's even harder to show...
Looking at the quiz, it's a shame I missed it. Looks like I would've been contending for the win if I were around. ;)
Oh well... :D
Thanks Alex
Ah yes, I've kinda given up on that one
How far behind time wise are you with UK time Journeyer .. maybe we could ask Jolly to do the occassional early one
Use the Link button. ;)
Ahhh, I didn't know about that. Looks like Ferrari used the loophole in the regs about engine tuning for safety. But have we heard any such complaints about other manufacturers?
I had actually tried that and hey presto I got the same long link I would've got just by pasting. What I didn't know was the bit at the end
I'm 7 hours AHEAD. So your quizzes are at 3:30 AM my time. The only reasons I was able to join in the past were that either Thursday was a holiday, or I was working the North American shift. :D
If Jolly moved it to something like... 5 PM your time (which would be midnight my time), that would be awesome! :)
Well Flav complained that the others had exploited this loophole and Renault hadn't ... so yeah.
3.30 am omg! .. I'll see what I can do
I did think that something said by a commenter, Andy Fov, on James Allen's blog was very very true:
“And the class of Brawn and Newey is permanent. All this talk of “a new order in F1?, there’s not. It was a case of Brawn Vs Newey today. It might as well have been 1998.”
Thanks Jackie, much appreciated. ;)
But there's a fundamental difference - in the past, Brawn and Newey were with the big teams, Ferrari and McLaren. Now those 2 teams have let them go, feeling that their structure is bigger than these 2 people. But with the new regs, their structure has come back to bite them, while Brawn and Newey are still working their magic with formerly midfield teams that were willing to take a chance.
And look at where Brawn and Red Bull are now...
Hvae to go, workmen arrived .. may catch up with you all later ;)
Good afternoon everybody. I trust we are all well.
Well they weren't always. Brawn was at Benetton for example and then got taken to a big team.
True - and he also made Benetton a leading team. When he left just a year after Michael Schumacher, they began a slow decline that only ended with the arrival of Renault money for 2002, and the ascendancy of Pat Symonds and Fernando Alonso.
Hey Sean! Good morning to ya! ;)
It's afternoon for you too isn't it?
Oops. You're right! Hehe. :D
As a universal gesture, happy earth revolution to all!
semi serious good morning article:
http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2009/04/23/dangerous-donkeys-and-other-stories/
Earth Day was yesterday. :P
You could've just said, "Good day!" :D
:-P
I always settle for "Hi." :)
I think mine was how Ron Dennis must say good morning?
:D Hehe. How's everyone feeling today?
Bob has emailed me this link which is really... a bit weird.
"Alistair Gibson spent 22 years in Formula 1 paddocks as a mechanic with teams like Benetton and BAR Honda. With decades of carbon fiber and shiny bits swimming in his head, it probably shouldn't come as a complete surprise that after leaving pit lane he has begun fabricating motorsports-influenced sculptures of fish."
Here's one http://drop.io/sidepodcast/asset/brown-trout-jpg
It maybe shouldn't come as a surprise, but it is!
Tired. Stayed up too late finishing my guest post and I have no cans left of non-specified Energy Drink :(
Yay Autoblog. How does one cure and harden the fibre without a large autoclave? A kiln? Chemicals?
As peculiar as that is, I think I want one.
Wasn't he the lollipop man at one point? I remember because I think it was his error when he lifted the lollipop too early at Jenson's stop in San Marino 2006 - which duly wrecked their fuel rig.
Rather interesting... pastime, though. I wonder if fisherman Ross gave him any ideas. ;)
I saw a model of a Ferrari F430 in the Ferrari store that was made from the same materials as the real car - I was assured that included the carbon fibre. Yours for a cool £2750!
You're better off buying a proper car, then. :P
Perhaps, but where else can you get a Ferrari for under 3000 pounds. ;)
CODEMASTERS F1 GAME DETAILS!!!!!! :D
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74706
Yay!
What I wanna know is - is that screenshot of the PSP version? Or just a random shot of an F1 2009 mod for something?
The Wii version will be pants, if Ferrari Challenge is anything to go by :(
I will wait for the PC version so I can race with my Logitech G25. It's great to see a new racing game for the PC - the consoles are killing off PC's now :(
The graphics didn't look good did they?
Mmm, not exactly. Looks more like a DS version or something, actually.
My PSP is about to get used again... :D
Just read properly that we console users don't get the game until 2010! BOOOO! :(
It must be a chunky PSP version. ;)
You know what, better to wait for it to be ready than get a rushed version full of bugs mate. Trust me on this!
But I want F1 2009, not 2010 (well, not at the moment) on the 360. And I don't have a PSP or Wii :(
I just want F1. I will wait, because I would hate another game as bad as Lock On :(
Lucky me I have a PSP, then. ;) But I think the extra year is worth the wait, especially if you get HD graphics. Would be cool too if we had a carset where Brawn was carrying car numbers 1 and 2. :D Assuming they win the championship, of course.
I suppose. But they better bring out a download of the 2009 cars to drive as well.
I think the game will be for 2009, so they can make a 2010 version later in the year - apparently they will be releasing a game every year...
That's normal PSP or Wii graphics, so it's no real shock. Plus it has to be one or the other if the game's coming out this year on them two consoles and none of the proper gaming consoles.
Still, awesome news. Bit of a shame we'll have to wait longer for a 360/PS3 version but it'll be worth it :)
i am bored at work, have read almost every f1 news article from 2000 and 2001. Now i am reading a column dated 1 July 2001 entitled "ask jonathan legard". someone save me
Ah-ha! What insights did he have to share back then?
First USF1, then Lola, now Prodrive for 2010?!
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74707
He did say in the march issue of CAR that he was keen to bring Prodrive to F1 if a budget cap was put in place. Sounds good to me!
So I take it we have our 3 new teams for 2010 now?
Yep - no surprises really eh? Who else could do the job? Panoz? Dallara?
This part just caught my eye:
"Richards said his team was one of the interested parties in talks with engine supplier Cosworth, but he revealed he is also in discussions with another manufacturer currently competing F1.
"We are in discussion with one of the current engine suppliers, as well as Cosworth," he said. "They are developing plans for a customer Formula 1 engine which offers the prospect of a return to the good old days when you could bolt in a customer DFV off the shelf and win races."
My guess is that Richards saw Lola's announcement yesterday and thought "Right, two can play at that game" ;)
he thought ralf winning at imola might be the start of a williams renaissance. And that DC would be world champ. His column on whether mika will come back and how kimi wkl fit in at mclaren is great. Hindsight makes everyone look stupid
Some more so than others ;)
In this event I'd suspect that a way around the 'two seperate teams' thing would be found (as in, 'oh, the *racing* teams are seperate, but the engines are supplied to xxx the parent company/the owner so actually only one supplier/administration is involved you know ;-) ' ) And as examples of the sort of small owner-operated teams that the FIA is supposed to be pushing for more of then something would be worked out...
13 teams = 26 cars, if Prodrive really want in. Any more than that and we'd need Friday pre-qualifying!
That said, Max's Cosworth deal now really looks good. The more teams participate, the cheaper the engines will cost.
'Works' is the equivalent of buying a from a designers 'off the peg' or 'diffusion' line. You are still getting a custom build, but its from a defined set of choices/perameters rather than being couture....
LPG who wonders if its sad to think of F1 cars as the couture of the racing world? Except that they aren't really, that would be the morgans....
YES PLEEEEASE! :D Bringing pre-qualifying back would be 5 pints of awesome!
Kinda like "Buy in bulk and you get a discount" ;)
Bernie wants more than 26 cars and pre-qualifying to return...
You get reduced horsepower as well as cost!
More of a show for the fans. Would that mean a 4 day race weekend? Pre-qualifying always took place on Thursday, didn't it? Either that or Friday morning.
Just checked on this article about pre-qualifying:
http://forix.autosport.com/8w/pq89.html
Yup, it was Thursday.
I can't remember as BBC never showed pre-quallies AFAIK :( I would love to see qualifying that is do or die!
Isn't it more wasteful to have all these teams ready to go and then not see them race, though?
It doesn't seem very green to me to find a couple of teams have spent time, money and energy, and they are not allowed to get out on track through the whole weekend.
Goodness - slick tyres, no TC and now talks of 26 car grids and pre-qualifying returning. The early '90s all over again! :D
It took place on Friday morning.
But the way I see it, it'll probably be on Friday afternoon, 2 PM local time. It would be between FP1 and FP2.
It probably won't be on TV, but a friendly time might mean more people pressing the red button.
Ah, Christine, you should really see how it was in the late 1980s - pre-qualifying was heart-in-mouth stuff, especially for the teams who had to go through it!
Thanks for the correction on the schedule, BTW. :)
Monaco 1989 - 39 cars turned up to pre-qualify. 'Nuff said.
Of course, I'm sure it would be brilliant, but Max is pushing for F1 to be less wasteful, and turning away perfectly good teams doesn't seem like it would fit with that plan.
Morning all! just........
Can I pick everyone's brains? I remember that some time ago, someone had files from the old telly series "A Season with McLaren" .......... I cant for the life of me remember when or where they were though, I think it was on the drop.io thingy.
I figured I might try to watch them now I am off today and tomorrow (just in time for the rain..)
And cant wait for a more civilized time for the race and practices tomorrow! (apologies for peeps around the world :( )
Ooh, new version of Spotify already.
I did stick them on Drop.io I think
No idea when though....
Your best bet is to look through here:
http://drop.io/sidepodcast/media/movies
cheers all - I'll have a look now :)
I'm back into the world of unrestricted internet and F1 news that isn't 9 years old. Evening all ;)
lol evening Amy :) where abouts are you?
(I cant find those files dammit :( )
Oh well, I will have to bribe Flibster :p
not to mention that no team could afford to turn up and not race these days.
there's been a lot of lovely nostalgia kicking around the f1 world these past 24 hours, but anyone who stops to think about pre-qually for more than 10 seconds has to agree it's nothing but pure, unadulterated lunacy.
on every single level.
Since when has that stopped the rule makers from implementing something in F1?
I have to agree with mr c on this. If you get these teams possibly coming back into f1 such as lola and new teams like Prodrive because of the budget that Max has proposed enxt season, only to be told that they could be bringing their entire setup for no reason then a lot of people would be put off in a time where saving money is of a massive importance.
It would be nice to see pre-qualifying perhaps but it doesn't make sense to have it in the current economic climate and put off not only new teams but even current teams who appear to be on the edge with being in or out of f1 ie. toyota, renault.
But we can't really have more than 26 cars on the grid. I'm guessing Max and Bernie are doing this for two reasons:
1. they can make more money off more people
2. they will have allies against FOTA
What will probably happen is that if any more teams then USF1, Lola, and Prodrive file an application to enter in 2010, they will have to wait for other teams (Toyota? Renault?) to pull out and collapse completely (i.e. no buyouts) before they can come in.
I've found the 1997 Bennetton ones I uploaded - could be thats all I did...
Let me dig around a bit more.
it's in there somewhere. we haven't removed them. would help if there was a search mind you!
The letter also reveals that the FIA intends to grant three new teams a place on the 2010 grid. Both Lola, which today announced that it is evaluating an F1 entry, and USF1 are among the teams who are likely to be in contention for the available slots.
AUTOSPORT also understands that Cosworth has been in discussion with as many as eight teams that are evaluating a move into budget-capped F1.
This raises that possibility that F1 could return to a 26-car grid for the first time since 1995 despite numbers being limited to 24 in recent years.
that is from Autosport yesterday. they are talking about three new teams, not more (at the moment)
But Bernie did say there are "lots of people" interested.
agreed. i don't honestly believe lola are able to make a serious bid though. just like i don't really think usf1(gp)e really have a hope in hell of making it to melbourne in 2010.
Cheers Flibster, theres loads there for me to be getting on with lol.
As for pre-qualifying, I cant see them ever having that back. With teams struggling to find any backing at all now, as Mr C says, there is no way anyone would help to fund a team that turns up for Friday and thats it.
Although, it was always fun watching Giovanna Amati using the mirrors for her lippy! :P (joking!!!!)
Well, I fell stupid. Yesterday I say that I will be very surprised if there is an F1 game on Wii, and now it looks like that's all we are getting! I'm shocked we aren't getting a 360 or PS3 version until 2010 but I can understand why.
I feel a blog post coming on.
"But Bernie did say there are “lots of people” interested."
possible - AUTOSPORT also understands that Cosworth has been in discussion with as many as eight teams that are evaluating a move into budget-capped F1. - but looks like their idea is to allow only 3
fair do's. that's a good point.
It's Gran Turismo all over again - wait wait wait. :(
My dad told me about the article which he'd seen on the BBC. Let me go find it.
Imjust pleased it's not gonna be a kiddy f1 game. Sure it won't be the mega simulation the 360/PS3 games will be but I'll take it for now!
Turns out I didn't upload it - I was going to, then someone said they already had elsewehere and linked through to it.
Unfortunatly, the links are now dead.
I'll go find the DVD.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74704
the whole autosport article
Scott, I understand how you feel, but from experience, I can tell you that it is much better to wait for the finished article than get an early release with bugs that cannot be fixed. Be patient and you will be amazed!
Has anyone got a really good article explaining KERS? I would like to show it to someone...
Here's that BBC article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7957788.stm
note please:
"We'll have 26 cars on the grid next year - we've got a lot of people confirmed," said Ecclestone.
I bought a PSP purely for Gran Turismo....... grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Still, this could be fun!
I'll try not to write my blog here, but it what it says to me it that they are massively ambitious with the game and genuinely need another six+ months on it.
Somebody on the official forum said something along the lines of "you'd better make it the best game ever now", to which someone from Codemasters replied "That's what we intend to do, and the primary reason why we aren't rushing out the next-gen versions".
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/13042009/58/kers-explained.html ?
I find it quite sad responses on various forums I've seen so far is 'I'm abandoning Codies for this decision, it's a joke, we want it now' etc basically. Grrr. :(
I know of quite a good video explaining it. ;)
:D
Yeah so do I but I can't send that through really :(
Cheers Scott
Hmm, where have I heard something like this before?...Somewhere else......oh yeah, Honda/Brawn GP! Scrap 2009 and focus on 2010.
This is why I generally don't take any part in forums or such related to games. The vast majority of gamers have no idea what goes into making a game, which is fair enough, but they a lot of them still think they know more than developers about whay they should or shouldn't do.
Worked for Brawn though.
Haha, yeah, worked out well enough for them! I might nick that for my blog actually..... ;)
I personally think that the current knockout qualifying is the closest we're ever going to get to pre-qualifying. And I think it works quite well as a system really.
I understand the desire for the pole sitter to be natural (and not weight affected) but that isn't actually mutually exclusive with knockout quali.
I know, that's what I'm saying. Still want 2009 cars in the 2010 game as an unlockable extra to make up for no console version of F1 2009 though.
You'd never find anyone on an F1 forum doing that ;)
rec.autos.simulators used to be good. Also nogripracing.com, racesimcentral and rfactorcentral.com are where I hang out for gaming news...
My wallet might get a workout buying 09 for my PSP and 10 for my PS3. Ouch.
It will be 2009 cars just so they can release a 2010 version too!
You want another good place? Try www.virtualr.net
Plenty of news stories and updated pretty much every day with game, software, hardware and mod news ;)
I'm a big fan of what we have now. Although I think I prefer the original 60 minute shooutout of 12 laps from the 90's, our current format is extremely exciting and always a pleasure to watch :)
Yeah but "F1 2009" in 2010? It's like those EA Sports games - the year on the box and the actual year don't add up.
Well they have said that there will be a mode in the 2009 (Wii and PSP) where you have to re-create scenarios from the past (Lewis on the last lap of Brazil is the example everyone is giving) so the same will likely be in the 2010 game. What is unclear at the moment though is if the 360 PS3 game is going to be based on the 2009 or 2010 season.
right - I need nosh. take care all :)
Thanks, I was wondering why on Earth my myspace blog was getting some weird amount of hits every day because I stopeed using it quite some time ago but then I realized it must've been listed somewhere and where else other than here?
Maybe I'll join in on Saturday, kinda miss live commenting but taking my laptop downstairs (where the goggle-box is) is such a tiresome job because then I have to carry it upstairs that at some point I simply gave up. My health was suffering, physically I was losing 8 kilos per race weekend and my dog (which also happens to be my physio) had to be preparing special energy drinks based on cheap Red Bull imitations in order to save me from dehydration. It's tough being an F1 fan, I need a bigger and better ventilator for this summer.
I still prefer 60 minutes with 12 laps each.
When did they say that?
Wow, 4 comments posted at the same minute, that must be some sort of record, pity we don't have seconds here.
There are seconds on the doohickey, if you're really interested.
The PS1 games were released like that if I remember correctly...
With EA's games though they release them at the end of the year ie. October 2009 release for FIFA 2010 rather than having a year old date running through 2010 so it does make sense in that way.
i'll put it on the list ;)
<blockquote>Yeah but “F1 2009″ in 2010? It’s like those EA Sports games - the year on the box and the actual year don’t add up.</blockquote> Well EA sports games are generally released a year in advance, so FIFA 2010 will come out some time this year, but you don't need to change much more than the shirts and team lineups. Wayne Rooney isn't going to 'do a Ferrari' and suddenly be rubbish at football next year. There is too much that can change in F1 for them to bring out a game before the season starts.
Yeah but changing the AI or the car performance isn't much more difficult ... that is just number variables in a text file...
From the IGN.com preview:
x1 new guest article now posted:
http://www.sidepodcast.com/2009/04/23/sidepodtour-to-the-london-science-museum/
So does this mean we'll get 2008 cars maybe for that bit? :D
True, but they will still need a few races to know what to set the variables to.
Rob Smedley, Felipe Massa's race engineer who's become a vocal presence in coverage of the sport over the past few years, has expressed an interest in lending his Northern tones to the game, as have several other notable Formula 1 personnel.
!!!!!!!!!!!
I imagine it will be like the same mode in F1WGP where the cars and drivers all stay current, but they use a scenario from the past. I'm glad it's back though, that was one of my favourite parts of the N64 game.
Enjoy it guys ;)
Wait, so it's coming out on the Wii and Rob Smedley might be in it - that's more than a good enough excuse for Christine and Mr C to play it ;)
"Felipe baby, you're going the wrong way!"
Ohoho! That'll be Five Pints of Awesome!! :D
Just because they're confirmed doesn't mean they'll make it in time. Funnily enough, of everyone trying to get in, it's USF1 that's had the best head start. If they don't make it, what chance do the others have??
:D Good job, sunshine!
They had a scenario mode in F1 2000 on PS1. I remember one where you drove as Jenson Button from 5th on the grid and attemped to win the British GP. There was another where, driving as Hakkinen, you had to nurse his wounded McLaren home in the final few laps to victory at Monaco with the Ferraris taking chunks out of your lead every lap.
I wouldn't get too excited about hearing all the different race engineers just yet. GRID had 3000 lines of speech , and you know how repetitive that got. For DIRT 2 they are upping it to 9000, but when you add in all the translations it's nearly 40 hours of audio. Remember they have to squeeze this on a disc alongside the game! There is a lot more that will have to be said over the radio in an F1 game so I doubt we will have more than one voice.
Hope it is Smedley though, can't wait to be called "Chrissy Baby'!
Updated Force India front wing?
http://www.autosport.com/gallery/photo.php/id/126814
I love that on GRID when you log in, get to the main menu and the woman playing your agent says "Hello Scott" :D
I dunno, I love starting up the game to hear 'Hello Luke' :D
Scott beat me to it!
Just like I'm beating you in the laptime challenge ;)
What if you have a really weird name? Does it still work?
Meow!
You get to choose what it says from a big big list. It even has completely stupid nicknames :D
Gavin, these are 2 GUYS we're talking about. :P
Does it have RubberGoat?
:D
Joe seems to think 13 teams are a real possibility
I want a feature in the game so that I can press a button and the driver gives the middle finger so that I can say "Look what I've got for you - a hand gesture" :D
Yeah but still ;)
And James Allen isn't too far behind, either...
Team manager mode for Codemasters F1? That's a pretty good idea - and JA seems to think so too. :D
I just made a manly Sainsbury's order. It was:
Charcoal, Lighter fluid & beer.
And nothing else. I wonder if Katherine will notice ;)
Right, time to write a couple of blog posts me thinks. Don't forget to vote on the poll on my blog :)
:D
Oh I;d looooooove to see anything involving manager modes on it. I'm a sucker for management style games.
Codemasters did LMA Manager before, so they're not exactly unexperienced when it comes to management sims.
Nicely done Sir.
Nothing confirmed. But if it did exist, I'd be hooked for sure. :D
But yes, yes I would like a management mode or even a seperate F1 management game from Codies. I'd spend days on end playing. :D
The trouble is, to make a decent manager game you would need to be able to change drivers, sponsors etc, and I'm pretty sure Bernie won't let them do that.
He did before, why not now?
I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure most of the people in the game were fictitious.
Ahem, F1 Manager 2000? Grand Prix World? Both feature real drivers and sponsors and were F1 licenced games.
Just looking into it, I remember it now, you're right. I'm sure I've read something from a developer in the last few years (may have been from Sony when they still had the licence) saying that an F1 manager game was damn near impossible to do now because there is so much red tape from the FIA, FOM and the teams.
Are they not just talking about the red tape they'd have to include in the game to make it realistic? ;)
Haha, could be!
How does EA handle it with FIFA?
I think FIFA basically own the right to all teams, so if you give them enough money, you can do what you want with them, even if the teams don't like it.
Look like Jenson is handling his role as championship leader well
About Season with McLaren.
I've uploaded them to my adrive.com and put the links on drop.io. The links are timed out now but I can update them or upload the videos directly to drop.io.
Up to you Kathi - I can't find the DVD with them on at the moment.
It's in my playroom somewhere, but so is a lot of other crap. :D
Don't forget, if anyone wants to post a preview summary, I can collect them up for the Digest tonight.
Aye, I'm in writing mode today so I'll pop one up in a bit.
Woohoo :)
I thought one of the building I monitord had a downed connection today - all the servers on site were showing as unreachable. Couldn't get anyone on site on the phone either.
Turns out - they had a break in last night and all the servers and PC's had been nicked. No-one thought about letting me know....
Thats my work for next week sorted out then - re-creating the machines and applying the backup images.
Did they nick the phones too??
Evidently. Don't care about them though - I don't manage them. :D
Oh dear - Installed the new microsoft Family Safey Filter to have a play with it....
It blocks google. :D
That's an epic fail right there.
ha!
Looks like we won't be seeing any chance of a spectacular Kimi leap any time soon. Well, not this weekend anyway:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74714
Comparing Force India's front wing in China to the pic of the new one in Bahrain, they've actually downgraded it. They've taken off the turning vanes on the endplates and the element that goes across the wing. But at the top of it, they have made a small cut into the top element.
Sounds about right, then - Massa gets KERS back, Raikkonen will probably pass on it.
Bahrain preview quote:
Ah Bahrain, my least favourite of all the Tilkedromes. At least his other tracks have some kind of character or unique features. Bahrain is just bland and uninteresting. Needless to say, I'm not expecting too much from the racing, but then I said that before China last week, so who knows what might happen. At least we will probably see someone other than Felipe win.
Also didn't notice until looking at a pic of the FI in China - the front wing has little diffuser-like strakes underneath it. They're missing as well. But I think I know why there's this little cut out section on the top element. It looks like they're trying to angle the airflow towards the countours around the engine cover so they can channel it towards the rear of the car a bit better.
My preview quote:
Bahrain usually signifies the end of the first stint of fly-away races and this season is no exception. The main issue here is not the heat or humidity but the wind. Strong gales blowing across the circuit push sand and dirt onto the track, and this means an increased chance of falling off the road. But falling off is something I'm sure Vettel and co at Red Bull aren't too keen on doing so. There's hardly been any time for them to let their Chinese success sink in and it's straight back to racing already. Brawn will be their nearest challengers, but I'm naming Toyota as the dark horses. The pre-season testing here should give them a slight head start on the other frontrunners and who knows - we may see Jarno or Timo on the top step come Sunday.
Not too long is it? :)
Wonderful, thank you :)
You'll have to wait and see ;) Love the stuff about the wind though.
Heh, I do my best ;)
My preview:
When Jenson Button was asked to give his first impression of the Sakhir circuit in 2004, he said it was "half-Melbourne, half-Sepang". He won both those races this year, and he still must be the favorite for this weekend.
But it's easy to forget that Robert Kubica took his maiden pole here last year, and his team BMW have always scored well here. Robert and Nick Heidfeld cannot be underestimated this weekend.
---
Is that OK? :D
I like that one :D
Yah, 'tis gut :D
Danke schon. :D
I hope Christine likes it too. ;)
Is anybody else seeing an advert for Indycar on the right hand side of the BBC F1 site? Or is it another symptom of the banner ad problem I'm having?
Given how long EA have been in the 'games' market, I suspect that they have a pre-existing agreement that is extremely long term (in gaming terms) and reasonably priced. It was probably struck back in the days when games were for non-console formats and had to run on teeny tiny amounts of memory, even if you were 'advanced' enough to have a drive system to plug into the computer as well as the internal/supplied drives.....
Somewhere I have a copy (on yellowing paper, somewhere from the mid to late 80's lol) of an article that looked at EA (in an earlier 'incarnation') and how long they struck deals for. IIRC they would routinely make a deal on the then BBC model, with a minimum 10 year term, plus a continuation clause that also limted the uplift in licence fee to within a certain multiplier of the original. They were and are pretty generous over the addtitional sales/profit points that they would (and do) offer.
Good stuff. I like ones that remember things, cos you can guarantee I won't :)
I was looking at the Melbourne-Sepang stats, and I uncovered something by accident: we've had SEVEN different winners in Albert Park in the last seven years.
2003 - Coulthard
2004 - M Schumacher
2005 - Fisichella
2006 - Alonso
2007 - Raikkonen
2008 - Hamilton
2009 - Button
Not bad, not bad at all...
Yay! :D
One of my favourite comedians at the moment, Lee Mack, is going on a new tour this year and next, and he starts at the Norwich Playhouse on December 3/4 :D
Is this part of the rumours we were discussing before?
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74717
The British Grand Prix's future has been thrown into fresh doubt after Donington Park's owners, Wheatcroft & Son Limited, commenced legal proceedings against the track's operator - Donington Ventures Leisure Ltd - over unpaid rent.
yup. the story broke first on twitter. interesting.
"Donington Ventures Leisure Ltd owe us nearly £2.5m in rent dating back to September 2008."
that's showing a lot of patience. especially seeing as gillett has been busy digging the place up.
Hmm, I have heard that story before. Simon Gillett tried to dismiss it and stated that he had a good relationship with Tom Wheatcroft...
Hehehehe... have been playing the classic Destruction Derby and one of the characters reminds me of a certain Formula 1 supremo...
http://drop.io/sidepodcast/asset/dsc00601-jpg
Haha, give him smash from me.
Aptly named as well. That can't be a coincidence.
He kept telling off the doubters, saying that the stands will keep coming up. I'm betting he's not so sure now...
Just seen batracer. How come I am on a near identical setup to Scott, yet I'm knocked out in Q2, while he makes it through?
Your miniscule difference in setup may mean the difference between P10 and P11.
Maybe. Either that, or we're using different tyres. Ah, well. Last race, I qualified last (I've been away for a week or so), but still ended up second before an electrical fault stopped me. I know the car's got the pace, I just need to stop making mistakes.
So Heikki, how are you feeling today?
http://www.autosport.com/gallery/photo.php/id/126828
MW: "Do you think they'll let me play Cyclops in X-Men?"
http://www.autosport.com/gallery/photo.php/id/126827
Oh my goodness! I remember that game! Do you have a copy of it? :D :D Would love to play it again.
http://drop.io/sidepodcast/asset/xpb-298528-hires-3-jpeg
Race preparation is tough, I see. :)
It's a hard life, but someone's gotta do it.
I guess his wife decided to pass on Scherzinger v Michibata. :D
staying cool, no?
Has anyone seen the Mantovani China video? Some appearances from Webber and Alonso too. :D
I discovered something (slightly) related to this....
Today i got a call from a tutor at the university i'm going to be at to chat through some stuff about the course....i discovered that in my first year, the university pay for students of the course to take their ARDS test....which is the test you take to become a racing driver :D woot
Not to mention Piquet and the Ferrari boys. :D All in water sport fun!
why?
it's a motorsport course, other aspects of the course include becoming a marshall, scruiteneer, time keeper too.
you're taking a motorsport course??
wowow!
ahhh. wonderful. will ya keep us posted?
yup, i'm going for the course that i will enjoy the most :)
hehe, i dont think you'll be able to keep me quiet :D
On the topic of commentators I finally got around to rescuing a comment I made a year or so ago on another site...
I still think I was right.
I heart that sentence.
I don't actually now think that James is stupid - of course not. It was just my frustration. I'm now not sure how to square what Legard is doing which is like my preferred version with the problems I am having with it.
Alex, can you do something similar for Jonathan and Martin? :D
I might have to wait a few more races to get my ear in. It's been difficult in that so far this season I have been watching the races in less than normal situations. Except for the last one. The last one was the only time I really had a chance to listen.
Maybe it's because Jonathan's version goes like...
"Something's... happening... track... Martin."
Legard is something like:
"How brilliant to see some cars going round the track. They go quite fast, don't they Martin? Button is winning right now. Ooh, a bit of paper, yes, just like he won back in Hungary 2006. Excellent."
Gotcha. I made an intelligent guess, though, based on your stories and what little I've heard of him...
:)
someTHING's.... .... ... haPENing-track... Martin.
Whenever I think Legard, I hear " It's Red Bull from Red Bull, from Brawn from Brawn from etc" all the way to Force India!
Yeah. That is supremely annoying. Last race he did the drivers and then the cars!
:)
Maybe he'll do engines next! :D
Back when we had a tyre war, he'd have gone "It's Bridgestone, from Bridgestone, from Michelin, from Michelin..."
he actually is more annoying than james allen. i didn't think it possible.
There is a thing that Murray used to do which was the best thing out, in my opinion, which was he would wait for a lull and then talk about the situation. Not as a recap but as, "so we can see that Schumacher hasn't been in for fuel since the race began, his mechanics must be getting themselves ready. But how many more laps can he go for. Some people have been saying another 3 from here. But because of the safety car it may now stretch out for another 2 laps. WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT..." Martin: He pits.
It might have been wrong, you see, but on the other hand he was really recapping, without having to say, "so in case you missed it there was a safety car, it's odd Schumacher hasn't pitted yet" etc.
i still find him better than allen. at least there's still a clear division of roles between the two... come on, we said we'd give jonathan 4 races! what happened to that? :D
Murray also used to slow down and go quiet to do those bits. Which made the pants on fire bits more believable.
just getting my eye in ;)
I am waiting also for a normal race. Those three races were some of the most eventful in years!
If you want a refresher of what Murray's commentary was like:
http://www.justin.tv/the_f1_society
No. Really no. He was terrible. At least Legard gives Martin a chance to speak.
Ooh Canada 98 :D
No Martin here, I think - I think it was Derek Warwick alongside Murray here.
Stallone! This was the beginnings of that God-awful movie 'Driven'.
#22
Mario has not actually ruled out supplying another team with their engine, just that no one has show any interest.
Ahh, when Brundle was on his Le Mans duties.
it took me a lot longer to get annoyed by allen. i actually thought that the very first race he commented on he did a good job. the man got uber, uber annoying with the exit of schumi and the arrival of lewis.
with legard, his voice is less grating and he at least covers all the drivers. the problem is he's not adding anything that i wouldn't know by having my eyes open.
Considering how reliable their engine is, and strong on power, I'm very surprised no one is interested.
And it IS Warwick.
I loved it when they had to run back after a red flag to their spare cars
I love how after that huge, huge crash with Wurz at turn one, Trulli runs straight over to his car to make sure he's alright :)
And took each other out at the first corner again anyway at the 2nd start. :D
:)
James Allen has just arrived on the commentry
From the pits
how does he sound?
Hehe. He was actually very good in the pits.
True, but Allen assumed either we only started watching the race part way through, or that we all have no short term memory. I found that far more annoying.
I used to like him as a pitlane reporter. Maybe a minute of James every 20-30 minutes is the limit for him? :P
Yep, I always thought he did a great job there.
I started getting annoyed with him well before that. He was too Button-focused for my taste (but probably not Lou or Lukeh's ;) )
or that we'd rather be watching corrie.
hmmm... ok, allen is still more annoying.
Hehe, you're funny.
Corrie over F1? NEVER!
for being indecisive over amazingly trivial matters?
Yes but have you seen Nick's comments - there have been no updates since Melbourne - hence each race they are getting further behind everyone else!
I still think BMW Sauber have two of the best drivers - this year the car is really uncompetitive (Ferrari has more speed the BMW more reliability)
Why is it when Palmer speaks it's always like he's presenting, even when being interviewed.
Why no updates?! Are they going to release it all in 1 chunk in Barcelona?
Agreed - I had Buemi for a while, then sold him when his price went up for Kubica. Surely he'll at least score some points this weekend?
A few times they actually put a message on the screen saying corrie would follow the race when everything was still running to time. ITV really know their audience.
Mr.C, the video of Mike Gascoyne explaining the diffusers with the touch screen is up on the BBC F1 site. I know how much you enjoyed it first time round :D
Yup.
erm?
Do you not remember saying how brilliant it was and how much you love the BBC coverage?
oooh, you mean like the one martin did?
had i been drinking?
Yup.
*shrug*
Probably :P
Hehehehe.
ah, right. i didn't see mike's. shall watch this one when i get home. thanks.
Speaking of the BBC site, the new Murray's questions video is up. His answer about female racing drivers is priceless.
He's had a few adventures along the way y'know! :P
*shudder*
This news plus Mario's uncharacteristic posturing on the diffuser is suggesting that they have had some quite big financial cut backs. We know in February this year that Mercedes very nearly withdrew from F1 this season due to the economic climate (Brawn may be helping them to keep being committed).
via selling them customer units.
I find this very surprising. BMW is the only team that isn't rolling out updates right now. Every other team has been bringing new parts to every race, even Renault!
BMW have never had financial issues in the team before - why just now, and why are they the only ones who seem to be this badly affected?
Poor car sales maybe? It was enough to ruin Honda.
Maybe instead of just going all out, they're biding their time and decided to develop the heck out of the new parts in the factory rather than fly them out to races and risk getting them damaged or something.
That's a huge gamble - it will be costing them a lot of points. Besides, they can only really test those parts on the track, which is why I'm surprised they're not bringing those parts to these races.
Because Rich likes to use stories which we all know are complete rubbish to try and make points based on wild conjecture - Rich, please stop using stories which have been proved to be complete rubbish to make a point :(
I'm losing it now. Really losing it. Off the top 5 for the first time since November. Ahh, well done Mr. J
Afternoon all, apart from that Donnington thing I heard on Radio Ncle, any other things up?
Question - who do you find more annoying: James Allen or Darrel Eastlake from Australia? :D
Prodrive wanna do F1 next year - for real this time.
Methinks I won't be around very long - I usually miss the live podcasts, so that'll be your chance. ;)
There's news on the Codemasters F1 game on Autosport.
Personally, I think BMW have messed up big time. I've said before that if they had continued car development last year I'm certain we would have had a three way battle in Brazil. Because of that, anything less than a championship this year will be a failure, and so far it isn't looking good for them.
Eastlake - he mispronounces their names!!!
Rae-konnen is a good example.
OK, as a host he's not so good, but as a commentator - goddamn hilarious :D
But Nick is saying it is hurting them badly. Firstly Nick rarely complains - he is the model of loyalty. The only explanation other than financial is a huge re-development that include the diffuser.
Which I'm more inclined to believe - the diffuser isn't a bolt-on part. They're also preparing a special light chassis for Kubica.
Goooooo PSP!
I did see on Fast Lane Daily a long while back that BMW's M division and Merc's AMG division had something like 60% sales increase in 2008.
They used that in the China practices did they not?
And you know that's gonna be a Lotus or Redbull eh?
Hear hear! :D
Not necessarily - BMW have always built strong chassis. :)
As Renault proved staying up until 5am fitting Alonso's car with a double diffuser.
I agree - they also got over-confident and I think put too much emphasis on KERS as well. McLaren have the best KERS and are continually improving their car each race and by Spain they (Lewis at least) will be challenging for race victories.
Robert has tested it!
McLaren certainly are confident about their system seeing as they've used it on both cars in all 3 races so far. Must be well developed and I bet they've managed to hit a sweet spot with the weight distribution too.
But you have seen how poor McLaren and Ferrari were because of that this year.
I wouldn't say sweet spot, but it's a workable spot. No such luck at Renault and Ferrari.
But they both won a title last year. BMW, on the other hand, won neither title last year, and yet they're still in the same boat as McLaren and Ferrari.
They may be poor this year, but they got a championship each last year.
BMW are poor this year and have one win.
I wouldn't say same boat, considering the fact that in Malaysia they got a podium and Aus were on course for a podium, and just the fact that in China they crashed into every living thing denied them any points. I dont see why they are struggling at all.
They seem to be going in the right direction, unlike Ferrari that are going in all directions at the same time. Macca did not contest the diffuser since they thought it might help them gain down-force and solve their aero problems - well that is my speculation.
Agreed - not to mention that Mercedes supply engines to one of the 3 teams.
That's what you get with Italians in charge, I'm afraid.
I don't think they would've gotten that podium in Malaysia. Even so, they're still way behind Brawn, Toyota, and Red Bull right now. They can't afford to play catchup, because that's not their style or their strength.
They are doing ok, and they deserve more points than they have got, but considering how long they have been working on the car they should be far, far better.
*in Malaysia had it stayed dry or had we gone full-distance.
Okay then, one race you can determine true pace and its Aus, were we third and set to get second. I dont buy the, we are going to win thing. Heidfeld was in a start line crash so he could hardly improve. Its too early to slag off BMW, way to early.
But if the Toyotas hadn't started from the pit lane at least one of them would have been ahead, probably both.
Not even Australia is an accurate gauge of BMW's pace. They only got that high up because they used the options on the first stint and got lucky with the Safety Car to erase the gap they had to the front.
BMW had a better shot at last year's title than they will have at this year's title, I think.
Agreed.
Yup. Mario's master plan isn't working out at the moment.
Absolutly, sad to admit though.
I'll see after Turkey to see if I know what I'm on about
We know Australia throws up funny results. In Malaysia Nick was slow but gained by only having made one pit stop to every one else's 3+ (he was lucky). In China both cars were slow and got tangled wit other cars - but they were still slow and Nick is stating they are way behind other teams.
Source: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74713
This weekend we'll get to properly judge the new order of the field. Thankfully according to my weather gadgets, it's gonna be dry all weekend with just a bit of cloud around. No chance of rain though.
Quoted the wrong thing but agree with that. Was meant to quote Chris' thing actually
Bahrain will be an OK judge, but we'll have to reassess things again 2 weeks later in Barcelona - that's where all the new updates come in.
your weather widgets tell you anything about sandstorms?
no wind, apparently.
agreed. we'll also have to asses who has the best '09 motorhome.
Erm......don't think so.
True.
allen tweeted earlier to say he thought it could be bad enough to stop the race. may be attention-seeking though?
oh, come on, not again... :O
We have to wait until the European races to see any improvement. BMW Sauber are not expecting much just now so they will probably get Robert to try the KERS for race as there is not much to loose. I have Robert in my Fantasy Racers, and I am saying this of the team I support (well last year). At least they have NOW dropped their diffuser appeal.
http://twitter.com/Jamesallenonf1/status/1593546265
Yup, saw it - F1 2009 is attracting weather freaks of nature.
In non-F1 news: YAY! :D
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74723
Hey all, and sweeet! :)
The real competition in all of this.
Doesn't adding lightness come at the expense of strength, rigidity and reliability?
THAT save he made at Brands Hatch must have been one of the deciding factors :D
True, but when has BMW ever made a fragile car? That's not their thing. Light doesn't necessarily mean fragile.
Wht hope have I got of catching up if there's been over 350 comments since 10 o'clock this morning!
Where's my "hand gestures" smiley?
Yeah, that was totally awesome :) Hopefully some more Potato Neal rivallry this year
And Thompson's coming back in a Dynamics Civic! :D
I don't even try anymore. :D
One of the best pieces of driving I have ever seen. Also, it happened the day I got my iPhone so the video was a great way of showing it off to everyone!
James Thompson? He's in BTCC now?
Yup! We just need Muller to come back now!
Yup, he's taking over from Shedden, and Dynamics are looking at funding a 3rd car for him.
We only have WTCC here... no fair! :P
Come, come to the good country.
Tell Eurosport Asia that. :P
Eurosport Asia - now there's a contradiction in terms. :D
lol :)
It's gotten quiet - I'll be off then. See ya in the morning. ;)
Byeee
night mr journeyer
Woo, I found a decent Imola mod for rFactor. Another great track I wish was still in F1.
Do you need a super hot computer to play rFactor?
I'd recommend one with a decent processor for a start.
Over a decent graphics card?
Be fair, it's nothing without a processor that can get the best out of it.
Nope, I play it on my MacBook. Doesn't run amazingly but it's certainly playable as long as I turn the graphics options down.
re: the codemasters announcement:
"Had a photographer taking close-up snaps of MP4-24 in the garage today - for the new Codemasters Formula 1 computer game..."
[tweet]
So, 2.0GHz Core2Duo and above?
Ah cool. Was wondering if it was suitable for laptops. Might look into it so, Ive heard good things :)
Yeah I'd definately say that's a start.
Nice.
Who's that from?
Quad Core chips need to be more widely available and apps written to exploit multi core use - NOW! :)
Looks like a McLaren mechanic.
odafone McLaren Mercedes Official Twitter Page
"TheFifthDriver"
not sure, i think i found them through amy.
That's what the profile says
http://www.autosport.com/gallery/picture_free.php/dir/2009bah1/image/XPB_298485_HiRes-2
Is anyone as worried about this as i am? New FIA armed guards keeping Ron out? :P
right, sorry.
...i can read!
Well mine is from 2006 and runs it ok...
[whispers in Gavin's ear: "get a mac"]
:D
Don't do it, don't go to the other side.
Come to the dark side, we have biscuits!
we have cupcakes
I have spent 500 quid on a monitor and a G25 and I'd like to keep using them :)
Woo! G25! :D
No reason why you can't still, with 2 operating systems if you wish
One good one & Windows!
Exactly. I need a PC to keep playing with it!
Windows & Windows?
test
No, not really
Ignorance is bliss, eh RG?
I don't want the hassle of using emulators - they never work properly!
;) I like what I like and don't like what I don't like
totally off-topic, but in case you missed it, christine blogged yesterday about the BoL podcast and today she got this response.
'scuse me while i pick myself up off the floor!
Emulators?
You can run both operating systems in parallel on a mac, with ease
Like switching user profiles
You what? Really? Like, proper windows?
Liking is your choice my friend, but when you say it's good... :D :D :D
yup.
Yup
http://www.parallels.com/uk/
or
http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/
http://zerodownforce.blogspot.com/2009/04/their-name-is-lola-they-are-race-team.html
When Apple give me my three hours back, I'll consider them
You're not worthy ;)
eh? nooo. that's an emulator.
gavin needs:
http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/bootcamp.html
'pologies
Thanks Mr C
That's cool!
I totally agree with Christine with that article - I started listening as Molly Wood was 'leaving' so I only know Natali. I think she's a really good host and very good at what she does. Every now and then she appears on the 404 podcast, which is three guys goofing around - and she shows off quite a fun side too!
Sounds interesting. The stumbling block now is that I have just bought a fantastic 24" Monitor that I will be reluctant to get rid of... D'oh!
24" monitors work with macs too.
I don't really care ;) If they are so good then their marketing department must be failing them.
Don't know if a Mac Mini would be up to your needs but worth considering
People! We made the Wetpaint 500! Number 427!!
this is the best day ever!
*Goes mad - Like Ferrari before they found out Hamilton had finished 5th
Is that a NASCAR race or something?
That's great! But that means passing 426 cars in 250 laps to win.
I reckon the marketing is doing ok
Just announced a quarterly profit of $1.21 billion and market share is still rising. And businesses aren't avoiding their latest software cos it's crap
A Thursday? Surely not... ;)
As in making it intresting. As I said the other night, 3 hours of watching demos isn't fun.
Remember if you want to be on this weeks panel
http://wiki.sidepodcast.com/page/Next+Week's+Panellists
Added myself not long ago, feel like joining in this week :)
Watching demos of IT is never interesting
Get hands on and judge for yourself
http://www.hotfroguk.co.uk/Companies/AT-Computers-Newcastle-Branch
It wasn't that though, they had promised us hands on approach to try it ourselve. They didn't deliver
But thanks for the link
According to the doohickey, I'm at 73 comments today already ;)
Yes we run labs use Macs running both OS X and Windows using Bootcamp (it is a Windows machine but you need a Windows license). The Window Labs are always more work to maintain than the Mac labs as I have to run both.
So, 13 and a bit hours till FP1
This is why I use virtualr.net for my racing game news - pics of F1 2009! :D
http://www.virtualr.net/f1-2009-psp-wii-only/
didn't you post a preview of the game from IGN this morning? The same screenshots were on there then
They say, via IGN, at the bottom as well
No, I posted the initial Autosport story.
Ross Brawn:
"As the first four grands prix take place over just a five-week period, it has been an intense and demanding start to the season for the Brawn GP team."
You think it hasn't been for us as well?!
Ah... someone posted a preview on IGN not long after that and it had the screenies there too. As RG said, looks like thats where they got them from anyway :)
It's the Wii so I'm not really taking much into the graphics but I'll still pick the game up. :D
What F1 and gaming fan wouldn't?! The Wii version with the Wheel will be awesome.
Those screenshots have to be the PSP version so I wouldn't worry about it, the graphics will still be OK.
Wow, never even thought of the mario kart wheel :o even better!
Codemasters on the forum have said its Wii WIP graphics
Here's an example of a graphically demanding racing game on the Wii - Need For Speed Carbon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Za3qHbCloRc
Still looks good to me!
Those screenshots are of the Wii version?! Don't and won't believe it!
Gimme a tic
http://community.codemasters.com/forum/showpost.php?p=5130624&postcount=11
How do I add an F1 Minute widget to my blog? :)
Christ on a bike...
Very early shots. I wouldn't expect much though, they have said they are going to make sure it runs at a smooth 60fps rather than bump up the graphics so much it starts dropping frames. A wise move if you ask me, frame rate is vital in a racing game.
You know the code for F1 minute on that site, the gadget go to add your own code/xml something like that, then paste the code into there.
Also, I'm pretty sure the shot with the track position graphics and stuff is from the PSP.
did i miss something chris, or did you say something about a blog post earlier?
can't seem to post comments on yer blog scott?
Really? Strange. I'll see what I can do.
I ahd this problem on my blog the other night on blogspot, maybe try changing the settings to make the comment window appear as a popup window. That worked for me.
Ah, I got it - click the number of comments, and at the bottom it has the option to post comments. Or is it something else?
Ah, just tried to post something and nothing happens. Now I see. Maybe I need another template...
Its the settings, as Lukeh says, change to a popup comment box
Done, try now?
I can go to post comments now :)
I'm working on it, I'm working on it. :P I'll post a link when it's up.
ahh cool. ta.
Damn it, I can't change that banner picture scene thing at the top of my blog. Just tried but it didn't work :(
Jaunty up and running. I hope it stays that way :)
upgrade or fresh install?
upgrade
looking at their '95 F1 car....you can tell they make F3 cars....the roll hoop is the same
very brave. why the upgrade out of interest?
because it was there :)
it's only been out for about 4 hours!!
*picks self up from floor for second time this evening*
What happened the first time? Been drinking again?
The engine cover has Champ Car written all over it.
meh. haven't had a drink since last wednesday due to reliance on sudafed.
did i mention i was dying btw?
Didn't they make champ cars?
if it was drink it would be Christine picking him up off the floor :P
Yup, supplied CC right until 2007 when Panoz took over.
I thought you said you were feeling a bit better a couple of days ago?
You are only still dying in the same sense that Gavin is still suffering from the ammonia fumes.
Less than half a million to go
http://www.apple.com/uk/
(That's over 5 million in the last 24hrs)
i am. but i was dead back then. this is an improvement.
once or twice.
get well soon gavin.
Fancy a Sambucca then?
To what? Life support machine? ;)
:D
what are we celebrating.
You want a reason...?
Yeah, you're still unwell
erm, the fact your still alive
you not being dead
:D
That has got to be the post with the fewest characters in it, ever.
the problem with doohickey is i can't quote from three comments. and i couldn't be arsed to move to lclt. it was a global smiley for all.
copy and paste?
rats!
Two buttons at once?
The man's not well, think of the exertion ;)
you know what they say, you learn something new every day.
Hey! Thanks to whoever put up the Season with McLaren video files (and I an guessing it was Flibster - ta matey )
and now to celebrate (and follow a trend - I think the pub!
What time is FP1 tomorrow? 9 isnt it?
:D :D
which timezone?
http://www.sidepodcast.com/2009/04/23/bahrain-schedule/
8am in UK
which timezone? my brain hurts......lol
8am - ta!
quick, whilst christine's not looking... some sidepodnostalgia:
our first ever circuit preview
Kill me now.
bugger.
:D
You're welcome
Wow, you look about 12!
Whichever way you look at it, that's not a compliment. ;)
heeeh!
If thats twelve, I must be six
That looks rather bad written down actually.
what i find interesting, is if you watch last year's preview, although you can see it's much better quality, it's actually less useful to watch now because it's full of references to 2008.
the 2007 video was just a lap, and given the circuit hasn't changed, it seems to have aged better.
It's like a fine wine - gets better with age ;)
That was your idea.
my bad.
No, I didn't..... I'm sure if you.... look at...... when..... with the......
No, you're right, no compliments there.
more from donington on twitter, no idea how reliable but they were correct last time:
"It really sounds gloomy at the moment. Apparently contractors walked offsite 2 weeks ago because of backpay due. Hopefully local devt agency will offer support but whether it can be enough or in time is a different story."
[tweet]
:D
So is Bernie laughing all the way home or will contract move back to Silvy?
If silverstone get the gp back i will eat my hat (its made of chocolate ;) )
either way he's laughing. to quote frank williams from december...
"silverstone don't think they've lost it by a long way."
Bernie says that if Donington doesn't make it in time, he's not afraid of scrapping the British GP altogether.
I wish i could talk to him, he can't say he's pro british gp and then get rid of it
From Autosport article:
"Ecclestone has warned several times before that if Donington Park cannot get the track ready in time for the 2010 race then the British GP will be dropped from the calendar..."
It makes me SO (AUTOSPORT stylé) angry
He's wanted rid of the British GP for years. Giving it to Donington was the perfect way of doing it.
apparently he knew what he was doing :(
F1 2009 trailer now online
Bernie's not stupid
Senile, but not stupid
Well that's a whole load of nothing.
Ditto. What a waste of my 44 seconds.
Almost as pointless as that F1 news show that doesn't know Lola, like why are they there as well?
At least there's a website www.formula1-game.com
was just thinking exactly that :(
it's a better trailer than the bbc's though.
Which is also a whole load of nothing.
them? pah, already unsubscribed.
that really is a pointless website, i hate coming soon websites I WANT IT NOW!
Most games seem to have trailers like that nowadays. We will probably get gameplay footage at E3.
It's quite similar actually.
:D
But thats in June. Like Jon, I WANT IT NOW!
I've signed up to the game site, so any updates will get e-mails straight to me.
The 360/PS3 game in 2010 will be worth the wait. It always is with Codemasters.
The outside developed Wii version? Not so sure.....
But i don't have a PS3/360 or a PC that will support it! BOO
By 2010 it'll be windows 7 only and the PS3 will be almost obsolete :D
Yeah because the PS4 will be out. And the XBOX 720.
Just saying 'hi' in today's daily, before going off to catch up on the last couple...
Hey Pat
May as well call it XBOX Red Ring
Start saving then, 360s are dirt cheap now, let alone next year.
Hah, not a chance!
:(
Well alright, not for another 3 or 4 years.
2
Tops
Blu Ray has no future in a 100MB+ Broadband world
The next Xbox will probably be announced in 2010. It's easy to forget that it's been out for three and a half years already.
(from the 21st but putting it in today's so I don't get told off ;-) )
Just to confirm what others said/suggested, this is a new Blogger-only "feature" which hardly anyone bothers with. I'd recommend FeedBurner instead but I think Google ruined it.
feedburner's fine if you follow the migration instructions. or better yet, just create a new account.
Hello, just bacl online after a busy day .. not had time to check on 400 comments yet :doh: .. who's blog is this?
You need temperature and pressure so a kiln won't cure it properly. He would need either a small autoclave or a hot press. You can pick up hot hydraulic presses for buttons nowadays.
F1 Wafffler....
Its Scotty's blog, Zerodownforce.blogspot.com
Moi's :)
:D
Ah thanks Scott will check in with a comment later .. got to go reassemble my bed (don't ask!)
Fake Buemi:
"Should I get an early night before practice, or chase Seb Bourdais taunting him that he's going to get kicked out soon... hmmmm decisions"
:D
Just came in to say hi.......don't really have anything particular to say.
Howdy :)
Hey Joe
Hi Joe.
Quick thanks to Ollie for those Blogger templates the other day, I shall bookmark and explore later :-)
They were indeed very helpful :)
a bit blue maybe?
Yeha there was a bit of blue in the templates I suppose. Nothing in poarticular.
;)
Blue, really? .. I never noticed ;)
there wasn't a particular one that stood out, no.
What about Scott;s place .. are you going to change the header?
Sorry but right now I think "over the hills and far away, tellytubbies come out to play" :blush:
Less than 100,000 to go.....
http://www.apple.com/uk/
I tried earlier, but it didn't work. :(
Refresh your page, around 40,000
Sorry :(
You are changing at the right place. I mean you might have to change it through the code
Oh yeah!
What do I need to do? I'm no good with code.
Enter without purchase link:
http://www.apple.com/uk/itunes/billion-app-countdown/entryform/
This is an idea, look for where the header links too in the code, create your own image of the same dimensions the current hills picture is, and swap the links over after youve uploaded a new image maybe?
I've done about 10 today and have 5 more tabs loaded up
[max 25 entries per day]
im doing it right now :D
Apple store will sell its billionth app in the next half hour. The lucky person wins loads of goodies
I already made the image, just hosting it on Imageshack.
Just waiting for the right time.
About 5 - 10 mins more like
Actually less, keep refreshing
I thought it was that everyone who bought an app gets entered, not the billionth who wins!?
OK, how does it look now? :D
Niiice, now its the turn of getting rid of that boring Zero Downforce.
Maybe make the text on the FI car bigger?
Oh, 1 billion. That was an anti-climax.
I've got 7k to go.
Damn.
I know, I tried but I have to have a blog name entered so it has to be there as far as I can see.
I hit refresh and it went from 30k to done.
I was expecting fireworks to explode from the side of my laptop and a crowd cheering
Windows fanboys aren't invited, did you not read the small print? ;)
That's it. SO glad I wached it
bahrain preview podcast from christine:
http://www.sidepodcast.com/2009/04/23/f1-digest-2009-bahrain-preview/
Oohh, doing my daily check of James Allen's blog and he has a post about Codemasters revealing details on the F1 game. Didn't know they'd done it already.
I'm not a Windows fanboy, I'm a Mac hater.
Which is exactly the same so I'll shut up
A fanfare at the very least.
Watching?
I was too busy submitting online entry forms :)
MORE? How can I cope with more?
Yup. It's great news if you only have a Wii or a PSP.
Its a good time to own a Wii and a PSP. And nothing else noteworthy.
$10,000 iTunes voucher would buy 12650 songs. Thats mental!
Yep - and some of us aren't eligible anyway :-(
Not that I was particularly bothered anyway, but still ....
oops.
Its Sidepodcast, its all good.
17" MacBook Pro = £1,949.00
Sell iTunes Voucher on ebay for £3000?
I like how Fifa 09 is popular in the Allen home. James certainly mentions it a lot.
Apple employees & their families :(
Does he turn the telly down and do voiceovers.
He shoots
And scores
The crowd....... cheers
Bah, he would be a FIFA player.
A flag raised for offside as the crowd jeer on...
Suggestive language directed... at the referee...
:D
A hand gesture....
"The prize will be awarded for the entry (either through an app download or through the non-purchase online entry) sent immediately following the download of the 999,999,999th app."
:D
I'd hate to be that person
Well the commentary on it is such a disappointment on previous years excellent work (in my opinion of course) that I'd much prefer James doing it. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I'm liking it.
AND WAYNE ROONEY...........SCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORES!
Haha. Elaborate :P
It's got Andy Gray on it, James Allen is lightyears better than him
Store them up and listen when the F1 calendar isn't so crazy.
Pro Evo is better than FIFA. People who prefer FIFA are deluded fools. James Allen plays FIFA.
Thank christ, someone agrees with me on that!
Trust me, I think we're all asking exactly the same thing. This start to the season really has taken it out of me. Never thought I'd say it but thank god it's every 2 weeks from Barcelona onwards.
*weeps*
:(
I stand by my statement.
Can I join you?
I played Fifa up until PES 5 came out, then I played both. After Fifa 07 I was beginning to get fed up of Fifa's same crap, but 09 has got me really playing it again. I've not played a PES since 6. The gameplay for Pro Evo has and I'm sure still is ahead of Fifa, but Fifa's always been ahead on everything else, for me.
Come, let us wallow in the sea of despair now that we are in the same boat as James Allen. :(
Hey, that was you a few years ago.
If I get to punch one person in the face, he would be that man. Thats ahead of Bernie, Max, etc.
And I have Joe to back me up, you could've asked me 3 years ago about FIFA and I absolutely hated it. Now it's turned around full circle.
This is why sidpodsize podcasts are a good thing. They are easy to keep up to date with. I've got 3 x 2h Midweek Motorsport plus the one they did last night. I have no idea when I'll be able to catch up with those.
(turned around full circle with PES and FIFA I mean, used to love PES etc)
Yep, I got bored of the game pretty easily and played Pro Evo on the PSP, which was miles better. Now though, its very good.
FIFA is more realistic, but sadly realism doesn't equal fun. I really tried to like FIFA this year, but after Pro Evo it feels like playing football in treacle.
Fair enough. Like I said, I've not played a current-gen PES, but I'll get the 09 demo sometime. Wouldn't be surprised if the gameplay was still better than Fifa.
this one's kinda time sensitive.
FIFA is at it's best since '98 so in a year or two it will probably be the best. Pro Evo has really stagnated the last few years.
In what way?
Stockroom entertainment for me tomorrow then!
there's not much point listening to a bahrain preview podcast on monday.
The competition's good.Maybe we could do with the same on the F1 front, that did happen in 2000, 2001 and 2002. I'll be happy just to get one game though.
Doesn't bother me.
I find it interesting post-event to hear what was being said beforehand. I'm still seven weeks behind on Autosport magazines, 4 weeks behind on MWM podcasts. As I long as I get the info at some stage I don't mind when it is.
No point, nobody will ever beat Codies when it comes to racing games!
ISI?
that would totally do my head in :)
Ok, console racing games.
Whereas I can't do all of this "must!have!it!now!" stuff. :-)
I agree.
I often listen to 3 or 4 days F1 Minute podcasts in a row. I end up hearing news I already know but I do it anyway for some reason.
I like to listen to a week in one go, largely because I'm not well-drilled enough to listen daily. A whole tonne of news in 7 minutes. :-)
I mean this is the whole point of archiving it, isn't it? Otherwise it would only be online for a day or two.
That, and I think so people can look back in years to come just to wind me up :)
http://zerodownforce.blogspot.com/2009/04/so-you-wanna-be-virtual-racing-driver.html
I can totally see why people go for the now-now-now though. I used to be the same in my F1-only days. Then I started getting interested in other series and found all those team and driver stories just as engaging as F1 and it became too much to follow all at once, it was impossible. So these days I'll take the info when I can. It's all good. It's like hearing a contemporary report of a race 10 years ago, getting the vibe for what was going on as it was, instead of reading a report written yesterday.
i can do looking back over a long period. maybe 3 months or more. but if i didn't hear that digest show before the start of fp1 i probably wouldn't listen. simply because the action has moved on by such a degree.
Only if you watch FP1 live.
i wouldn't miss fp1.
I mean how is it different to reading about the pre-race atmosphere in Autosport the next Thursday? It isn't.
Crikey, Doohickey says I'm on 109 comments today.
that's different because it's written post-race and the writer can thus chose to pick up on certain events, or not. depending on their significance.
I love long blog posts, like James' new one on Thursday in the paddock which I'm reading now.
I'd get rid of those tabs in the header as well, considering they have nothing to do with your site. Just delete em in the code.
I'll go find 'em.
that isn't getting annoying in the slightest.
Sorry. *feels embarrassed*
While I think a budget cap of £30M is crazy, I hope it's not put at a figure which makes potential entrants think "That's too high for us". I know that even if it is at say, 80, it will probably come down. But I want teams in 2010, not 2012.
tis okay. that's why i mentioned it.
kind of like the countdown to 100,000 comments over christmas. you could increase the total by typing...
999,997...
999,998...
999,999...
but that isn't really the point of having a count.
I can't find on the HTML code the appropriate bits to delete to get rid of those links on the header.
Reminds me of a time as a mod, we were close to reaching a milestone and some people, mainly newbies, just posted things like '9434' next one '9435' etc. Its worthless and a pain to delete them, cos its wasting space on a forum specifically about that subject. (Not having a go at you Scott btw, its in general)
Look for what one of the headers say and then find those words
Is it really that off for a 22 year old to be drinking a glass of milk? My housemate gives me an odd look every time I do it.
nope, milk is amazing
odd, I should say
Is this person, say, from somewhere other than the north?
Meh, I wouldn't think anything of it. You're entitled to drink what you like. I suggest you give him a weird look when he's eating Marmite or something, see how he likes it. ;)
depends if you're drinking their milk?
mmmmmm milk
gonna go get me some milk now.
Totally agree, I'll often drink milk on it's own
i like milk and marmite(not together)....does this mean im going to get uber wierd looks?
Yup, another midlander.
That would explain it, but no, it is definitely mine.
Anyone sharing a kitchen at Uni: Put Blue food colouring in your milk, no ones likely to steal it, it really turns tea a very odd colour
Hell no! Perfectly normal in my opinion. Heck, I eat two bowls of cereal a day if I can help. Can never have too much calcium ;)
That, I have to try.
Not necessarily, and it can be useful to look back through the eyes of what we've learned in the race. I mean to take what you're saying to its fullest extent, are you saying we should only listen to the quailfying digest on a Saturday?
what a tip. i might try that here.
...I think.
:D
Yes, you should be swigging it from the bottle.
Well I have always had good teeth.
drop.io the result, please! :D
Budget cap not coming in for 2010?
Christine stealing your milk again?
You are obviously far more of a man than I will ever be :P
Have the FIA said otherwise?
i do yes. but certainly before the race.
Ahh, the good al days, break time at school and the mornin milk
:D
I've lived alone for a long time, haven't I...
I have just watched the old preview vid from Bahrain and I don't remember a single part of the track. It is so totally anonymous that my memory has wiped it completely.
No, I think Joe confuggled me, i don't know if he thought the budget cap was coming in for 2012 or something
Hmm, weird. Mind you, I was back on Race Pro today and yesterday and running round Valencia, I'd forgotten a bit how I used to run it.
No. I'm saying that if the budget started at 80 million, then came down to 60 for 2011, and 50 for 2012, then 2012 would be the likeliest date for these new teams. That's if it started at 80 and it was due to gradually come down.
Which one, the good one or the other one?
The good one.
i remember the marshals from last year. having a chat looking the wrong way as a mclaren slammed into the wall beside them.
the track? not so much.
Alright, got you now. Well obviously as you go along, more people will become intrested. But some will get intrested early on, some when it comes to 2011 etc.
I want that game just to go on Valencia. Sector 3 looks so much fun.
Oh yeah, I remember that! :D
Try taking that right-angled-looking corner in 4th in a WTCC car and cut over the inside kerbing. It sends the car on two wheels sometimes if you do it right :D
I can go through a lap of it in my head thanks to my virtual F1 years. But if you asked me about turn 6, 8 or 10 and so on, I'd be like "Hold on, let me go through it from the start......."
theres a long straight, then a tight right and then a sweep to the left, then a turn to the right, then theres a few flicks, then downhill to the hairpin where dc and jenson had that crash (i think) and then a short straight that goes round to the left, and then a tight left, then another straight, and then another left, big long straight with sweeper-y bits, another right, back onto hte main straight....
all from memory :D boo ya
There is nothing like playing a game on a track for getting to know it. Apart from racing on it for real of course,
Me neither, it has absolutly no character. I know the basic shape of it but that's about it. And that from someone who can drive a lap of any circiut from the past 10 years in their head no problem.
There isn't a good one anywhere remotely near Valencia.
Bahrain track map = Abe Simpson shaking his fist.
!!!
You can't knock the Ricardo Tormo circuit! The street circuit yes, but not the testing venue!
doing it in a big truck is fun too, always get the braking point after the straight verrry wrong
Have you ever watched a race held there?? It's crap.
Definitely. Alonso certainly thinks so. Jenson doesn't.
I do like *thinks through lap* the flik-flaky turns 4 and 5, then downhill to the right of turn 6. Turn 7 is a pretty unique one, you have to get turn-in and braking perfect or you can go straight off easily. There's no mrgin for error........well except for the run-off of course.
I mean, I'm assuming you are talking from experience of driving it in games :-)
Of course, I've had some good races there on Race Pro.
Does he play for Accrington Stanley?
I think there was a quote from him on the box or in the manual of the first game to have the Istanbul circuit about how he had used the game to learn it.
I don't. Maybe if I drink some more though.....
Who Are They?
Yup, he did.
I thought you were a football fan
r.g. how could you possibly know that line??
It's a joke from the 80s
'Acrrington Stanley. Who Are They? Exactly'
Over publicised by Soccer AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgYP1d5nN2o
It's also from an advert from the 80s ish
I saw that y'know ;)
but not originally, surely?
Only if he lies about his age as much as I do
i'm mightily confused if the answer is yes
Of course not. 5-6 years off for that
Interestingly another photo of my BrawnGP hat appeared on drop.io today despite my not sending it. I sent two the other day because the first didn't work. I think it must have got lost on the way.
er, "my not sending it today"
Right, after getting Accrington Stanely way to much publicity here. I shall head off, see ya all tomorrow afternoon
night r.g.
Good night RG
that is just... odd.
PS, enjoy your practice sessions, its annoying when the times become reasonable that school starts again
You're not a fan either then? :D Night
Mine too and it was VERY tricky :-)
It seems to happen when I send two pics from my phone in quick succession. The 2nd one vanishes for a while.
Bah. Internet is playing up again.
Managed to watch Murray's Questions though. And some of the 1998 Canadian GP. That shows just how good Murray was as a commentator.
Not a major problem. I'm somewhat more annoyed at Twitpic for not picking up a single photo I sent from the SPC meet.
A1GP's Team Ireland boss could be aiming for a A1GP race in Ireland:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/7882319.stm
"Can you imagine it, a Grand Prix-style street race in Belfast or Dublin?" he said.
"When you consider the success of the North-West 200, a motorcycle road race, and how popular rallying is in Ireland.
"I think a Monte Carlo-style motor race in the streets of a city here would be terrific."
That would be beyond amazing. I could actually go to that. I think it's not possible though, even with our hosting of a WRC event.
There is a long history of closing roads for racing in Ireland. Stirling Moss and co used to race at Dundrod etc.
With half an hour of the day left, I have managed to write a blog post.
http://snakesonlevelnine.wordpress.com/
WEEEEEEEEEY! :D
nice job :)
I don't understand this Internet thingy. I may have to rely on updates from you all as most of the sites I am trying to access won't let me connect to them. I can get to here and TUAW, that's about it right now.
What other sites do you need?
Well I was enjoying the Canadian GP on JTV, trying to login to Twitter too
Cheers :D
I'm looking forward to a new F1 sim. Might make me dig out the ol' logitech steering wheel, although I don't know how you will control the KERS.
As long as the wheel has a full quota of buttons it will be on there somewhere!
I think it has 2 or 4 buttons. What's a full quota these days - 10 or 15?!
It seems too much money to throw about at the moment, especially with our moronic government. Of course, if it did happen it might not be for 10 years, by which time it should be normal service again.
Too many! 14 on the 360 pad if you include the D-pad.
Hey Giuseppe, just did a time in GRID....suppose someone has to come last.
Cant imagine a race in Dublin, certainly not the city centre. Theres nowhere to have it.
:P
Can't imagine it either myself. The rally was different because Sligo is all boggy and crap and it suits rally. For this though........nice thinking but that's what it will most likely remain as.
Stick the time in when you can:
http://wiki.sidepodcast.com/page/GRID+Laptime+challenge
Here's a question... BTCC @ Thruxton on Sunday - or Goodwood?
if you go to btcc, won't you miss the gp?
Try to make one?
http://wiki.sidepodcast.com/page/Quikmaps
Indeed, do you remember when Peter Collins asked Max about holding a race in the Phoenix Park (now THAT would be good) on telly back in the day?
Exactly.
Oh I'm so going to have to play with that some time...
Watching Murray's Bahrain preview, his pronunciation of Kubica is still bizarre.
Oh dont you worry about the space, Bernie will find some :P
using my phone so just a quick question
what time is FP1 on?
I just realised the reason i wasnt getting any comments coming through on my tab....the 2 spc things werent the doohickey...boo hehe
8am
8am.
:D
Thruxton is by far the easiest circuit for me to get to and I haven't been trackside since September, and BTCC is always a bit of fun particularly now Thompson is back. And Goodwood isn't a race.
BUT the BTCC clashes with the GP and today I collected another pile of homework to do, and Goodwood is very cool.
cheers
on a rather long night out so should be home by then
Try Derek Warwick's pronunciation of Villeneuve and Fisichella in the 1998 Canadian GP commentary
I do love Thruxton, although it was my first BTCC race so that may be why
that is a tough one. are btcc not coming to thruxton twice this year?
for the first time in a very long time...the answer is no...
how annoying is that?
it'd still be goodwood for me.
No that was a one-off. This year they are back to the normal 2 x Brands Hatch, which is bloody miles away!
very, still at brands twice though aannndd, it should be on the GP circuit, although they're likely to change their mind last minute like last year
Wow, James Allen says on Twitter that sandstorms are forecast throughout the weekend. That would surely be a first in the sport. He replied to my question in one of his blog posts too, yay!
Something about hand gestures?
I'm tempted to agree if only because I do BTCC most years and I'm a bit bored of it. I treat it like a snack now. Something to keep me going. The next nearest to me is Silverstone and I'm not in a hurry to go back to that round after seeing it in Sept.
I haven't been to Goodwood for ages but it costs double for one day..
so it was, only in 2007, which was my first year at a race, how wierd, i thought they always went there twice
my tickets came today :)
I wanted to try out the FIA GTs at Silverstone but apparently that's next week (thought it was ages away!). Doubt I'll make it. Never been to a sportscar race.
You guys just don't know how lucky you are!
it is true :) we have the best motorsport scene in the world in uk, lucky us :)
keep reminding us pauli. it's easy to forget.
Great, Internet came back. Went away again. DNS works fine, it's actual data transfer that doesn't. ISP forums also affected. Bah.
For me, Goodwood will be one of those "once in a lifetime" things - if i ever get there.
Okay. You guys are a nice sounding board. :-)
My thinking now is this: After returning to college today post-easter we seem to have nearly double the workload as we had before. Going to races is a really bad idea because I need the time. SO. The extra expense of Goodwood is worth it as a reward to myself, coming as it does 2 weeks after me exams...
ace. i'll see where christine is regards to tickets. i quite fancy a set like lukeh's!
whats special about his?
well it was £96 for just two days... or £108 for all 3... with each day at about £48 or soa ticket, I thought why not, might as well treat myself :)
Me too but I doubt I can do the full weekend. I've never done more than a single day there.
they are tantalisingly close.
it's a fine, fine plan. you also stand a better chance of hitting some decent weather.
Floating in the sea near Rockall?
Man, I hope you guys get some good photos.
floating in a sea of jealously.
:D
Morning everyone.
Did I miss anything? :D
I see I've made up ground on the battle for 2nd most talkative. ;)
These annoying poms are just chatting about all the great events they get to go and see.
Does it help if I mention that I'm not going? I didn't make the Science Museum either.
I hate to be a real, real pain and bring it up again (sort of) but where am I in terms of most talkative? Don't tell me how many I've got though, that'll only start me off again...
Ah well... I may not be able to go to Goodwood or Silverstone, but I least I've been to Singapore and Sepang. ;)
Not in the top five, obviously ;)
I'm guessing Scott is 7th. Just a hunch. ;)
Really?! Had no idea!
I was guessing somewhere around there funnily enough. :D
lou, gavin, lukeh, steven, journeyer, rg, scott.
that's how i'm guessing things are right now.
Happy to be so informative. I've just thought that if every time you post Journeyer replies, he'll always remain ahead of you :D
The talkative list covers 30 days and for most of the last 30 days you have not had a computer so I would have thought you were lower than that.
:D :D
Hahahahaha! Winner! :D :D :D
I have dropped to fourth as Gavin and Lukeh have passed me
Most Talkative
lou (2913)
Gavin Brown (Rubb... (2592)
Lukeh (2586)
Steven Roy (2560)
Journeyer (2426)
But I wasn't around for the past 6 hours, so surely Scott made up some ground there? ;)
he has to sleep sometime.
Hmm Easter holidays making the difference there for those in the education system?
Blimey. Would you look at that... :)
Sleep? What is this sleep? I know not of this strange phenomenon you speak of.
And I'm closing in on ya! :P
I might struggle today, though - stuck with ye olde comments for FP1, and I won't be around for FP2.
Stuck in all day waiting for the elusive UPS collection...
Yes, Bernie, you told us so... Go rub it in.
I don't know how you guys do it. I turn around for 5 minutes and there are 20 new posts!!
Thats my excuse and I'm sticking by it. ;)
It's annoying isnt it :P
I'll be around for both FP sessions for the first time this year, so that gives me a chance to make more ground. No counting though, that gets annoying as has already been pointed out ;)
Amy must be high on the list. She hasn't sllept since the season started
Tis the Sidepodcast Way... Think of it as a chat, and you wouldn't be so surprised with 20 comments in 5 minutes. :D
Just shows that you should never turn away.... Don't blink.
:)
she might be 7th ahead of scott.
Just realized - I have a really high number, considering I was in Malaysia for a week! I can really go for #1 here!
oops. i broke me name.
What's happened there? LOL
:D
Trying to do this at work is a bad idea then......
mouse error.
You and me both. Still can't get rid of that plus sign. Given up now.
i just felt an earthquake. I swear!
tis on me list.
drag the doohickey link into your name box?
"You have moved your mouse. WIndows must be restarted to reflect the change."
was commenting and eating pringles.
never a good combination :P
Mmm, Pringles :D
Since we have had four races in five weeks with most sessions taking place at a time when a lot of us can see them I guess whoever is at the top of the list on Sunday is likely to set a record that may never be beaten.
Im watching Green Wing on dvd... everytime Alan statham appears I see Jumpy McGrumpy... what has that man done to get so deeply threaded into my mind? :(
you raise a very good point.
Commenting and Pringles is the perfect combination.
Both series are still available on 4OD
We thought that of the British GP last year. Where is that now?
Never say never in SPC - things keep going up and up. :D
Struck some sort of nerve I guess. It seems he was behaving like a Consultant Radiologist ;)
ah but only if during the day time, if i ate food now i'd have even bigger sleeping problems...
and talking of sleeping.....
night all
Two and a half thousand comments and I finally made a worthwhile point.
Night Jon.
:D :D
Goodnight :)
And whose fault is that?
And a couple of guest posts, too. :D
Hallelujah :D
that was total comments per thread i think?
Wow, 5 comments all the the same time.
see ya jon.
Normally I would never say a record wouldn't be beaten but 4 races in 4 weeks in those time zones creates an opportunity that will rarely arise.
I remember that day - I got comment #1000 in the race thread :D
true, but it also would've marked a high-water point in terms of comments per person up to that point. we reached 1000 comments with less people than we have now.
Good night Jon
5 in 10 seconds, to be more precise.
seeing as we're on numbers and comments. at some point this weekend, assuming the server stays alive long enough, spc may just break 200,000 comments. half of those will have been submitted since the start of the year.
please, please don't start a countdown ;)
I don't even know what number we're at, and don't want to know for obvious reasons :P
will there be a prize for the 200,000th poster?
ahh yes. interesting thought.
that was pre-live commenting though?
roughly 100000 comments for 2 years and 3 months, then another 100000 comments in 5 months.
That's absolutely unbelievable. :D
nope. but it'll be equally as dissapointing.
We did have live commenting!
Not sure if we already had LCLT or Doohickey though.
Live commenting is the reason for the numbers shooting up though.
That is insane
Sorry - does that mean 100,000 in around 4 months?! HOW! :D
Exactly. :D
If that doesn't show how much of a community we are, I don't know what will :D
It's actually 5 months, but still, that's like 20000 comments - a month!
sorry, yes.
that was what i really meant.
RIght, let's all shut up for a bit then. Next person to comment buys the drinks at the next meet up. :)
How? Because the commenting solutions and the conversations here are incredibly addictive.
righteo... i'll see you guys in the morning for Fp1. :)
night all!
I'll keep talking - it's not like you'll see me anytime soon, anyway. :D
Hey Pat! Looks like you're buying the drinks next time. ;)
Pat's buying :D
We have a winnner!
night lukeh.
I didn't say you had to be there, just buy the drinks.
night lukeh
via Paypal :D
this what the numbers say:
http://drop.io/sidepodcast/asset/nearly-200000-comments-png
6,000 might be a tough ask though?
It's a moot point now, isn't it? :D
see ya lukeh.
I got a round last time! :-)
not even we can do 6000 in a day!
but it can be done by sunday. :)
Not heard of Paypal then? :)
Not based on last week.
i said this weekend? if i didn't, that's what i meant :)
Paypal doesn't approve all payments from the Philippines. Heck, there was a time Paypal refused to accept any of our payments!
You have Manila envelopes though? One stuffed with cash would do at a pinch...
:D
Right, I'm gonna get myself ready for sleep. See you all at 8 tomorrow morning for FP1 :)
Good night, Scott. :)
right journeyer. michael schumacher, a worthy champion? let's discuss.
Quick Journeyer, now's your time to bang in a few quick comments while Scott has his pit stop!
let's go!
michael, worthy? yes, absolutely. :D
Ooh, you ba.........
a few? ha! he won't have a chance by the time i have breakfast! :D
night scott ;)
I can see it now, 3,000 comments with "Oh yes he is", 3,000 with "Oh no he isn't"
=)) I can go on all morning. ;) Even better if Wolf shows up and keeps me company . :)
Yeah but at the rate I comment while you sleep, I'll soon regain that deficit ;)
Nah, I can just reply to each of your comments and make it to 3000. :D
It's Friday night, Scott. I can stay up.
Mwahahahaha!
What a waste... ;)
People will comment while you sleep and overtake you again.
I thought you were going to bed, Scott? ;)
:D
Exactly!
Ooh, you sir have just drawn 'dem battlelines!
I wonder if Steve Jobs is sitting at home right now saying "One Billion Applications" in a Dr Evil style.
we should make sure he's on the panel too. that'll be him tied up for at least an hour.
In the words of Bugs Bunny, "Of course, you know, this means war."
:D
and maybe i should show up as a commenter this week... ;)
Is some kind of conspiracy now? I feel like McLaren... :(
;)
we could make sure the show overruns, just to be sure.
I agree, when he obviously isn't.
Just think of it as us egging you on. You'll find it tough to get past RG for 6th, never mind me. ;)
:-)
:D
Will you have your comment count reduced to zero?
Hahaha! Or maybe we should copy whatever the FIA do to McLaren on the 29th. ;)
39 comments in an hour. Not bad!
it's only fair. journeyer supports the red team.
nice one!
lou and lukeh would be supporting the highlighter team, then? :D
Two women co-hosting. I would have thought an overrun was a certainty
But you're not part of the FIA, are you?
Who are hosting this weekend?
*ducks*
Nope... not YET. :D
LPG does not approve of this comment. Beware Steven, beware.
wise move
You better have a pistol, Journeyer because we are about to duel, brother!...
...after I sleep. Goodnight for real now. ;) :D
well, we're twisting the rules to the detriment of a mclaren supporter. we may as well be.
Is it LPG and Lou hosting?
Steven's found a sparring partner of his own. ;)
can lpg join in the panel this week?
I'm ready...
To shoot ya while you're down! :D Good night, Scott.
then let's put her and steven in opposite teams. ;)
yay! i think it's jackie and lou hosting.
If Scott is the challenger, Journeyer gets to choose the weapon and, I think the location. Intercontinental missiles may be the only practical way of settling this dispute. Or GRID.
Do they know yet?
I'm getting a no here.
ooh, that sounds very cool. worth staying up for, perhaps... :D
this means you, scott. :P
yeah. although i confused them by saying it was the last panel this weekend. it isn't, but they can still do it, and we'll twist ollie's arm for the following sunday.
i'll cry?
that works on men, not women. :P
balls.
what does work on women?
Still no. It doesn't work when DS cries. He won't be available either.
Flowers and chocolates according to one of my female colleagues.
hehehe
Nothing
cupcake?
Morning everyone.
Oh yeah - maybe diamonds.
Bingo!
Indifference does, sometimes. What works on Christine? :D
for a panel show?
morning sean!
how are ya?
good morning sean.
Beer?
Pringles?
LPG can make her own. She's not that keen on Postman Pat either, especially since he went to work at the Special Delivery Service. I mean, how many postmen do you know who deliver single items by helicopter?
i ate them :(
panda?
jeremy clarkson.
christine's mother-in-law stole it for a photo shoot.
Wasn't that Amy?
:D
Amy who admitted she has purchased a new headset. (muhahahahahaha)
ahh yes.
...
noted.
Goodness! Never let any info out here !!
Amy said so herself. She'll join a panel... eventually. ;)
there's only two more until summer!
Something that RG still hasn't worked out.
Mr C, maybe we should have a special Aussie edition of the Panel one week soon, so that Amy, Sean, and our other Aussie friends can join.
There needs to be a show to replace it. Like the News Quiz/Now Show on Radio 4
that sounds like a fine idea journeyer. would that be something like 8am our time?
We could talk about V8s and Holdens and stuff !
doesn't another team come along and make those?
Right, bed time for me. I might see you all for FP1, though there is an equal chance of me rolling over and going back to sleep.
Night all
...
see yay chris.
yup, 8 or 9 am BST.
That's a bit inconvenient for us European fans, though.
They could be the team names but maybe not spend the whole F1 podcast talking about them...
I'd have to buy a new headset for that. One that actually worked...
and I can join that special Aussie edition too. :D
Good point. Same channel though.
holden and ford? lowndes and winterbottom? :D
LOL. Sorry. my internal Aussi coming out.
it'd have to be a special, and it'd have to be when we both have monday off. but we can certainly try.
We do have 888 here.
We can always compromise. 1 PM BST of a non-race weekend? ;)
Don't you guys celebrate May 1?
in that case it could be a sunday too.
Or a Sunday morning our time, if it works for them over there?
nope, and it's a friday?
Wow. That was too easy. No wonder Bernie gets his way out your way.
I was joking, 8am would be just fine for me really.
yup. sunday would always have been the best day. :)
yeah on the nearest Monday, but it isn't "celebrate" any more (the old traditions seem to have gone), it's just "yay a day off"
interesting... it's still kinda celebrated here.
The May bank holiday is on the 4th this year.
Bernie doesn't even TRY to compromise. It's his way or the highway.
Lots of villages and small towns carry on the May Day fetes and things. Maypole dancing, Morris Men...
I see. We'd normally do the same thing, but May 1 is a Friday, so we keep the holiday.
Holiday economics. :D
in the uk?
Holy cow. 1:15am! I'm gone, see ya after work.
You really need to get out more.
Yes.
yes i do!
night pat.
I don't think there's much danger of seeing any Morris men on Rockall - if they tried to dance they'd fall off. Interesting idea :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6plrBzeQK0E
Damn. Internet still won't load much. Frightened to switch off in case the doohickey breaks as well. :(
Heck - My Internet breaks on its own. I'm forced to reload the doohickey because of it sometimes.
you're having no luck this week :(
am now going to sleep dreaming of morris dancers.
(we really need a "comments you never thought you type" wiki page)
My BOFH excuse of the day widget tells me it's because of terrorist activity in the server room - have to remove /bin/laden
ooh, almost forgot... daily post:
http://www.sidepodcast.com/2009/04/24/daily-24th-april-2009/#respond
Hahaha! We could do that...
Night Mr C.
Yes. I think RG might feature on that quite a lot.
At least this time Sidepodcast works and everything else is broken.
My country isn't in the list :(
Commentary on speakers reasonably loud while I go get espresso...
Coffee... need coffee
flow-vis testing again on the McLaren