Uh-oh, it's the dreaded Thursday. Last week I had to stare at pictures of baby panda's all day to make it bearable. If only I had a baby panda, that wouldn't be necessary. Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, F1 discussions:
- Williams have lost yet another sponsor from the end of 2010, in the form of RBS. There's plenty of time for them to find a replacement, so it's not panic stations yet. Frank himself is confident the team will get through these difficult times.
- Force India turned up at Silverstone today, apparently, to run a super-secret, hush-hush shakedown. No news on who was driving, or how they feel the car went, but at least it is something from the team who haven't been seen since Brazil.
- If you haven't read it yet, check out Stuart's guest post on the subject of moaning about F1. It's an interesting topic, and one very relevant to us here at Sidepodcast. I still maintain the rear wings are fugly though!
That'll do for now. Hopefully we will hear more about the Sidepodtrip to the KERS lecture in London throughout the day. Either way, I'll see you in the comments.
I cannot believe how long it took me to get home. I know the others all had further to go, and I shouldn't moan, but I wish I'd taken a right instead 'that' left.
One last thing, for now... Mr C's Panda suit: Incredibly realistic!
Home now too! Phew! I think Me has a long way to go before he even gets to his car!
Yup, I think it may have been quicker If I'd dropped him off on my way to work in 5 1/2 hours time!
I really should be going to sleep soon
Some pics of panadas looking cute, just to make sure your Thursday starts off a little better ;)
http://drop.io/sidepodcast/asset/cute-panda1-jpg
http://drop.io/sidepodcast/asset/cute-pandas-jpg
:D
Home as well.
Pizza on it's way.
Pizza didn't last long. :(
Should have ordered a family size...
Quiet round here tonight
It's 'cos Me is still travelling. :D
That most of my work for today done.
Time for some dvd's and eventually sleep.
morning!
glad ye all got home safely. i travelled back on a ghost train:
http://drop.io/sidepodcast/asset/sidepodghosttrain-jpg
I thought only the queen got a train to herself.
amazing what a panda suit will do to the locals ;)
Ah. Sounds like you had a good trip learning about KERS. With the last show, I think you guys had me turned around about them. I actually had KERS on my mind today with the blog.
To save you the jump, I was thinking about KERS today. Any team that enters the sport now, like USF1, will have a huge advantage when it comes to KERS where they can pick and choose which one has the most success this year. On top of that, since Williams is an independent team, would they allow a new team to be a customer of their KERS system? Seeing their current financial state. I would say yes.
certainly did. very worthwhile. i now have to convince christine that it's about time we covered the subject of kers on the podcast!
i wouldn't be surprised if the team aren't keen to branch out into road vehicles, with the purchase of that company. f1 makes a lovely shop window, but i can't see selling to one more team making a massive difference to their finances.
i shall go read yer blog now. brb.
I completely forgot about the standardization of KERS in 2010.
not a given though.
loving your blogging btw. good stuff.
Thanks. I need to pace myself with this stuff. There are 10,000,000 questions going through my head with all this thing.
you're very prolific, but you're asking quality questions.
I guess the fact that it is a new team from the ground up gives up a lot of questions that have not been asked for a while and couple that with the technology changes and the current economics and you shouldn't be short of stuff to write about. I am enjoying it so far.
how weird is this?
http://twitter.com/google
I wonder how long before they try to buy twitter?
oooh, well, they bought twitter competitor jaiku, but it's still work in progress. maybe they'll figure they cannot build a better version and stump up the money.
Never heard of jaiku. I guess that makes it even odder that they are using twitter.
I bet they make an offer rather soon. Talking to some of the technology guys I know last week about this. Google is in the position that Microsoft was in 10 years ago where they have more money than sense. They can afford to throw money at twitter and a lot of these web 2.0 sites. Twitter would be smart to take an offer it because I don't know how the heck twitter will ever make as much money operating as they would get in a buyout from Google.
long time ago though:
http://sidepodcast.jaiku.com/
(yes we go through microblogging services like they're going out of fashion, what of it?)
Another thing to add. It does help that Google is doing this expansion in a recession rather than when Microsoft tried to do it during the height of the recent boom.
what about a buyout from facebook?
i think you're right though, the company are in a similar position to the microsoft of old, if not more so.
yup, tis true. i think google prices it's products better than microsoft anyhow, it's just we appreciate it more right now than we did previously :)
i must sleep.
catch you all in the 'morrow.
Good night.
I'm off to.
dan, you're in charge :)
That owner of Facebook is interesting guy. My jaw dropped when he refused that buyout from Google a year or so again. I don't know how these 2.0 social sites make money. I can see how it is helpful for Google because they can tie it into all of their efforts. For an independent start up, I don't know how they can refuse.
Apart from anything else any of these social sites can go become unfashionable very quickly and be worthless.
Will do. I will take the rest of the evening and talk to myself while I am making spaghetti, meatballs from scratch with a nice sourdough baguette, and a apple/peanut/spinach salad. I am trying to figure of the wine to have with it as I type.
look forward to finding out in the morning :)
For those on the edge of your seats.
A Kiona Estate Bottle Sangiovese.
A good wine from a great family. I'm off to eat. Adios / good night.
it is amazing how the same story can sound with a different headline
Williams press release:
RBS Confirms Plans for F1 Sponsorship
F1GPUpdate (and many other sites):
RBS to end Williams sponsorship
F1Live
RBS to exit Formula 1
Williams is spinning it to make it seem positive or neutral. The media don't really care much for that, except when it suits their own needs.
Thursdays - blech! I'm always tired as it's the day after Danish lessons :-(
Anyway, here's a link to cheer up Lukeh and Lou:
Honda preparing to test 2009 car
W00t!
Then we could all have had a pizza the action...
Hark at your cynicism! But, er, yes.
Ollie has written a brilliant post on Elio De Angelis - Go and read it now!
Stoddart sceptical of U.S. team's chances
I guess he's still bitter about the Minardi thing. What has he done since he left the sport? To be honest, I don't miss him much as he just seemed to whinge a lot :-(
On the Jaiku vs Twitter. And why Google is looking at twitter despite owning Jaiku:
http://www.jaiku.com/blog/2009/01/15/were-going-open-source/
Morning all.... Hope those of you who could go to the IET thing last night enjoyed it... I was done over by a lack of a late train back and not quite being rich enough to afford a hotel in London :(
We were looking out for you... but with not knowing what you looked like we were a bit stuck!
We need some sidepodbadges, don't we?
Ooooh.
The Browser could not open the page http://www.usf1.com because the server is not responding.
Good start
The Mirror (that hotbed for F1 news) reports that a £120m deal has been agreed, lead by Ross Brawn.
I wonder if Brawn ever regrets the day he put down his fishing tackle and came back to F1?
I actually have a sidepodbadge! But I forgot to wear it.
It says that Honda rejected a deal from Virgin, what the hell? We're getting all these random tales now of Bernie's deal being rejected, Virgin's deal being rejected, etc
Although both claims came from sensationalist media newspapers of course. We'll just see if this has any truth behind the story I suppose, I'm sure a deal is at least near completion but getting an actual factual truth about this deal from a trusted source would be nice :P
KERS Lecture?!!
Where did you get access to that?!!
Aw Shucks.............
It's the mirror. Get another source to confirm it first before believing it...
I know, like I mentioned they're just sensationalist newspapers. It just made me smile seeing another supposed buyout get 'rejected'.
never heard of it :)
Force India turned up at Silverstone today, apparently, to run a super-secret, hush-hush shakedown. {original entry}
So secret that even Force Fan's sources in the team didn't tell us anything (apart from a very vague hint that we might see the cars earlier than expected). Considering how short of F1 news we've been, I'm surprised they've managed it without Sidepodcast hearing in time to send "me" over there. Even McLaren didn't manage that...
ace, will do in two seconds.
sorry kris :(
thank you for bringing it to our attention though.
kris told us in the comments :)
news to me, but i've yet to find a way to take pictures at a private silverstone test, so even if i knew i doubt i'd have made the trip.
good to hear the team are making progress though :)
(yes we go through microblogging services like they’re going out of fashion, what of it?) {Comment #25}
Apparently there's a new up-and-coming one called Yammer. It's still in beta mode, but Computer Weekly already rates it...
*sneaks away whistling*
it is amazing how the same story can sound with a different headline {Comment #37}
After hearing the report on BBC Radio Four, I checked the story on the internet and had to calm her down with, "Don't worry, they are staying for the rest of the contract and therefore will only leave in 2011". Mum had been under the impression they were quitting mid-contract at the end of the year and she has a soft spot for Williams...
Make tens or hundreds of millions and spend the rest of my life on the F1 circuit? So call me a sellout. I don't care - I'm rich!
i wouldn't call them a sellout if they did that. in some ways i wish google would buy them, at least they know how to scale :)
Lame!! Should've mailed me!
I can't juggle work, girlfriend, band, and 24/7 Sidepodcast!! something has to give
Hun...pack yr bags lol
sorry, but email's very 1990's. it doesn't even refresh in realtime :D
hehe. is there anything we can do to make comments easier to keep on top of?
We need some sidepodbadges, don’t we? {Comment #47}
You could make some by putting your logo on some Cafepress badges and selling them in your shop. Maybe even have some basic stores only accessible to yourselves that add "Mr C" and "Mrs C" underneath.
Do my job and let me take the wages? That way I could 24/7 all the time!
I think there are some, actually. Cafepress is good but slow, I think we got bored of it.
http://www.cafepress.com/sidepodcast.109474557
that is a very old logo!
Don't know if Lou wants to hire out a helicopter for next week, but Honda will be present at Silverstone in a shakedown of their new motor (with Mercedes engine).
w00t!
http://forums.mactalk.com.au/10/67630-bacon-pizza-burger.html
Honcedes anybody? :-)
:D woot!
how much would a helecopter be?
so... when am i hiring the helecopter for next week?
Another good example today:
Drivers happy to pay superlicense fees - Raikkonen
F1 Technical
Kimi: It's the price the drivers object to
Planet F1
The nice thing, though, is that if you join the two headlines together you have the entire story.
That I don't know. Couple of days apparently then they'll be attending the full team test in Barcelona on 9th March.
Chopper costs per hour? About £700. Start saving!
hmm... okay. i don't live close enough to just pop down on the off chance unfortunatly :(. but if there is word that they are there on one day and may be their the next i may well do.
... er... i could ask dad.. but he's already paying for my laptop to be fixed lol. :)
I have about £30 on me. Will they negotiate? :D
we could give them a free plug?
Thanks for the link Gavin, that was a nice surprise. :)
No probs Ollie - Posts like that need to be linked here as they deserve to be read - and it was a very good read :-)
I posted a link to a story in Autosport this morning - but I guess it was too early for most of you guys ;-)
How did I miss that, I read through the comments this morning as well
Sorry Gavin :(
He has been running a team in Champ Car. At least he was untill champ car folded.
We may not 'miss' Stoddart much - but he does talk some sense, plus he winds Max up :)
So the current stories are Honda are going testing, with a Mercedes engine, having been bought by Brawn and others *including Schumacher* and that Barrichello and not Senna will drive...
I just can't believe how apathetic I am about it...
No, it's ok - I was surprised that it was missed - but then it is hard to spot if someone posts early and someone tries to read through later.
Is there any chance that some functionality could be added so that comments with links (or just links) are displayed separately for easier viewing?
I agree. He did rabbit on sometimes, but it made for great viewing when Max was forced to respond. :)
erm... most rumors say that Senna, not Barrichello, will drive.
There is a story on Crash.Net that basically says that Senna will not be driving as he brings no money and it will be Barrichello instead. The team is in revolt and the management (which may not include Nick Fry) has to prove that they have the money by the weekend so Mercedes can give them engines.
But how reliable is Crash.Net especially considering all the rumours about Brackley?
I have a suggestion: can we do a links box in the doohickey? The links box will display a list of links inputted by users. We just input the link and our note/comment, and then the box will display your link for 24 hours.
Not sure how feasible that is, though.
Actually FWolf posted the link before you :)
The BBC's source said that if they go testing, their future is safe. The Crash.net source is somewhat implying that this isn't necessarily true. Do I understand that correctly?
very interesting but I'm not sure how reliable or correct this is at the moment, it's still from 'sources'. Then again, didn't Petrobas recently say they wouldn't commit themselves to Formula One or am I going mad?
I really hope Rubens gets a drive but I'm not expecting it. There's still s much in this Honda story that really needs to be confirmed by someone from the team to stop all this 'so and so's sources' saying this and that.
So he did. It proves my point though - the story was posted twice and it was still missed by the die-hard Honda fans!
I like it. Is it too difficult to do this? Maybe something just as simple as the doohickey showing a post with a link in it by highlighting the whole post in a different colour (similar to what happens when you 'mouse over' a post)...
hmmm, nice idea, will give it some thought.
the problem is, we're more keen to learn what people think about a link. rather than simply being an echo service for existing news sites. by highlighting comments with just links in them, we'd be encouraging the wrong approach.
soz, just replied to gavin's idea before i read this one.
both seem to be along the same lines. is there much call for this then? it doesn't seem like a great way to encourage conversation, but we're open to trying it.
hehe!
But then, it would have to detect if the post has a URL in it. Not sure how feasible that would be, either. Which was why I was thinking a link box would be more feasible.
Also, even a specially highlighted post can get buried under hundreds of other, newer posts, whereas a link box would be at the top of the page.
When's the next Sidepodchat?
I only found out it was on when it was far too late :-(
Good Autosport this week, all the news is obviously 'old' to us by the time it's printed but the there's a few good articles in there this week.
not planned for a while. we're doing sidepodpanel soon though.
Kwool Kwool, count me in :-)
actually not too difficult.
if it happens it would have to be at the bottom of the page, along with the other stats. just because there's limited room on the iphone/g1/other mobile devices.
if the list was at the bottom, would that still work?
nice one, we'll start a wiki list soon then.
It just proved the point that it's easy to miss :-)
Count me in too!
i'm in no doubt that people miss some comments. but we did suggest an alternate solution a while back...
it'll take a while to come to fruition, but when you post a link on digg, it checks if the topic has already been discussed recently and suggests it might be a duplicate if it has.
you could go further and ask "do you have anything to add this?"
we had a simple system running, but it's easily confused if you quote a link someone posted earlier. you can't filter out all 'blockquotes' either because not everyone uses them, and sometimes they screw up.
to us, that would be the ultimate solution, but still a long way off. i'm really not convinced there should be an option to link dump any old page though, especially because the next thing you'll want is a way to rank them by authority / popularity etc.
it might be an idea for a whole new site i guess, but there's already one out there that does that... called digg ;)
I've never caught on to Digg or Del.ic.ious. How and why are they used, and how does SPC use them in conjunction with the website?
I'm not bothered that people didn't quote my link - what I don't like is that it was too hard to see for those I intended it for (the Honda fans)...
http://www.planet-f1.com/story/0,18954,3213_4976487,00.html
The story claims that Schumi was asked to save Honda.
Kathi, have you seen any stories in German and/or from the Cologne Express (quoted source) that confirm this?
Not a chance. I am always trying to get serial linkers to expand on the story.
Can you elaborate? Are you referring to spam linking or people who just post random links or something?
I don't like a comment to simply contain a link, or a headline. I have RSS feeds, I can check news easy enough.
I want to know what people think of the story, how it affects F1, whether it's good news, bad news, what it means to the person sharing the link in the first place.
we were using delicious for both f1m and spc, but it's a bit antiquated now. they have really kept up, and we may have to code something that suits us better.
digg is good, but f1 doesn't get a large enough look-in. mostly it's a geek audience, but a crash video might feature highly.
For example:
http://sidepodcast.com/2009/02/26/daily-26th-february-2009/#comment-200789
This is all good.
Ahh that's why a BBC link I tried to include in a post about Lewis wouldn't work.
Couldn't see the post yet when I resent it wordpress was giving me an error message - saying mutliple comments detected
I get it now. For me, that's the essence of posting here - so we share thoughts and opinions on the stuff that happens in F1. Else, we are just another RSS feed like you said.
Plenty more where that came from ;-)
In which case, does it really matter if a link is posted twice? As long as the discussion continues?
It doesn't matter to me as long as the link is seen by those it is intended for. Multiple posting is fine as long as, like you said earlier, a thought or opinion is attached.
I have a technical question:
I've been reading Martin Brundles guide to driving his best cicuits corner by corner (Detroit, Silverstone, Melbourne etc) and although it's quite in depth and very 'techie' I understand most of it better then I thought I would..until today.
What is V - Max? Is it the rev limit? I know it sounds silly but he specifies all through the book about being at the rev limit at certain points during a lap with no mention of V - Max. He says Silverstone is great because you can reach V - Max five times in a lap. Surely that can't be the rev limit because they'd come close to that when changing gear and i can't think of 5 points on the circuit where the car would be in Top Gear with no room for more revs.
Confused!
He does mention that Power vs Torque = the square!!.......
just trying doohickey in safari 4 beta (windows). coverflow history is a godsend. might be my new favourite browser.
Maximum Velocity? If he is talking about the old Silverstone, then "V-Max" could be easily achieved in one of the Turbo cars he drove...
I thought that but it seems too obvious!
I always suggest the too obvious!
On the internet all you can find is articles on the Yamaha V-max!!!
Grr..... bikes
Perhaps it was a track day and he kept hitting motorcyclists.
If the V-Max is the bike I am thinking of, then thats a real beast!
Hmmm 10 points extra for those with a sidecar or 'go faster' leathers
Ha my g/f will kill me soon, her family are mad into bikes and think F1 is going round in circles.
Tut
Vmax is defined as the maximum initial velocity of the enzyme catalysed reaction under the given conditions. It is the limiting value that Vo approaches as the substrate concentration approaches infinity
just found that definition, maybe it's the maximum amount of actual power being extracted at any one time not rev's?
Story in Cologne Express:
http://www.express.de/nachrichten/sport/motorsport/schumi-sollte-honda-kaufen_artikel_1235133964512.html
Willi Weber confirms that schumacher was approacher but they weren't interested
*approached
Basically he used the interest in Honda at the moment to remind us about Hülkenberg
who?
:D
I think it would be when the force being applied to accelerate is balanced by frictional forces so there is no net acceleration, like when something falling reaches terminal velocity.
Now that sounds more like it!!
Thanks Al
Lewis has been training with the guys for Comic Relief. Another sign of the BBC cross mentioning F1!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7912103.stm
There's a good video of him on the BBC sports pages of him accpeting a Blue Peter badge, okay so the presenter is so PC it's annoying but still I think those that heckle Lewis all the time about personality etc will think he did alright.
they are pushing it really hard aren't they?
i didn't get a chance to catch up yesterday, but i think they've made a good descision re:gp2 and all this focus on f1 is exactly what we want from them.
my one fear is that they'll push it hard for the first couple of races and then it'll tail off into the background, once something else comes along or bernie stops paying attention.
What did he do when he was in the sport? Whinge a lot.
V-Max is maximum speed (velocity)
It's also a bike I once had to test ride for a magazine, and which was so patently absurd that a white van driver took the trouble to wind down his window and lean his head out so that he could scream with laughter at me...
Don't worry, the Champ Car guys couldn't stand him either.
I've actually warmed up to Lewis a little bit over the last year. He did do a lot of growing up in the last year. People seem to forget the he is still what... 23?
Ah yes. That's the one. Did said articles mention what a prat you look like if you have to ride one?
Well, it's enough to get anyone Tremayning.
Why wouldn't Brundle just say at max speed/top speed etc!! V-Max seems a bit ott!!
Just googled it - I don't like many bikes - but that one is hideous!
If Mr GMM had half a brain then he'd be able to write an analytical piece on that theme instead of churning out an "X says Y" story.
The most embarrassing bit of the whole experience was when I couldn't find where you were supposed to put the fuel in. The fuel tank is a dummy: real one is under the seat, or something. Awful contraption.
For real?
That's be enough to put off bikes for like
Rossi??? Never heard of him
Yamaha designers obviously has some bad Fugu that day...
He has a habit of using phrases that he would use with his engineers. I don't know if it is done out of habit or whether he does it so that we will understand more of what we hear during race coverage.
I know nothing about bikes but I am sure they do that on racing bikes to lower the centre of gravity.
there was another one in there I quite liked
'When applying power the square equals torque'
Something like that!!
Conjures up images of computer printouts with power curves etched into them
In fact i'm home in 30 mins so i'm gonna dig that book out and hopefully somebody will understand what Brundle means!
That sounds like complete cobblers
It's more then likely my lame memory confusing the phrase, Mr Roy I shall get back to you!
Pitpass is saying that Honda Japan has given the all-clear for the MBO. Honda will help out with funding within a 1-year window, after which, they're on their own.
http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_news_item.php?fes_art_id=37116
we knew it was coming :(
"Instead of a white groove, the tyre's sidewall will now feature a green band, not only making the softer compound distinguishable to spectators, but also signifying Bridgestone’s continuing support for the FIA’s Make Cars Green campaign."
guh!
way to ruin the lovely liveries bridgestone. we needs us a "bring michelin back to f1" facebook group, asap.
http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2009/2/8961.html
Phew, there's no need to worry about global warming now that the cars have green strips!
The green is totally unecessary and looks out of place. What's wrong with a white strip?
Why, Bridgestone, why? I mean, I know you want us to look at your tires, but this is ridiculous.
A white sidewall would've been brilliant. This... this is just meh.
i guess it's not as eco?
the problem is the fia is diluting all the good work they are doing, by pitching this ridiculous greenwash at us.
Ey, Paul Stoddart rules. Might have owned the team for only the last 5 years of it's tenure, but he was a character. Sure he moaned a lot, and still does, like Jackie Stewart, but I'm a big fan of Paul anyway, he's one of my favourite guys from F1. Does he still run that airline?
And I want that Brundle book. Saw it a few years ago but for some reason didn't get it, bah.
"meh", doesn't cover it. that's gotta be deserving of a "blah!" at the very least :)
They want us to LOOK at their tyres. I guess the end justifies the means for them?
makes me want to look away.
I have cleared the next weeks panelists page on the wiki so anyone who wants to be on the recently announced sidepodpanel add your name to the list.
http://wiki.sidepodcast.com/page/Next+Week's+Panellists
meh, bah, blah... yah. :P
Oooh, I'm the host aren't I? I think anyway, confirmation requested.
but you won't be able to resist, just to see how ugly they are.
You would have thought the toothpaste stripes in the grooves would have convinced them that green didn't work. Apart from anything else it seems a bit insane to say some of our tyres have green on them to highlight our environmental credentials while others don't. If someone was of an environmental bent you might raise the question of how environementally friendly it is to make and ship two different compounds.
confirmed. not sure if we have a date confirmed mind you, but please prep yourself some early-bird questions :)
you might, yes :)
I guess if you fill in the box everyone will assume you are.
Just don't blame me. :)
Cool. I need some Well Loved Number 1 Sport Podcast Witty Show Chit Chat Points Scoring Hosted by A Irish Liverpool Fan, to listen to for inspiration
Are you doing a Des O'Connor style song to close the show, don't you owe us one?
Oh crap. Its never been done on a SPP before.
Oh wait.
Lead the pack RG, your audience requests it - nay, needs it
How to run an F1 team the Paul Stoddart way:
(1) Buy a backmarker team and use it to promote your airline
(2) Hire a couple of good drivers, but mostly crap ones that pay
(3) Don't look for sponsors - just whinge that F1 costs too much and you cannot develop a car in time before next season within the new rules - and then miraculously turn up with one that does
(4) If the other teams choose to make a stand against the FIA, stand with them in solidarity before going back on it at the last minute. Then claim the sport has been brought into disrepute (even though you helped it along)
(5) Whinge about the guys that run it at every opportunity
(6) Sell up when someone shows $$$ at you, join a failing racecar series and further destroy the team's heritage by being even more crap. Make sure your original F1 team does well just to make you look even more stupid.
(7) Lose your airline and the team and then just whinge from the newspaper columns that the sport is run badly and you won't return until things change.
Success! Easy money when someone wants an opinion that requires a bit of 'doom and gloom'.
How do I do it?!!!!
Mr Roy the quote I was on about earlier reads like this (Brundle is talking about entering Becketts corner)
"There is an old saying in Formula 1 that an F1 car will drive across a ceiling at 150mph because the downforce exceeds it's weight. That curve rises steeply to the square of the speed. If you then put the car into a 20mph headwind you'll get even more downforce"
Square of the curve? what?!!! Am I being really dumb about this?
:)
He is saying that the downforce increases as the square of the speed, so if you double the speed the downforce increases to four times what it was.
I would sign up but I think you guys would shoot me because I wouldn't shut up about that American team and how much I love Peter Windsor now.
I'll save you the annoyance.
Let's see:
Alonso - 2x World Champion
Marques - pay driver
Yoong - pay driver
Webber - podium finisher
Wilson - points scorer (successful in ChampCar)
Verstappen - podium finisher
Kiesa - pay driver
Baumgartner - points scorer
Bruni - pay driver
Albers - points scorer (albeit in USA 2005)
Friesacher - points scorer (albeit in USA 2005)
Doornbos - points scorer (successful in ChampCar)
All things considered, most of his drivers had at least some talent.
Is this USA 2005? I think the team at fault here was Jordan/Midland. When Minardi backed out of the deal because Jordan went racing, the teams understood. Midland? Less so.
Stoddard had always said that he couldn't own the team forever; if there was someone who could better fund the team in the long-term, he would sell. In fact, he was really proud of how STR won Monza last year.
Spot on
Cheer Al
The Speed vs Downforce Curve (on a graph)
e.g.
If downforce at 100 mph equals 1000N, at 200mph it's 4000N
The word curve is just causing confusion. Effectively the downforce increases at the square of the speed. 2 times speed gives 4 times downforce. 3 times speed gives 9 times downforce.
Sign up Dan. The more varied opinions and answers the better.
Stoddart arrived in F1 with his mouth open telling us about all the great things he was going to do and left with his mouth open telling us all the outside reasons that prevented him doing them.
WHen he arrived at Minardi they were the worst team on the grid and when he left they still were. Apart from keeping them in business he achieved nothing.
I am baffled what he has done to deserve the fans he has.
Must be Brundles way of writing, the books called 'Working The Wheel' (I'm sure some of you probably have it). Well worth a read. Found it for a penny on amazon.
seconded. also i still think usf1 is a big bag of hot air, so you have to tell me why i'm wrong :)
I bought it and read it when it first came out. It is a really good book.
open, mostly honest, approachable.
given that he basically agrees with all of your criticisms of max and bernie, i'm amazed that you're not his number one fan?
You either love him for the person he was, or hate him for being the same way.
Sorry to go all Football here, but Neil Warnock, I love they guy, but some absolutly hate him because of the way he whines all the time at refs and stuff.
I think I can help with this one.
The crucial statement is That curve rises steeply to the square of the speed. - this means that instead of downforce being linearly related to speed, downforce increases at a sqaured rate as speed increases (imagine a curve something like half of a parabola).
Let's be simplistic here and say that downforce can be modelled using y=x^2, where y = downforce and x = speed.
Therefore, in this example the downforce at 150mph would be 150^2 = 22500 Units. If we add 20mph the downforce generated would be 170^2= 28900 Units. This means the difference in downforce would be 28900-22500 = 6400 Units. So the faster you go, the chances of sticking to the track are far better.
I know I'm being simplistic here but the point is that the reason wings work so well is because a small increase in speed equals a far greater amount of downforce. It also equals a far greater amount of drag, which is why a 750-ish horsepower F1 car cannot go faster than 350km/h unless you do what BAR did and knock the wings off (and even then the car only did 400kp/h). Put that engine in a streamliner body and I wonder what it could do...
And yet I think he's awesome because he coached the Mighty Notts!
I meant as in an outsider who to a team he never managed.
The thing that bugs me about him is that he was someone who was supposed to understand racing when he arrived in F1 and raised a lot of people's hopes when he bought Minardi and delivered absolutely nothing.
i can see that. i like that caused a couple of minor riots and that he had an armchair you could drive.
There may be a clue to this answer later this evening bu that is all I am saying.
But surely its a big ask to get a team like Minardi in to the midfield and points regularily with the short space in time he had the team.
f1 goes all jean michel jarre:
http://drop.io/sidepodcast/asset/codemasters-f1-screenshot-pitlane-jpg
(for scott mostly, means nothing to me ;) )
I liked that chair. How cool to have a converted airline chair and all that space to drive it in. Now if only there had been 20 of them and a track.
Vienna? :)
It is bu that is not what he said when he bought the team. He was going to achieve so much with it and really invest in it.
I like the effect with the crane.
:D
:D
:D
there's a couple more in the drop. i'm kinda more excited about mario kart though to be honest. more my level!
The thing that naggs me is that I am a little bit in the same boat. I don't think it is hot air, but maybe lukewarm air. I've come to the conclusion that the Tuseday launch was basically an informercial about the team for potential investors.
I still don't know where the money is coming from. I don't know how they are going to build a decent chassis from scratch in 9 months. i don't know if they can draw enough people from Panzo, Penske, and others to make it work. As a concept I think it will work and I want it to work because I loved everything I've heard so far.
The Donnington comparision is apt. I see the shovels moving, but I don't see the paychecks clearing of the guy doing the work. At least not yet.
Mr C, that panda suit must've been pretty hot on the tube last night
What time did you get home?
ooooooh, more laser scan stuff for the F1 game...
That's very cool. Yes, I know that's geeky, but blah!
Is that not Ultravox rather than Jean-Michel Jarre or is my brain not getting enough oxygene?
that's what scott said, what am i missing?
My gues is Sergio Rinland has started drawing the car but you cannot wrap yourself in the flag then say the car is being designed in Spain.
(This)
Ahhhh Vienna!
Went over my head like I was a midge(t)
good call. please be on the as-yet-to-be-determined-when-it-happens-panel.
He owned an airline. He bought Minardi in early 2001. Then September 11 happened. The airline industry tanked. All of a sudden, he had a LOT less money than planned.
:D
2:06, after a rather spooky train ride.
Mario Kart y'say.
How many quesions is the limit, cos at this rate, with Honda, USF1, Donny, Predictions for the upcoming season, the odd hilarity question and a few other lighter stories.
Think of an achitecture scanning an area for building something or studying the landscape etc, by using laser scanning, you can get a 3D image of an area with the relief by surveying what's being studied in a huge amount of detail; by the looks of things Codemasters (the guys behind the upcoming Formula 1 game) are laser scanning the tracks to get the finest details such as bumps on the track for example into making the game as realistic as possible
Which would be fantastic! They have a rich history of racing games too which is good. Sadly it's not F1 meets the matrix despite the looks of these laser scans :P
more the merrier, but i guess there will be more tick-tocking as the night goes on :)
An architect, even. I'm not sure why an achitecture would be doing the work..
I saw the ghost train pic
I once fell asleep on the tube from Heathrow
Woke up at the other end of the Picadilly line, Cockfosters.... on the last train. Doh!
i can kinda see, but, there's not a huge amount of detail in there? the track looks flat?
Aye, I'll be assuming I'll have a school day after, so it'll have to be quick or earlier.
Early stages in development?
Awesome Stuff Journeyer! You have to admit though, not many of these drivers did well while they were at Minardi though, did they?
My opinion of these drivers:
Alonso - 2x World Champion
Legend. But only there because Briatore paid Stoddy to give him a go and then took him back ASAP.
Marques - pay driver
Useless, races in some Brazilian Stock car series
Yoong - pay driver
Oh my God! This guy can just crash ANYTHING! Possibly one of the worst drivers out there, but backed by the Malaysian government so won't go away!
Webber - podium finisher
Drove heroically to sixth place in a knackered car - but this was the 2002 Australian GP where Ralfie took out 12 cars, so I think he may have been close to last. Seriously though, Webber hasn't performed as well as most of us expected him too, and he has the worst luck ever!
Wilson - points scorer (successful in ChampCar)
Too tall to be a racing driver and didn't beat Bourdais - a journeyman racer lost to Indycar.
Verstappen - podium finisher
Hahah! "I am an artist, and gravel is my canvas!" - Even my F1-mad Dutch mate really thinks he's rubbish - he strangely only got good when he started sportscar racing.
Kiesa - pay driver
Awful driver, dire commentator, won a celebrity Ice dancing program in Denmark.
Baumgartner - points scorer
Races in Superleague Formula. That's like, 3rd or 4th Division!
Bruni - pay driver
Gimmi Bruni - now a Ferrari F430 sportscar driver. He's ok, I guess.
Albers - points scorer (albeit in USA 2005)
You mean the one who drove away with the fuel hose attached? In DTM he's so bad they gave him a 2-year old car!
Friesacher - points scorer (albeit in USA 2005)
Hmm, don't know much about him other than he got injured testing the new A1GP. Hope he gets well soon...
Doornbos - points scorer (successful in ChampCar)
Ah, Mr. Doorknobs. Can only get a drive in Indycar. When a driver moves to Indycar/NASCAR, it is because they have given up on Europe. He has a good ride in the Newman Haas team but the skill level in Indycar is just not that great these days I'm afraid...
So a real mixed bag here, but it just goes to show not all F1 seats are worth having if your plan is to stay in the sport!
we don't know when these were taken, it could be an initial laser scan early in development for all we know. They don't realy show a great amount of detail there but as far as I know, laser scans still provide a massive amount of detail
Studied it a bit in uni but not in huge detail so im pretty rubbish at explaining it :)
no worries. what you're saying is that the fact they're using laser at all, is a good thing?
Never got the nickname 'Jos the Boss', as far as I'm aware, he never bossed anywhere.
Yeah it's definitely very good. Plus they used Spa in a game that came out last year, the fact they're restudying the track shows that they're not being lazy about it too.
Have a good few spare questions in case the answers to the planned questions are quicker than you expected or incase one topic strays into another and knocks out one of your questions. Far better to have a list of questions you never ask than to be struggling for something to ask.
Ah, thank you for the hint mate
For me, that has been their biggest mistake so far. By putting out that American centric stuff, they’re going to look like hypocrites when they hire Rubens as a driver, or have contracts with European firms. Its' going to happen. I can already see Jeremy Clarkson doing the whole, "yeah, but the real talent for this came from the UK" thing.
I think it is a little bit of a misreading in marketing. I think they came up with this concept to get more American companies involved. The thing is, that I think they would of gotten the companies like Boeing, Microsoft, and the likes regardless. I know both of these companies extremely well. You don't sell to these people on a concept of pride. You sell it to them based on how the demographics and people involved in F1. For Boeing example, they would love to find an in with Kingfisher Airlines of JV. Sell them that. Microsoft is working on how they are going to respond to Apple sucess with mobile devices. Talk about how F1 viewership demographics and how this is the same people who buy these devices. Sell them on what it can do for them, not on any feelings.
That reminds e I was listening to TWIT earlier and Steve Wozniak is doing that in the States.
I know, will he be on his Segway, I wonder?
I remember the first time I saw an Intel Inside sticker and thought to myself these people are clueless they are selling to end users when their customers are the computer companies. Of course now many people will only buy Intel even if they have no idea why.
I am surprised Boeing haven't followed that model.
His intro to his partner is on a Segway
you are making that up?
Airbus sold more than Boeing last year I think
Nope. Apparently he turned up on it and told her that they had to use it on the show. She was a little upset until he explained he was joking.
two kids almost bowled me over with offroad segways today. Man those things can go!
Boeing need me then
the man's obsessed :)
I had one but they made me give it back at the end of the night :(
Silly of me to forget!
Davidson - mediocre driver; not really a pay driver, but he never got to score a point.
:D
He has lost 25 pounds and cancelled almost all of his appointments for the run of the show.
He also pointed out that Mark Cuban had calculated that even if he gets no points from the judges but gets 6% more of the public vote than anyone else he can still win. Leo spent the next ten minutes repeating that he didn't want the geeks to hack in and rig the vote. He wasn't very convincing.
hahaha.
A bit off-topic here, but I wonder if you guys can help me.
I have a friend who keeps complaining that all he sees on his wall are my Facebook posts. What can I do to stop this from happening?
Stop posting.
He needs to go to his 'wall' settings and deactivate the updates
Or, you can stop yours from being shared publically
Or that :D
No. Never!!!
maybe FB is telling you that you need a blog?
Am thinking that Sidepod Towers are about to release some wikkid blogging software with all this talk ;)
hehe. if only we had the time :)
Yup. The delays in the 787 line are killing them. It not even for technical reasons either. Boeing has had three killer strikes that have absolutely cripped the program. It is nice to see my home state of Washington is turning into France.
Not on 'the list' then?
:)
Apparently, the airlines are getting compensation for late delivery for aircraft they are glad that are late because they're so broke right now
I had one whilst - it took me too long to write posts (a whole day) and I never found the time to write in one when I found a job, unfortunately!
Sorry, that first bit should have read "I had one whilst unemployed, to tell people in NZ what Denmark was like..."
Its' great for the airlines, bad for Boeing.
Just been given a book from the beginning of 2003...
Formula 1 for dummies.
In the section Ten Future Stars of F1 they have listed...
Justin Wilson
Felipe Massa
Gary Paffett
Hekki Kovalainen
Neel Jani
Lewis Hamilton
Nico Rosberg
Nelson Piquet Jr.
Bjorn Wirdheim
A.J. Allmendinger
wow. what a list!
Intresting that 6/10 have made it, 2/6 (or 1/3) of them have came close to a championship or won it, and 1/10 of them is rubbish (I think we know who that is)
ahh, but it didn't say they'd be any good? just that they'd be a star of the future.
Wirdheim won the F3000 championship and sunk without a trace.
Mmm... fodder for fun!
Justin Wilson - points scorer
Felipe Massa - championship runner-up
Gary Paffett - 3rd driver
Hekki Kovalainen - race winner (thanks to Massa)
Neel Jani - A1GP regular
Lewis Hamilton - World Champion
Nico Rosberg - podium finisher
Nelson Piquet Jr. - podium finisher (with a bit of luck)
Bjorn Wirdheim - 3rd driver
A.J. Allmendinger - NASCAR boy
Hmmm... So out of the 10, only 1 became champ, 1 was runner-up, and 2 finished on the podium. That's a less than 50% strike rate!
No, Future F1 Stars it says.
Wasn't it Wirdheim who lost the F3000 Monaco GP after going too slow while greeting his mechanics?
sorry, fair point. but was assume you meant piquet, and he is... sorta.
I've just thought of a good question for the panel, cheers Flibster
hello, who dropped this pic then? did i miss something:
http://drop.io/sidepodcast/asset/renault-kers-explained-jpg
When it was my turn to be host I kept seeing questions all over the place.
am thinking all teams will be running it before 2025...
I'm sure most of the current teams won't be around in 2025.
That happens doesn't it, seems more obvious.
i doubt they'd really run a rail slide in the nose. i love it though. anyone fancy claiming it?
Can you not tell with the super fancy stat maker thingy that drop.io must have?
The guy from RealHondaF1 just twittered this:
Honda news tomorrow then?
Oh gawd. Let's not go through all that again!!
the what now?
Pitpass have virtually confirmed it as well, as has James Allen. This WILL be the real deal.
We've had Honda news every day of the year, and only 1% of it has turned out to be true.
And Turun Sanomat wrote again that they will test in Snetterton next week link
Why Snetterton? Is it even up to the required FIA standard?
Does that matter for private test sessions?
It does, except if it's only for straight-line testing.
I thought it was a direct consequence of the events that lead to the death of Elio de Angelis that the track had to have a certain safety rating which I thought Snetterton may not have...
First Olli, Great article on Elio. Watching the old races, he is always a fun one to watch. Good job.
I have a question for anyone. Is there a data base out there average salary of formula one engineers and staff?
I am doing a breakdown on the blog on how much cost saving, if any they would have by being based in North Carolina. I have property, cost of living indexes, average NASCAR engineering and staff cost, energy rates, raw material rates, transportation costs, ect. I am just missing the formula one salary data. Does anyone know anyone in a business council, chamber of commerce or trade association in Milton Keyes?
i believe formula money have a pretty close approximation, but it'll cost ya:
http://www.formulamoney.com/
quick plug for another excellent guest post:
http://www.sidepodcast.com/2009/02/26/bernd-rosemeyer/
"snettertonissa"
that makes the old place sound very lovely :)
Oooh, been waiting for that, had of posted that before Spurs scored, I'd be reading it right now.
:D
I notice all the place and people names I recognise get changed except Jenson Button. I wonder what conclusions can be drawn from that.
Guilty.
My motives? *shrug*
But I like the idea of replacing KERS with a brick.
Good goal too. :P
I like the idea of replacing Max with a brick.
Do you want a crash course in Finnish grammar? :)
did you make it?
that's a quality pic, i loves it :)
I need a crash course in remembering Finnish racing drivers names before I have to worry about grammar.
yes please :)
:D
i only heard from the pub. did it not go well?
Steven forgot about Kimi, Ollie and me forgot about Kovi.
I finished ahead of Mrs C and got 5/5 on spot the difference
How could you forget KImi!?!?!
*speechless*
I forgot Kovi too.
so you all got the old drivers, but not the one's going around in circles right now?
I didn't get the old drivers, just the recent ones and forgot about that one in them McLaren's
am sorry i missed it now :(
It was a good one. But then... you were in the pub, so that must make up for it.
shh :)
You forgot Kimi? After championing him so much on Sidepodcast?
really? Ok I try.
finnish doesn't have prepositions (i.e. to, on, from) but they use cases instead.
So if you want to say: they will test in Snetterton, you put -ssa ending to the place and and i to connect them (most Finnish words end on a vowel)
Brawn's team would be Brawnin. (If it were 'Heikki's team' it would change to 'Heikin timi')
Since Jenson is the subject in the sentence and he doesn't have anything (then it would be Jensonilla on) he stays unchanged.
there are other endings (-sta, -lta, -lle -lla) and lots of other fun things but that is for the next lesson.
So there IS a language that is harder and more confusing than Danish then?
that's perfect, makes a lot of sense.
if jensonilla doesn't catch on, i shall cry :)
Nicolla is nice too
Jensonilla sounds like a musical instrument or a ballroom dancing manoeuvre
Good lord! 150 pounds for that? Geeze. I doubt that my old AP press credentials would pass mustard with FIA to get a discount.
He wasn't enjoying himself, it was SPC research, honest ;)
Didn't Ollie do a salary post? Or was that about Superlicence fees?
It's all Nico Rosberg's fault. I put him down then realised he was German. I had all the others so I assumed I must have missed an old driver.
I even got Leo Kinnunen
I thought you would! ;-)
Finnish is a notoriously hard language because it isn't really connected to any other.
you couldn't make it up.
So did Ollie and he forgot Kovi
I read somewhere that until about 150 years ago the official language was actually Swedish...
Mind you, at that time in Denmark, you spoke German for business, French with your friends and Danish to the dog!
Well, that's easy enough - so far his career has been pretty forgettable!
Finnland used to either be part of Sweden or governed by Sweden
Actually, I shouldn't complain. I have to pay for similar publications on the areospace, high-technology, manufacturing industry sectors even now when I put stuff together.
Execpt those publications run no more than a $100.
It still is the second official language.
Jensonilla is the act of waltzing your way out of one contract for another contract and coming back to your original contract. Picture performing an axle in skating...
(Too many quotes - the trouble with being away for more than an hour! :) )
Thank you Dan. Muchly appreciated my good sir. Feel very free to leave a comment over yonder.
Although I can only compare myself to Mr Roy in the general trivia circles rather than the specific. So I whole-heartedly recommend his recent addition to Sidepodcast as well. (I haven't actually read it yet, but the reputation proceeds and it is queued for a time when it can be appreciated, most likely the weekend, when I have the most time.)
I would actually be interested in knowing about salaries for the 'ancillary' people in F1, if anything, just to be nosey. When I was growing up and getting into F1 in the mid-nineties, the likes of Newey were already on multi-million deals. What must he be on by now!? :)
I don't know what you're all talking about Kovi for? At least myself and Christine managed to get the Finnish world champions. You got Keke, yeah? :)
Besides, it's not like I championed Heikki's side for most of 2007 and 2008. :blush/whoops:
Keke? Oh you have got to be kidding me.
Quick Batman! To the Sidepodcast Dictionary!
I got three, and Keke was one of them. :)
Now if I wasn't editing my own page, that I would do.
Wouldn't surprise you to say I got all the ones that drove for Sauber.
Try any of the asian languages where each character is actually a word instead of a letter.
That isn't true for most Asian languages. They use letters just as us, just that theirs are much prettier
A 'friend' of mine had to learn the Kanji (Japanese Alphabet) and she literally went mental from it!
Vietnamese words only have one syllable
Vietnam is actually Viet Nam
Hence, Nam. I once attempted to learn Vietnamese to impress a girl. I too came close to being considered mental. Seriously. And you all wonder why I am like I am. :P
(BTW: In case you weren't aware "me", the meta info boxes at the top are still insisting on and whatever. (Only on first time comments/refresh though.)
It totally wrote that out, as it should do. I couldn't be bothered to convert, but percent twenty etc...
am guessing those chars didn't print. but i hear ya.
did you preview?
I know someone who worked somewhere near Singapore and when he spoke English no-one understood him. After listening to the locals he realised that everything was broken into syllables and they had a staccato delivery.
So he start ed spea king like that and the lo cals un der stood ever y thing he said.
Must have been tiring
Yep, lol. :) I'm guessing it's a work in progress. Interrupted by KERS lectures 'n all. :)
An Oil man?
No. Electronics industry.
Interesting. Some of the Roughnecks have real trouble when they go to far off places and realise the rig crew have no idea what they are saying to them!
I was just thinking about KERS, I'm sure the track marshalls will be given strict instructions this year about how to approach the car and so on, but I'm thinking that eventually, there could be a marshall that thinks "Nah" to the careful approach and gets seriously, perhaps lethally injured. I really hope this doesn't happen, not only for the obvious reason but also because it would have been so esaily avoided without KERS.
I have finally found someone explaining KERS in a langage I understand.
Alianora explains how much energy KERS can store and use in bars of chocolate.
http://formula1home.com/forum/weblog.php?w=5
i know this hasn't been discussed already (i just checked), but james allen has info on renaults engine upgrade:
"They were down on power last season and were allowed by the other teams to bring their motor up to speed with the others. This was done on trust through a FOTA agreement, whereby each manufacturer presented its power curve and they all agreed what Renault should be allowed to increase by. The implication is that perhaps the power curve they demonstrated at the start was a little lower than the reality….and so they may actually be a little ahead of the others now!"
if true, that's bloomin' cheeky. also, check out comment #2 tis class :D
http://allenonf1.wordpress.com/2009/02/26/tapas-and-optimism-from-williams/
nice one. that's a very good way of looking at it.
It is a lovely place. Spent many happy days thumping around there.
it's getting a bit run down isn't it (mind you i only know what i see on the btcc coverage)?
But blatantly, if you were Flav...
And having now read comment #2...
But blatantly, if you were Flav... :)
Do you think we are going to see any other teams try the same, be it for real, or pulling a fast one? If it is true, once done hard to second, surely? Even if it is genuine.
It's a good year to tweak an engine. Any performance gain can be blamed on the new aero or KERS etc.
i'd imagine renault would say "no", for starters :)
how they managed to successfully dupe everyone else is open to debate though. i thought that's why teams employed acoustic analysis tools?
unless no-one bothered recording engine sounds during the final... flyaway... races... naah, surely not?!
Maybe they didn't... remember all the teams love each other at the moment...
if they didn't they might be feeling pretty daft now.
by the way. only just twigged this. take a look at the first picture featured on ollie's post about green tyres:
http://blogf1.co.uk/2009/02/26/bridgestone-confirm-green-stripe-on-2009-tyres/
x3 tyres. green stripe is on the outside of two of them, but smack in the middle of the wet tyre.
they are going out of their way to confuse us. it has to be deliberate.
http://blogf1.co.uk/2009/02/26/bridgestone-confirm-green-stripe-on-2009-tyres/
(better link, sorry)
Pulling a fast one! I like it :)
Shurely it's pulling a slow one?
Seeing as everyone is guest writing articles, I would like to write one about Ayrton Senna if that's OK. :)
in three weeks time it'll be pulling a fat one :)
No it's not ... and stop calling me Shirley!
Well, I do try from time to time. :)
You've got your own blog
Looks like I picked the wrong day to give up smoking...
BTW, decided to brush up my skills with Quikmaps, one for the Welsh
http://quikmaps.com/show/94450
Blast around Cardiff, and yes, it does go over bridges, this time also railbridges. RGdesigns Ltd are always expanding
Better than the last one which went by my work, over a footpath, cobblestones and a mooring ramp!
:D
Its called improvisation, you can construct the bits you need later. ;)
ha! :D
I just found it really funny that it looked cool on a map, but if you saw it at street level you'd never have picked it!
christine says that's fine, but don't forget she's already covered the man twice:
http://www.sidepodcast.com/2007/11/10/f1-people-part-7-ayrton-senna/
http://www.sidepodcast.com/2007/12/03/days-that-shook-the-f1-world-part-2-death-of-ayrton-senna/
Which one is it by the way?
Williams may have lost RBS as a sponsor, but we're stronger than the sum of our parts and WILL survive and prosper.
I'm not sure... it's not on the wiki page - where else did you have some?
Get in there!
I think there are some, actually. Cafepress is good but slow, I think we got bored of it. {Comment #70}
I just wish I could convince it that my card exists. I made the mistake of having a Premium Shop instead of a Basic one. I was fine with the expenditure because it meant I could have loads of designs on each type of clothing. The trouble is that Cafepress keeps telling me the card I'm trying to pay it with doesn't exist, even when I've very carefully copied the details from the card to the computer several times. They e-mailed me, but everything they suggested I've already tried (basics like making sure the card number was correct) and the only recourse they've allowed me is an American phone number...
i don't doubt that for a second, paul.
f1wolf made a good point earlier about the headlines and many people (bbc included), are hunting high and low for bad news at the moment.
All the one's I have done are on the wiki
This would be my personal account on the man, featuring everything I've learnt about him and why I thought he was great.
Then maybe someone else made it. I'm too tired to remember now :-(
Frank is a born survivor. I have no doubt tha losing that sponsorship will be a mere blip.
I think it got drop.io'd ... IIRC?
Here it is:
http://drop.io/sidepodcast/asset/1213242427688-jpg
you work there?
Can I just say, I think it's very brave, although very well done, that the man in question be covered. I listened to both way back when, but failed to say what a good job that was done by you guys.
I'm considering writing about the other man than from that weekend, but even that task gives me the... heebies(?) To say the least.
Do you remember the 403a rumour from two days ago?
Well, it looks like it was right all along... ...just that the site was a bit slow to refresh.
I've been checking Companies House WebCHeck every day since the rumour came about and this evening, eight 403a form filing notices appeared for "Honda GP".
The date given for the filings is 23rd February, but they only appeared on the site today.
So this explains everything. Evidently the source came from early enough in the process that he or she was not dependent on the Companies House information to know that those forms had been submitted. This helps restore my faith that at least some sources from Brackley are telling the truth :)
Ali, that link is for Honda Finance
One of many companies associated with Honda.
Yep. Not in the Fort though (the star-shaped bit)
The link should be http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk/94a641da45b51743c0e12a06aa00379f/wcprodorder?ft=1
that's an interesting one. i wouldn't mind reading that.
the man is but a footnote in f1 history, and no doubt he deserves more. christine touched on it here:
http://www.sidepodcast.com/2008/08/07/forgotten-f1-teams-simtek-grand-prix/
but i'm sure there's more to be said.
i thought it looked like a turtle :)
is there much call for this then? it doesn’t seem like a great way to encourage conversation, but we’re open to trying it. {Comment #99}
Maybe if a comment with an external link appears, you could set the link box to link to the comment containing the link rather than the link itself? Then the comment-with-link can be seen in the context of the surrounding conversation and good links would still be known about and commented in sensible parts of the blog.
As well as time-limiting the time a comment with an external link can be visible in the link box, you could have a whitelist (to encourage links to websites whose content you think is worthwhile) and put the link box low in the screen real-estate - certainly below the level of the standard comments, since the standard comments are more important to the flow of the blog.
It used to be a toll booth and trading port but now its an Army fort, but the public are allowed access inside it. The only thing they enforce is that you stop and acknowledge the raising of the flag if you are passing through. It happened to me one time as it is on the way to work - I heard a huge cannon go off and then a brass band pipe up. This happens twice every day and it's the first and last flag to be raised and lowered in Denmark!
especially about brabham choosing to continue. not wanting to push you into anything, but i really would like to hear you take on the subject.
plus, y'know, i read your rules :)
that is a lot of work, but i likes it!
I missed that 'cast, but it is now bookmarked for this weekend, along with Steven's piece. But yes, the one thing I do admire Max for, and trust me, my admiration's for him are very few and very far between, is that he attended his funeral rather than the other. It took Max ten years to explain, but his explanation, albeit very PR-like, was somewhat commendable.
And that he was actually not asked to attend the other. But even so.
Unfortunately, it may take some time. To conjure up the right words. I think I'll tackle Mr Zanardi next, who actually impacted me today and has already inspired 1000 words from me. But after the crazily happy Italian, I think Roland deserves a bit of attention. I will give it a try...
Can you tell we're getting into Ollie-actually remembers territory...
I had the privelage to be able to speak briefly with Sir Frank just before christmas and he was saying then that they had 90% of the next 2 years finance in place then, so I dont think they'll fret too much. He also agreed with me when I said that I thought Honda made their own downfall by thinking, noble as might have seemed that they could race with no title sponsor for 2 years.........Lesson learnt I think.
I just listened to the "Days that shook the F1 world" with Senna in it.
It surprises me that after almost 15 years, the memories of that day are so vivid that I find any talk of it physically upsetting. I literally got chills down my spine listening to that.
I don't know why it affects me so much, yet it has had a lasting effect on me. Even now, I feel a bit funny writing this...
if the list was at the bottom, would that still work? {Comment #105}
If it was at the absolute bottom, near the comment box, then that might well be the best solution of all, since that would force it to be considered only after reading the comments in the current blog entry. It would also make it really easy for people writing comments to link to comments where linked things have been discussed earlier in the day.
ahh, maybe that's why christine is able to remain a little more detached?
ahh, now lclt i hadn't even considered. was only thinking about realtime... hmmm.
I'm with you there Gavin, Ayrton was the best and such a sad loss. It still hurts me to think that he was in 1 of our cars, and is still missed so much.
If you can remember what you had for breakfast that day, whatever day it is, you know it's one of those days that will be hard to write about in the future. Be it overwhelming joy (which is hard to write about, let's be honest) or the exact opposite.
nite all, early start tomorrow :-)
What is V - Max? {Comment #122}
The point where the engine is using the maximum amount of fuel to apply the maximum amount of power to the circuit. Generally means the car is doing top speed unless there is a limiting factor such as rain.
It has a slightly different meaning when applied to people, referring to their maximum oxygen intake.
night buddy.
It's been like that for years. Sadly the plans that The Flying Doc had to refurbish the place have been put on hold. :(
Night Gavin. Enjoy your Friday. :)
“Instead of a white groove, the tyre’s sidewall will now feature a green band, not only making the softer compound distinguishable to spectators, {Comment #159}
Well it might have made it distinguishable to spectators... ...if they've got better vision than me. I found it very difficult to spot the band even though it was on a stationary image and the green in the band is very bright.
How long before Bridgestone needs to do a rethink (if not necessarily on the colour?)
And I want that Brundle book. Saw it a few years ago but for some reason didn’t get it, bah. {Comment #163}
There's a paperback version out now, and you can still get the hardback version in some second-hand shops. The sheer number of copies produced means that you should have little trouble getting hold of Martin's tome.
Is this USA 2005? I think the team at fault here was Jordan/Midland. When Minardi backed out of the deal because Jordan went racing, the teams understood. Midland? Less so. {Comment #184}
I didn't think anyone went back on any deal as such. Minardi and Jordan merely said they'd support a chicane and do everything in their power to get one instated (and thus let the Michelin drivers have a chance to race). When it became clear that no chicance was going to happen, Jordan insisted on racing anyway because their view was they would race no matter what. Minardi then put its drivers out because it saw its position in the championship as being at risk due to Jordan's behaviour. Minardi wanted to withdraw from the race in protest but instead had to mount a token defence of its championship position because Jordan was on track.
Neither Minardi nor Jordan was truly to blame, but the crossed wires between them didn't help.
Does that matter for private test sessions? {Comment #292}
All circuits that are used for testing (assuming they are not straight-line aero tests or demonstration runs) must have a 1T licence from the FIA. This verifies that it is up to the minimum safety standards and other requirements for F1 testing to occur. The only exception for general F1 testing is for circuits that already have a level 1 licence (which is reserved for F1 races)
A 1T licence doesn't affect race licencing - in theory it is possible to have a 1T licence and not be permitted to hold any races at all.
So there IS a language that is harder and more confusing than Danish then? {Comment #321}
Yes. Even my Finnish Kimi-supporting friend from the tram agrees with that. Finnish has sixteen cases - and that was after the Finnish people decided some time ago to get rid of five...
I have finally found someone explaining KERS in a langage I understand. {Comment #359}
Therein lies a tale.
I went to the F1 Shop this afternoon and bought a couple of things. It wasn't particularly busy when I reached the checkout, so the member of staff on the counter struck up a conversation with me.
It happened that this staffer had been on the counter last time I'd visited, when I'd bought the Formula 1 Yearbook 2008-2009. She commented that she'd seen me before and reminded me that I'd said at the time that I needed it to get the driver weight figures to answer a question on my blog.
I started replying with, "Because the drivers are trying to lose weight because of KERS and a rumour..."
"Who?"
For a moment I thought the question referred to an actual person, then it clicked when the staffer said,
"Who's KERS?"
Ah. Plainly another approach would be necessary. So I tried explaining, but only managed to confuse the staffer further. At that point, I gave the staffer the details of my blog and we moved on to a discussion of RBS' sponsorship withdrawal (about which the staffer proved well-informed).
As I left with my purchases, it occurred to me - if the people who are enthusiastic and knowledgeable enough about F1 to sell its merchandise don't know what KERS is, what chance has anyone else got?
Better than the last one which went by my work, over a footpath, cobblestones and a mooring ramp! {Comment #380}
Hey, at least nobody could complain it was a Tilke-drome (unless Tilke Construction GmbH had constructed it, in which case the term could attract an attractive cachet...)
Ali, that link is for Honda Finance {Comment #400}
Oh no! And Companies House is shut until 7am tomorrow, so I can't check whether all those 403a forms were for Honda Finance or whether I simply stuck the wrong link in (which would be the second time today - the first one was meant to link to someone else's earlier comment but ended up at Sidepodcast's observations about the Alonso/Hamilton Hungary 2007 indiscipline).
however, the reverse might be - if you desire to raise public awareness about kers, what better platform than f1?
I checked. They are for Honda GP. I went and checked.
remind me (cause i've forgotten already), what does that mean again?
Can you tell we’re getting into Ollie-actually remembers territory… {Comment #411}
You remember a lot better than I did. Although San Marino 1994 was the first start I watched, my abiding memory of the race was thinking about half-way through the race that I could really have done with the commentators rewinding the race and explain what this thing starting with "Q" was. The question had been bothering me since it had been mentioned at the start of the programme in the same sentence as an equally-long sentence starting with "R". You see, I'd only caught the beginning of both words and missed practically everything in between them...
My sense of priorities wasn't very good back then.
if you desire to raise public awareness about kers, what better platform than f1? {Comment #432}
It would be a great platform - if people in F1 publicised what it is in a manner that spectators could understand. At the moment they're not (including the FIA who thought it would be such a great promotional tool in the first place).
I checked. They are for Honda GP. I went and checked. {Comment #433}
Phew!
they are though. look at the recent red bull video. massively well received and vettel was the perfect man to explain it. the season hasn't even got going yet, give 'em a chance :)
we know it won't be perfect, but i bet "average joe's" awareness of kers is much greater at the end of the season than it is right now.
remind me (cause i’ve forgotten already), what does that mean again? {Comment #434}
A 403a form is a declaration that a company has finished paying for or otherwise satisfied all the terms of a mortgage on (usually) a property it has bought.
right, gotya. thank you.
You're welcome.