Halfway through the week and the fun is just beginning. Lukeh discovered that FOTA are meeting again today to discuss whether they will be entering 2010 or not... and time is running out. Meanwhile, here are some of the things we've been discussing:
- I promise not to plug it every day (although I might), but the Circuit Cup has thrown up the best matchup of Round 1 in only it's second outing. Who will be victorious between Spa and Silverstone? This has already caused some angst in the comments, and I can see more coming throughout the day. Head over to the poll and vote, and let us know why you went whichever way you did.
- Glock has decided that Monaco was a one-off for Toyota, and that it was the track not suiting their car that was the problem. He expects things to be much better by the time they get to Turkey. What do we think? Will the Toyota improve or will it be another turkey in Turkey?
- We also noted that a certain Mr Jake Humphrey has turned up on Twitter. He and his fake alter ego can now talk to each other... although we're worried what effect that might have on the universe. Are there any new F1 folk we've missed following on Twitter? Who would you like to start Tweeting who isn't already?
That'll do it for now. Even though we had Monday off, I'm already looking forward to the weekend. Nevertheless, as per usual, I'll see you in the comments.
Are we not in here yet? ;)
evening.
Ted Kravitz... What does he do in the pits when he isnt talking to the commentators?
Now we know... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxcYnZeRc84
Hello Sir, what's new in the F1 news?
I've not scanned the news sites yet?
Poor Ted
He needs a twitter-mic ;)
the news is we found joe. or rather he found us.
currently in post-production. think it was a really good one and worth the wait, but more soon.
cool!
Cool beans!
Morning MrC and BC
The teams meet tomorrow in London, and James Allen knew Williams would sign up for 2010 before they did
he's like a lost child
Did you mean to include a muse title in that sentence Christine? or is it a happy coincidence? :D
Wow, thats great you got him!
oooo yay! :D
hahaha, thats quite positively my favourite sidepodthing in a long time
That probably wasn't that hard to predict if any thought was put into it.
They don't do anything apart from racing and they probably want to keep the FIA sweet as they're making the F2 cars aren't they?
Still, hindsight's a wonderful thing
you don't like the upgrade to lclt? ;)
Your sofa will be more comfortable now too
:D
Bet they were wondering why it was so lumpy ;)
haha, i knew that was coming. i don't not, i just can't deal with not seeing all the comments for all threads, its a power/being in control thing ;)
you know it's really quick to flick between threads, right?
Ooooh... Joe! :D
yah, but i prefer seeing them all at once, so i can see the different convo's happening at the same time. i used to use the lclt for live shows, but i just (heart) doohickey to be honest.
no worries. just checkin ;)
Im the same, i tried converting, but i felt like i was missing out!
don't worry nick, we'll probably slowly go back to doohickey in a few days time. or rush back over there if mr c suddenly releases an update. :D
hehe, i used to use them both for different things, but i tend to sit back and watch the comments come in during the day and add my piece as and when, and ddoohickey is perfect for that.
MrC if you dont mind me asking (Its fine if you do mind!), How did the collaboration with Joe start? Did he phone up one day for a bit of Tremayning?
the thing is find with lclt, is it's far less jumpy.
with doohickey the page is always moving about. with lclt everything is static except for one portion of the screen. comment feels less intrusive somehow.
Lou - I've found Series 1 of Mark Watson Makes The World Substantially Better which features Time Minchin. Are you interested in hearing it?
yeah, this is my only problem with the doohickey, but aslong as i remember how many comments are pending, then i just read them straight away. unless its a race, then it's just an insane free for all hehe
I use LCLT for catching up after work, and for live commenting. For the last couple of weeks I've found myself staying on it after I've caught up because I can walk away and come back and not lose my place.. I used to switch to Doohickey straight away and sometimes still do (I did today).
Doohickey is useful when new threads appear, e.g. midnight or the cup posts..
oooooo yes! i certainly am :D
i use desktop doohickey, so i have to restart it to get the new threads
Great for when there are two very different conversations going such as Indianapolis 500 Commercials and Crochet, or whatever
But my heart's still with Doohickey. As I said last night, fantastic that we have such great interface choices
Props to Mr C and his Code Monkey
[Still haven't tired of that pic and am wishing drop.io had a search function. Wonder if it's on their list?]
hehe! i think david emailed christine after discovering tremayning, and i guess they may have discussed it.
but the show was joe's idea (we would never of dreamt of suggesting it, we're not that brave or confident). i think he listened to a couple of shows and liked what we were doing.
i do know the conversation started the week our mixer died, because we planned to skip that weeks debrief, but then had to source a replacement pronto.
i want drivers on twitter. Any drivers. All drivers. As long as it is actually them and not their teams pr department. There are some tennis players tweeting and even though they are players im not huge fans of, i still really like getting the "inside" info from the atp tour. They are the only non f1 tweeters that i follow.
we've begged! but thus far no luck.
you could always save to your desktop
Ok, will get sorted tomorrow.
IndyCar drivers tweet. IMO they are the most Twitter-savvy racing drivers around, them and Andy Priaulx.
awesome! thank you very much :)
Is this to help Amy learn Finnish?
http://drop.io/sidepodcast/asset/heikki-avi
riiiight 8.5 hours of Silverstone's Britcar 24 hour race listened to, i think it's time for sleep!
Goodnight all
Lukeh translated it for her earlier i believe so i think it may be :P
Thanks a lot that's all interesting stuff... Cant wait for the next episode (Its almost like lost now i know its coming)
Has David done any Tremayning himself? or would the universe collapse?
She thinks it's Heikki's message to her. :D
night jon.
night!
Stuart Codling of F1 Racing introduced the concept of tremayning and he did the orignal but Joe hasn't so far.
night jon! :)
Night Jon
:)
not for spc, but presumably every day in the paddock?
night
Lukeh speaks Finnish?
:D
Obviously!
i'll find the link ;)
don't get your hopes up...
Listening to the Parade Lap again, Christine never remembers to switch 'Cafeine' on
Am sure I've heard "my screen went off" a few times now :D
every week!
here it is
Ah, sounds perfect :)
because i know how to count to 3 in finnish i feel smart when i hear them say "formula yksi" because i know what that means. Although thats rather obvious even if you couldnt count to 3 :D
Hahaha! You're funny, Amy. :P
:D
:D :D
Mr C, I may have something small to contribute to the next Parade Lap, if the idea comes to fruition I shall email to SPC Towers
we're all ears ;)
It'll be a surprise
Hopefully a pleasant one, nothing major
I didn't know they had formula atlantic in Finland.
Well, that was quicker than I'd imagined. Email winging it's way to you with a small attachment ;)
Have you been singing?
Ooh no, not me
Tis audio though
to me or christine?
I don't have your email unless you DM on Twitter
Do you not access [email protected]?
[email protected]
nope.
Done
recieved!!
and one more !
From me?
brilliant!
I love Grand Prix 2 now, and I only started playing it a few hours ago.
Went doing Friday qualifying as Brundle at Interlagos. In the Grand Prix series, you can set the strength of the teams to be at the level they were in the respective season (1994 for GP2), all teams to have the same performance or for it to be random.
I choose all the same. With 1994 levels, there's around 10 seconds from pole to last, with all the same, it was 3 tenths from 1st to 28th (!). Great stuff. Oh yeah, who was on pole? David Brabham.
I'll remind you closer to the time, that un-named energy drink has frazzled your memory
appreciated.
I think that'll push me up the addiction scale anther half a notch
Silverstove V Spa! Oh, but.....
Its very addictive, I remember the original game being part of why i got into f1 to begin with, i haven't played any of them for ages, but i think GP4 came out a few years ago, and i believe the same people made grand prix manager as well
Fake F1 tweets are really ramping up aren't they
Fake Danica has joined in now
That's nothing compared to Fake Yuji Ide! :D
Will seek out
I am following him. I am worried it will spook him because he it not used to anyone being behind him.
Though maybe he will cause Twitter to crash
:D
i cant find him?
WOW
scrap that
DOUBLE WOW
I am being followed by the space shuttle Endeavour
Whoa! For real? How did they find you? :P
https://twitter.com/FakeYujiIde
Search doesn't work but he's here:
https://twitter.com/FakeYujiIde
Snap
He's following them?
Why snap? BTW, https?
thanks guys!
We both posted the Yuji link
https is for secure links (sign onto twiiter)
I had all games from GP up to GP4. I think I may have thrown them all away a couple of months ago.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Https
I found them and the other two shuttles 20 minutes ago and followed them
if you had a twitter account... you'd know!
Loved
I think that gets an unnamed laughter powered aircraft!
Yup, I know what https is. Just got surprised that that was the link you'd post. :D
but i don't... so there. :P
I still have GP2 and GP3 somewhere. Tempted to dig them and the wheel out but that would be the summer lost.
Lazily just copied the link from his twitter page
Not fancy a bit of Fake F1 tweets, tis quite amusing?
You need a twitter account
I read em, but I don't need to sign up to see em. :D
True
Fake Yuji
It appears that myself and @FakePiquetJr both hail from the same part of the world... The gravel trap!
:D
:D
Can we have a joe spolier? had he heard of fake f1?
I need to dig out my wheel and software. I am racing at Oran Park (Sydney track) in a couple of months so I need some practice laps. I have some software somewhere with that track.....
There isn't a fake Joe
Spoilers, eh?
Not sure how I feel about that
What are you racing?
didn't ask yet, so unknown m'fraid. i think there are only three actual questions, but lots and lots of good insight.
good point.
i'll shush.
He has 3 Twitter acounts, someone could ask him
https://twitter.com/search/users?q=Joe+Saward&category=people&source=find_on_twitter
:D
also: https://twitter.com/f1mole
Isnt that Andrew Benson?
:D :P
He is the BBC Mole but that pic is the grandprix.com mole. I think it is Rob Sinfield who keeps us up to date with straight line tests at Kemble
Well when the bbc site launched the other moles posts slowed up a lot,It has the same name (admitidly not style) AB's in charge of it and Joe talked about how he knows him...
:P
given the quality of the bbc mole's output (rubbish), compared the grandprix.com mole (excellent), i very much hope you're wrong.
Did you ever find out what Twisters are from Parade Lap
Have had them and are quite nice I must say
I think the BBC want the mole to be more like the Football gossip column, and AB wants to be able to post what's really going on anonymously
i saw a pick in the comments. not sure they're my think though.
*piccy.
Not really a mole's raison d'etre though is it?
They are no Monster Munch I grant you
[May substitute MM for Nachos in your case :D ]
just look at the title
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/f1mole/2009/05/f1-gossip-column-2.html
we know he wants it to be a gossip column.
the question is... why call "f1 mole"??
Exactly, false advertising
Deliberately methinks, to suck people into clicking for insider scoops
I think what the Beeb wanted and what AB wanted were slightly ajar
A mole quotes his own sources, not the daily papers... :-/
agreed. i left andrew x2 comments but he either didn't "get it", or didn't want to get it. i gave up already.
Heh. JA and JS are more like moles than the BBC mole. They should change the name 'mole' to something more appropriate.
But with the positive reaction they're getting on the BBC website, I wouldn't count on it happening...
Someone said they were ice lollies
Ooh, drop.io pics have a new style of 'number of comments' bubble
Just saying
Not in Australia where Jeremy was calling from
Wasn't it Orange M&M's & Twisters in his Ice Cream?
And Marshmallows
It was M&Ms and marshmallows in his ice cream then someone suggested twisters as an alternative.
F1 Ferret?
Talking of which, strangest I ever saw was:
http://drop.io/sidepodcast/asset/sticky-rice-or-green-bean-jpg
I wouldn't pay a single dong to buy that... :O
holy [insert expletive here] moly!
i've just read that mole column properly. you know the bbc just quoted gmm in that post right?
"We have known Nico long enough and he is a man on the list. It is clear that he is on many teams' lists."
came from this article:
http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/news/detail/090525165127.shtml
Haha, where did you see those?
Didn't to try either of those but tried some fruit flavour (of indeterminate origin) and it was not pleasant
We likened it to Clingfilm Wrapped Feet flavour
[Best guess, not through experience]
That is a little bit strange
Hanoi
Yeah i saw that earler, thought this place might explode if i mentioned it...
Their power is growing... :s
I think it's an OK article to quote. But that said, can't they ask Norbert on their own? They're the BBC, for crying out loud.
Durian?
I hate it, but when its free it somehow becomes addictive...
You mean HIS power is growing...
Icky smell, good taste - or so I'm told: I'm never going to try it. :P
Don't think so, knew what Durian was at the time and the fruit in question wasn't in the Lonely Planet dictionary
[Durian was]
agreed.
Its called sewage fruit for a reason...
the ice cream doesnt smell though...
Who is he?
Oh yeah! You weren't around yet during the great GMM debate...
Mr C, do you have a linky?
Putting it mildly
Now I'm intrigued!
Just realized - he's gaining stature due to the recession. Less journalists getting sent to races, so they need to replace that with a cheaper option.
Some of it here
http://www.sidepodcast.com/2009/02/03/f1-websites-you-can-trust/
of course. he is andrew maitland and his pathetic defence of his "service" can be read in all its glory here:
http://www.sidepodcast.com/2009/02/03/f1-websites-you-can-trust/#comment-185314
enjoy!
sad but true. but the bbc for christsakes?
thank you, Mr C!
Nick, one of the bigger moments in SPC history - a must-read.
Andrew someone. He is based in the F1 news hot spot of Adelaide. All he does is read all the websites and news feeds and recycles them. He came here once after we had slagged of GMM. I think he thought that if he explained how he did things we would be sympathetic. Needless to say we were rather direct in our opinions and despite promising to keep in touch he never came back.
i guess they can't divert too much of the license fee to F1? :D Hehehe. But yeah, kinda makes the F1 Mole even more pathetic...
Sadly, the standards at the beeb have been slipping for a couple of years now.
I think the old school have been given voluntary redundancy and it's like Hospital Matron syndrome
still much better than their american counterparts, though...
Yes but the beeb has always had high standards and is respected for it
once the envy of the world no less.
But it's a universal thing - almost all the news outlets' standards have slipped. the bbc is still the envy of the world, if only because everyone else has also gotten much worse...
Thanks MrC, very interesting read...
News aggregation is great, but to call yourselves a news agency, and claim authority?
Watching the news in Sydney one day and after a failed attempt to 'roll VT' the camera stayed with the newscaster who proclaimed "someone will get a smack for that later" and carried on reading the evening news.
Very funny but I couldn't believe it
Hahaha! Any YT vids of that? :D
No idea, I get the feeling that wasn't unusual for Aus
You should see the weather guy, he's hilarious
Its one thing to report what's being reported elsewhere, its another for them to write articles based on it, i think the gossip column was ok, they report the craziest stories in the football one, but as long as they point out it wasn't their's i think its informative
I still cannot believe he thought he could turn up here and justify himself as a news service by saying the the majority of his stories were likely to be inaccurate.
That's some crazy, twisted logic, no?
Just received a NASA tweet. The NASA TV coverage of the Soyuz launch starts at 5:45 am EDT but the launch does not happen until 6:34am EDT 11:34 am UK.
On the ISS page it said that the launch was at 5:45. Maybe they are working on sidepodtime
LOL @ Fake Piquet on NASCAR:
They're only slow 'cause all the drivers are so fat, you know they have a McDonalds drive thru at the end of the pit lane
I can't believe that was in February. I thought it was in the middle of last season. Sidepodtime is confusing. Maybe according to GMM it was the middle of last season.
they are twisties not twisters!
middle of last season we startedto realise the stories were almost always bunkem. it took many more months before we all got to the point of utter disbelief.
Thanks Amy, do you guys still have Crunchie Milkshake
YUM!
Do you have a link or a pic?
Aha, I remember those
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twisties
I was convinced it was the middle of last season that Mr Maitland showed up. It seems so long ago but it is only 3 months. Must be all those races at th start of the season.
"Twisties are on sale in the UK where they are called Tastees."
GT3 on Channel 4 if anyone is bored
And :D
"They are also sold on the Italian market with the name Fonzies"
Cool name :D
http://www.tastees.info/
Just read the pitpass stuff as well...
It has gone downhill a lot since i first started reading it, and the articles are increasingly pointless. The only stuff i read there any more is Chris Sylt, and I guess its only a matter of time before he gives up on them
Never seen 'em before. Look like Nik Naks
they are in the wending machine here, ill get some for lunch :D
Are they manufactured by Nick Heidfeld?
A lot of us are boycotting that site after they published a ridiculous attack on Sir Jackie Stewart and Scotland. It was utterly pathetic.
So are you going to do a restaurant critic piece on them for those of us who have never heard of them.
Time to regenerate - I mean sleep.
Hopefully I wil be around to watch the Soyuz launch. Never seen one of those before.
Cheerio Steven
Yeah, It was completely uncalled for.
Night!
night sir.
Ha ha
http://drop.io/sidepodcast/asset/microsoft-keyboard-jpg
or
http://drop.io/sidepodcast/asset/classic-mac-pro-jpg
:D
Hmm... After reading through the comments I'm now worried that there are no nice people in F1 Journalism...
Apart from Joe
Yeah...
He doesn't sound to evil :D
But im worry some of them are just using the sport to make a quick buck after failing to become "real journalists"
I'm worry? WTF!
I was listening to another F1 podcast today and in their F1 news segment they had a story of an unnamed private financier who is willing to put up $10m C$ to get the Montreal GP back on, the other $25m to be generated through event revenue . Apparently he has met with Bernie already. The host goes on to say that the author of the story suggests that Bernie might have to step into the role of promoter. I was actually starting to get a little cheery at that news until the host said the source of the story was GMM. Those 3 letters ticked me right off and I won't repeat the words I used when I heard that. Now I've got myself all riled up again, I think I need a beer.
there are many, many more, we've met lots of nice people since starting spc. some have commented and still comment here. my brain isn't working at the moment and naming them all would only end up with me missing someone.
the bottom line is that it's hard to justify the expensive of being a proper f1 journalist in this day and age, because some people are trying to do a less competent job but for less money.
being aware of this is key though, and that's why we say "please don't link to bad sources... even if in this one case they're okay".
if every blogger and every commenter tried to do this, the online f1 world would be a much better place.
but. it's better to get mad now, before you get really excited and spend weeks discussing it with your friends right?
by the way, you don't have to name and shame the podcast here. but you should email them or comment, and point out how you felt when you heard who their source was.
Very true, I will keep that in mind...
My eyes are betraying me, time for bed methinks... Night all that remain awake!
before you go... one more link... 1 second.
oooh... if you insist! :D
ta. just wanted to highlight joe's blog post(s) on the subject:
http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2009/03/09/a-load-of-rubbish/
http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2009/03/10/how-to-be-a-modern-f1-journalist/
the second one is the better of the two (if i remember correctly). on a similar subject. comments also worth reading.
You're right. I just need to tak a deep breath and repeat these words 'Serenity Now, Serenity Now':)
Ah thanks, I've read the first one, but not the second. But now I have reading material... I feel a second wind coming!
You guys had a link to the podcast but I see it's been removed.
my twisties from the nick heidfeld machine are on their way to the drop.io. Buying them reminds me of how much better nz ones are.
ahh, yep that one. actually, not a bad podcast at all.
i think we took the link down because it annoyed a couple of people a while back. maybe they've gone downhill recently, but i haven't listened for eons.
still worth a (calm) comment to highlight your opinions.
I have noticed that more and more of their news stories are from that questionable source. And a nice ,calm and polite comment is in order
the elusive podcast with joe is now posted:
http://www.sidepodcast.com/2009/05/27/an-aside-with-joe-the-customer-always-comes-first/
think it's a pretty good one, but please do leave any thoughts in that thread. all feedback is appreciated.
Very interesting stuff, I hadn't read the comments before, and the second story makes it clear where his stuff comes from...
Cant wait for the aside, although I'm in London tomorrow evening so i guess i will have too¬!
Night!
You don't want me too sleep!!!!
what.are.the.chances!
:D
You need a rant smiley!
we do.
and on that note, i must sleep too. goodnight anyone who's still awake, do look after the place won't ya?
Not fair! :P
Night!
Thanks for answering all the Twisties questions for me folks. Compressed cheese dust is how my Zoe would have explained them apparently.
I am still coming down from my sugar high of Sunday evening!
No! Not the BBC!
I guess it is the mole though, so it don't count?
BBC have a shockingly bad website considereing how good their coverage is!
That inspires me to go buy some. mmmmm cheese dust
That reminds me of a video I watched recently of a guy eating the world's largest cheeto over the world's most expensive keyboard. Totally gross!
http://www.patronisef1.com/index.php/f1-blog/39-the-head/694-red-bull-can-diffuse-buttons-walkover
You know, I'm starting to quite like PatroniseF1 - a bit serious and funny at the same time. I love this quote:
:D
the last few days over here have been a serious reminder that we are well into to the rainy season. holiday tomorrow, sun, please show up
That's my personal favorite. :D Must remember to visit this site more often...
their drivers wiki makes me cry with laughter even though it hasn't been updated since 2007. There is nothing not funny about http://www.frikipedia.co.uk/index.php/Heikki_Kovalainen and the underlying theme of Nick Heidfeld not actually existing.
Amy my dear, you have made my day! :D
the photo on the Jenson page is brilliant, but the facts are slightly out of date now me thinks ;)
http://www.frikipedia.co.uk/index.php/Jenson_Button
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8068598.stm
Looks like we may not have to move to Finland, after all...
that is good one :-) so Mr Martin is actually Mr Button in disguise :-)
wow my brother watched Monaco on JTV, for a guy who complained the whole time he was in Melbourne about how boring it was, I am impressed he went to the effort to locate a stream and the password. I told him I had money on Rubens and he said:
"hes a crap driver though...even if i know he was going to win i wouldnt bet on him cause thatd feel like i was supporting him"
We are so different.
Your brother must be like my uncle - essentially they are Anti-F1 fans :(
The Ferrari dominance of the early part of this decade is what stopped him being an F1 fan, I don't think he has forgiven Rubens for being in that team :D
Apparently, Flav told a Spanish paper (El Mundo) that F1 can work with the current regs (i.e. no budget cap). He brought up his titles with Benetton as an example that it can be done.
:D
I was doing time management based on the podcast length! Was surprised it ended early, so Iooked. :P
Speaking of anorak, should I attend tonight's quiz? Hmmm...
Hmmm... All right, is anyone expecting anything big to come out of today's FOTA meeting in London? Unless they're meeting with Max, I doubt it...
the kimi one is great!!
So I'm listening to the Williams podcast and Rod Nelson made the following comment:
Well that explains a lot why they are fast in practice and fall off the pace during the Grand Prix!
:D
The ill advise allowed Jenson to pull away early and led to a Brawn 1-2. Ill advise for Williams, I guess. ;)
Have we talked about this before?
http://thankyourondennis.com/
First time I've seen it. I wonder if Ron's seen it...
That's just weird. And the name of the site should be changed to fit "RonSpeak":
An expression of gratitude towards the former team principal of the Mclaren F1 team? I guess that's too much of a mouthful though! :D
:P
thats just creepy
Nick Heidfeld giving away 10 pairs of tickets to the German GP at the Nurburgring.
http://www.nickheidfeld.com/?9205A0A1
Competition main page is here:
http://www.nickheidfeld.com/?9201A0A1
(Site membership required)
That’s nothing compared to Fake Yuji Ide! {Comment #90}
I was wondering why a fake driver Twitter account I'd never seen before suddenly started following me...
I just realized that I have 3 Sidepodcast tabs opened in my browser. Isn't that a bit too many ? :-)
I still have GP2 and GP3 somewhere. Tempted to dig them and the wheel out but that would be the summer lost. {Comment #111}
The only one I don't have is GP4. This is despite having never managed to finish a Monaco GP (even the short 12-lap version) in any of the first three games...
Why open 3 tabs when you can stick to 1 tab with LCLT or Doohickey on it? :D
no idea, I just realized that 3 of my 20 or so tabs are Sidepodcast :-)
france cannot be that high on the list? not after the troubles this weekend. the should be at the bottom.
the list is of ADVERTISED speeds. the actuals must be different. ;)
you cannot have too much sidepodcast. it's not possible.
sidepodspace update
Just made it
Got my times wrong. Soyuz just lifted off before I could post. sorry
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html
vaguely almost F1 news. Ugh.
timezone conversion?
No. The times I gave last nght were correct. I just remembered them wrong. I thought I was going to get the last 10 minutes of countdown
The Russians show an on board of the ascent which is a bit weird. They seem to have some kind of gonk dangling on a string like an 1970s Ford Capri would have
"She was reportedly down to her last chip when her luck changed, and she left on a winning streak. "
Don't you just hate people like that?
I bet if she had $10 on Barrichello he would have won.
I can picture her, trying to find a diamond that "no one else has" because her boyfriend is rich and he can pay for anything her wee soul desires. I hate that attitude.
i'm sure it wasn't a coincidence.
Isn't she rich too?
The internal shots of the Soyuz look so fake
I'm sure nowhere near as rich as him. Her band even gets upstaged by its opening act.
That's what I was thinking. He has more money but she has a few million of her own.
sounds to me it was a huge mix up on the tour schedulers part, booking melbourne the same time as the monaco gp. someone's pining for the principality.
Morning guys (just about), in Uni getting practise papers for my exam Friday.
Love it, Christine!! As lou said last night, no idea if that's intentional but it made me smile :P
Heh. :P But no matter - at the rate Nicole is going, I don't think she'll be staying with PCD for that much longer. Or if she'll be staying a recording artist for that much longer, either...
They did a performance on TV here and the other girls were all dancing with microphones, but didn't use them once. It's weird that her attempt at a solo career failed because she pretty much already is one.
Nicole was the only one who sang for Jai Ho - all PCD did was dance around... She can easily end up a as Victoria Beckham wannabe...
I'll be happy with anything she does if it results in less time on my TV during races
She's gonna marry Lewis, I'm telling you now. So I wouldn't hope too much.
but then when the inevitable divorce happens, she will disappear forever.
just reading dieter's latest column. and it answers a question posed last week. on the subject of entry costs for next years championship:
"But, as many a team boss has discovered to his (enormous) cost, lodging the paperwork is by far the easiest part of the process – and the cheapest, too, particularly as no money is required unless the entry is ultimately accepted, in which case just €309,000 is required by 1 November."
they're head over heels with each other. i say no divorce. if the beckhams can stay together, so can they.
who isn't in the first year?
That should go in the G-word basket!
Her? Yes I do... ;)
they've been together for almost 2 years now... not married, but close enough. and as i said, if the beckhams can stay together, so can they. ;)
I am always one for encouraging conversation but... by talking about this, aren't we just giving the girl what she wants? More coverage?
Yeah but Lady GaGa is quite cool!
this is a fine article, highly recommended reading (although presumably it's behind the paywall). something else i didn't know. entering the championship before friday requires an engine contract in place:
"We need to pay Cosworth a deposit of £1.2 million at the time of signing the contract, which we need to lodge an entry. That is refundable if our entry is not accepted, but if it is, we are committed to Cosworth, even if their engine is no longer legal by the time the wrangle is sorted and different rev limits are imposed."
oops!
It's not like we're mentioning her name - or buying her songs, for that matter...
can't cosworth be sued for not providing them an engine as agreed?
No probs, carry on. It's just she doesn't even register on my radar as important :)
eh?
Which article?
the teams pay Cosworth to provide them an engine, but if the engine is no longer legal, Cosworth won't be able to provide them an engine. Therefore, they're not doing their part of the deal, so they can be sued.
Williams unlikely to use KERS regularly
FTA:
I find this article interesting. Do you think Williams lodged an entry because some sort of deal was made to adopt their system for next year? A contract like that would be worth a lot of money...
the one i quoted a couple of comments back:
http://www.autosport.com/features/article.php/id/2193
essential reading. worth this months subscription alone.
cosworth will be able to provide it. it just won't be legal to race.
Certainly possible. But hard to tell at this point.
Why not? They already have a new 2.4L V8 running that can apparently do 20,000RPM...
It depends what legitimate costs Coworth incur before they know the rule changes. They may be buying materials and working on engines only for Max to throw a spanner in the works and screw it up by changing the rules.
Many people in F1 have lost millions when something that was legal instantly becomes illegal.
My Racing Line eBay quest goes from strength to strength. It's a good day.
the article doesn't say. but only hints at:
"Cosworth, who could well find that its 2010 version becomes outdated before entries close..."
presumably it's something fota are proposing?
so that's tantamount to not providing it, right?
that would be ironic - it was Max himself who brought Cosworth back in...
no?
Williams was the second team to break ranks after Ferrari the last time and since Ferrari's position is so entrenched this time they were always likely to break first. No doubt Frank has been promised a dew million for his trouble
Hmmm... I wonder where this could be going...?
Ooh please please please 1L Turbos!
Have you bought more or just found some to bid on
so everyone will be making brand-new engines? so much for cost-cutting, if that's the case.
I have bought 6, am leading 12, and found another 14 that I am trying to convince the seller to ship to Australia.
Do you have a library to put all that in? :P
not sure quite what it's saying. what is clear, is that something fota are really miffed about, is that all the changes for '09 have cost them a fortune and those changes came down mostly from the fia and haven't really improved anything.
at a guess. i'd say no-one's making new engine's anytime soon. they must mean something else.
I have a shelf full of magazine files, my goal is to fill it :D
Careful with the 2000 vintage – it will have my ugly mush in...
For example development costs with KERS were apparently quite expensive...
but if cosworth's 2010-ready engines are identical in configuration to everyone else's, how can they end up being 'outdated' without everyone else having to change their engines as well?
Now if only you were Finnish she would pay extra
not sure what you leading to?
one final quote from dieter:
"the cost of KERS, producing 80 horsepower for around six minutes per race (six seconds x 60 laps) equalled the cost of developing an engine capable of producing ten times the power and lasting eight hours (average four races x 2 hours each) totally from scratch."
you can see why they're not likely to bow down to whatever max suggests next. i'll stop quoting, but there more in there and it's a good read.
They are not though. Everyone else has tweaked there engines to make them work better at the lower rev limit. Sorry. I mean they have made them more reliable. Cosworth still have an engine that was designed to work at 20k rpm not 17.
i just don't know. but in the original quote i copied, it said:
"even if their engine is no longer legal by the time the wrangle is sorted and different rev limits are imposed."
answers on a postcard please.
ah-ha. so if the proposals from fota say:
engine must last 6 races and only rev at 14k rpm. that might kill the cosworth proposition?
:D But even so, that configuration is still legal for 2010... at the moment. unless... the engine's maximum revs is INCREASED beyond 20000rpm. which means the Cosworth engines suddenly become outdated.
Such things can always be re-optimised, to borrow a word from someone not long departed from F1...
What Mr. C. quoted. You can't be cutting costs when you are developing new technology!
it shouldn't, because the Cosworth engines' revs can simply be limited to make it legal.
Sounds like someone simply making a point that the money is committed and that there is no refund under any circumstances. I don't think it is a suggestion that the rules might change.
Ah but Cosworth have apparently developed a new engine!
huh? when?
Peovided there is money and people to do it. Given what they are charging I think there is not going to be much tweaking done.
But the context of the entire sentence seems to be hinting at that...
They have?! How did they do that with so few people?
I have few details other than Nick Daman from MWM talking to someone from Cosworth.
Hi All
Mr C or Mrs C
Did you get my voicemail yesterday? my skype was playing up, should've received a rant. :-)
There still need to be changes made beyond a rev limit. I am no engine expert but think of something simple like wheel balancing. How often have you ben driving along and then you hit a speed where the wheel goes out of balance and then comes back in if you keep accelerating. An engine in perfect balance at 20k rpm is not necessarily going to be as reliable at lower revs.
Magic dust?
I thought Cosworth had lost all their people
Fun as it is it is time I wasn't here. Later.
see ya. i feel a nap coming on too.
don't think we checked rcc. will do this evening.
aren't you at work? :P
under the desk :)
He's got one of those Mclaren pods we saw at the Science Museum!
http://www.formula1.com/news/interviews/2009/5/9411.html
Ask the Webber. :D
okay, i've moved on an article. this time tony dodgins'. he's mentioned a somewhat off the wall conspiracy theory, but i'll repeat in case someone thinks it has merit:
"...someone rather mischievously pointed out that those teams tooling around at the bottom of the Q1 sheet... just happened to be two of the manufacturer teams making the most waves against the budget cuts and the sport's governance."
"Let's just say that if you wanted to, how would you slow down a couple of teams to the point of embarrassment? Well one conspiracy theory suggested that if their tyres weren't quite the same as everyone else's, if they were a little bit harder let's say, that would do it. "
thoughts?
oh god, the fear of regret!!
I'm really looking forward to Silverstone even though i know already who's going to win and take pole etc. I'm praying for rain :-)
that sounds a little too out there.
that would be very odd. but the thing is - BMW already struggle that much anyway. Toyota's is a bit more questionable, but to be honest, I don't see why Bridgestone would want to get involved in such political ploys.
Surely it just makes them even more angry?
He has a dog called Simba?
What would that achieve? Makes them want to leave more, right?
a good point.
Do you not think it would be exposed really quickly if it had happened? F1 would loose the little credibility left to the casual viewer (us lot don't count, we'd still watch)
i guess it says - the sport doesn't need them any way. they're a backmarker team. or something.
I knew about the Vettel coin thing. Me>Mark Webber ;)
that's assuming they even knew they were tricked.
No matter how dictatorial the FIA may appear to be, I would not want to take on BMW and Toyota like that...
the article goes on to say that one of the teams were joking about it internally. although it's probably not possible to switch a whole set like that.
They wouldn't need to know they'd been tricked. Just being at the back is enough.
but they'd think it's their own fault, not that they were harmed by someone else.
indeed, it'll very hard to do...
Obviously. What I mean is, how does upsetting the team help? Surely you would want to be getting them onside.
Hmm… After reading through the comments I’m now worried that there are no nice people in F1 Journalism… {Comment #215}
Well, the F1 Racing people are nice journalists, especially Stuart C :)
It's like all things - there are good journalists, bad journalists and journalists whose names nobody can remember but who quietly get on with the job.
But what makes this plausible is that it is the FIA we are talking about here - who regularly follow illogical tactics!
They're embarrassing the teams... If they will withdraw, Max won't mind - he'd get more power over the remaining teams. And it will look like they're withdrawing because they're sore losers ala Ferrari...
Where's the smoking gun for all this? Where has the author got his sources (apologies if mentioned already)
I don't think Max would be that stupid, surely Bridgestone are quite impartial and wouldn't play game. Another note wouldn't the engineers spot the difference in the telemtry a mile away. Hilarious if true but doubt it very much
just a paddock rumour. and he says he doesn't believe it, but is just repeating them.
In other words he does believe it and that's why he's spreading it around! ;)
So if Max wants to get rid of all the big teams, why just pick on those two?
Exactly. I call 'Shenanigans'!
Does he want to get rid of all the big teams? I think he's just pushing those manufacturers that are on the verge of leaving to leave. Merc and Ferrari won't leave motorsport. That leaves Renault, which may already be leaving anyway...
Ok. And why doesn't he want manufacturers in F1?
Because they're fickle-minded and they'd leave eventually anyway.
He does. He did. Hmm, not so sure if that's true now...
Independent teams can be fickle too.
I've followed F1 for years and i still can't get what Max's problem is!!
I've known anyone who courts and loves causing a kerfuddle, what pleasure does this man extract from it?
Could either of the two teams be behind the NOTW photo's?
can’t cosworth be sued for not providing them an engine as agreed? {Comment #306}
They could try to sue, but Cosworth would cite that the contract had been terminated by frustration. In that case neither party would pay anything. In theory both parties could sue the FIA for causing the contract to be frustrated, though.
But that is very difficult to do. The easiest thing to do would be to settle out of court...
Williams haven't been fickle, have they? Or Brawn, for that matter.
Can they? Most of them stay until the bitter end don't they?
I find this article interesting. Do you think Williams lodged an entry because some sort of deal was made to adopt their system for next year? A contract like that would be worth a lot of money… {Comment #311}
If such a deal has been made, it hasn't made it into the regulations and it would need to before July 31st (in theory). Though if the change happened after Friday teams could cite a substantial change in contract as a reason to walk out of F1 2010-style without penalty. Is that what the FIA wants?
Standard KERS for 2010 has been on the cards for months though...
Neither have Ferrari.
Still not here.
That theory sounds like complete and utter bull**** to me.
Is anyone seriously suggesting that Bridgestone is going to give a manufacturer sub-standard tyres and risk losing business with them at a time when manufacturers are merging and buying up one another. Fewer and fewer people will be making buying decisions so the last thing a supplier is going to do is risk alienating anyone in a manufacturer in case that person ends up controlling the tyre purchansing for a manufacturing group.
They're not exactly a privateer anymore. They're a privateer-manufacturer hybrid. Uniquely Ferrari, in other words...
But even so, that configuration is still legal for 2010… at the moment. unless… the engine’s maximum revs is INCREASED beyond 20000rpm. which means the Cosworth engines suddenly become outdated. {Comment #339}
Cost-regulated teams can have infinite revs, and Cosworth is supplying all-cost-regulated teams, unless Williams has already jumped ship. So the engines are outdated.
Yep - I see no point as to why BS would want to get involved in political BS.
Suuuure you're not. Will you be "not here" tonight? :P
Aren't Ferrari considered a Manufacturer? They are backed by FIAT money and started the GPMA (Grand Prix Manufacturers Association)?
I thought the engine wasn't part of the cap...
or maybe max suggested tony write the piece to put ideas into our, and the teams heads?
ahh, much fun.
I can't answer that. Not here
You just answered me by saying you can't answer that because you're not here.
Whaaaat? :P
okay, i’ve moved on an article. this time tony dodgins’. he’s mentioned a somewhat off the wall conspiracy theory, but i’ll repeat in case someone thinks it has merit: {Comment #360}
I think it is more likely that BMW's development programme has simply backfired and Toyota has a car that prefers fast corners to slow ones.
Afternoon all. All Maths-ed out for the day. I hope there are no Maths questions on the quiz.
Who said anything about making anything making sense?
Hey, RG. Going to tonight's quiz, I see? Hmmm... :D
just landed in my inbox:
Following Monday’s confirmation that the team has submitted its formal entry for the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship, the Formula One Teams Association has today decided temporarily to suspend Williams F1 from membership of FOTA.
Frank Williams, Team Principal: “FOTA’s decision, although regrettable, is understandable. However, as a racing team and a company whose only business is Formula One, with obligations to our partners and our employees, submitting our entry to next year’s Championship was unquestionable. In addition, we are legally obliged under our contract with FOM and the FIA to participate in the World Championship until the end of 2012.”
what the heck is FOTA doing?! are they out of their mind??
Woah!!
Morning All... Finally got that sleep
Awesome, they took a big risk signing up, they could have waited till Friday. now if their is a breakaway Williams will go bust
but as i said, they should've at least waited until friday before submitting. i don't see what they'd gain by submitting earlier.
Set to make third from last my own tonight
They want them all to be united don't they? So kick out the team that isn't?
OOOF! Kick in the nads there.
So all of FOTA are now planning to withdraw again.
Yup, my thoughts exactly... Well, they won't necessarily go bust, but they will lose a lot of money in the 3 years they're stuck with the FIA.
Indeed. But it's sad it had to end up that way for Williams...
Afternoon btw. :)
Right - now for lunch....
This is a joke. Another day, another twist in the ridiculous politics of F1.
Its not sad... They were just greedy...
This brings up a good point though - as things stand, you're either with the FIA or FOTA. There is no middle ground, no gray area. If any of the other teams follow what Williams did, they'll be forced to walk the plank...
How is that? I do understand their actions in 2005. They're purely a racing team, so they had to cover their behinds.
Where is Steven Roy when you need him?
FWIW, FOTA is down to 9 teams. If the other 8 teams tie on any vote, Ferrari will be the tiebreaker vote.
Well that's the end of FOTA then. Max must have offered Williams A LOT of money to get what he wanted so dearly!
Surely this will only just have the FIA smiling in glee that FOTA are already falling apart? Or at leats that's how it seems if theyr'e already suspending teams from the group...
On the contrary, the fact that FOTA kicked Williams out means that they're really fighting this out to the bitter end. The other privateers could've followed suit, but they sided with the manufacturers. That carries a LOT of weight.
He probably just said if they didn't they would loose the British seat on the f1 commission. Which doesn't actually meet any more
unless that's the impression fota want to give maybe?
But if one team is not part of the 'Teams association' then you have a split don't you?
Max wins again ... one wonders if he'll still be in charge 10 years after he pops his clogs - anything seems possible with him!
Unless the teams association breakaway to make their own championship. In which case, it's not FOTA that is split; it's F1 itself.
http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2009/05/27/a-thought-about-the-new-teams/
Joe's salient thoughts...
What's the difference? Max has achieved what he wanted!
Even if they don't, They cant race on their own, and they could be excluded from any concessions FOTA get in the future
Max wanted the teams to bow to his demands, not create a breakaway championship that would trump his own.
Good point there.
By not presenting a united front against him, the teams will start to fall his way...
It does say they're only temporarily suspended... surely that's just because they can't fairly be in the meetings about what FOTA want to do on this 2010 matter. I can't see that it's the end of FOTA as we know it.
But as I said, why didn't Force India and Brawn just walk out of the FOTA meeting? They've sided with the manufacturers, which means that they're intending on sticking this one out.
Agreed.
It may also be because Adam Parr (Williams CEO) is apparently unpopular with the other team principals...
He is? Where did you hear that? I'm surprised it isn't Sir Frank or Patrick themselves representing the team at such key meetings...
Yep... for now anyway. Let's see what they do and then we'll know if FOTA are still united...
I doubt it. Williams said they had to sign up because they've already been paid for their 2010 appearance. Fair enough, they can't afford to be backing out of contracts.
FOTA can't be seen to let a team sign up and still be boycotting it, hence the suspension. I'm not sure this is entirely significant... yet.
Brawn need to be there to help them get the TV money, and Force India may have less facilities, but their owner is wealthier than Red Bull's, so no need for him to leave
I can't remember. It may have been from Joe?
True, but that in itself is already significant...
We shall see when the results of this FOTA meeting are made public...
It was significant that Williams signed up. Not that FOTA have suspended them.
I wonder if anyone in F1 thinks they really do like to make a meal over nothing, swaer they just create for the sake of it
Frank is actually pretty wealthy, but Force India's budget is way smaller than Red Bull's.
It's significant in that they just didn't fall apart like a house of cards; they actually reacted to it publicly, which is unprecedented.
If Williams decided to leave the meeting volantarily, they would of just left, putting out a release saying their suspended is a clear suggestion of a disagreement
but that wasn't what happened, was it?
I am trying to say, they didn't just walk out of their own accord...
There was clearly a vote to suspend them, which suggests they didn't want to leave
yup, agreed. the fact that brawn and force india haven't walked out either suggests that they don't want to leave, either, and they still agree with the entire principle of leaving F1.
I guess Williams had a conflict of interest though?
But that is very difficult to do. The easiest thing to do would be to settle out of court… {Comment #394}
It would, but the FIA can't really afford to lose any more money. The financial gap of several million is going to be difficult to fix if they have to pay more money to Cosworth for breaking its contract with new teams. So the FIA really needs to keep Cosworth on side and supplying engines.
Standard KERS for 2010 has been on the cards for months though… {Comment #398
It has, but at least in theory, Max has to get such a proposal through the Technical Working Group, the WMSC and Ferrari in two months flat, because it's not inscribed into the regulations for 2010 yet. Given the dispute on budget caps, I can't see it happening.
I thought the engine wasn’t part of the cap… {Comment #405}
Only in 2010 (assuming the cap happens, which is by no means guaranteed). In 2011, the engines is in the cap. Also, I doubt Cosworth will want to make a loss on the engines, given how big a contract this is to them. Remember it's not affiliated with a manufacturer and therefore must support itself.
Following Monday’s confirmation that the team has submitted its formal entry for the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship, the Formula One Teams Association has today decided temporarily to suspend Williams F1 from membership of FOTA. {Comment #412}
This is huge news. I expected a telling-off from FOTA, but not an outright suspension. This may well force Williams to side completely with the FIA in the absence of protection from the manufacturers. That could ultimately give the FIA the leverage it needs to destroy FOTA.
A potentially very counter-productive action from FOTA.
I don't think the FIA have a contract with cosworth, for it to be activated they needed 5 or 6 teams to sign up in march, which didn't happen. So they remain a normal supplier, not an official one.
But on the other hand, this also tells me that the remaining teams are solid. If there were any disagreements with Williams' suspension, they could've walked out now, but they've stayed in. That has to have some significance.
I'd agree with you on this - they didn't need to do this, really.
I'm sorry but I think you're wrong. FOTA don't look stronger when one of their members defects and has to be suspended. It shows a weakness that not all the teams are against Max.
The FIA can't run F1 with one team. The only people who are in trouble are Williams. they are gambling on the other teams sorting something out by the end of the week, if they don't it could be the beginning of the end for them.
I wonder if Nakajima will have a drive next year now ;)
But why would the other 9 members agree for that 1 member to be suspended? If there were people who disagreed, why not walk out now?
A quick glance at Fantasy Racers reveals that Bobby K (Kubes) is now the cheapest driver to be had costing only 4.5 million. If you are like me and he has been in your team since the beginning you have lost a stack of driver value (expressed as a percentage more so than any other driver Ferraris included). Only last year he was the most cost-efficient driver to have, and at the beginning of this year many tipped him as World Champion to be (like Murray Walker). How the mighty have fallen this year as he has mostly be been beaten by his team mate (who has even out qualified him on several occasions).
Kubica is cheaper than the FI duo now? Wow.
yup, agreed. the fact that brawn and force india haven’t walked out either suggests that they don’t want to leave, either, and they still agree with the entire principle of leaving F1. {Comment #456}
Force India, if what I've heard from the ForceCasts and the Radio 5 Live stuff is correct, is not OK with leaving F1 (and not in agreement with scrapping the budget cap either). However, I think it sees the need for the teams to be united in order to restore some semblance of harmony to F1.
I have no idea what Brawn's attitude to the whole thing is.
So why stay with FOTA if they disagree with them? What do you mean by restoring some semblance of unity?
don't say that :-( I love the Willy
You are right though!
And why sign a resolution stating that they'd leave F1 if the 2010 regs weren't dropped?
It says harmony, not unity. Very different things!
I don’t think the FIA have a contract with cosworth, for it to be activated they needed 5 or 6 teams to sign up in march, which didn’t happen. So they remain a normal supplier, not an official one. {Comment #462}
The FIA gave Cosworth the tender for the standard engine last year. That contract has effectively been transmuted into the current arrangement. While the modification done to the contract has been extensive, it could be argued that Cosworth hasn't lost out with it. Cosworth would lose out a lot if its engines were effectively made illegal.
Good point. But my 2nd question is more pertinent.
Cool. I've lost the will to live with this conversation, so I'm off to lunch.
But on the other hand, this also tells me that the remaining teams are solid. If there were any disagreements with Williams’ suspension, they could’ve walked out now, but they’ve stayed in. That has to have some significance. {Comment #463}
This is true. It is simply that its strength was having (or appearing to have) total agreement from the current teams. Now the FIA can play psuedopolitics. FOTA has sacrificed perceived unity for actual unity - and in psuedopolitics, perceptions are more important :(
But F1 politics is fun?
just jumping into the convo here... i don't think it's massive news, and tbh i think it had to be done given the fact that Williams have already entered the 2010 championship. It's only a temporary suspension. The moment this is all sorted they will im sure be able to join FOTA meetings and such. FOTA couldn't be seen to do nothing and it would be harder for them to appear united. Isn't the bigger news that Williams entered the 2010 championship not that they have been temporarily suspended from FOTA because of it.
sorry if i'm repeating what others have already said.
I can be but I personally this a pain in the backside, and I'm a little fed up of it now :(
*It can be, even.
FOTA is attempting to wrestle back some democracy and control of its own sport. Objectively, you have an FIA president who can most politely be considered senile in his lust for power. FOTA has to win extensive concessions otherwise we (the public fan-base) will lose the sport known as F1. Max is now SAD, BAD and MAD and it has to be FOTA's ultimate goal to secure his resignation before more damage is done. I sympathises with Williams, but if they have been expelled from FOTA it shows serious resolve on part of the association to deal with the MAX problem.
Dont worry, this is just the lull, once the fallout from all this begins it will be very interesting
Yea, I like the politics. I dislike going round and round in circles.
I said that Lou, but it's nice to know someone else agrees with me :)
Isn't that what f1's all about? :P
Not in this case. If they are really serious about leaving, they can push Max to the wall. Again, as long as the (remaining) teams stay united, they should still have a stronger hand than Max. Disunity will be their downfall.
The FIA can’t run F1 with one team. {Comment #465}
Max can try. He's about as familiar with the concept of a no-win situation as James T. Kirk (off-topic: I saw the Star Trek film last night and it was very enjoyable apart from the flashing lights). And that's the problem, really.
:)
i agree with you and lou, too.
Is the round and round in circles (ovals) more American style racing?
Ha ha. :P
I agree with the politics can be interesting, the discussions on here can be good to read too but for me I'm just getting tired of having to see disputes constantly taking over, when we go to races we get questions of disputes, when there's F1 on the news it'll be because of disputes, when we get new headlines from autosport or elsewhere the likelyhood is because of a dispute, and it's just driving me a little mad when all we need is for people to just calm down and look at the bigger picture really, something to make the fans happy, to make the teams happy, and make the FIA happy, yet that will never happen I reckon, and so the disputes continue...
Rant over... I don't mean to seem like a negative mary over it all but I'd just love the sport to be more about the racing than the backroom antics of politics and arguments :(
I wonder if Nakajima will have a drive next year now {Comment #465}
Something tells me not. Which is a pity because I think Kazuki is, generally speaking, good enough to be in F1 on his own merit. Certainly better than Piquet Jr, at any rate...
eek sorry, i'll read through the comments a bit later, just thought i'd give my input while having a break from textiles. :)
anyways i should get back to sewing stuff, speak to you all later!
F1, GP1, whatever1 Williams is in, they won't have Nakajima with them.
see ya lou :)
:D
Didn't know there was someone else who thought Nakajima had something in him.
Off-topic: currently giving FakeYujiIde hints on getting back into the paddock. Felt sorry for him after he tweeted this:
sorry, but I am not in the paddock, @fakebernie revoked my FIA superlicense, I am at the gates bashing them to get in.... :-(
Is it Minardi DNA?
okay. so here's a question i don't think has been asked (but may have been, i totally lost track this afternoon).
williams have entered the championship. and according to the autosport article quoted earlier, they must enter with an engine deal... so what engine have williams got?
and if it's a toyota...
This is a very random question but...
Why/how on earth did a 'Warning of Mary Poppins' sign get made for roads? I saw one on the way home from Uni I've never seen before, it was a normal road sign at the side of the road with a silohuette of mary poppins, I wish I was joking...
I must get a pic.
This is what I have felt and said previously - FOTA is fed up with MAX-style governance which is increasingly run without transparency and on the whim of the moment.
Do you think they may have signed up to cosworth?
Could they go back to Cosworth?
not a clue. i was maybe assuming mercedes, but i really have no idea.
just thought i'd throw it out there.
A quick glance at Fantasy Racers reveals that Bobby K (Kubes) is now the cheapest driver to be had costing only 4.5 million. {Comment #467}
That's... ...not good. That matches the cheapest value in 2009-spec Fantasy Racers (Fisichella in Bahrain). {Comment #467}
What did Sir Frank think of them in 2006?
You dont have to use the engine you enter with, you just have to have a deal in place.
Look at Force India last year.
(and brawn to a lesser extent)
ok. but as i quoted earlier. you enter with cosworth and you're committed to them, presumably unless you pay them off? williams surely can't be affording to do that?
he called them "not the best in the field", or something.
Williams probably entered with Toyota, but since they don't pay for their engines, they have nothing to loose, and Toyota would probably be the ones backing out of the deal.
Considering Toyota look to be out come the end of the year it must leave Williams some security issues - their only choice is Cosworth - but Brawn did not know until the 11th hour which engine supplier it was going with? Of course without a Toyota tie-up Williams will have more freedom in drivers (bye bye Kaz and thanks for the Nippon connections). I was interested that Joe thought neither Williams driver to be top-notch and to be too error-prone. Possibly if BMW Sauber pull out they could bag both drivers. Apparently Frank felt he made a mistake to lose Nick since he is good at car development (he now has lots of opportunity to demonstrate this as they are the worst cars on the grid).
So why stay with FOTA if they disagree with them? What do you mean by restoring some semblance of unity? {Comment #472}
What I mean is that Force India seems to value getting enough agreement on the big things for F1 not to fall to pieces more important than getting everything it wants. When the teams were all following their individual agendas, the FIA found it easy to divide and conquer them. Now that all bar Williams are together, keeping that togetherness gives the teams a stronger base.
It also means that it would be possible for Force India to influence the FOTA agenda towards a compromise situation; one where everyone (including themselves) gets a bit of what they want rather than everyone trying to get all they want and then having the whole thing collapsing on their heads. At that point, with the possible exception of Toyota, none of them get anything they want.
By "restoring some sense of harmony", I mean a situation where the teams and governance are not biting their heads off in public as blatantly as they are now. I don't mean that they'd stop it completely - that will never happen if psuedopolitics remains as important as certain parties think it is - but avoiding the sort of spats that cause the comments generated by Christine in comment #476 would be helpful to F1's long-term profitability.
ahh, fair point.
My comment was not about F1.
:D
But F1 politics is fun? {Comment #478}
In moderation. This is not moderation.
(What? Did I just say that?)
Good power, poor reliability.
Well expressed Alianora (#514)
long day alia?
My comment was not about F1. {Comment #516}
Sorry, I thought it was (if, perhaps, in an indirect way). Looks like I got muddled :(
Was it about my point then?
It was about the fact sometimes people seem to be contrary just for the sake of it, and given that situation, I'd rather go to lunch.
It's just that I'm trying to make sense of what's going on, and that I think Williams being forced to sign up is expected, but them getting suspended from FOTA isn't.
I'm not trying to antagonize anyone.
Not in this case. If they are really serious about leaving, they can push Max to the wall. Again, as long as the (remaining) teams stay united, they should still have a stronger hand than Max. Disunity will be their downfall. {Comment #487}
They can push Max to the wall, but the moment Williams got suspended, Max gained a lever. FOTA just told the FIA that team unity is conditional. Max simply needs to find the conditions to get other teams to break their unity.
But Williams was contractually obliged to enter F1 2010. None of the others are.
Bernie seems to think that Ferrari is as well.
I Believe others are, but Williams have been advanced payments, so they may be more obliged than others
But Ferrari obviously disagree. So we can safely ignore that contract for now - until they get sued, anyway.
Good point.
now you're just making things up?
I missed the word 'financially', as Nick pointed out. Also, there's no Concorde Agreement, so the teams (except Ferrari and Williams) aren't really binded to stay.
Is it Minardi DNA? {Comment #500}
Nakajima to Toro Rosso?
Or should I delete this comment before someone at GMM comes across it ;) ?
Their is no overall agreement, but Bernie holds agreements with all the teams requiring them to enter, remember all the fuss over Honda needing to settle up with Bernie?
have we quoted joe's latest post, yet? a relevant passage in case we haven't:
"The letter said that the teams would commit to the sport until 2012 if this was agreed. Given that they are already committed to the sport as a result of a commercial agreement with Formula One Management, this is no great concession."
all teams appear to be just as bound as williams, and not signing this week will likely see them do battle with bernie in the courtroom.
please quote a source to back up this statement. because i say you're making things up.
williams have entered the championship. and according to the autosport article quoted earlier, they must enter with an engine deal… so what engine have williams got? {Comment #501
I reckon they've entered with Toyota (otherwise Cosworth would have mentioned them in their press release) and that if Toyota withdraw, the FIA will allow Williams to quietly join the Cosworth bandwagon at the relevant later date (as long as it's before the end of the season, otherwise it will be held up as an example of why Manufacturers Must Never Be Trusted).
but as i quoted earlier. you enter with cosworth and you’re committed to them, presumably unless you pay them off? williams surely can’t be affording to do that? {Comment #510}
My guess is that Williams will wait for Toyota to make the first move.
i'm not aware of whatever deals FOM had separately with any of the teams. as far as i was aware, the Concorde Agreement was the sole agreement that binded the teams to F1. if i'm wrong, then so be it.
long day alia? {Comment #521}
Long fortnight watching F1 attempting to destroy itself. And that's before any of the sides involved brings up the auto-disqualifcation issue...
the what now?
Bernie seems to think that Ferrari is as well. {Comment #529}
That wouldn't relate to the Memorandum of Understanding by any chance? But the FIA are acting in a way that the teams could argue that a third party frustrated the agreement at this rate...
the what now? {Comment #543}
The problem whereby Article 7.3 b) of Appendix 8 of the Sporting Regulations obliges all cost-regulated teams to know all the staff, agencies, consultants and suppliers they will be working with by December 15 of the year preceding the year of competition. Since no team can plausibly know that far in advance and no provision for exceptions or updates is provided by the regulations, every cost-regulated team is going to get disqualified at the end of each year of competition due to this Article.
Yet neither the FIA nor the teams appears to have noticed, despite me texting Ian Phillips and co. about it during free practise in Monaco...
alia, for those that didn't make deals with Bernie in 2005 (i.e. not Ferrari, Williams, or Jordan), what contracts are they under now?
because that will either get a workaround or will get completely ignored. there's no way they'd discuss that on TV...
journeyer, i think i take issue with the way you make grand sweeping statements sometimes containing seemingly no basis of fact. take your comment from a couple of moments ago:
you say that as if it's a fact. even though when challenged you don't actually know if it's true or not.
the problem is, sweeping statements such as these mean we spend all day reacting and pointing out that you may not have you information straight, or things aren't always as cut and dried as you make them out to be.
its probably a language issue, so please don't take offence. i just wanted to point out that i find it a little annoying and quite hard work sometimes, and the occasional "i think...", "i heard..." or "i understand..." wouldn't go amiss. far less conformational.
just wanted to make the point, feel free to disagree though.
*confrontational. sorry.
that's the thing - as far as i knew, it was true. but i was wrong.
i do insert them when i know i'm not sure of certain things, but it's just that i really thought i was right this time. which it turns out, i wasn't.
now i feel terrible. :(
One of the issues is the teams may very well have a different interpretation of contracts to those held by FOM and Mad Max. It is rumoured that Macca and Ferrari have already spend more than 40 million so they would be in breach of the contract anyway. The teams could argue the rules are so changed as to nullify contracts or contracts cannot be honoured.
I don't think the dispute is about the specific rules for next year so much now, as about who has the right to make the rules and how they are made.
but unless you're privy to bernie's contracts, you can't possibly know? all we can do is make best guesses.
please don't. there's nothing wrong with what you're saying, it's just the delivery maybe needs to be a little less... direct.
Perhaps a spot of tremayning could cheer you up? :D
i'm not particularly annoyed at anything right now; just feel rather down...
*shakes fist at FOTA*
Dammnn yooouuuu.
understood, Mr C. Just can't help it, though... Even the rumor of Hungary getting axed from the calendar can't cheer me up...
I'd rather shake my fist at Max...
grr! can you see what i'm saying though? i can't be arsed to find example, but a couple of times i've read a comment and thought:
"christ, i never knew that. how did i miss that??"
only to look into it and find it wasn't exactly as depicted.
i do understand what you're saying, and i apologize for whatever grief i caused, which is what's making me feel bad...
*shakes fist at everyone whos making you annoyed in f1*
less vague :P
You could shake your fist at the world, that would pretty much cover any eventuality... unless it was aliens.
the universe instead?
howdy all
Perfect!
hey, Jon.
Oooh family starting to come over now, the influx begins
alia, for those that didn’t make deals with Bernie in 2005 (i.e. not Ferrari, Williams, or Jordan), what contracts are they under now? {Comment #546}
They all signed the MOU in March 2006 when they signed up to the 2008 race entry. However, it is contingent on such things as a Concorde Agreement, which the FIA is conveniently ignoring right now.
Maybe a Jake Humphrey video and photo blog will make you feel better?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/jakehumphrey/2009/05/my_monaco_gp_photo_and_video_d.html
Hahaha, fantastic, I haven't seen that :)
Not bad, not bad at all...
Who knew... Legard is actually not a robot, and has a hint of personality
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8069389.stm
Geolocked I belive
Y'know the thumbnail for that, anyone else thinking Jasper Carrot?
no grief. just wanted to bring it up, tis all good ;)
yeeyyy, he talked about Ferrari and motivation....thats made my day ;)
When the camera was zooming into him speaking I was being hypnotised
i found a worse livery than the renault:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/75632
needs some striped bridgestone's to set the thing off though.
The only thing i would say about it is he still seems to have a different opinion as to which side of the track was the clean one to print journalists, but Brundle said the same thing so i guess he got it from him?
Oh my gosh, a football team livery? O.O
haha yeah, the superleague cars are pretty ugly
you not heard of superleague formula?
I find it ironic that I'm wearing a Sporting shirt today as well
....*hides in the shadows*
all i have to say about that livery today is: "blech"
you're a Sporting fan?
I had, but i was shocked to hear "Superleague's second year commences at Magny-Cours on 27-28 June"
They had a first year!? why did I not hear anything, not even a hint about it!!?
Nah, just visited Lisbon last year, liked the shirt.
For the best I think
Apparently, yes. I guess they acted as someone's support race. Not sure who though...
we may need a pic...
From Lisboa or now?
now is good.
Let me see. Page 22 may be lying around somewhere.
Right - must sleep off the negative energy.
Night, guys. See you at the quiz, RG. ;)
Where does said quiz take place?
See ya later Journeyer
see ya J, hope ya cheer up!
Night!
http://www.pitlanefanatic.co.uk/chat
Held there at 8:30pm. Best to register now to save the hassle with 5 mins to go. 25 questions.
Pitlanefanatic.com, 8:30 PM BST. Membership required, but it's free, so it's worth it. :) Not to mention the PF boys and girls are regulars here too.
Thats not quite fair! They had the coolest safety car of any motor race at the last event: an IFR Aspid the Spanish supercar that is faster than a Bugatti (0-160-0 km/h)
Source: http://www.pressportal.com.au/news/520/ARTICLE/3889/2008-12-02.html
Ah cool, wont be able to be around tonight, but maybe next week..
Night journeyer
Faster maybe, but it's pug ugly
Righto... Superleague 'Formula' is a one-make series. Think A1GP but with football teams instead of countries. They run a modified 2007 panoz chases from the last year of champcars with a 3 litre V12 Zytek engine. The racing isn't great and the series is badly promoted - the TV package is Setanta in the uk for example. Apparently the football teams don't have to pay for the cars, the series does. However, there are only a few well known football teams entered and the rest are really obscure.
I love its looks - it has really character and will literally humiliatate any other road going supercar (from comfort conveneiences to fuel efficiency). The most brilliant car currently available.
And Spurs were average. Like football team like racing team.
For me that was the only funny thing to come out of SF... The spurs team mirrored the football team :D
What was weird was that for years people have been making sports team liveries for racing games and they looked cool. But the SF ones are terrible - when mr C said worse than the Renault he's 100% right!
Spurs one looked, simply dreadful, like a useless attempt to copy the Rothmas Williams one. Only one I really liked was the Roma one.
I guess we've all seen this?
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/75646
Indeedy, quite a discussion over it too.
300+ comments and christine's on a long lunch as a result ;)
aha, fair enough
Still on lunch!
:)
I don't understand why Mosely suddenly wants more independent teams. A few years a go he was trying to chase Stoddart out of the sport with a broom, and told Williams that their business was redundant and the future of the sport was customer cars.
Best. lunch. ever.
without wanting to stir anything else up....what was the general consensus of the decision?
i think we know that we don't know very much at all.
What did Christine have for lunch? I had to settle for noodles and some chinese beef stuff
FOTA is Doomed, Max is Doomed, Williams is Doomed, F1 is Doomed.
But said doom is not permanent and liable to change on a day to day basis
:D
However, sunny spells should come in from the atlantic by tomorrow morning from a warm spell.
aaah i already knew that ;)
USF1 rumour? ;)
oh, no. Just sounded like a weather forecast of f1 news to me
:D
my word, i try out this "having a life offline" thing that I have heard so much about, and when I return, events have happened.
Poor internet, I shall never leave you again.
Oh so this is why we've had all this! :P
Right, off to london to watch some football match on tv. probably not that important.
good luck in the quiz guys!
see ya nick
what match?
The bat signal didn't work
Lukeh have you seen Rubens monaco diary on youtube? Jenson's is there too, but it's the same one that's on his website. Also.. Croftie is asking Rubens some questions, so they must be for five live then :)
Rubens diary -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzfUlvrWx88
:o!!
I haven't checked jensons yet either, completelty forgot. Thanks though, will definitely give them both a listen now :)
Ah they have cheered me up, both of them seem so positive about Monaco, and it's nice to hear from Rubens' accounts of the weekend :)
Makes me laugh how Jenson pronounced Raikonnen...
Ok I have read through some of the stuff I have missed and will keep reading.
My initial thoughts are that FOTA had no alternative but suspend Williams when Williams broke an agreement. The only reason we are not giving Williams a hard time is because it is Williams and not Ferrari.
After Ferrari split with the GPMA the GPMA was really weak in its response and just dissolved. FOTA losing Williams is less of a blow that the GPMA losing Ferrari. FOTA had to put a marker down to show they were not going to crumble. Either they suspended Williams or they looked weak.
It will all be resolved eventually as these things always are. If the FIA retain control of th championship Wiliams will make a few million and if there is a breakaway Williams will join the breakaway. Everything that is going on just now is just window dressing. In the end the same teams plus USF1 will race on th same tracks next season. The only difference will be how the money is split up.
very good point.
maybe its time for new FOTA slogans ;)
Looks like Amy has a second twitter account
https://twitter.com/Mrs_Kovalainen
Of course it could be its not Amy.
ahahahahaha I'm not that crazy :D
I was supposed to do a Wiki page for slogans after you hosted the podcast. Can I get away with saying it is on my list?
that's interesting. were these questions asked on 5live?
the only reason i ask, is croftie also features on the fif1 podcast. brawngp podcast maybe?
She seems to spend all her time talking to fakePiquetjr
♥ lists
not a clue i'm very behind on podcasts (still got 100 to listen to :( )
maybe... Jenson's been doing these features for over a year now, and Rubens diary takes the same format. I got the opinion as Rubens diary was much shorter Croftie was just prompting him for some more information. It would be great if Brawn GP developed a podcast or made more use of their youtube account... like a brawngp tv or something :)
I dont know if anyone else has said this as I am still catchig up on comments. Looks like Indy politics just blew up too. Tony George has been kicked off the board of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/indycar-tony-george-ousted-from-ims/
Did you see who voted? I guess Christmas dinner will be awkward this year
STEVEN ROY. Have you seen the speedtv message boards, the Marco vs. Mario dust up created?
It has always been the Hulman family business and I knew there were disagreements but clearly they are not going to be the happiestfamily in the world for a while
No. Do you have a link. I didn't even know they had had a fight
Not really a fight. Just a totally classless barrage by Marco aimed at Mario. Marco was trying to win the race on the first corner. Mario drifted up and they came together, but he was 1/2 a car length in front of Marco. The smart thing would have been for Marco to let off the gas and live to fight another lap. It's on youtube
No you cant.
Probs on my list though
There are actual to do lists on the wiki, which are pretty cool.
How utterly extraordinary. I imagine the IMS board meetings as being like a Borgia family gathering.
In other news, got a cheque for £20 from the beeb for my radio thing the other week. Must do more of that!
it's far too hectic in tis house at the momet to be concentrating on one thing :(
wha??
Sorry I thought you meant Marco had a fight with Mario Andretti.
I saw the race and the accident. Marco being Marco for me. There is no point getting out of the car and slating the other driver when you have tried to go outside him on lap 1 of a 500 mile race. Moraes should have been more careful and should not have been so high but Maeco should be protecting his car for the first 150 laps like the guys who finished near the front did.
I love a volunteer.
they pay you?
http://wiki.sidepodcast.com/todos/updated
Putting things on the wiki list is number 47 on my list
I always thought the thing about BBC tartan was a joke but clearly it is true.
so that's a list of wiki things. but are there general todo lists? like could we have a "things to fix in lclt list". rather than the current page?
About the only people who do!
:D
Not sure. I think that is more a specific list for each page, because you add to-do's depending what page you are on in the wiki.
I could make your things to fix in lclt list a lot better though, and perhaps more usable.
please do.
Right, I'd better head off, family getting annoyed I'm on laptop whilst everyone is here even though the match doesnt even start for another hour and a half... so I'll see you guys later tonight, have a good evening!
see ya lukeh.
in case anyone's interested monaco gp pictures are now up on darren heath's site.
I hate to replace politics with cars but Racecar Engineering just tweeted about an article on the car that may just beat Franck at Le Mans or at least will b his biggest challenger
http://www.racecar-engineering.com/articles/sportscar/343035/audi-r15-tdi-uncovered.html
Thanks Lou. I was looking for those last night.
see ya!
I think Nick's addiction is up a few notches recently. First his sleep gets screwed up and now he is doing the quiz.
Oh it so will beat Franck!
Sacrilege!
I can't say anything else when in two weeks I will be going down to Le Mans with 8 Danes can I? It's bad enough being a Lewis Hamilton supporter around them!
Sometimes I think I should stop reading space stuff because I just scare myself. So I think it is only fair I scare you lot to. I found sapce weather earier today and just got round to reading it. I know that there ar a lot of rocks flying around up there and I have mentioned the odd one here. However I didn't realise how many there were.
Space weather shows potentially hazardous asteroids which it defines as rocks which are bigger than 100 metres and pass less than 0.05 Astronomical Units from the Earth. 1 AU is the distance between the Earth and the sun so 0.05AU is less 4.something million miles.
Today they reckon there are 1060 potentially hazardous asteroids. That sounds too many to me and those are only the ones anyone knows about.
http://spaceweather.com/
Hmm. If it is for your own safety, then I might forgive you.
Of course it would be easier to forgive him if he brought Franck back for you
Oh cheers Steven. How the heck am I going to kidnap and bring back a French Racing Driver? French people hate Denmark!
Absolutely.
You will just have to try harder.
alex was asked to remove a protected species from a secure zoo in a foreign land, and bring it back with him.
offering a frenchman a lift home should be a piece of cake by comparison.
Christine doesn't live in Denmark so you should not be taking him there
:D
FakeYukiIde has nachos. Wonder who he is trying to kidnap
Just done a speedy comment-catch up, popping my head in to:
a) say hi... Hi!
b) go WOW at the Williams/FOTA thing. Thurs/Fri are going to be v.interesting.
c) go double-WOW at the Tony George thing as a first response, although Twitter is right this minute going crazy with people noting retractions after he said he's still CEO...
d) say well done for the nice discussion earlier but also to kindly ask people to please note the difference between "loose" and "lose".. pet peeve.. thank you.
e) say bye, for a few hours at least. much college stuff to get through. no quiz again for me. :-( Bye!
Not when they hear it's to Denmark. Every French person I know here complains....!
Hi Pat
Bye Pat
If you are capable of kidnapping people you should be capable of lying about where you are going. Kidnap him after the race and he is going to sleep for 12 hours straight
You are worryingly good at this.
here's a different twist to the argument for bringing news teams to the grid. a tweet from embuxton (ex super aguri pr):
"I hope that the FOTA meeting results in more teams on the F1 grid next year... and jobs!..fingers crossed."
Everyone has to have a talent
Yours is supposed to be the F1 Stevipedia!
Evenin' all :)
You think that finances itself?
Hehehe.
I just realised that if there is now a permanent crew of 6 on the ISS when the next shuttle arrives there will be 13 people on board. NASA hasn't always had th best of luck with that number
Just started watching 'From the Earth to the Moon' - hopefully gonna time it so I see the Apollo 11 one around the time of the 40th anniversary...
Sounds like fun. If you are looking for any info go to http://www.spaceflight.nasa.gov/home/index.html and point your mouse at the history tab. No need to click and you can pick the mission that interests you.
Right. Off to watch the game. See ya later!
Looks like football killed twitter
its going to be quiet around here this evening isn't it...
*turns tweek deck off*
It's just like a race, silly noise going off every minute
Quality not quantity ;)
Quiz night any way
Ooh yeah :D
Man it really has gone dead here tonight. Some football match on apparently...
Foot-ball? what is this!?
Beats me.
I think twitter is like sidepodcast. two weeks ago I didn't use it now I have withdrawal symptoms because it won't work properly
Speaking of which, hello. :)
Something about balls getting kicked by feet, apparently...
:D
More like bizarre. That's like Bernie getting voted off the FOM board - you'd normally think it's impossible...
Remember when the F1 mole linked to a G-word article yesterday?
He's not alone:
http://formula-one.speedtv.com/article/f1-customer-cars-key-in-2010-solution/
Why would I want to watch 22 overpaid men running round kicking a ball for 90 minutes? I'd much rather watch 22 overpaid men driving round and round instead.
:D
It's half time already? Man, how did 45 minutes go that quickly?!
Glad to hear it :D
Tony George denies IMS ouster
Nice :D
Because it's the awesomest game in the history of all sports ever!
Meh, I've seen nothing special so far. I missed the goal.
The goal was pretty good actually!
Also, there's no dad cam on the football coverage
First half is awesome. Hope the second half is just as awesome. 2-0 Barca would suit me fine
Hillarious!
1-1 would suit me better. ;)
7-4 would be great.
7-4 Man U? :P
Nah, go United!
To Barca. ;)
Hi Tristan. You picked a quit night to pop in
Most of us are at the quiz at http://www.pitlanefanatic.com/chat.php
It has just started so feel free to pop in. There will be some discussion here but it will probably be very quiet for the next hour
I'm not there though. Feel free to stay and chat :)
.
OK. Thanks.
Yup, feel free. I can multitask! :D
Even those of us in the quiz keep an eye on the comments here.
Going to start a GP2 championship after the match, but I need your help.
How should I have the performance levels of each team?
1994 Level
All the same
Random
And, who should I be?
Somethign to help:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Formula_One_season#Drivers_and_constructors
Senna and Ratzenberger arem't in the game for obvious reasons, and some guys (I assume subs) like Lehto and Lagorce aren't there either. Will do race distances at 10% for now.
i was trying to follow the quiz while sewing stuff and managed to sew my jumper to my textiles piece :(
Awww... poor Lou. :(
:D
They are doing a BMW round and RG is struggling. Nota happy boy.
hehe.
Just found this on Wikipedia - the article is on the 1993 F1 season:
"Ligier reunited British drivers Martin Brundle and Mark Blundell: the two had previously driven for Brabham in 1991 but to the relief of commentators everywhere had seldom troubled the TV coverage."
awww.. *checks questions* i'm surprised he doesn't know the answer to q12...
HAHAHA! Oh irony of ironies... :D
The tongue twister team, if you will.
Martin Brundell. :D
I'm not struggling, got all of them ;)
Good idea Joe. We should discuss it after the match and the quiz
It's like the toughest football score in the classified results: Forfar Five, Fife Four.
I thought you were doing well given your expression of joy when asked the computer's name
It's like the toughest football score in the classified results: Forfar Five, Fife Four.
It is supposed to be Forfar 4 East Fife 5
I'm sure the man who used to read out the scores said it was the juxtaposition of fours and fives - Maybe it was Fife Four, Forfar Five.
I think Lou will get number 23
Evening guys.
Hey Lukeh. Not the best game for you then.
Evenin.
Just watching Man U lose. Ah well...
Was there a game? I dunno because I only saw 1 team on the pitch.
Yup, sad. Good thing I never turned the TV on. Too painful to watch...
Hehehe.
Oooh, good call, true one. Barca by miles the best.
I have to LOL at that... but are you OK?
Man U looked panicky and scared out there tonight ... I was very surprised at how much Barca outplayed them!!!
Honest I wish I'd done the quiz or watched the Apprentice now, was hoping for at least a good match but nope, one sided borefest with 11 overpaid, nondesirable underperforming 'sportsmen' having a free trip to Italy just for the sake of it it seems. Plus most of my family are in a bad mood now, which upsets me more than losing really because it's just football, but ah well.
Honestly, the game was nothing special. One of the most uneventful and rather boring football cup finals I've ever seen. Just no real action for me.
Actually it was quite exciting - normally cup finals are just tight and conservative but there was loads of free play and chances tonight...
I wonder, though, had Chelsea held off Barca a few weeks back, would it be Man U winning tonight?
New circuit cup thread up
You watch finals much? The FA Cup one last year was worse, 2005 was bad. League Cup this year was dull. There have been much, much worse.
Nope - thankfully Chelsea didn't win because they would have tonight!
?!
Wow - that's the worst thing in the world to be a losing finalist and have to wait for your loser's medal :(
I don't pay attention to football as much as I used to. In fact, I don't think I really pay attention at all now.
Heheh. Chelsea hater much? :P
Yeah but if you're a United fan that game would have sucked!
Much. Very much. Not helped by my psychotic Chelsea-loving friend! :)
:D
I'll be honest, as a Utd fan I've been so bored by football in the past year and onwards. Love for F1 continues to emerge but my love for football continues to dissolve.
I don't care who wins unless its Spurs. And we can't until at least 2011. Then we won't do that since we are Spurs.
That would be our fault, then? :D
I'm having trouble voting on the Circuit cup - getting a message saying my request is still being processed. Bah.
Seriously - we were in a Man U. Pub for the Chelsea match, he was screaming abuse and he was on for a glassing.
That is, until United were denied a goal, so he runs round the pub chanting "CHEL- SEAA! CHEL-SEAA!" only for United to immediately score.
He tried to sink out of sight and we just all pointed and laughed!
Who says it was a complaint :P
Mate, your lot have been a little bit Piquet since the 60's!
I voted 5 minutes ago and it was fine. I promise I didn't break it
Awww, poor guy!
I'd say 90s. We had a good streak in the 80s.
Nah mate, he REALLY deserved it! :P
I had that, for me it just meant that i'd double clicked, leave it and it should vote
I missed that week
Another reason not to like football - when was the last time there was a punch-up between ravening Ferrari and Williams fans (not counting the drivers)?
How come you're a Spurs supporter anyway?
Ah well, away with the final and back onto Forza 2 and the greatest genre of sport in the world; motorsport racing.
Ah but it wasn't that bad - he was just shouting obscenities...
Short reason. I was young, I was learning, watched them play and liked them.
Well in hindsight that was probably a wise decision considering the state of football in the North East...
Was that a ticker tape bomb or something?
Oh yeah. Looking forward to seeing my mates on Monday as well ;)
For those watching ESPN, they have this commentator called "TOMMY SMYTH WITH A YYYYYY!!!!!" Who is Irish and really annoying - basically the Eddie Jordan of ESPN Soccernet :)
BTW, didn't you predict 2-0 Barca, Steven Roy?
Oh God, he's all-knowing! WE'RE DOOOOMED!!!
I should have had a word with the bookie. Speaking of which where is Amy?
She should be up by now - it's 7 AM her time. But is she usually in this early?
Only if she's stayed up all night...
You mean she leaves now. I thought she was here 24/7
This picture just appeared as a post quiz caption competition
http://www.formulaf1.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/kimi-raikkonens-drink-supply.jpg
Even Jenson couldn't keep that up for longer than a few weeks.
Yep. It's clear from your tweets you're acting like the bad stereotype of a United fan :(
Love it! :D
Quiz scores
LPG is wondering if there is some tennis being played somewhere.
:D !!!
Cheers
Not this late at night, no. But hey - some kids must be playing tennis somewhere. ;)
Why would Kimi drink Budweiser?
C'mon Lukeh - I know it sucks to lose but your lot had a great season. Tonight Barca played brilliantly and United, although beaten, really gave it some!
I'm not even criticising barcelona or tonight, I'm frustrated as hell that they got so far in the competition and have a good season only to give that woeful, pathetic performance...
One of my workmates has posted this on Twitter:
Man U not very good* I think it was the White shirts....,., they played like spurs lol
*that's not quite what he said, but this is a family show.
*Barcelona tonight, I mean
Bah I'm gonna shut up, I can't even explain myself well.
OI. OI OI OI.
Not fair. We have no one to laugh about with our chocolate away kits.
Paris
Man U were not pathetic or woeful, just tactically beaten!
I came joint 4th in the quiz. My form is slipping :(
I came joint 4th in the quiz. I'm bloomin delighted.
:D
:D
All relative, isn't it... :)
LPG did say French Open, I'm now in trouble for suggesting she didn't know where.
:)
tea?
evening, i've just managed to untangled myself from the sewing machine and a massive bundle of wool, how are we all this evening?
I'm having way too many conversations in different places at the moment!
and you didn't think to drop.io it?
:)
we're ace. you?
s'okay. we'll wait.
I'm gonna run some laps in the Chevy Lacetti in order to gain more practice for the RaceDepartment XBOX 360 Touring Car Championship on Race Pro. I feel pretty confident with the car and I've already got good setups for Porto, Monza, Laguna Seca and Valencia. I've still got to work on the others really.
me - did you see my comment about voting? If I try and vote it doesn't work :(
erm.... no... sorry, i will tomorrow. It's bound to happen again seeing as i don't seem to get on with sewing machines much.
i'm alright, tired and feeling stressed about exams again :D but looking forward to seeing the qi recording on friday :)
nope. soz. what happens?
ace!
did we know nick was doing a video podcast?
http://www.nickheidfeld.com/?6001A0A1A5671
evening lou.
I have been reading tweets by Stephen Fry and Alan Davies this week. They have recorded a few shows this week and seem to be really enjoying themselves
I reckon 1'35.294 around Brands GP in a Lacetti's pretty decent, don't you?
Uploaded pics to drop.io. If you click on Vote or view results, the area goes blank. Clicking on anything else gives the message.
http://drop.io/sidepodcast/asset/picture-2-png-5
http://drop.io/sidepodcast/asset/picture-3-png-2
how odd. have you tried in a different browser? is anyone else having issues?
all seems good here :(
Now just lowered it to a 1'34.494.
I get that on the G1.
Worked for me a few minutes before Andy's first attempt
Problem solved by going into the actual post and voting there. I was on the home page before. Suggest making people open the post before they are allowed to vote.
Didn't know about the Heidfeld podcasts. Doesn't seem like a happy bunny.
I voted from the home page
is that airwolf?
http://www.nickheidfeld.com/?6001A0A1A5589
probably a one off glitch or something. give it a try from the homepage tomorrow, and see what happens.
it's all good here.
Either that or it the helicopter from Goldeneye
Good 15 minutes running round Brands there. With a stock setup this car's great. Could use one or two little tweaks to dial out the tiny bits of understeer but apart from that it's pretty fine :D
You still wiping the floor with everyone on GRID?
To be honest I've laid off GRID for a while to focus on Race Pro and this touring car championship. Any running I've done has been in the Lacetti either online or in time attack/ free practice.
yep, well i pointed them out in the comments on thursday or friday...
It's strange. Did the same in Safari 4 too.
missed that one, sorry.
no problem :) if i find something like that again i'll post it on twitter too or something. less chanceof missing it then..
in my case there is! but cheers.
It's neither. It's the Aerospatiale AS355 Dolphin. The Airwolf was a Bell 222.
By the way, if you liked Airwolf as a kid, DON'T buy the DVD's - it hasn't aged well unfortunately :(
how... the... ?
Is it as badly aged as the A team?
Oh and the Goldeneye one was a Eurocopter Tiger...
It's turned into sidepodplane spotting
who knew?
Can't say because I haven't seen that in a while either. But let's just say I was a big fan of the series, spent years trying to find episodes of it and was bitterly disappointed :(
Yeah sorry, I'm a plane geek too :(
The Dolphin has a wicked sound by the way - very high pitched!
Ollie has just posted three caption competition photos
http://blogf1.co.uk/tag/caption-contest/
you kept that quiet! ;)
heeeeeeeeeee's back :)
Meant to say. Cake is involved
Says the man who hung round an airfield for days on end
along with a slightly peculiar nick heidfeld obsession, it would appear...
I don't go plane spotting or anything though... who would hang around airfields all day? ;)
i liked the big planes. i didn't like the little ones. the best bit was when they all landed and the car went out.
"what I did on my holidays" by me (age 7) :D
Are you sure that is actually Ollie and not R.G in disguise?
:D
i am worried.
So is it also bad to admit here that I've taken flying lessons and I use Microsoft Flight Simulator?
(Runs and hides)
I am not Ollie.
You're not alone.
microsoft? the shame!
are you any good?
Strange thing to deny
have we ever seen the two of you in a room at the same time?
Ye..... I mean no.
:D
Yeah I'm alright - I know what to do and when. Very relaxing and enjoyable that is...
Put it this way, if we go on a sidepodholiday and the captain of the plane falls ill, DONT look at me when they ask if there is anyone who can land the plane ;)
I have always wanted that to happen so that I had to land the plane. i love being thrown in at the deep end.
isn't expensive to learn though?
ace, sidepodexcursion. where would we go?
you fly too? or are you just nuts like that?
Don't tell me - as well as being all-knowing you were an airforce pilot during Desert Storm?
Abu Dhabi?
:P
Yes. that's why I've only done a few lessons. I don't have a licence or anything...
For any comedy fans Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow starts Saturday 6th June at 9:30pm. It comes from the same people who made Live at the Apollo, and in the first episode Rhod Gilbert who is an amazing comedy genius headlines, with guests Mark Watson, Stewart Francis and Kevin Bridges also performing.
are you like james may. can only fly when the sun up?
Cheers. Would anybody be so kind as to link to some funny Rhod Gilbert stuff?
Ah now you can't say that. Barcelona were the better team by quite a bit, but we weren't that bad. We had some good chances and were unlucky that Park, Roonye and others didn't get a clean strike with them. I enjoyed the match. Wouldn't say it was fantastic, but it definitely wasn;t boring. I agree with Gavin.
Is it on TV? Sounds fantastic.
*runs to find youtube links*
I guess so. On the flight sim I can fly the 747's but for real I have only tried a Cessna. Good fun though - everyone should try it!
yep, and it's on for 6 weeks :)
Cheers Joe! A rare occurence round here ;)
Awesome! Will be watching that as long as I remember.
The best things on youtube with him in are
Live at the Apollo
Part 1
Part 2
and this brilliant sketch.
he is so very funny :) easily one of my favourite comedians.
Thanks Lou!
no doubt i'll remind everyone as i'll be mega excited about it :P
It's not the deep end if you know what you are doing
Mine too. Mum wanted to get tickets to go see him, but we never managed to. Got tickets for Lee Mack in December though! :D
no a problem, as i say he is amazing, when i saw him live my friend and i were in fits all night. true legend :)
That last one was on Rove! That was a cool programme too!
Never flown anything. Tried Flight Sim years ago but found it boring once I had flown a Lear Jet under the Eifel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe. Flying needs something to add a bit of excitement like not having a clue what you are doing.
One of my favourite jokes of his is about his nan where he jokes:
"She used to say stuff like "Red sky at night - angel delight! Red sky in the morning......ANGEL DELIGHT!"" :D
Sounds good
Put his name in youtube
Ah but the new ones have missions, scenarios, Air Traffic Control so you do get immersed more.
Of course I could have done that - I'm not daft!
Usually a comedian is well known for a couple of sketches and that's what I was after!
I would have had the odd lesson by now but it would end up like going for the odd racing lesson did. You get addicted and eventually spend all your money and can't do it any more
Lee Mack joking about his nan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8urs84qJGw
his best sketch imo is on the live at the apollo part 1 link i sent you 4:18 in.. about buying bedding... it's tooooo funny.
Another quick Rhod Gilbert sketch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNjIEcb6-_M
Night all!
night gavin.
I'm surprised the guy still has a voice with all that shouting! Can't deny, he's bleedin' hilarious :D
Night Gavin
night sir
Night Gav
Night Gavin.
That's a bit random, the top 5 videos on BBC F1 are all Chinese GP related...
Evening all, I promissed to return and i am a man of my word...
Oh my i think i may have been drinking....
hehe. much?
Depends on the Definition of "much"
You know when you make the wrong sort of friends... i think that happened tonight!
you met bassano too then?
;)
:D
Is that the alcohol talking?
Where did you find this info, I can't seem to see that on the site.
I just watched legard's review videoa nd it said the top 5 videos at the moment on the right hand side
No, i haven't had that much! But I have been forced to agree to going at some point in the next month...
Forced?
I didn't put up that much of a fight, but there was considerable peer pressure!
Thanks, I thought I was missing something. Looks like its sorted now. Got all Monaco stuff now.
You'll regret that! ;)
I had, but i was shocked to hear “Superleague’s second year commences at Magny-Cours on 27-28 June”
They had a first year!? why did I not hear anything, not even a hint about it!!? {Comment #585}
They did. I even have a leaflet advertising the first race at Donington Park on 29-31 August 2008.
The audience was about 500 people, from what I gathered. Possibly because their promotion efforts consisted of sticking a banner on a few buses in Nottingham (and presumably Derby), putting some leaflets in a local bread shop and Autosport doing an eight-page feature on them.
Not helped by a Biblical downpour on Raceday, right?
Apparently they got 40,000 people at Jerez according to the Series President...
The racing isn’t great and the series is badly promoted - the TV package is Setanta in the uk for example. Apparently the football teams don’t have to pay for the cars, the series does. However, there are only a few well known football teams entered and the rest are really obscure. {Comment #602}
I was intruiged when I discovered that the AS Roma entry was run by a branch of FMS. Having the series of Setanta was frustrating though - putting any motor sport series on a pay channel guarantees it will get the same or fewer viewers than the GT3 championship (which may be an obscure series, but does at least get an early-morning terrestrial slot!)
Not helped by a Biblical downpour on Raceday, right?
Apparently they got 40,000 people at Jerez according to the Series President… {Comment #948}
The trouble was that most people didn't know it was happening in order to be put off by the rain...
I can believe the figures for Jerez (I gather Vallelunga was well-visited as well). By then people were beginning to know about it, at least in certain circles.
That still leaves four considerably less successful events in the first season.
that’s interesting. were these questions asked on 5live?
the only reason i ask, is croftie also features on the fif1 podcast. brawngp podcast maybe? {Comment #641}
Is Brawn GP determined to copy all of Force India's marketing strategy? Mind you, that's not such a bad thing (except for merchandising - at least Brawn GP has some items on sale at the moment costing less than £200!)
In other news, got a cheque for £20 from the beeb for my radio thing the other week. Must do more of that! {Comment #653}
Nice one Stuart!