Just one more day of testing to tide us over until next week, but it's been a pretty interesting ride so far. Here's what we've been talking about recently:
- What is up with Bernie and his desire to make everyone change their name? USF1 have had to become USGPE, not nearly as catchy. Force India have had to redo their logo, because it looks too much like F1. Crazy times.
- Talking of logos, we caught sight of the official FOTA design, and boy it is not pretty. In fact, it's so bad that we're pretty confident you could do better. Why not have a go and drop.io the results? If we get enough submissions, we could have a little poll, and everyone loves a good poll, don't they?
- Sato has revealed that talks with Red Bull to become the reserve driver for both RBR and STR have now fallen through. The statement on his site suggested that they couldn't come to an agreement (over money, or opportunities, or what?) and that he is now looking for something else to occupy him in the future.
That'll do for now. If you've got a spare few minutes, don't forget to listen to the first episode of the latest mini series. While you're at it, I'll see you in the comments.
What's up with Bernie? Same as usual - never letting common sense or the law get in the way of making a buck (even if, as in this case, it's an illusory one).
I am dumbfounded at this really. Just dumbfounded. Then again, this is the man who thinks we will spend $500 on a carbon fiber notepad with the F1 logo on it.
How can a sport advertise themselves if they can't use the name of the sport in their materials?
I hope Peter and Ken don't change the name of their team again. I don't want to keep on chancing the categories and header of my blog. Then again if they want to hire me, I can develop an intergrated branding stratagy for them at the 1/10 of most P.R. firms... oh well.
Force India Logo:
Trouble is, the logo is basically F1's corporate identity, and trust me, big companies are VERY sensitive about their logos.
Case in point: for my day job I manage the graphic design aspect of a sign company and if for example we're making a sign for McDonald's, we get emailed (and I'm not joking) a 50+ page spec booklet as thick as War & Peace of dos and don'ts when it comes to making the sign.
Companies sue big bucks when someone's logo is even remotely similar to theirs.
USFI Name: If you owned a successful body shop called 'Montagny's' ;)and you were famous all over the country, and then a two-bit cowboy outfit opened up another shop with the same name, you'd be pi**ed.
It's just the same thing on a different scale. (not that I'm calling Windsor & the boys a cowboy outfit)! :D
I can't believe I'm saying this but I can understand the FIA on this one...
fom isn't it, rather than the fia. but i get where you're coming from.
Trouble is, the logo is basically F1’s corporate identity, and trust me, big companies are VERY sensitive about their logos. {Comment #3}
But if Bernie was that sensitive about his logo, he could have said something long ago. Force India have had that logo since January 10 2008 quite openly. If he'd stopped it then (or at least during the initial flyaways), then it would have made sense. As it stands, he's just made himself look silly - especially since Williams and Force India are both still allowed to have F1 in their team names.
Totally off-topic:
You know those EULAs that you skip reading/read very reluctantly because there never seems to be anything in them? Well, the writers of some EULAs must be pretty bored with the process as well.
Since when has an RPG dice rolling software program taught anyone how to play the guitar?
some good info on the f1 science museum exhibition:
http://www.newscientist.com/gallery/dn16689-from-the-race-track-to-space-and-hospitals/1
I love the first line on the science museum link
No. I have a fairly clear idea how it affects my daily life.
:D
Christine, I just heard the races we remember, or whatever you call it. I watched that race and the one thing that stands out is Eddie Jordan on a cellphone as the drivers were getting ready to take the podium. Fisi was glancing over at him wondering if Eddie's going to be able to prove I won. That was a great race, my hopes were dashed when the Minardi's both spun off.
I think I read somewhere that EJ was on the phone to the factory to see if anyone there could prove that Fisi had won.
http://www.itv-f1.com/news_article.aspx?id=45208
Sutil complaining that the 2009 tyres grain badly and produce lots of marbles. This is thefirst time I have seen a comment like this. So they set out to change the aero rules to improve overtaking but didn't spec non-graining tyres. Has the FIA heard of joined up thinking?
Believe me, I dealt with both ends of stuff enough in my life. However the thing I don't get is why all of sudden now (shot across the bow at FOTA perhaps?)
Are they going to say "Grand Prix" is now copyrighted?
Stuff like this just fits into everything I've heard about FOM style. They go well beyond what is legally possible to protect what they want. Whither it is footage shot by fans, audio interviews by teams, or even now in the promotion efforts of the teams. No one bothers to challenge them on it because it would cost too much and it is just easier to do it a different way or the way they wanted. All and all, it hurts F1.
I can understanding protecting your brand. However, when you ticks off fans, teams, and sponsors because very minor infractions, it goes well beyond protecting a brand or an image. There are definitely doing more harm then good to themselves. That what makes me shake my head in disbelief.
I have just written an e-mail to pitpass telling them I am not going to use their site ever again. I am sure anyone reading Mike Lawrence's attack on JYS will understand why.
Tyre graining won't happen on all cars. Those who have less graining will benefit, and will be able to overtake other cars.
Rather nasty, there. It's not like JYS would've known whatever Goodwin was up to in the business world.
I think the problem is that if there is graining on a few cars there will be lots of marbles and then only one line.
SOme photos taken on Capt Scott's final polar expedition have just been put on the net. They are of incredible quality considering they come from fragile glass plates that are effectively 100 years old. THe quality of light in some of them is incredible. If you click on 'go back' at the bottom of the first page of the gallery it takes you to a list of other galleries of polar photos of all ages.
http://www.freezeframe.ac.uk/tag/gallery_Ponting
That didn't stop anyone from overtaking at Monaco 2005 - even if a good number of cars had graining tyres, it just allowed many other cars to take advantage.
But if it does become a major concern, since Bridgestone is the only tyre in use, they can fix it and roll out a new spec of tyres by midseason, if need be.
Absolutely amazing images. Wow.
I hope either the problem is due to something odd about the Force India car or it is something Bridgestone is willing and able to fix.
Have we decided on the date for the sidepodscience meet up? .. maybe it needs something in the wiki.
Mr C, I can no longer edit posts?
There is a already a wiki entry on the trip http://wiki.sidepodcast.com/page/Science+Museum+Meet+Up but the exhibition ends on the 5th April so we'd best get thinking of a new date.
Plug link please?
Yeah - on 15th of April, right???
5th of April 2010 Jackie. The idea is that we attend on 15th April 2009, right?
Oops!
This one? http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_feature_item.php?fes_art_id=37149
I see just what Steven is getting at!
What's with the racism, is that really the image of inclusiveness Pitpass wants to put forward?
I found that article a bit offensive and the anti-Scottish rant went waaay off topic... Clearly he hates all things Scottish... I was half expecting a picture at the end with him defecating on a Scottish flag!
I also can't see the big deal about the JYS sponsorship, because:
- it's a drop in a bucket compared to all the other money wasted on the banks
- Sir Fred Goodwin is getting 650,000 pounds a year for the rest of his life - so if he lives to 75 he'll get 16,250,000 pounds!
- Jackie Stewart deserves every penny he can get for being a brave and fantastic driver from a time where drivers like him weren't rewarded
- the cost to each person in the UK for this deal (assuming it is 4 million over three years) is 0.06p!
I may send this to Pitpass. Absolutely shockingly bad journalism and very sad to see a once great website in such a death spiral :-(
Okay, own up. Who ordered the snow?
On that pitpass article...
The other thing that seems to be really weird is the suggestion that what Max did was okay because he was spending his own money and what Fred did was bad because it was somebody else's. Does Mike not want any sponsorship by anyone running a public company? No more BMW, Renault, Mercedes, Ferrari....
All public companies, all doing what RBS did... Idiot!
Snow? It's sunny here!
By saving RBS from going bankrupt, we are effectively endorsing all their deals and operations, so I'm not surprised RBS are carrying as if nothing had happened!
Blame Steven Roy? ;-)
Sounds like a plan.
A bit quiet this morning... how did you all do on the quiz? Any howlers?
I won on my first attempt :D
So you're better at the quiz than Xbox then? ;-)
I mentioned the logo thing yesterday, I'm not sure whats up with bernie this time. 78 years old, wife divorcing him, who's he gonna leave the logo to anyway!!!!!!!!!!!!!
well, lets just say i'm glad i was just watching ;)
I'm quite annoyed that I did plenty of promotion and encouraged everyone to come along and beat me, then scheduled a mini series to start on the same night.
AND apparently there was a Franck question which makes it even worse.
Just reading the pitpass article:
"Before any oateaters get upset about my use of 'Scotch', instead of 'Scots' or 'Scottish' (both acceptable alternatives), I would point out that it is perfectly good English and I am an Englishman using my language."
As an Englishman, I find his comments embarrassing at the very least. And I've just emailed PitPass to tell them so.
LOL... and that was put in as a thank you for the promo :-)
D'oh!!
Oateaters? That's a horrible phrase to use and I will be emailing them later to give 'em an earful. I think you could consider that at the very least generalistic and at the very worst, racist.
Isn't it also that "Scotch" is incorrect and only used by the English? A family friend detests the use of the word "Scotch" instead of "Scots"!
Oi! I'll win a race yet. Got another two coming up on Saturday.
I did have a GT Sport race at Anderstorp on Tuesday night. I drove a Marcos and the opposition consisted of 4 BMW M3 GTRs and another Marcos. Took pole by 7 tenths, led the first corner, battled with one of the BMWs over the first lap, ended it 2nd, then took the lead again. Then threw it away at turn 1 by missing my braking point, going wide onto the outside grass, almost losing the back end. Lost the lead there and then and then 2nd when another of the BMWs got by on the straight. I followed them for a few laps before the leader spun at the last corner. From there I tried in vain to catch the new leading BMW, but in my attempts I ran off into the gravel on the last lap and had to make do with 2nd.
They don't call it 'Spitpass' for any ol' reason!
Wot you doin' in a Marcos? That's an ancient car (but really GRUNTY!!!)
To be fair, online racing is very difficult - even in Mario Kart. Which reminds me, who still wants to sign up for the tourney and when do you guys want to do it?
That quote was from the defensive paragraph at the end. Mike Lawrence clearly felt the need to justify the fact that half of the three-page article he had just written had nothing to do with motorsport and was just a racist attack on the Scottish.
Morning all,
I don't really want to get into dog-eat-dog territory, but that final paragraph is one of the most conceited and absurdly pompous things I've read in a long time. A competent editor would have deleted it on quality grounds without a third thought, even if it wasn't as insulting as it is.
That just makes it worse. Instead of tying up the loose ends of the article and bringing it back to the subject of F1 (being the occasional theme of the website), he just turns it into an anti-Scottish rant :-(
Just thought of something. Given that Webber still has difficulties walking and going up and down stairs, what's going to happen should he get on the podium in Melbourne? Will they have to winch him up? :-D
The one I was using that's in the game is called the MarCorElly. Besides, it' got plenty of power and torque for its class and is one of the lightest in the class. Served me well that night, got me pole by 7 tenths. I will say the BMW seemed to be more planted and better out of the corners than my car. But through the corners the light weight helped claw that back.
MarCorElly? You wot?
Hehe. Maybe the other two will have to carry him?
Spiderman styles?
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/mark.saxby/marcos/dsc_osch_08_003.jpg
The name implies it's some sort of weird mutant hybrid, but it looks a lot like a Marcos LM600. What is it a hybrid of?
Just read the article - normally Mike Lawrence articles are pretty good. That just seems to be a three page rant.
I also should be offended by the article, one of my grandparents was from Edinburgh, which makes me 1/4 'Scotch'
Which incidentially, Is a ratio that I was when I was at university. :D Single Malt only though.
Competent editor? I don't think they have one if the reply to my email is anything to go by:
Not withstanding the poor English (a depressing thought with respect to someone who claims the title of Editor) I don't think my polite and carefully constructed criticism of article that I felt was "bordering on racism" deserves such diatribe. Amusingly, the response was followed by the standard footer:
No, funnily enough, I haven't.
Seriously considering starting a petition to ask for a full apology from Pitpass for that rant
Would help if they had comments, maybe?
Also... in European law it is possible for somebody to be prosecuted for making racist comments about Scottish people. Oddly Wales is lumped into England and Wales so you can't be racist about the Welsh.
So Maverick you are right and they are wrong - but you knew that :)
They don't provide their service free of charge either... They make us look at their adverts for the privilege.
What adverts? ;)
Definition of race:
1. A local geographic or global human population distinguished as a more or less distinct group by genetically transmitted physical characteristics.
2. A group of people united or classified together on the basis of common history, nationality, or geographic distribution
He can go stick that in his pipe and smoke it.
That reply is almost as bad as the article itself!
Pitpass is such an old-fashioned site that it is difficult to say thanks or acknowledge a good article. Even Planet-Hamilton have a comments section now!
You are correct to feel that way, sir. That is no way to run a website and I am glad that they have lost their paddock pass!
not sure what you mean jackie?
Before I made the 2nd comment about the wiki, when I realised that there was already a thread about it I tried to edit my first post. It came back and said you do not have permission to edit this post
aww, we (heart) maverick :)
there's a 5 minute timeout, sorry.
ah .. thank you. Problem solved :D
out of interest, is that from mike or chris?
hammer. nail. head.
awesome :)
New BBC F1 site up and running: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/default.stm
Chris
cheers, i'll do the same. might cc: [email protected] at the same time.
ace. loving this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7911126.stm
Catchy URL :)
I'm glad they've got down to the nitty gritty of answering that question all F1 fans start wondering just a few weeks before the season starts: "Angelina or Keira?"
Admittedly bbc.co.uk/formula1 /f1 etc direct straight to it.
Seen the list under their 'more internet links'?
F1-Live is in it!!!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Loving Kimi's profile, usual response from him to the BBC's questions:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7878971.stm
I dunno, all seems a bit too tacky in my opinion. LOL :P
The site itself though is brilliant though.
mark hughes confirmed in the box:
"Mark Hughes is the BBC's commentary box producer - a role that involves analysing races and pointing out important matters the commentators may have missed."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/7908585.stm
I actually have to say I think the site is a bit well, disappointing really. Not a fan of white text on black, nor anybody that links to F1-Live ;-)
Is it me, or is the music in that F1's greatest moments video sound sneakily like a remix of The Chain. If so, I hope they use the original and not that one.
They're still out there testing... or well, not in McLaren's case!
http://drop.io/sidepodcast/asset/mclaren-jpg
me neither. although thankfully it's not all black.
are they not doing an f1 live text thing?
Have you ever wondered how the glamorous sport of Formula 1™ relates to your own daily life?
No. I have a fairly clear idea how it affects my daily life. {Comment #8}
So do I. By the sound of it, the next way it will relate to my daily life (apart from stuff being placed on various sites this morning) is to install a new shelf to relocate some of my F1-related reading material...
Ahem... :D
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7912103.stm
It is. :D
There's some great and not so great moments in that video too. I'm really enjoying it.
The site isnt' bad at all.
I think I read somewhere that EJ was on the phone to the factory to see if anyone there could prove that Fisi had won. {Comment #11}
If you've finished Eddie Jordan's autobiography by now, you will have done, because that's where I found out that it was Mark Cormican that proved the victory using the data from the "black box" in Fisi's car.
Jake Humphrey's opening blog entry is a rather apologetic ahead of everyone complaining he should stick to children's TV. Personally, if he can handle the pressure of live children's television, the kids of F1 should be a walk in the park.
Very funny profile picture though - trying to look serious but failing because he looks about 12.
So they set out to change the aero rules to improve overtaking but didn’t spec non-graining tyres. Has the FIA heard of joined up thinking? {Comment #12}
They probably thought that because the tyres grained less in 2008 than they did in 2007, that they'd be OK this year. An assumption which appears to have been proven wrong. Just to make things worse, Sutil is about in the middle when it comes to smoothness of driving style, so if he's having trouble, so will several other drivers (including either Alonso or Hamilton, depending on which tyres grain first).
Apparently McLaren personel got a bit miffed with a BMW engineering who ran around to where the car had stopped to have a snoop.
78 years old, wife divorcing him, who’s he gonna leave the logo to anyway!!!!!!!!!!!!! {Comment #40}
He's got two children (Tamara and Petra), assuming he doesn't sell the logo off to some faceless corporation before then.
Chris has forwarded it to Mike for me - quote "I’ll let you deal with Rob… I really cannot be bothered with the man."
I might let the police deal with it. I really can't be bother with the editor.
They've already said they're using the original Chain, thank god.
As an Englishman, I find his comments embarrassing at the very least. And I’ve just emailed PitPass to tell them so. {Comment #43}
I agree. The only reason I haven't emailed Chris and/or Mike myself is because my e-mail keeps crashing. The article might have had a good point had Mike stuck to criticising Jackie's refusal to reduce his salary in the face of RBS's problems. But then he veered off into comparisons with Mr Goodwin, which was nonsense. The "supports" hastily patched on afterwards were completely counter-productive, simply demonstrating that Mike didn't know what he was talking about.
Very disappointed - Pitpass can do better than this.
BBC has an F1 Mole now? I thought that was GrandPrix.com's guy? :D
what’s going to happen should he get on the podium in Melbourne? Will they have to winch him up? {Comment #53}
Either the adrenaline will be pumping hard enough for Webber to ignore the pain or someone will carry him (maybe two someones, given Webber is one of the tallest drivers and has a weight to match). Unless of course the leg is completely pain-free by then, which would be good.
Whichever way, I can't see Webber missing out on the podium if he's in the top three.
PitPass have a hidden away contact form, but it seems they only like positive feedback...
http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_contact_us.php
Competent editor? I don’t think they have one if the reply to my email is anything to go by: {Comment #62}
I think Editor in this case means "the bloke who owns the website and therefore has to have all the articles before submission because he's the only one who can upload them". I'm not sure whether he does any editing on the articles as such (though I've seen updates on the news items sometimes, so the title is at least partly true).
Hmmmm....
But if they don't like your feedback they get defensive very quickly.
who's rob?
Would help if they had comments, maybe? {Comment #64}
Pitpass has a forum, which I believe it thinks is a complete substitute.
Evidently nobody from Pitpass has looked closely at Formula 1 Home, because the people who comment on my blog and the people who comment in the forum have virtually no crossover.
The more opportunities provided to thank, the more likely it is that thanks will come.
Some info on the FOTA announcements:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/73562
Nothing radical, as far as I can tell.
Don't even think about putting negative feedback on there. Was banned for that.
What adverts? {Comment #67}
I only see them if I'm looking at it from someone else's computer...
That is no way to run a website and I am glad that they have lost their paddock pass! {Comment #69}
They had one once? Could someone please fill me in?
"This content is not available outside the UK".
Great, day one and I already have restricted access to the site! :-(
I'm sure it will be on YouTube soon. ;)
Now that's harsh.
Was hoping they'd suggest going back to the top 6 rather than 12-9-7-5-4-3-2-1... I suppose it creates a gap between the top few places to make drivers want a few more points.
Fastest pitstops providing points is surprising though.
mark hughes confirmed in the box: {Comment #87}
Good move on the BBC's part.
Oh no, my secret is out!
Man, Pitpass are taking a real bashing today!!!
Now that's a new one on me.
ooops, sorry!
That's stupid! Making a 3-point gap instead of 2 will not incentivise winning!
Make it 25-15-10-6-4-2-1 and then you'll see overtaking!
We operate a strict ‘open door’ policy at pitpass, in other words we actively encourage your feedback.
But if they don’t like your feedback they get defensive very quickly. {Comment #107}
Sounds like my previous employer...
Personally I reckon they could go back to points paying the first 6 instead of 8. Never did the racing back in the day any harm.
Go with 30-25-20-15-10-5. Then you'll get some racing!
An other quote on PitPass's comments form page:
We... no, doesn't even need a comment!
gimmie a minute, am just writing a post about that very line :)
I've a right mind to send an e-mail to Pitpass telling them EXACTLY what I think of them after what I've read and heard here this morning. Absolute joke.
do it!
Right! That's it! Since you've approved of it, it shall be done! But I will flash a warning. It WILL contain bad language. And to be fair, I think it deserves it :D
I wouldn't bother - he'll just ignore it as normal.
just copy it here :)
no, no. i meant DON'T copy the language here!
Pitpass has a forum, which I believe it thinks is a complete substitute.
Don’t even think about putting negative feedback on there. Was banned for that. {Comment #111}
I find it interesting that their forum rules ban links of all kinds because they're worried about "unsubstantiated information from other sites". With that level of restriction, I'd have been put off even if they weren't hypersensitive.
I guess they want the midfielders to get more points - which I think is one of the benefits of the 8-scorers system: it recognizes more teams more often.
This will either get completely ignored, or will get a similarly... fiery response. Either way, don't expect an apology - unless someone sues him, of course.
I know what you meant. I'll make sure any bad language is blanked out with asterisks :)
Fastest pitstops providing points is surprising though.
Now that’s a new one on me. {Comment #121}
Is this to discourage one-stop strategies?
phew! what a typo :)
:D Was pretty epic tbh
Didn't Nick Fry try and fail?
There's more about FOTA cost cutting plans here:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/73563
Wind tunnel and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) use will be reduced based on a fixed ratio, meaning a team can trade in wind tunnel time for CFD time up to an overall limit.
I don't want an apology from him, I just to tell him in a stronger sense what a complete clot he is.
Oh, because providing information without the source is so much more substantiated. Why didn't that occur to me before?
you couldn't forward me that email could you pls mav? wouldn't mind citing it in a post.
what's the e-mail address to whoever runs pitpass/wrote that article.
Going to be adding a couple of nice healthy recipies to the Wiki.
Rocky Road *Contianing chocolate, mars bars, maltesers, marshmallows, golden syrup and other stuff...* and Cinnamon rolls
All very healthy
[email protected]
Thank you. I shall now proceed to bash the living daylights out of him verbally. :P
On its way
I really am intrigued by the idea of the fastest pitstop constructor point. It would really mean a team like Force India could pick up points if they really focussed on that one thing.
It would be so simple to cheat though, by deliberately adding an extra stop. Especially if you're having a bad race and unlikely to get a point because then you could have the stop near the end of the race when you know your position won't be affected.
I need a baby panda in order to help me de-stress over pitpass :-)
http://drop.io/sidepodcast/asset/panda-kid-jpg
I think that notion is daft. How quickly the pit crew work and where the driver ends up come the chequered flag are linked as it is. If they mess-up during a pit-stop then the driver struggles to score points and fundamentally scores less constructors' points?
Don't McLaren currently hold the record at under 4 seconds?
Here's the e-mail I'm about to send. Do you approve?
Dear editor, An article regarding Jackie Stewart and RBS on your site has caught the attention of myself and some of my fellow followers of Sidepodcast. This article has been received rather negatively and after seeing what had been written, I am strongly inclined to agree with them. For one calling JYS "scotch" has been constituted as somewhat racist. Racism has no place in our society, you should know what and I feel that what you have written there is somewhat offensive against Stewart. Also the way you compare him to RBS boss Fred Goodwin is totally out of order. How dare you try and put a well-respected, well-loved and wise 3 times Formula 1 World Champion in the same light as a money-hungry, incompetent biggot. JYS deserves much more respect than you have given him in your quite frankly ridiculous and insulting article and I suggest you learn that before you start losing more followers to your site than you already have. Also, I have a bone to pick about feedback. According to your site and your forums you are welcome to feedback, as is quoted in this comment:
So if this is how you encourage feedback, why has one of my associates over at Sidepodcast been subsequently banned from the forums as a result of giving somewhat negative feedback. What's the point in encouragingg feedback, yet doing something like that whenever someone has anything negative to say. That in my opinion makes you a ******* hypocrit. May I also add in that some of your new stories written on the site have proved to be unreliable which has therefore given your site a bad reputation and one in which not many people will visit and trust what is said on it. I suggest you have a serious rethink on how you get your stories, where you get them from and whether they are trustworthy or not, as well as your policies on feedback and your comments on Jackie Stewart. Until then, I shall use nor visit your site no longer.
Needs spell checking hold on...
LMAO!
For the last time, can we do the racing on the track, not the pitbox. I thought with the banning of refueling they'd finally got the idea but it seems not.
How do you even time a pitstop accurately? Presumably from one end of the pitlane to the other and not when the driver starts moving out of the box (with or without the fuelling rig still attached) but then that gets into the issue of 25 second penalties for blocking in the pit lane, or quick releases being higher priority than safe release. In fact: "unsafe release Mr Steward? No, he blocked me leaving the box" would seem to be about the gist of it.
Paragraphs, Scott?
It is paragraphed on the e-mail, that's just how it turned out when I posted it here.
Dear editor,
Your recent article regarding Jackie Stewart and Royal Bank of Scotland on your website has caught my attention and several other members of Sidepodcast.
This article has been received rather negatively and after seeing what has been written, I am strongly inclined to agree with them. For one calling JYS a “scotch” has been constituted as somewhat racist. Racism has no place in our society, you should know that and I feel that what you have written is somewhat offensive against Stewart. The way you compare him to RBS boss Fred Goodwin is totally out of order. How dare you try and put a well-respected, well-loved and wise three times Formula One World Champion in the same light as a money-hungry, incompetent clown. JYS deserves much more respect than you have given him in your quite frankly ridiculous and insulting article and I suggest take heed before you start losing more followers to your site.
Also, I have a bone to pick about feedback. According to your site and your forums you are welcome to feedback, as is quoted in this comment:
(insert quote)
So if this is how you encourage feedback, why has one of the members over at Sidepodcast been subsequently banned from the forums as a result of giving somewhat negative feedback? What is the point in encouraging feedback, yet doing something like that whenever someone has anything negative to say? In my opinion makes you a hypocrite.
(removed your last paragraph as I think it derails from your arguement... so you might want to add something else?)
I suppose that I should point out that it was several years ago that I was banned - haven't really visited frequently since.
Any ideas?
Wait for my thought...
You could add that you think a public apology is warranted
Unfortunately I have about two minutes to spare so... just need to briefly summarise your point(s) and what you want out of a result of your complaint.
Right - I've got to go into the office. 4 servers have gone down within 2 minutes of each other.
There are a number of possibilities here.
1) Power failure on the rack
1a) Caused by a genuine power failure
1b) or caused by a numpty
2) A numpty has shut them down without telling me
3) Network failure
My vote is on 1b.
Hey guys, 'scuse my ignorance, but who is this Mike Lawrence chap?
No, the issue with that was that he is 'Scottish' and you can't use 'Scotch', only 'Scots'. The author should not use an F1 website to critcise grammatical conventions.
The 'racist' comment is calling 'Scotch' people 'Oateaters' and having a go at some 'Scotch' traditions such as Tartan or 'peasant foods' such as haggis...
My problem with the article was the fact that it used JYS as a platform to attack various elements of Scottish-ness, then had a rant at the end of the article instead of tying in the main body of the article to F1 (which as an F1-related website, should be the case). By allowing RBS to be saved from Bankruptcy means that their actions and deals have been officially endorsed. Therefore JYS has a right to continue his contract (which is of little burden to the taxpayer) and rightly should for being a hero and an ambassador to the sport and his country from a time where people died and no-one was properly rewarded for their sport. (etc...)
Make a comment about the decline of the website standards also and the lack of proper news, and the delay in the stories appearing on the website...
:D
i'd save for the follow up mail. agree with your other points though.
Why should JYS reduce a £4 million contract when the taxpayer has lost billions on the banks? I worked out that it would cost something like 0.02p per taxpayer to honour the contract (and the value he brings to the UK as a sportsman and an ambassador for his country and the bank must far outweigh the cost...)
I mean it's a pretty random thought I agree. My guess is that they will end up making it even more complicated because they'll probably say the time minus the amount of fuel you put in because otherwise what's to stop some backmarker throwing the race to do a stop where they don't change anything on the car?
Right, made the adjustments and sent it to him.
ace. i didn't email him, i wrote this instead:
http://www.sidepodcast.com/2009/03/05/an-open-letter-to-pitpass/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7911490.stm
Nick Fry has said the Honda F1 team has officially survived and will race.
The interesting thing for me is that it says Ted Kravitz (and Andrew Benson) wrote the article... Does that mean this is the first TED NEWS of the season?
(and maybe a change of role for Ted - I don't remember him writing for the old ITV site except in his paddock roundup things)
TED news!
I've just had a read. You'll see my comment in the post below it :)
Scratch going into the office - the numpties pulled the cables to the UPS' out as they didn't think they were needed.
Gaaaah!
Now to wait for the server to fire up again and then remotely connect to them and check that no damage has been done...
...and to disable their access to the server room.
I'm just recalling that very quick "pitstop" Senna did at Donington. Drove straight throught the pitlane without stopping because the crew were not ready for him. It was actually quicker than following the track (not speed limiter then) and has only recently been beaten as the lap record when A1GP ran a test there.
That same article on the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7911490.stm
Now adds that Nick Fry says the team was saved by FOTA.
The site that disliked JYS spotted Nick Fry in the FOTA photo (Back row, left hand side BTW) but no Ross Brawn. Hmm...
I noticed that too but assumed it was an old FOTA photo.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/sporteditors/2009/03/a_new_look_for_f1.html
BBC's 606 is looking for feedback on the new F1 website. Not everyone is happy, it seems (one guy said that he thought the ITV site was better)!
The BBC said that he said that Nick was there.
I didn't because the pic on Autosport was tiny!
Maybe it's got the point where I've seen his face so much I can see it even with it's the size of a pixel :D
Oh and we can surely assume Nick Fry is with Ross Brawn in the team where Nick mentions this:
Look at this! :D
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/73568
I'm liking the mock up pics :D
To be frank...
Bugger. :(
Ugh, just got bitten by the moderation bug for the first time today.
That's an optimistic interpretation of the use of 'our', which is unfortunately caused by a limitation in the English language!
He could have meant 'our' as in Nick Fry and the team rather than Nick Fry and Ross Brawn...
I think the correct phrase to describe Nick now rhymes with clucking trick.
Got it.
Just a reminder here that today is the last day of sign-up for the BATracer 1986 F1 game
http://batracer.com/-cj?&D&37543
Password is bourdais
If we could get 5 people to join the 5 unfinished teams at least that would be great. But at the end of the day, you can choose any team that's available :)
Ta very much. :)
When are you starting?
We agreed Friday didn't we? As for start time, probably some time tomorrow morning or tomorrow afternoon.
Cool. I will try and remember to put a final reminder in tonight's daily post.
It looks like I started something with my pitpass comment. Unlike Mav I have yet to receive a reply despite being unfailingly polite in my comments to them and not resort to knee jerk abuse.
Some of his comments are just ridiculous. He comments about JYS not paying tax despite the fact that he lives in England and has done since he started his F1 team. Yet he compares JYS to Max who scurried off to Monaco following the alleged backhander from Bernie for selling out the commercial rights in a one bidder auction.
It's always Steven's fault :D .. except this time it really was
No one can seriously want a point for fastest pit stop. That is insane. If Lewis Hamilton screws up a start and is stuck in 14th McLaren are going to spend all day makin pit stops till they get the fastest time. Points should be given for race positions only. How can you have a situation where the guy in 9th does not get a point but the guy in 19th does?
Do we really want to see a championship decided because one driver has 4 fastest pit stops and his rival has 3?
Close up of McLaren's nose.
http://drop.io/sidepodcast/asset/closeupnose-jpg
Current times:
how over the top is this:
http://drop.io/sidepodcast/asset/paranoid-mclaren-jpg
and how quickly was it foiled :D
red bull have grown a fin!
http://drop.io/sidepodcast/asset/f1-red-bull-fin-jpg
That suggests that they have something they think is worth hiding rather than having problems.
it does. it stops photographs from being taken of the underside mainly.
Fins are going to appear and disappear depending on the track and the driver.
honda livery news (assuming this hasn't been commented... i forget easily):
"The color is also changed. The car will be blue and red, but mostly blue."
that's translated from here mind you, so it may not be blue at all:
http://www.f1today.nl/nieuws/2009/03/05/shakedown-honda-verzet-naar-circuit-van-snetterton/
here's the view from the ground:
http://drop.io/sidepodcast/asset/sneaky-mclaren-in-jerez-png
Interesting video: JYS interviews MSC:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVuZZDJ4oaQ
http://images.planetf1.com/09/03/240/Lewis-Hamilton_1957742.jpg
Can anyone tell me why the right hand side of the car in this picture is green....??
flow-vis paint. used to visually check airflow around parts.
Rough translation into English:
The team formeerly known as Honda are awaiting the results of the FOTA meeting in Geneva today. Originally, the plan was to have a couple of testing days at Silverstone at the end of this week for shakedown purposes, but for reasons currently undisclosed, the scheduled session has been cancelled.
After this Silverstone session the testing team was scheduled to participate in a 4-day joint test at Barcelona. It is now vital for the team to perform a shakedown prior to joining the Barcelona session.
Sources at the team ran F1Today.nl through the developments of the last few days.
"As we were forced to postpone our shakedown we are currently awaiting approval of the management. (although I cannot make out what for) The Silverstone circuit has scheduled various other activities for the coming days, which means we will relocate to the Snetterton circuit for our shakedown.
Also, we can announce a change in car livery, which will from now on be blue and red, with blue being the primary colour."
"Having postponed our shakedown and currently not knowing when exactly it will take place, it remains to be seen whether we will be joining the testing session at Barcelona. We might/may have to skip it seeing as it will take our trucks at least to days to get there. Then after their arrival we would still have to set up our pit box which would mean we would running behind on our schedule from day one.
These are the facts and plans as they are now but, naturally, they are prone to change at any time. We're in for a few more uncertain days here at Brackley."
Sorry in advance for any grammatical flaws, not always easy to find the correct tense.
Cheers!
That's brilliant, thank you :)
blue and red it is then.
i like that it's the setting up of the pitbox that'll mean they're running behind schedule, rather than honda bailing out in december :D
I heart BBC
Evnin all btw, owt happnin?
lewis had an argument with an '09 rear wing and the wing lost.
You're quite welcome :)
Yeah :-P
But I guess there's not much use in joining a test when you know you won't be able to complete the program. Plus, joining it at the last moment culd bring all sorts of difficulties logisticswise etc. I'd rather let it be than look unprofessional when it comes to your racing.
oh yeah. nick was fastest of the day and covered the most laps.
You're pandering now :)
hehehehe.
YAY. I'm happy now.
Shameless plug, aimed at Mr C, obviously, although I'm not convinced I actually want one of these:
http://smarterthanyouraverage.com/2009/03/05/baby-panda-thursday-3/
I hate to say it, but i've become quite a fan of baby panda thursday...
meh.
meh!
Yay!
I didn't know we had a baby panda Thursday but I like the idea and that isn't panda-ing. :D
Don't know if you've picked up on this yet?..... The BBC trailer
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7911126.stm
thats very good
Sweet. Now thats what I call a Street Circuit, Monaco should be ashamed ;)
From the BBC Sport Editors' Blog (written by the new guy in charge of F1) about the redesign:
"It fits within the overall BBC Sport website - although you may have spotted that it now has a new slot on the navigation on the left-hand side of the front page, where it sits below Football to reflect how much of a priority sport it has become for the BBC."
You can imagine the slogan
'Formula 1, more popular than cricket'
Has a certain ring to it....
I think that should be the title for the next Sidepodcast podcast.
Evening all!
Glad today is over. Been a bit manic for me!
laconi.ca?
newsbeat does horner:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/technology/newsid_7923000/7923442.stm
No sadly no time. There is a change to our regulations coming in tomorrow. So it was making sure we are compliant.
Plenty has happened today then!
wow looks like i've got lots to catch up on.
I'd start on the Pitpass post, thats where all the drama is.
autosport first then blog posts ;) i take it it's about the awful article i saw on their this morning.
oh god I just went on pitpass now and got greeted by the worst possible picture taking up most the page
honda will likely be blue and red, but mostly blue.
carry on.
His eyes are really soul-less aren't they? A proper 'middle management'-type!
blue? really??... hang on... does that mean??? *runs to autosport.com*
I was thinking that, 'Nick Fry, well it can't get worse from here'. Bad judgement.
And I thought he was gone... Boo!
I am never going back there again. There are so many other sources of information I don't need to.
:D never though nick fry would make me smile :D so an announcement soon... ooo can't wait!!! :D
Aww bless, Lou is happy :D
that's quite a statement :D
He better not go naming the team after him!
i've just come back from parents evening too, i needed that :) just to read it.... eeekkk i'm not going to get too excited till it's confirmed. ...... :D
oh Boy. From Team "Formerly know as Honda" to "Nick Fry's Racing Towards Foreclosure"....
I'm delighted obviously but nick fry had said a lot of stuff over the past few years so i'm still kinda hesitant, although it's 99% excitement 1% hesitancy. The return of the team formerly known as Honda is inevitable now anyways :)
oooo..... new bbc site...
this isn't helping me get wor done.....
omg a darren heath photo of the week!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!
!!!
ok I think lou's excited ;)
what gave it away ;)
This is a brief appeal on behalf of of the Vulcan - I apologise for the blatent pimping here but...
If anyone could spare a couple of quid to help keep the Vulcan in the air this year, it would be appreciated by not only myself, but thousands of enthusiasts who have been working for 15 years to get the old bird in the air - which they achieved against all the expectations.
She is a thing of beauty and deserves to fly not rot.
www.tvoc.co.uk
Thanking you. :D
I haven't seen one of these fly since I went to an airshow as an 8 year old!!!
Unless we get pledges totalling £1'000'000 by tomorrow evening you never will.
Ask Nick Fry and Ross Brawn - they seem to be good at getting people to give them money ;-)
blimey! pimp away sir, pimp away.
Wha? I could swear there was a mini-series post just before. Wheres it gone?
apparently steven's a man who no longer needs an introduction:
http://www.sidepodcast.com/2009/03/05/jim-clark-grew-up-as-a-boy-who-loved-cars/
mass confusion at spc.
i didn't tell christine that steven was writing about jim this week, and coincidentally her mini-series today featured the man.
i shoulda been on the ball. instead we've pulled the original podcast and moved it until later on in the series, a replacement will be up shortly.
in the meantime pls enjoy steven's writing and normal service will resume... maybe before xmas ;)
In this case they will get something back as opposed to nothing. :D
Why thank you.
In less than 1 week the total has gone from 225k to 920k :D
Thats some serious fundraising. 24 hours to get 80k... *crosses fingers*
i'm in.
gimme about an hour and i'll donate some.
Shall avoid the obvious joke ;)
Got the message, do you do all of these in advance like?
nope. she's recording another now.
although i guess we now have one in advance!
And for once, you CAN ACTUALLY blame it on Steven! :D
it's my fault. he mentioned it yesterday during the quiz. still didn't connect the two.
and the first of my healthy eating recipies is done. :D...
http://wiki.sidepodcast.com/page/Rocky+Road
evening gang. now I know that I am always miles behind everyone, but can I thank Steven Roy for a fab article, and thanks for posting it? :)
(since when is Rocky Road healthy eating???)
Who cares! :D
good point. when it tastes that good, it HAS to be good for you :)
(in spirit, anyway :p)
Cool. :D Thanks a lot.
Some good info about the Formula 2 tv coverage, if anyone cares :P
http://www.formulatwo.com/coverage.aspx
Nice to see racing back at Imola
Cheers Scott.
Will they still be doing Formula Masters this year?
Indeed. They will be supporting at both WTCC and F1 races.
Looks like they are - I'll have to ask Chris Van der Drift if he plans to return to the series...
You know that is going to confuse Ollie again.
Plus, Formula Masters is going to be DLC for Race Pro, so I'll be able to have a go in the little dickens too :D
:D
Awesome. rFactor has F3's but not FM's...
I suppose it had to happen sooner or later. Normally I just send in my article a couple of hours before it is posted so sidepodcast towers has no advanced notice. Of course last night at the quiz I mentioned it was a Clark article and the one time I gave notice was the one time it could have been of use.
ironically, christine wasn't in that quiz because she was making yesterday's podcast :(
Nice! Never knew that,. Hopefully Spa will come too.
And Maverick put a Franck question in to thank he for the plug. It all tied together so beautifully it was guaranteed to fail.
Bit of boredom on photoshop after watching some rubens videos.
http://drop.io/sidepodcast/asset/rubensphoto-jpg
Did you make that?
I was looking at various photos on google and found that photo, and the videos just inspried me to go through some of his memories. So nope, not the photo of course but the photoshopping yeah.
Mr C I think we have a problem, it only shows part of the image cos its so big. I can't scroll down to see it and when I try to right click it, it only comes up as a pop up again. It looks like nice work
Uhmazingly, Spa is going to be DLC too! :D From what I read, all I know is DLC so far is said to be muscle cars, Spa, Formula Masters and a track beginning with the letter N ;)
Well done - it's very good!
:o
yay!
hmm. fits on my screen nicely. i'll see if i can sort the right click.
Norisring? ;-)
Copy the url and post it in another tab
More healthy eating... :D
http://wiki.sidepodcast.com/page/Cinnamon+Rolls
In the right country I think ;)
It goes way off the bottom of my screen
i have a tiny laptop. assumed if it fitted on mine it would fit all.
i'll have to make it scrollable.
We call them 'Snails' in Denmark and have them for breakfast - my favourite one is a chocolate covered one!!!
you're going to kill us all :D
Thanks to Flibster, we'll all be living a grand life of diabetes and heart conditions :D
Not that they're anything to laugh about of course.
Then we can hope that Pharmaceutical companies will sponsor F1 :-D
you've been watching too much nascar.
*Mr Burns voice* Eeeeexcellent.. :D
I have. But I have boycotted NASCAR and the WRC for this season!
http://www.teamsassociation.org/
[via]
Interesting. Only lists 9 teams down the side.
There are only 9 teams
Am assuming the new Brackley/Brawn/Fry team don't have a logo yet.
Where have they been?
how did nick fry get a role in the commercial working group?
Bribary and blackmail?
Although he seems good at the commercial stuff
"Give us $400'000'000 of your money and in return we will give you absolutely nothing."
"O.K."
I posted this at stupid o'clock this morning and it seems to have disappeared amongst all the pitpass stuff.
Some photos of Captain Scott's final polar expedition have been digitised and realeased to the net. Considering they are from glass plates a century old they are unbelievably good. I am sure the photographers will enjoy them.
http://www.freezeframe.ac.uk/tag/gallery_Ponting
Didn't that still be the time you had to wait half a year for it to take a pic?
Right... still no reply from Pitpass, so I'm off to bed. Will try and check Hotmail from my phone tomorrow and see if any replies arrive.
Good night all :-)
It probably to 10 seconds to get an exposure.
if anyone from the team know the name and are watching just email me and i'll create a logo for them :)
night gavin.
night gavin
Same here, my plan shall have to wait, only got a tour of the Metro Radio Arena and free basketball tickets to look forward too.
Why couldn't it have been Ice Hockey, thats much more fun
night r.g.
I am curious about the FOTA domain name. Surely they could have got fota.something.
Good night Gavin and RG
Some of those are better than many that I sell!
They are amazingly good.
I complained before anyone else here and haven't heard a word either.
you think bernie objects to that too?
There are loads of photos on that site from many polar expeditions. If you hit the back page link at the bottom of the page it takes you to a load of other galaxies. BBC showed a couple on the news this morning and I couldn't believe how good they were.
Actually that was my thought.
oh jeez. wouldn't put it past him, but what can his objection be?
Unless they are hedging their bets in case they disagree with Max and Bernie so much they leave altogether?
i opened the tab this morning, but never quite got there. they be fab.
ahhhh. gpta maybe?
I wouldn't be surprised if the day that FOTA was announced Bernie bought all the domains.
fota.co.uk is the British Formula 3 championship
fota.com is 'Friends of the Arts'
fota.net is a website for the Fota family as is fota.org
I forgot about the FOrmula Three Association.
Surely anyone making up accronyms nowadays checks to see if the web domains are available. Is that not obvious?
Instead of calling themselves FOTA why not FUBAM you can say it FU - BAM, and it has the same sort of idea as the ever popular FUBAR, except that that the last three initals stand for "Bernie And Max".....
Legally they are safe as there was no organization in F1 with those initals before, and they get to insult Bernie and Max at the same time....
I haven't heard anyone use FUBAR in years.
I use it at least once a week.
FUBAR
FUBER
SNAFU
PICNIC
PEBKAC
ID- 10-T error
....
I'm not familiar with PICNIC.
PEBKAC I am though.
Gosh, what a lot of stuff to read. I've already mentioned that Steven's article is, once again, an excellent read.
I wish I visited Pitpass more often in the past so I could cancel my subscription (as they say in the letters pages of Private Eye). I can sum things up in one word: idiots.
It reminds me I was going to mention this article from The Register concerning another bunch of idiots:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/03/04/polish_spitfire/
Polar photographs are amazing.
Same thing really, Problem In Chair Not In Computer
I saw that last night - caused so much laughter. :D
Never heard of neither
PEBKAC - Problem Exists Between Keyboard and Chair
I also loved the comment - "do you have to fail a special test to become a member of the BNP, or can anyone join?"
I am surprised they haven't tried to turn it round to say that the Poles were keeping British Spitfire pilots out of a job in 1941.
Bloody foreign pilots! Coming over here, saving our country!
I think they said something similar. The Telegraph pointed out that Polish pilots were responsible for around 12% of the German planes shot down during the Battle of Britain.