Finally Saturday is here! I thought this week was never going to end. My week was very busy and felt long, but it ended on a great note. After booking tickets and flights for the Malaysian GP with Amy a while ago, I still wasn’t completely sure that I would be able to go. But now it is all confirmed, I’ll definitely be joining Amy at Sepang. But first, the Melbourne GP! Who else is going to Melbourne or Malaysia?
News
Bernie Ecclestone’s crazy comments earlier this week have been taken a step further by the Telegraph. The Telegraph’s author has suggested all kind of ideas from fake rain to potholes to civil war. While Pirelli have agreed with the artificial rain gimmick, Joe Saward has blogged about Telegraph article, and I agree with his opinion that Formula One is already exciting these days.
I just love love love this video that the drivers did for Kubica so thought I would post another link to it in case you missed the links earlier this week.
Ford and Ferrari have settled their F150 naming dispute eliminating any possible confusion between a truck and a Formula One car.
Ross Brawn has said that Mercedes will need to find a second at the final test session at Barcelona next week.
Lotus Factory Tour
Finally, I thought I should end this daily by briefly sharing my experience of the Lotus Factory Tour earlier this year. The tour went for about 2 hours and there were 7 people in our tour so nice and cosy. We started off with a DVD giving an introduction into the team, then continued our tour upstairs through the Aerodynamics Department.
We went through composites area and got to play with some carbon fibre bits and pieces. We saw the autoclaves and machine shop, really it could have been any manufacturing facility. There wasn’t much in the way of the new cars, which may have been bad timing on our part, or due to it being January, or perhaps they hide the good stuff? We got to have a little play with Jarno's steering wheel – I don’t know how their bulky fingers in their gloves can manage to hit the right buttons!
We each had our photo taken with the car that Jarno drove in Abu Dhabi last year – this was the only photo of the day as camera’s were prohibited.
The tour ended with a Q&A session with Alex Yoong and on the way out we were given a parting gift of a cap, magazine, photo, and my favourite – a wheel nut! I got a red one (from the left side of the car).
If you get the opportunity, I definitely recommend attending the tour. It was well worth the price. A great way to spend a few hours!
Credit: Pamela
could be Lotus' newest driver?
Hope you have a good weekend.
Pamela, thank you for the lovely daily. The tour you went on sounds like a lot of fun :)
Mr C,
Am putting an mp3 together instead for handiness sake
:)
Sounds like a great tour Pamela and nice to get a wheel nut as a souvenir. Nothing to beat a bit of a car that has actually raced.
Aww that sounds like such an awesome day!!
Love the pic too Pamela!! Come back to the UK soon, cause I miss my Aussie Sis...
PAMELAAAAAA
I think she's in the car
Ooh head ping worked.
give her a hug from me... :)
Haha hug yeah right
for lou:
@tw_teamlotus: Back in Norfolk after 2 good days in that there London. Respect to LAT and F1 Racing for hosting skills. Sleep, pack, sleep, Spain
so that lotus photoshoot was at haymarket and done by LAT. i know that the 2009 renault was also shot there, not sure about any other teams/cars.
:(
cheers chap. if it's huge you may have to dropbox (in case email rejects).
we just need to get it done by LOU
ohhhhh!!!! soo cool!!
:)
bah!
true story.
also, i shall code to your new podcast tomorrow SB, perfect timing.
we must sleep. until the morning luverly people...
Night Christine, Mr C
night Mr & Mrs C
hehehe! one day! ( although i'd rather be an official F1 photog with access etc.. i could deal with studio work too :) )
Night Mr and Mrs C!
Good night
Goodnight!
goodnight Christine and Mr C
ok, there is a small, very very small piece of sidepodcast on there. hope you enjoy it
I wonder if this is Naval/Aerospace tradition
Port being Red
Starboard being Green
[Mnemonic: Port is to be left alone]
Obviously, F1 wheelnuts have left & right hand threads
Upon further inspection it appears that many of the corporate structures at the Melbourne GP have been replaced with much nicer ones.
There seems to be more grandstand seats along pit straight which will be nice on TV, and the pit lane itself is going to look very very different with the new V8 building taking up the remaining length of it. Pamela and I think the pit entry will now have a kink in it to avoid these new garages but we're not 100% on that :)
Where are your seats and more importantly, what did you have for Brunch today?
we are in a different spot each day but are in pit straight on Sunday as is traditional for us in Melbourne :)
Brunch: http://amyfulton.posterous.com/brunch
Nice plug
#AlexWorthy
When did Posterous start plugging FB login nonsense? Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Regardless, looks mighty yummy. Very jealous
I couldn't finish it all :(
Wimp :D
#Runner'sDiet
there was too much toast, I seriously miscalculated, I should have left the toast and eaten the bacon. I ate all the eggs and avocado though :D
Bacon casualties are sorrowful
oo I just lost 4 hours of my life after the Lotus podcast sent me to sleep. Oops.
Alex Wurz sounds like such a cool dad
Aswome day in monaco! Missus goes on a weekendtrip so me and 3 boys alone at home! Chaos, popcorn, music, pizza, etc.Next48h maximum attack
#WRC after day one
1. Sebastien Ogier Citroen 1.27.22,3
2. Sebastien Loeb Citroen +2,6
3. Mikko Hirvonen Ford +1.22,2
4. J-M.Latvala Ford +2.53,6
5. Jevgeni Novikov Ford +3.04,0
6. Henning Solberg Ford +3.16,5
7. Dennis Kuipers Ford +5.06,8
8. Nasser Al-Attiyah Ford +5.15,2
9. Ott Tänak Ford +5.42,2
10. Martin Prokop Ford +6.07,8
11. Mads Östberg Ford +6.22,0
12. Juho Hänninen Skoda +7.23,4
13. Petter Solberg Citroen +7.36,0
day 2 starts around 3pm (maybe, time conversions are difficult)
WRC.com introduced their own fbfb. It's nowhere near as good as Christine but better than nothing http://wrc.com/results/2011/rally-guanajuato-mexico/live-text/
Mr Lukeh if you are around, I am downloading the Top Spin demo. Thanks for letting me know it was on the PSN :D
Freezing :(
Morning guys. Love the picture Pamela, great daily :)
yay! I am absolutely rubbish at it but it's very good imo. Plus for your sake you can be roger and beat Andy on the demo ;)
woohoo! I am also downloading the demo of Time Crisis which I have no intention of buying because I hated the old PS1 Time Crisis. I just like having a reason to use my Move controller :)
ohh I used to play that all the time in arcades. Stupid thing annoyed me and
i kept going back for morekept stealing my money, ahem.I had a G-Con but I was for sure a Point Blank girl :D
ooohhh mmy goooddd... point blank!!
Those two little mustachey dudes were the best. Such a fun game!
Ohh that 24 hour panel show David Walliams thing starts today.
aww, sounds like Heikki and Petri have parted ways
"Good 1st training with the new driver. Allways nice to start with sportsman with good motivation ( @H_Kovalainen has) Busy time ahead...I wish all the best to @H_Kovalainen. Unfortunately we couldn't agree with the team about some things so it's time for new challenges."
I wonder who the new driver is.
Afternoon my pretties.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/rednoseday/24hourpanelpeople/
I could have Factbyte Factboxed it! ( No chance :) )
Good practise for Le Mans :D
#nothere well I am but not for long
Fay Ripley is very posh.
That's an odd topic to discuss here. I haven't seen her on TV in years
I guess if you have 24 hours to fill, you've got to dig into the archives :)
:D
Time for me to head out. Don't spend your whole weekend watching David Walliams.
Bye all
ahh boo, heikki needs a new trainer:
@Fysio1 - I wish all the best to @H_Kovalainen. Unfortunately we couldn't agree with the team about some things so it's time for new challenges.
http://twitter.com/#!/Fysio1/status/44006950601621504
as your official bringer of Heikki news I say someone didn't read back 9 comments :P
ahh!
maybe Catherine is his new trainer, they seem to be working out together a lot :D
Here is some journalism fail from the folks who like to wind up the locals
"Formula One hero Mark Webber will cross the Bolte Bridge at the end of the Grand Prix" says the caption.
"Traffic will be brought to a standstill as the unmistakable sound of a roaring F1 engine reverberates from the top of one of Melbourne's busiest motorways on March 19."
March 19 is not at the end of the GP.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/mark-webber-dont-forget-your-e-tag/story-e6frf9if-1226016440757
would make a great end to the race though.
although assumes he'll actually make the finish.
the article says it's an early morning thing so what a shame, I might have to use it as my excuse to get out of going away that weekend. Because I really didn't want to go.
:)
heheh I just got my actual invite from Joe, the dress code says "absolutely informal dress"
Afternoon guys, lovely daily from Pamela! :)
:D
Think the first event he did we all ended up being fairly formal in attire. Nice atmosphere though.
it was the same here, lots of middle aged men who were far too dressed up, then one guy in a Williams suit.
I wonder if Pamela and I will be the sole female representatives again.
Doubtless the most knowledgable. ;)
I have an awful lotta Sidepodcasts to listen to. I feel very bad not keeping up.
trying to work out Malaysian travel is stressing. Why aren't all tracks in the middle of the city?
One link to solve it all: http://www.malaysiangp.com.my/story/formula-1-public-transportation-klia-transit
Can someone explain why I must download iTunes 10.2 to update my iPhone to iOS 4.2, then when I go download it I must download QuickTime + iTunes combined?!
Seems a mighty palavre... :(
iTunes needs Quicktime to run the audio/video, IIRC.
that doesn't make my life any easier because our hotel is not near any of the stations :(
Not even these stations? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KL_Monorail
nope, we're staying in Putrajaya.
oh yeah. :D KLIA Transit has a station in Putrajaya/Cyberjaya.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KLIA_Transit
which is 12km from our hotel.
my gosh - where is your hotel??
I think I'll be able to work out an elaborate system of taxis, shuttles and trains, but if I can't make a journey without having to change vehicles I get cranky :D
at the Ioi Resort, it's the Marriott there.
Thanks for the help though :D
Pluggety plug plug
Pre-season competition - the prize is a 2006 Official F1 Season Review, and I hope to have more than 1 entrant this time ;)
That's probably the only way, sadly.
No worries. :)
I have emailed the hotel and asked if they have any shuttle services or similar during the weekend since I'd say a large proportion of the guests will be there for the same reason.
Lots of teams stay there, perhaps I can talk my way into a teams transport vehicle :D
Oh that would be a brilliant story :D
Damn, there was me thinking I could ditch it entirely. Ah well, it never gets run outside of iTunes anyway.
Greetings from Dull, Dark, And Soaking Wet Tundraland everyone.... { Weatherwise, I think my military has just occupied England! }
Anyway, I am working on a secret modelling project. I am looking around for a few short-cuts, but would like to know the overall basic dimensions for an 2011 F1 car.
height (max) (at airbox)
width (max) (across sidepodpoids)
length (max)
height of sidepods.
I have found a solar model of a open wheel single seater and would like to know if I can use this as the basic kit, as it would save me some time re-engining a 1/43 scale '96 Williams.
If Lotus can be impressed with a wooden mock-up, mine should land myself a job in their mold-making department....
hi folks
Hmmmm... nobody seems to be around.
Well, I might as well make myself at home... I wonder if there's any beer in the SPC fridge...
I'm here - currently listening to Alonso in the "Kubica get well soon" video.
Darn - no beer, but several oranges. Indeed. Best fetch some tea then.
I've got an apple juice here if that helps...
Oh hi Ali,
I still haven't seen the video, but will look as soon as I figure out how SPC's VCR works. Looks as if there's a rocket attached to it... hmmm... Sure can't be an Apple VCR - too darn large for a start!!
Why thank you young lady - most refreshing.
:)
are you sure you didn't find any beer? You sound like Bassano.
I'm thinking Bassano got here before me, hence no beer
Crawling up the cellar.....
Silly, yank... Sidepodcast is English, the (warm) beer WAS kept in the {hic!} cellar.... Come help {hic} drag Bassano's body up!.......
What...? What was that? Could've swore I heard someone... maybe it was an owl...
Hmmmm... anyway, I wonder what Mr C has in his DVD collection? What the?? "The Life and Times of Jane Fonda"!?!
Leigh O'Gorman 05/03/2011 at 15:50:
I heard mr. C got it because it has footage of him meeting Jane during his stay at the Hilton in Hanoi.... :p
Is it true Mr C is part of the US secret service and that's the real reason we don't know his full identity...........?
Not many people know this, but I was Joe in Joe 90. People used to say my acting was a bit wooden.....
:P
I think this is all my cue to go to bed :D
night
:)
Goodnight!
Right idea, wrong country's Intelligence Services. try Head of Britian's Secret Intelligence Service. (You know, MI-5, MI-6, MI-9, The XX Committee) Traditionally bond to refer themselves only by the letter "C"
I think we're onto something major here
Hello
Err, Steven Roy and I figured this one out a long time ago, Leigh......
Hi Pat
Damn
That you where Joe in Joe 90 ? Or that your acting was a bit wooden ? ;P
Ping -->
Something for the Weekend: Pram "The Owl Service"
http://easymusicfordifficultears.blogspot.com/2011/03/something-for-weekend-pram-owl-service.html
Eyy-ohhhh
I've just been to the golf course where it is cold. :)
Oohhh-err.
Bought a new bike today and got in my first "training" since November. Didn't do too much, but feel quite good
Certainly good to get some exercise. Even if the score at the end isn't good.
Just weighing up whether to watch the GrandAm and Nationwide races tonight or if I'd rather see something else. Anyone else doing so? I suppose the only reasons are Mark Blundell and Danica Patrick, respectively.
I'm at swimming club...
I gained about 6 lbs over the winter, but I'm still nearly 2 stone lighter than I was just over a year ago, so I'm happy enough at the moment
Thinking of heading out for a quiet drink. I've been writing a lot this weekend and intend to relax tonight in a way that involves getting out of the flat
Getting that exercise too :)
Yes (though my legs seem to think that the 2 miles I did walking home from town and the 3 I did trying to find somewhere to get lunch were quite sufficient!)
Ouch but also well done. :) I don't know what I put on but I surely have.
Sounds like a plan. After the 5km walk up and down hills pulling a heavy golf bag, I'm firmly home for the evening now. I reckon I might rather watch a recorded race or a film though, neither of the live races grabs me.
My jaw needs to be excercised, as I am hungary, by everyone....
See ya Jordan
see ya jordan
I'm watching Grand-Am for a bit but might break for shower/dinner in a while. Blundell started 6th and is now 4th.
Ping -->
GP3 Pre-Season Testing (Paul Ricard, March 4th)
http://theformulaoneandmotorsportsarchive.wordpress.com/2011/03/05/gp3-pre-season-testing-paul-ricard-march-4th/
Evening all, had a fun, breif but very busy week back in the UK,
time to fly back to dubai tonight though
hi nick
Evening,
I think the worst thing about flying is leaving a house, so many things you can potentialy forget!
For me, the worst thing about flying is the flying itself
Trust me, with the right aircraft, flying is infinitatly more fun in the cockpit especially when a rookie is in the back seat and you place your hands on the back of your head up front...
...Or better still, nod your head back on the canopy so you look like your falling asleep....
Anyone want to go up on a flight with me now? :P
That bit doesnt worry me so much,
Now at the bag drop/ chaos zone
That was me not Alison!
#WRC halftime day 2
1 1 Sébastien LOEB 2:19:13.8 0.0
2 2 Sébastien OGIER 2:19:33.5 +19.7
3 3 Mikko HIRVONEN 2:20:56.8 +1:43.0
4 4 Jari-Matti LATVALA 2:22:34.2 +3:20.4
5 5 Henning SOLBERG 2:25:01.0 +5:47.2
6 11 Petter SOLBERG 2:26:40.6 +7:26.8
7 6 Mads OSTBERG 2:26:54.0 +7:40.2
8 23 Nasser AL-ATTIYAH 2:27:35.6 +8:21.8
9 21 Martin PROKOP 2:28:25.1 +9:11.3
10 25 Juho-Ville-Matias HÄNNINEN 2:29:20.7 +10:06.9
Last lap at Homestead. Blundell's car was leading for a time but the long stint was too much for the tyres, now down to 6th.
Pruett and Rojas win for Ganassi.
Thanks Kathi.
Any chance there is a link I can open in the States? We don't have it on tv anywhere that I can find.
Go Oggi.
Hi people.
Yo
evening guys!
I bid you hello with a PING - a guide on how to become a formula 1 driver: http://gridwalktalk.wordpress.com/2011/03/05/a-guide-on-how-to-get-into-formula-1/
So... Ford are better at snow/ice, and Citroen are better at gravel.
Not sure when the live stages are. It lasts all day so it isn't all live.
the last one: Sun 11:06 (GMT -6)
What Pat said. You only can listen to it live: http://wrc.com/fanzone/world-rally-radio/
Or read: http://wrc.com/results/2011/rally-guanajuato-mexico/live-text/
Live timing: http://wrc.com/results/2011/rally-guanajuato-mexico/split-times/
Got it. Thanks very much! :)
Nationwide Series at Las Vegas is starting now. I may do #DanicaWatch for a little while unless the race is as boring as last week's or I decide to watch a film instead.
we've been rebuilding the studio today. still a loooong way to go:
http://sidepodcast.posterous.com/the-cable-guy
how do you know what goes where? :)
That is some load of spaghetti.
Enjoy untangling all of that...
it's all good bar the power leads. get one wrong and it'll probably go *poof*.
Nationwide race started and went yellow on lap 4 as someone upset the gardener in the trioval. Danica 23rd.
Yeeesh!
Aaaaaaaaaahhhh!
I have some power problems at the moment too. This farm I am at the moment has it's own little water power plant. It's supposed to be between 230 and 250 so I am running around turning heaters and kitchen appliances on and off depending on the value. I wonder if everything will go "poof" if it goes to high. *hidesundertable*
I am getting on the plane now... Vs400 if you want to track :)
podcasting is FUN!
:)
don't sleep! :)
http://youtu.be/AR8xFyh1SP8
Thanks to the fastest capper on the 'net @Mattzel89
L35 of 200. Kyle Busch leads. Again. DP up to 14th and has passed more cars than anybody else.
Helloooo :)
I'm back at home. Back to reality.....
Hi guys,
Deciding on whether to get an iPad 2 or a iPad 1 whilst they're cheap..
oh noes. I sat down.
This does not bode well for house preparation.
My feed got interrupted by a popup ad and then a 30sec timer before it restarted. Not feeling a pressing desire to return. So I'm going to do something else.
Now, remember, mr. c, "Blue before Yellow kills the fellow", errr, wait a minute, is it "Blue after Yellow kills the fellow"... One of them at any rate....
Christine has maxmised your life-insurance policy, right ? :P
Aren't the plug ends supposed to offer clues these days?
You are supposed to look into a mirror while plugging in the wires to see if you start to sport an afro-haircut....! If yes, then let go of live wire, before wife dumps bucket of water on you.
Ooh, Match of the Day.
Ooooh!
It's always a worry when the match they put on first, arguably the best, ends 0-0.
Tiny ping, just a brief post on what I'll be doing this year instead of the New Teams Champ: http://northernwaffler.wordpress.com/2011/03/05/just-how-biased-are-the-bbc/
Evening all
Always? I guess now you have been watching for about 4 weeks you can say things like that
Its never normally the best, its usually the biggest club in the league which happens to be playing.
Wow.
Steeeeeeeeeven :)
Hey.
Back in the real world again?
Good evening!
Sadly yes, I've been home about 2 hours. Back at work tomorrow morning :(
Yay.
I had a good trip back actually. Only 4 hours which is a personal record. It is quite nice to be in my own house...
Where did you go? I thought Nick was staying with you
We've been staying in his flat in London. I've come back up this afternoon and he's currently flying back home overnight.
I didn't know he still had his place in London.
These two teams can hardly stay on their feet.
They seem bery keen to go down but they are being too obvious
Yeah it's his dad's. Handy place to stay.
We've had a super holiday. I may sulk for the next month though about Nick not letting me hire a Boris bike for a cycle round Hyde Park....
Why didn't you just do it anyway. You are old enough not to need permission
:)
I didn't have a credit card with me to put in the machine :( In fairness, he did take me to a stand to get one but the terminal was offline for some reason and I wasn't allowed to go and look for another one :P
How is that not letting you then?
So it's not a case of Nick not giving you persmission so much as Nick not wanting to walk for hours so you could have a 15 minute bike ride.
When it didn't work we were going to walk to another one to get one but I left him in charge of navigating and when I realised we'd got to the other side of the park he claimed he'd "forgotten"
This is it exactly :D :D :D
Rrright.
Why didn't you just ask him to give you his credit card and pin to save his poor feet? :D
Woo, Villa!
How did he make such a mess of that?
:) Noted.
Terrified by the might of Jaaskelainen.
:D
I love that a player celebrates a goal when all he did was kick the ball into the ground
Sorry Mrs C, but what a goalkeeper.
Oooh my interview at Southampton went very well. They're going to offer me an unconditional place. I think I'll end up going there, visit day made a very good impression :)
Wasn't exactly a confident penalty.
That's great.
Excellent :D *applauds*
Good times.
If you are going to hit daisy cutter penalties they need to be right in the corner. That one gets worse every time I see it
I've a decent penalty saving record, all the ones I've saved though are on the ground or straight at me. Shows it gets easier for a keeper when you do that...
It is practically impossible for a keeper to get to a top corner. To me the best places to put a penalty are either the top corners or above where the keeper's head is on the grounds that he is generally going to go to one side or other
Yeah, very hard in either top corner really isn't going to be saved.
Bigger chance of missing the target though.
Hello all. How are we?
I have had good day. Went shopping at Westfield in that London to spend my birthday money and then spent the evening with friends drinking pink wine and welsh toffee vodka http://www.toffoc.com/site/index.aspx. :)
Sounds great :)
Read that as 'Went shopping at Westlife'. I'm concerned for myself. Glad you had a nice time though.
hey folks (briefly)
What goes on?
Hey Leigh. Have had a long day & drunk lots of alcohol so off to bed, good night :)
hi janna, i too am hammered - goodnight
:)
In my case, not a lot.
Well, I should really get back to my leftover pizza cold fusion experiment so see everyone later....
woohoo another favourite player joins twitter :D http://www.twitter.com/DjokerNole
Morning everyone :)
Oooh Looks like we're missing a daily post.
Morning alex
It's still yesterday! Oh noes
I knows... How is anyone going to know that there is a Giggles Radio show coming up at 4pm? I mean it's the first show of the new series!
;)
:o
I don't mind writing up a quick daily to fill in, if no one else has? I have a feeling lou may have forgotten :)
Sounds like a plan... :)
Daily PING!!
http://sidepodcast.com/post/daily-6th-march-2011