2010 F1 season less than 1 hr away

[Speedfreak]

Anyone else up early to watch the Bahrain Friday practice session live?

I feel like a little kid the night before Christmas. lol

[Matt King]

It's on and I'm up!

[Ted Idlof]

What I saw seemed to confirm my expectations and questions.

1. What a crapshoot these early races will be.
2. Way too much bottoming out and floating around with (I hope were) heavy fuel loads
3. And tire wear? Wow. might be seeing 4+ pit stops?
4. Using the 107% Qualifying rule might be a good thing now.

Yeah, yeah, I know, more than ever, it's way too early to make any intelligent comment, never mind predictions. So in summary, here's my 2nd grade impressions:

........................

Let the games begin.

[Stan Clayton]

Through the marvels of modern electronics I recorded the program, then started playing it with coffee at 6:30. F1 season is ON...awesome!!!!

I feel alive again...

Oh...and Schumi is standing tall. You young 'uns watch out!

[Speedfreak]

Missed qualifying due to TV coverage shenanigans. (Speed blackout in Canada, taped wrong channel) At least I won't miss the race, even if it is the less desirable BBC feed. Anyone want to split a US satellite feed? lol

[Ted Idlof]

Begin rant:

Empty tracks and then everyone on one or two flying laps at the end of a Q session. Isn't that what they set out to avoid several years ago? Steve Matchett summarized what we have suspected recently; the new rules do not mesh together worth a damn for the drivers, mechanics and engineers and real racing. They're all about entertaining the uninformed because they force the teams to take a wild guess on what to do with tire choice, traffic and ride height. I mean, if it makes some sense to not even go out for Q3 in order to save tires, how goofy is that? And that's just for qualifying. In the races, teams will literally be rolling the dice on fuel loads and traffic.........just for starters.

The old interview quote "no one knows" rings more true now than ever.

The new rules maybe make a great show to attract F-1 newbs, but, to me, they make about as much sense as a beer pong game or whatever they will do on the goofy "Minute to Win it" TV show.

Rant over.

[Speedfreak]

The new rules maybe make a great show to attract F-1 newbs, but, to me, they make about as much sense as a beer pong game or whatever they will do on the goofy "Minute to Win it" TV show.

Ted, agree with everything you said above. After digesting it a bit, I came up with a question that your last statement inspired.

If the FIA is at all concerned with F1 viewership (either newbs or faithful diehards), why are we only getting a live 5:00am or 6:00am feed? No same day replays as in years past. If TV providers don't show a replay later in the day, how is that attracting any new viewers?

I realize this could be an issue of FIA wanting more money to allow replays, or them not allowing it at all. It's a fugly situation either way.

[dc]

A lot of this reminds me of the glowing puck on Fox's brutal NHL coverage a few years ago.

They are going to take one of the potentially great F1 seasons EVER and ruin it with this tire & fuel garbage.



I hope I'm wrong.

[Matt King]

If TV providers don't show a replay later in the day, how is that attracting any new viewers?.

Don't know about Canada, but SPEED has replayed practice and qualifying this weekend, and the race is scheduled to be shown twice tomorrow here in the states.

[mousecatcher]

Don't know about Canada, but SPEED has replayed practice and qualifying this weekend, and the race is scheduled to be shown twice tomorrow here in the states.

+1 and I will add, given that the large majority of F1 fans do well financially, are replays really that important? It's better on tivo anyway.

[D.T. Benner]

Try Not To-#1 wear out the rear tires to soon.
#2 burn to much fuel,to soon.
#3 wear off to much of the under car "Plank" and get DQ'ed after the race.
#4 trip over a backmarker running 10 seconds off the pace while trying Not to do the 3 things listed above!

[Stan Clayton]

#4 trip over a backmarker running 10 seconds off the pace while trying Not to do the 3 things listed above!

It's called racing, Darrell...

[D.T. Benner]

It's not a part of F1 Racing that THESE guys have had to deal with before. Should be fun to watch!

[Marshall Mauney]

It's not a part of F1 Racing that THESE guys have had to deal with before. Should be fun to watch!

Minardi and Arrows haven't been gone THAT long! Of course, the last time Alonso was dealing with it, he was in the backmarker....

[jim morgan]

One can only hope that todays session does not predict how the rest of the year will go. Boring as hell with a bunch of butt ugly cars. Ain't technology great?

[Matt King]

Minardi and Arrows haven't been gone THAT long! Of course, the last time Alonso was dealing with it, he was in the backmarker....

The guys on SPEED said 1996 or 97 was the last time a team qualified more than 10 seconds behind the pole sitter. I don't recall which team that was.

[Marshall Mauney]

The guys on SPEED said 1996 or 97 was the last time a team qualified more than 10 seconds behind the pole sitter. I don't recall which team that was.

That would almost have to have been Jordan or Minardi - and Schumi was there.

[Matt King]

That would almost have to have been Jordan or Minardi - and Schumi was there.

Or Lola, just don't recall the name of the driver. Definitely wasn't Schumi!

[Speedfreak]

Don't know about Canada, but SPEED has replayed practice and qualifying this weekend, and the race is scheduled to be shown twice tomorrow here in the states.

It turns out it is being replayed here. I'm watching the qualifying replay right now on Speed. Only the live stuff is blacked out. The replays seem to be coming through?? Even the name of the show is blacked out on the onscreen guide. All it says is Sign Off. How retarded is that?

At least I have options. I can record it live on TSN, then try to watch the replay on Speed later tomorrow instead. If the race replay is blacked out here then I still have the earlier recording from TSN. What a pain though.

It's not a part of F1 Racing that THESE guys have had to deal with before. Should be fun to watch!

Agreed, this should be interesting.

One can only hope that todays session does not predict how the rest of the year will go. Boring as hell with a bunch of butt ugly cars. Ain't technology great?

Glad I'm not alone thinking these are some of the ugliest cars in quite awhile. Those dorsel fins have to go.

[Purple Frog]

The cars get 'ugly' as engineers compensate for the rules that are constantly changing to, 1. slow the cars down, 2. increase competition.

If i were king it would be Formula Libre. 2 liters normal aspirated, and the car has to fit inside a defined box. Anything else is free. (I picked 2 liters to keep the HP around 400.) You'd see all kinds of stuff. Even wilder than the ol' Can-Am. 6 wheels, 8 wheels, AWD, full bodies, movable aero.... you know, the stuff that is already on the street.

[Speedfreak]

If i were king it would be Formula Libre. 2 liters normal aspirated, and the car has to fit inside a defined box. Anything else is free.

That makes sense, therefore it will never be part of any future FIA rules. Not while Bernie is around anyhow. He's ruining what was once a great sport.

[Speedfreak]

What a boring race.

Time to stage a coup. Bernie needs to abdicate. Purple Frog for King.

[Stan Clayton]

What a boring race.

Somebody got up on the wrong side of the igloo this morning...

[Speedfreak]

Somebody got up on the wrong side of the igloo this morning...

That's cold.

edit...

Ironically I have less snow on my lawn now than most years. All the streets here are almost dry too. Wouldn't be surprised if half the US got more snow this year than we did.

[John Merriman]

That race was NOT boring. No. It was BORING, BORING, BORING! Speedvision would do well to show the FF1600 race from last year's RunOffs or a REGIONAL Formula Ford race from Lime Rock Park.....or the Modifieds at Thompson, one or the other!

[VehDyn]

(I picked 2 liters to keep the HP around 400.)

2 liters for 400 hp? How much are they getting from teh current 2.4 liters? I think its in the range of 740-750.

Although your idea sounds like a good SCCA class.

[Speedfreak]

Unless by normally aspirated he meant no more fuel injection?

[Speedfreak]

The cars get 'ugly' as engineers compensate for the rules that are constantly changing to, 1. slow the cars down, 2. increase competition.

At this rate in a couple more years Bernie will bring in port restrictor plates and change the name to FASCAR. Or maybe FIASCO would be better.

[JHandley]

Link to full race download:

http://www.f1zone.net/viewtopic.php?...160804#p160804

Might have to join the forum but what the heck!
There ya have it.

[stonebridge20]

Ok,....did anybody else get a chill when the camera went in on a tight shot of Bruno when he pulled over in the race?

FREAKED me out!

[JHandley]

Ok,....did anybody else get a chill when the camera went in on a tight shot of Bruno when he pulled over in the race?

FREAKED me out!

Ya, that was kinda weird.
After I watched the race I looked up some pictures and couldnt believe the similarity!

[marc sproule]

http://www.gordonkirby.com/categorie..._is_no225.html

[Revs2-12k]

- Did'nt think I'd miss Peter Windsor in the pit lane, but I did.
- Cars are slightly better looking, but please Mr. Todt, get rid of the fugly narrow rear wings.
- Pit stops under 3 seconds = Cool
- Heavy looking F-1 cars wallowing around = Not so cool.
- Who reconfigured Bahrain infield to a Go-Cart track? Why? The cars just looked slow.
- Lotus finished their first race! And ran competitive lap times at the end, Wow
- Testing ban prevents some start-ups from running until 1st event? Too bad for HRT.
- No USF1 = Embarassment

[Purple Frog]

If i were king it would be Formula Libre. 2 liters normal aspirated, and the car has to fit inside a defined box. Anything else is free. (I picked 2 liters to keep the HP around 400.) You'd see all kinds of stuff. Even wilder than the ol' Can-Am. 6 wheels, 8 wheels, AWD, full bodies, movable aero.... you know, the stuff that is already on the street.

Since being informed of my out-of-date horsepower to volume knowledge ( i thought 200 hp per litre was a good number ), i guess I'll have to revise the displacement down a bit. Tech would save the organizers a bundle. One guy with an aluminum frame that has to be able to drop over the car and hit the pavement. That's it. You wouldn't even need him if you just made the pit exit opening the maximum width.

Innovation would be amazing. Gearhead interest would be off the charts. NASCAR chariots would look as crude as stoneaxes...oh, that's right, they already do.

[Stan Clayton]

Since being informed of my out-of-date horsepower to volume knowledge ( i thought 200 hp per litre was a good number ), i guess I'll have to revise the displacement down a bit.

Why not the old 1.5 litre F-1 engine formula?

[marc sproule]

Wish I could remember where I read it...probably Autosport...after that era was over. The qualifying motors were good for one run only, a handful of laps.

Over 1000hp. They were junk after one run as the heat produced by that much horsepower warped the blocks.

Probably not too many of those available to the vintage crowd.