F-1 Rant

[Ross]

It was called Can-Am.

[Kristuphir]

It was called Can-Am.

Noooooooo kidding. I see those cars at the vintage races in Monterey, Corondao, and/or Seattle every year, and man, those things are beautiful, loud monsters. Most of the guys who drive them are still nuts, too, unlike most other vintage racing I've seen.

F1 is indeed in a sorry state. That won't stop me from making my annual pilgrimage to Indianapolis here in another month, but this time it has a lot to do with the free ticket I get for having been witness to the Michelin debacle of last year. Now if only I could get them to reimburse me for airfare...

[SharkmanBMW]

F1 is indeed in a sorry state. That won't stop me from making my annual pilgrimage to Indianapolis here in another month, but this time it has a lot to do with the free ticket I get for having been witness to the Michelin debacle of last year. Now if only I could get them to reimburse me for airfare...

I really hope - for the sake of F1 in general, not to mention the fans in North America.... that the Indy race this year is a HUGE success.

Last year, I was ashamed to be an F1 fan, I encourage all to watch, and then they let us down like never before in F1!

PLease let this year be spectacular for all who make the effort to go.

[F4Phantom]

Also at least its not like the ridiculous IRL/Indy 500, where cars are a lap down after a few laps and where the 2nd place car could have so much more power to fly past 1st on the last lap after making up how much ground after the pit incident.... Talk about uneven field, the IRL should just consist of like 6 cars cause no one else has a chance.

After watching all of the Monaco race, the Indy 500 was sooo boring.

Hey I am watching the indy right now, I have not seen it before but it looks to me like they are going flat chat around the dome and thats it. It is a novelty to me becuase I have never seen race cars go flat chat for such a long period of time, in a normal race track the corner pops up just as the car is really going. What I want to know is, are these cars comparable to F1 cars?? I know nothing about them. Also are they actualy racing at their top speed, the corners are banked so in theory they could be. If this is the whole race I can see the boring side of it too. If they dont do anything but this track I would say an F1 car would be a better track package as they have to stop and accelerate a lot more. But I think these cars come to QLD sometime although I really dont know if it's the same championship.

[jrobbo]

Hey I am watching the indy right now, I have not seen it before but it looks to me like they are going flat chat around the dome and thats it. It is a novelty to me becuase I have never seen race cars go flat chat for such a long period of time, in a normal race track the corner pops up just as the car is really going. What I want to know is, are these cars comparable to F1 cars?? I know nothing about them. Also are they actualy racing at their top speed, the corners are banked so in theory they could be. If this is the whole race I can see the boring side of it too. If they dont do anything but this track I would say an F1 car would be a better track package as they have to stop and accelerate a lot more. But I think these cars come to QLD sometime although I really dont know if it's the same championship.

The cars that race at Indy are IRL (Indy Racing League), the cars that run at QLD are Champ cars, they're different cars.

I'm not sure how fast the IRL cars are, but the Champ Cars and the F1 cars both race at Montreal in Canada, and the F1 cars are about 6 secs per lap quicker. In top speed though, the Champ cars are often quicker, as they run a lot less wing than the F1 cars.

Regards

John

[sKilled]

I love the F1, but it is getting to be very monotone with the dirty air issue, which still hasn't been addressed dammit. The sport is in jeopardy becuase of a multitude of reasons though - especially Bernie's unequalled greed.
The A1 GP is also very cool, but a different animal altogether - but very cool. Especially the NOS power button with the 5 use limit in a race. Makes for an interesting battle even if the cars are identical. Pity it isn't covered on TV here as much as it should be.
The V8 supercars aren't too bad either, but as F4Phantom stated it too stagnates (Bathurst is still a laugh to watch though innit!). It is a pity that here, too, rules are implemented without much thought to 'even the playing field'.
Which brings me to the ban on Audi Quattros. What the hell is that about? The WRC hasn't been the same for me since that happened.
In general, all forms of high level auto racing have contracted the same illness - it is all about revenues for the owners. Hey there ballsport fans (and ice hockey fans) does this sound familiar?

[jrobbo]

The A1 GP is also very cool, but a different animal altogether - but very cool. Especially the NOS power button with the 5 use limit in a race. Makes for an interesting battle even if the cars are identical. Pity it isn't covered on TV here as much as it should be.

I agree, the A1GP is a lot of fun to watch, heaps of overtaking, some great racing.

The push to pass is similar to that used in Champ cars, it just increases the rev limit by 500rpm which gives an extra 50hp or so. There is no NOS used.

Regards

John

[F4Phantom]

Which brings me to the ban on Audi Quattros. What the hell is that about? The WRC hasn't been the same for me since that happened.
In general, all forms of high level auto racing have contracted the same illness - it is all about revenues for the owners. Hey there ballsport fans (and ice hockey fans) does this sound familiar?

I did not know they banned the audi's, man I have been saying for a few years now when anyone askes me about F1 that I prefer WRC cause it's more interesting. Bathurst used to allow skyline 4x4's untill they won too much. If this is the way motorsports are going I think I may stop watching them. If the general population follow this move (year right - Australia is turning into a country of blind consumers who see an event and then buy the t-shirt) then maybe some events will need to be re-invented.

[GJPinAU]

I did not know they banned the audi's, man I have been saying for a few years now when anyone askes me about F1 that I prefer WRC cause it's more interesting. Bathurst used to allow skyline 4x4's untill they won too much. If this is the way motorsports are going I think I may stop watching them. If the general population follow this move (year right - Australia is turning into a country of blind consumers who see an event and then buy the t-shirt) then maybe some events will need to be re-invented.

If you get SBS watch "Speedweek" (midday Saturday) it has other domestic racing, although I wouldn't try to support the Production class at the mo', there were about 8 cars racing in that class in QLD (huge effort)

[rob101]

I did not know they banned the audi's, man I have been saying for a few years now when anyone askes me about F1 that I prefer WRC cause it's more interesting. Bathurst used to allow skyline 4x4's untill they won too much. If this is the way motorsports are going I think I may stop watching them. If the general population follow this move (year right - Australia is turning into a country of blind consumers who see an event and then buy the t-shirt) then maybe some events will need to be re-invented.

they banned quattro in touring car racing, probably TOCA i don't think they banned quattro in rally, if they did it would be odd that all WRC cars are now awd (yes that's all quattro is, there is no magic formula contrary to what audi would have you think) . they did ban Group A in WRC after a lancia delta integrale run off the road burst into flames and killed both the driver and co driver. nobody witnessed the accident and all that was left afterwards was a burn out wreck.