Brian Sullivan: Auto Racing

The Garage Blog

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 01:23:28 GMT

Been following "The Garage" lately. Great car enthusiast info. Watched all of the "Big Bad Buick" video from Panamerica Carrera.

Today some great Mosport video.

The state of F1

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 17:16:05 GMT

Formula 1 has gone beyond circus I think and even beyond WWE I think. It seems to have sunk to the level of nude female mud wrestling or so.

Did I think F1 was well served for not imposing some sort of penalty for Ferrari's illegal car in Australia? No.

Did I think F1 was well served by the ridiculous 5 place penalty for Alonso in Hungary? No.

Did I think F1 was well served by the sanctimonious moaning of Jean Todt in the Stepney affair? No.

Did I think F1 was well served by the ridiculous $100 million fine imposed on MacLaren? No.

Do I think F1 is being well served by that idiot Max Mosely being in charge of the FIA? No.

Do I think F1 is being well served by MacLaren's appeal to somehow overturn the decision not to penalize Williams and BMW for fuel temperature variations in the last race? No. Give it up Kimi Raikkonen is the F1 champion. MacLaren blew it on the track and lost. Put your tail between your legs and head down and come back next year. This year is done!

$100 million!

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 22:20:59 GMT

So it seems the net cost to McLaren will be $100 million dollars for their perceived "indiscretion". Based on evidence that Ron Dennis provided in candor.

I can't help but think this is not over yet! $100 million provides a lot of lawyering.

The Formula 1 dilemma

Sun, 09 Sep 2007 20:56:39 GMT

So what is F1 to do ?-- it certainly has a problem. Obviously they can't
let McLaren off the hook completely (whether or not they are guilty of
anything) but they can't outright ban them either -- there is just too much
money at stake. Banning them outright would have money ripples everywhere
-- even Ferrari would lose there I think.

Here is what I think will (should?) happen:

-McLaren will be banned for the next 2 races and told to STFU
-Ferrari and other teams will be told to STFU.

This will effectively gift 20 points to one or the other of the Ferrari
drivers (or 18 to them both)-- assuming Ferrari and they are up for it,
making one of them in front or tied and the other slightly behind in the
WDC.

Then the last two races will have 4 contenders fighting for WDC and Ferrari
the likely winner of the Constructor's. Should make for great box office
and please the fans, sponsors, drivers (well probably Alonso and Hamilton
not so much) and constructors.

Then everybody will hope that this will all be forgotten by next year.

McLaren industrial espionage fiasco

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 14:43:41 GMT

I am of two minds on this McLaren/Ferrari industrial espionage fiasco (they have been summoned to appear before the FIA)

On the one hand if McLaren are involved they should be punished somehow (from what I have seen they are certainly implicated). But if whatever punishment is deemed appropriate severely affects the driver championship (which is shaping up to be a 4 way tussle that may not be settled until the last race) then I would be disappointed.

The rich and the fast

Thu, 08 Mar 2007 21:57:05 GMT

Bugatti Veyron at top speed
Uploaded by Flabber

If you can afford it you can buy a road car that will go 400 kph! (price Approx. $1,700,000 from what I can tell)

Peter Murphy at Surfer's Paradise

Wed, 25 Oct 2006 14:05:48 GMT

I have commented before on how outstanding I think Peter Murphy's QTVR panorama pictures are. His latest is of particular interest -- the winner's circle at the most recent Champ Car race in Surfer's Paradise.

Fangio/Brabham 1978

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 17:50:47 GMT

Some thoroughly enjoyable footage of Fangio and Brabham racing? (in Australia in 1978):

Schumacher

Mon, 03 Apr 2006 17:10:54 GMT

Looking at the sad spectacle of Ferrari on the weekend my prediction last year that Michael will retire without winning another race is looking more and more likely. It seems that even if he perhaps still has the skill and will, the machinery is not up to it.

Why is Microsoft not in F1?

Sat, 31 Dec 2005 14:33:40 GMT

I noticed this article about the upcoming announcement of Intel sponsorship of BMW in F1. More interesting though is why is Microsoft not sponsoring F1? It would seem like a perfect fit -- a world wide brand that is fraying a little around the edges in Europe and Asia where F1 has a very strong following. Of course the cost of F1 sponsorship is high but Microsoft shouldn't have a problem with cost.

The Byzantine ways of F1

Mon, 19 Dec 2005 20:26:40 GMT

This morning comes a confirmation that Fernando Alonso, the F1 champion for 2005 has signed a contract for 2007 with McLaren. This means that either Kimi Raikkonen or Juan Pablo Montoya or both will not be there in 2007. Which one is likely to go? If it's a push I would guess Montoya might be the odd man out. But what is also possible is that Raikkonen has already signed with another team (Ferrari?) -- meaning someone there is on the way out. My guess would be Schumacher is retiring.

Even more byzantine is that Flavio Briatore is Alonso's manager (as well as team principal at Renault, the team that Alonso is leaving). What does this mean for him? Is he done at Renault, is he no longer Alonso's manager? Of course there are also persistent rumours that Renault will leave F1 in 2007 so who knows what is going on?

Origami V8

Fri, 25 Nov 2005 14:57:00 GMT

Now this is cool. Perhaps somebody in F1 should be talking to the designer of this for use their cars next year?

F1

Mon, 17 Oct 2005 01:09:56 GMT

I stayed up last night (on at 2 a.m. here) and watched the F1 race from China. Not a very exciting race but from many points of view it is obviously the end of an era. Jordan, Minardi, Sauber all gone (or being reborn). Eddie Jordan, Paul Stoddart and Peter Sauber the backmarker kings are also gone. Many of the current drivers (especially the guys at the back) including Villeneuve are unlikely to return.

Of course there is the usual end of year musical chairs for those drivers staying. And there was the sad spectacle of Schumacher making two critical mistakes -- not even in anger but during the warm up and safety car periods. I suspect he is done. Even though he will likely return to F1 next year and I think it likely he will not win another race. He certainly has his fair share of wins so there is nothing to cry about there. He probably should do the smart thing and retire.

A1 is A1!

Mon, 26 Sep 2005 05:50:24 GMT

I just watched the 1st A1 race from Brands Hatch. It has a lot going for it if this is what it is going to be like. Standing starts, slicks, close racing, passes, attempted passes, recognizable cars (and yes an occasional crash), great television coverage (I watched a Dutch feed and didn't understand a word except for the occasional English that seemed to creep in but still watched to the very end) are among the huge positives. Nelson Piquet (racing prowess certainly seems genetic doesn't it) put on a show winning by a long shot. But places 3 to 10 finished within 4 seconds of each other!

And some great driver names to boot. Besides Nelson Piquet, Mathias Lauda, Jos Verstappen, Will Power and Scott Speed are among the racers.

F1 pay attention. This is what racing is about.

Can Williams survive?

Wed, 14 Sep 2005 13:58:26 GMT

Williams F1 certainly has been battered lately, losing the BMW engine, connection and sponsorship money with BMW buying Sauber, dealing with the ongoing Button driver fiasco, announcing a change to Bridgestone tires. This morning there is the announcement that HP will end sponsorship at the end of the season.

The once mighty team is already in the also ran class this year -- can they survive?

Cosworth V8

Thu, 14 Jul 2005 15:11:48 GMT

20,000 rpm from the new Cosworth V8 for F1.

Awesome!

Michelin tires at Indy

Sat, 02 Jul 2005 20:02:34 GMT

I saw this posted in a newsgroup:

http://tbk.fameflame.dk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=19543

It seems the problems of Michelin with the banking at Indy were definitely serious if this is any indication.

The United States Grand Prix Dilemma

Tue, 21 Jun 2005 17:31:26 GMT

It seems obvious to me that once Michelin determined that their tires were unsafe to use at speed on the final banked corner that there was not going to be a race of any consequence. The only possible outcome was that the six Bridgestone runners were going to share the points among themselves. The various proposals after that stage were ludicrous and were not going to change the outcome. What I have seen proposed:

(by Michelin and the 7 Michelin teams) - put in a chicane to slow all runners down and allow the race to continue-- why should the FIA do this and why would the Bridgestone runners agree to this?
(apparently by the 7 Michelin teams) - put in a chicane to slow all runners down -- Bridgestone runners to get all the points. While this would have got all cars on the track -- there would have been no real race -- a minor placebo for the fans.
(apparently by the FIA) -- have the Michelin runners slow down during the corner -- this would probably have been unsafe for all runners -- besides nobody know by how much they had to slow down.
(apparently by the FIA and Ferrari/Todt afterwards) - have Michelin runners run through the pits -- not much racing going on there now is there -- I am sure the fans would have enjoyed that!
(not sure by whom) -- have Michelin runners change tires every so many laps for safety reasons -- I am not sure that there were enough tires there anyway to cover this situation. This would involve both the stewards approval and in the end probably doesn't help much -- nobody I think had even an inkling of how many laps would have been safe. This also wouldn't have provided any real racing.
(what actually happened) -- the Michelin runners did not start.

So the best possible scenario was probably 2. but even that would have been a placebo for the fans, not real racing. The Michelin teams would have been conducting an extended race distance test. The Bridgestone runners would have been racing among themselves.

No doubt the blame here is with Michelin who failed miserably in providing suitable equipment but after that happened there was no scenario that was going to work out for the fans and IMS.

An interesting article on the subject.

Indy farce

Sun, 19 Jun 2005 21:42:48 GMT

Who would have thought that watching the last few laps of LeMans would be more exciting than the U.S. F1 Grand Prix at Indy? What a farce -- greed seems to have consumed motor sport(should I call it "sport"?).

BAR and the manufacturers group

Fri, 29 Apr 2005 16:52:31 GMT

Rumours that BAR if found guilty of being underweight at Imola in the upcoming inquisition could face exclusion from F1. Since the accusers and judges are the same anything is possible. I am guessing this is a pressure tactic to try to force BAR to join Ferrari and Bernie and leave the "manufacturer's" group that has been threatening to start a parallel F1 championship.

So I wouldn't be suprised at some point to see an announcement that BAR had mysteriously crossed the floor using some language in the announcement that included the phrase "in its best interest". F1 really is a slimey business.

Zanardi in a Williams F1 car?

Thu, 28 Apr 2005 15:10:09 GMT

There is a strong possibility apparently that Alex Zanardi will again drive a F1 car for Williams. It will be just a taste for fans and him (probably a demonstration at the U.S. Grand Prix) but impressive none-the-less.

Forza!

Imola

Sun, 24 Apr 2005 16:24:17 GMT

Well that was one of the most entertaining races in a long time. A lot of great efforts - Raikkonen on the pole and with early pace, Alonso controlling the race, skillfully fighting off Schumacher at the end and Schumacher coming from the back to finish second (what exactly was he doing early on in the race I wonder?). Villeneuve finished a solid 6th and looked quite strong - so maybe my call for him to hang up his overalls was premature.

But the TV coverage sucked -- (TSN's version of the ITV feed where I was) -- sound seemed to drop every 5th word and at the end when the chase was on and screen went black for a few seconds(thankfully it was only a few seconds) was not the best.

Ferrari in a hole

Sun, 03 Apr 2005 17:16:45 GMT

It looks Ferrari and Schumacher may have dug themselves a pretty deep hole by introducing their 2005 car at the Bahrain Grand Prix(maybe they were in such trouble anyway that it didn't matter). A calculated risk that didn't pay off it seems. The car was almost fast enough but just not reliable and since there is no going back (at least not without further penalty), they are stuck with what they have. Unreliablity in one race has a negative impact on qualifying for the next race (and if severe enough to force an engine swap out may force a back of the grid start).

Already far behind in the points race(not as bad as BAR mind you) and seemingly a large number of cars competitive at the second tier(Renault looks clearly far in front of the rest), it will be very difficult for Schumacher(as good as he is) to win his 8th championship this year.

P.S. Did I mention that Villeneuve sucked ? Maybe time to hang up the overalls?

More F1 comedy

Sat, 05 Mar 2005 18:18:23 GMT

Now it seems Max Mosley is incensed with Australian justice (how dare they try to exert their authority over F1). He is now threatening to remove all FIA events from Australia (to punish Stoddart ? Australia?).

Children one and all.

BAR code

Sat, 05 Mar 2005 15:52:16 GMT

At the recent Toronto auto show I was able to get a picture of the "BAR" code on the side of Jenson Button's car (well no doubt a show car but...)