Month: October 2006

F1 2006

F1 – End of Season

by Colin Bowen2 Comments on F1 – End of Season

What a brilliant race to end the season. Okay, the race wasn’t very exiting, but there was a lot of good stuff.

Massa finished first. What a brilliant drive. I think he’s got the potential to challenge for the Championship next year. I was very pleased to see him win in his home GP. Massa was happy, and so was the rest of Brazil.

Alonso second. A perfect drive to the Championship! Exactly what he needed to do. Almost eclipsed by Massa, Alonso wins a second Championship, and he deserves it. He’s done what he needed to do, and despite a few obstacles he’s Champion again. I can see me supporting him at McLaren next year, the first time I’ve really supported a non-Brit.

Button third (talking of Brits), a good drive (from ninth, I think) for Jenson. The Brits will always get my full support. I must have missed the discussions on Homologation (someone please explain), but if the ‘engine freeze’ freezes Jenson’s engine, he’ll do well next year.

Michael Schumacher fourth. What a brilliant drive from him too. Starting way back on the grid he made up lots of places then had a puncture, and still finished fourth. It’s no win, but it’s a drive he can be proud of to finish his F1 career – for now.

Kimi fifth. A nice result to finish his McLaren contract on. Did you see Martin’s grid-walk. Schumi gets his trophy from Pele, and Martin Brundle says to Kimi “You missed the presentation”. Kimi laughs “I was having a shit”!

Finally, Fisichella. Another driver I like, not because he’s particularly good, but he’s always cheerful and he’s a roll-model fitness-wise. His drive helped Renault secure the Constructors championship.

So, Massa and Ferrari are happy. Schumi and the fans are happy (and sad). Alonso and Renault are happy. The Brazilians are happy. What a season. Can’t wait until 2007!

Karting

Karting Session – My Battle with a Cheat

by Colin Bowen2 Comments on Karting Session – My Battle with a Cheat

In this post, I told you about the Karting Meeting we had. Here’s more from the same evening.

If you want to email this (or any other article) to someone, just click the little envelope at the bottom of the piece.

To see a photo of Lakeside Karting, go here. If you click and hold on the red dots, you’ll see the corner names. It’s a clockwise circuit.

A lap before the end of our 15 mins session (my second session), I was nearly run off the track into the barrier. I was approaching another driver (also a member at the circuit it turns out), and he was looking over his shoulder for over half a lap as I quickly caught him. Faster down the long straight to Devil’s Drop, I couldn’t pass him on the entry to the long Arena bend so I took a wide line. Coming out of the corner on the outside and to the left, I quickly pulled level.

There’s a piece of green concrete on the left of the track that you use on the exit if you’re quick; in other words, half the kart is left of the white line (in the picture), the other half is in the track. You can see that the (blurred) barrier meets the track at quite a sharp angle, just before the track kinks right to the grid markings.

I was fully on the track as I was level with the other driver. He knew I was there; he had been looking over his shoulder as I drew level, then he started turning left into me, forcing me left off the track. I was now heading towards the barrier. I have no doubt that he was trying to cause a crash. I had a choice; brake and swerve, or run head first into a tyre wall.

-Rant starts-

I was angry. Not because he was ahead of me, but because he deliberately tried to cause a head-on crash on the second fastest part of the circuit.

Despite braking heavily to avoid the crash and losing a lot of time, I easily caught him again going down the long back straight. There was no way I was going to overtake that psycho-nutjob going down Devils Drop or into Arena, that would have meant a certain trip to casualty via the tyre wall, but I knew I could out-accelerate his lardy-arse up the slight hill out of Arena and towards the grid. So long as I was to his right this time, there was nowhere too painful to crash if he forced me off again.

On the way out of Arena though, I could see the marshall at the start/finish line with the chequered flag. I had forgotten that they were staying out for their second 15 minutes, so I was determined to get to the finish line first. It was a photo finish, but I did it.

It’s a good job he didn’t follow me into the pits, I would have lost my reputation as level-headed. I went straight to the mashalls in the pits to let them know what had happened. They said that they knew he was driving dangerously, other marshals had seen other incidents, and he had already smashed a wheel off his first kart. The circuit rules say that if you break your kart that’s the end of your session, but they let him out in a new kart anyway.

So, here’s a message for the cheating, sad, scum-sucker in kart 22. Listen up! I would rather lose with honour than do what you did; but I didn’t lose. I beat you. I’m faster than you. I’m better than you.

-Rant ends. Normal service will resume shortly.-

F1 2006

“Schumacher hasn’t given up”, Hill warns Alonso

by Colin BowenLeave a Comment on “Schumacher hasn’t given up”, Hill warns Alonso

_42178345_hillpa203This article is pinched from ITV-F1.com, who pinched it from this BBC article.

Fernando Alonso would be unwise to assume that the 2006 world championship is in the bag – even though Michael Schumacher publicly conceded the title following his retirement at Suzuka.

That is the view of 1996 champion Damon Hill, who lost the ’94 title to Schumacher after a controversial collision with the German in the final round at Adelaide.

Alonso’s victory at Suzuka, coupled with Schumacher’s DNF, moved the Renault driver to the brink of a second consecutive drivers’ crown.

With 10 points now separating the protagonists heading into the season finale in Brazil, the only way Schumacher can beat Alonso is by winning at Interlagos with the Spaniard failing to score any points.

Although that scenario is improbable, it would only require a mirror image of events at Suzuka.

Hill dismissed the notion that Schumacher has written off his chances and warned Alonso not to drop his guard.

“Michael said he’s not thinking about the championship now – that’s baloney,” the Briton told the BBC.

“He never gives up. I would keep my armour on if I were Alonso until after the last race.”

Hill reckons Schumacher has not given up because it would be alien to his character to do so.

“Don’t ever write that guy off,” he said. “It’s not over until it’s over.

“He’s going to go into that last race thinking: ‘Now, how can I win this and Alonso not score anything?’

“That’s the way he’s going to approach it.

“Otherwise he’s not Michael Schumacher.”

IT News

Blog News – I got Google Ads!

by Colin Bowen2 Comments on Blog News – I got Google Ads!

This post is not designed to encourage you to click the ads!

I need to earn money to help fund my karting habit. It’s hard to get sponsors that pay me, so I thought I’d put some ads on the site in the hope they’ll generate some income.

I love sponsors, but hate ads. I’ll do everything I can to promote a sponsor (but I’ll only take sponsors whose products I believe in). When it comes to ads though, I don’t want loads of flashing ads all over the place, so I’ve gone for something subtle, between the blog banner and the blog entry.

They’ve been up for a couple of weeks now, and although I don’t have any control over what ads are shown, Google does a good job of matching the ads to the site content.

Currently, clicking on a link takes you to another page which contains the ads themselves. Clicking one of those ads takes you to the advertiser’s page, and that’s what generates the income for me.

However, Google is very hot on making sure that people aren’t clicking ads just to generate income for themselves or others. They log the IP address of the computer that views the ad, and they block the account if the suspect that it’s not genuine (eg multiple clicks per IP address/computer). So don’t go clicking ads unless you’re genuinely interested, or I’ll lose this feature and the income it generates.

Trouble is, the ads interest me, but I can’t click for fear of being banned!

If you want to support me, the best way is to tell people about this site. The more visitors the site gets, the more the ads get genuine interest (generating income for the advertisers and me), and maybe some paying sponsors will contact me too. After all, I’d like to race professionally, but can only do so with sponsorship.

Talking of sponsors, let me remind you that I have a sponsor, ik Software. They specialise in Web Development, PDA Software, and Graphic Design. They’ve got some pretty big clients, and some small ones (like me). I think they do a great job, and the customer service is excellent.

F1 2006

Will Michael Schumacher bother to race in Brazil?

by Colin Bowen2 Comments on Will Michael Schumacher bother to race in Brazil?

Well, that woke me up! Schumacher’s engine blows up, and I’m leaping around my living room trying not to wake the wife and neighbours.

Alonso wins, making up for his engine-blow last week, and Fisichella comes in third giving Renault a good chance of the Constructors’ Championship.

Will Michael bother to race in Brazil? Looking at him in his garage after his engine failure, he was going round hugging people like it was his last day at work.

Michael can still win the Championship if he wins at Brazil and Alonso doesn’t score a point (they’ll be level on points, but Michael will win by virtue of having more race-wins this year). A race like China and he’ll be Champion again. So why the long face? Perhaps he was just gutted at the fact that it looked like he was going to win the Championship today.

Quite a boring race really, but a good result for the podium finishers. I’m surprised that Ferrari didn’t run away with it, given their quali pace, although Michael was leading easily before his engine blew and Massa’s race strategy was compromised by a puncture.

Nice to see Fisichella up there (one of my favourite drivers), especially as his best friend died this week.

So, one race left in 2006. It will take something spectacular for Alonso not to win the Drivers’ Championship, but the Contructors’ Championship is still up for grabs.

Competition Series, Karting

Race Driver seeks team for competition and possible long-term relationship

by Colin BowenLeave a Comment on Race Driver seeks team for competition and possible long-term relationship

PMA Media, the production company who covered the Shell Optimax F1 Drivers’ Challenge, is holding a karting competition of it’s own, the K1 Cup.

It’s a televised karting championship starting May 2007 where companies put forward teams of four drivers and a team manager, and they race for charity and to promote their business. The promotion opportunities are amazing, with European-wide TV coverage.

Each team chooses a charity to support and there will be celebrity endorsement for each team, and special celebrity races.

Now, here’s the thing. I’d love to take part, but I don’t have a team to drive for. All the marketing is taken care of by the promoters, even the race-wear and helmets will be branded with the team’s name. The entry fee is £24,995 + VAT, plus a charitable donation of £10,000.

So, if you’re a company (or you know a company) that might like to take part, and take me on as a driver, please leave me a comment (which won’t be posted here), and I’ll get back to you.

Thanks.

BowenRacing is sponsored by ik Software at www.ik.com

Karting

Karting Meeting

by Colin BowenLeave a Comment on Karting Meeting

On Monday 18th October we had the “All Welcome” karting session at Thurrock in Essex. Thanks to everyone for turning up. I think we all had a good time. There were six drivers and six spectators:
Kaz – driving – that’s an easy one, he’s the one who has made several comments on this blog
Mark P and Julie Bowen (my sister) – spectator (although next time…)
There was another couple who wanted to come but couldn’t, also named Mark & Julie
Mark F – driving
John B – driving
John Bowen (my brother) – driving
Colin Bowen (er, me) – driving
Blanche (my wife) – spectator
Colin B (my regular karting buddy) – driving
Eve, Amy and Laura (Colin B’s wife and their girls) – spectators

I was there at 2pm, but I didn’t expect anyone to arrive until six. About 3:30 John B phoned to say he was on his way. He had been ill with a virus that had made it painful to move. He wasn’t over it, but decided to drive anyway. He’s been once before I think. His racing lines were right, but I don’t think he had a good kart (mine was excellent). He could only do one session, so was leaving just as others started arriving. Thanks for coming John.

I said my car was excellent, but I didn’t think so as I was warming the tyres up. There was little rear end grip but it did accelerate quickly, and I equalled my personal best lap-time.

As John B left, my sister Julie arrived with her Fiance Mark P and my brother John. John said he’d drive, but Julie and Mark decided to watch; they’re saving up for their wedding next year. I’ve got news for you two; I’m spending your wedding present money on my karting!

Colin and Eve then arrived with their girls Amy and Laura who had a little cheerleader routine worked out to support their Dad. Blanche (my wife) then arrived, but sadly without a cheerleader routine (or outfit).

It was all getting a bit manic by then. John paid and went to the safety briefing, Colin paid and went to get changed, and people were turning up for practice before their 8pm corporate event. The only person I expected to turn up that hadn’t was Kaz.

We waited around for the end of the drivers’ briefing, and got in our karts. There were 11 of us, 3 from BowenRacing and the rest for corporate event practice. They wanted to do 30 minutes straight, but we wanted to do two 15 minute sessions in the hope that Kaz would turn up for the second one. The marshals said that they would give us a chequered flag at the end of our time, and the others could stay out.

On arrive and drive, they don’t start you on the grid, you just leave the pitlane and go from there. I was in a different kart, and noticed a lot of play in the brake pedal, so the first thing I did out of the pits was test the brakes; there weren’t any. Even on cold tyres I couldn’t lock the brakes, so I went back into the pits for a replacement kart. Luckily I got the fast kart 9 again.

I did quite well in the rest of our session, I beat my personal best by 0.11 sec with a time of 41.27, 1.14 sec faster than the next best lap time.

Still to come… The last two laps of Session 2 – my battle with a cheat.