Category: Motorsport

Competition Series, Karting

So You Want to be an F1 Driver – Round 1

by Colin BowenLeave a Comment on So You Want to be an F1 Driver – Round 1

I did my five laps on Tuesday.

For those that don’t know, this is a pseudo annual competition for wannabe racing drivers. It is televised after the event.

I missed the competition the first year, but I saw it on TV and have entered since then. First time, I only got through the first round. Last time got through to round 4.

Basically, the first competition’s first prize was a drive in an F1 car (albeit a 70’s one), and a contract with the management company who were looking after Jenson Button at the time.

I’ll be writing here about my progress in this year’s competition.

So, Round 1. There is a choice of tracks at which we have to post five laps. It’s either the fastest of the five, or the average of the five laps that is sent off to the competition promoter. They will then decide who goes on to round two.

I’m not saying which track I went to, or what my time was until after the date that the times have to be submitted. So, come back later to see how I got on.

You can subscribe to the RSS feed by clicking on the orange icon, and you will be notified of updates to this site.

Wish me luck.

Competition Series

SoF1 2007, AKA F1 Drivers’ Challenge 2007

by Colin BowenLeave a Comment on SoF1 2007, AKA F1 Drivers’ Challenge 2007
I had a reply to my email asking for info.  I quote “Hi, we are sending out the qualifying letters now. Due to the postal strike we had to wait, making sure that all applicants would receive their post. If you do not receive anything by post by the 7th November please give us a call.”  When I hear, you’ll hear.
 
You can read what happened when I entered the previous event by selecting the “So You Want to be an F1 Driver” category top left of this page.
F1 2007

McLaren’s Brazil GP Appeal date will be…

by Colin Bowen2 Comments on McLaren’s Brazil GP Appeal date will be…
15th November.
 
Click here to see the BBC’s report.  It also has quotes from Max Mosley; I think he’s lost the plot.
F1 2008

2008 Formula One calendar

by Colin BowenLeave a Comment on 2008 Formula One calendar
The FIA have announced the following 2008 Formula One calendar:
 
March 16 Australia (Melbourne)
March 23 Malaysia (Sepang)
April 6 Bahrain (Sakhir)
April 27 Spain (Barcelona)
May 11 Turkey (Istanbul)
May 25 Monaco
June 8 Canada
June 22 France
July 6 Britain (Silverstone)
July 20 Germany (Hockenheim)
Aug 3 Hungary (Hungaroring)
Aug 24 Europe (Valencia)
Sep 7 Belgium (Spa-Francorchamps)
Sep 14 Italy (Monza)
Sep 28 Singapore – night-time race
Oct 12 Japan (Fuji)
Oct 19 China (Shanghai)
Nov 2 Brazil (Interlagos)
F1 2007, F1 2008

F1 News

by Colin BowenLeave a Comment on F1 News

Some links for you:

Spyker becomes Force India Formula One.

F1 gets its first night race.

Hamilton says (as I expected) that he wants to win on the track.

McLaren’s fine will be roughly half of that originally reported, at c$50,000.

F1 2007

Alonso says a Mclaren court victory would be shameful for the sport

by Colin BowenLeave a Comment on Alonso says a Mclaren court victory would be shameful for the sport
Fernando Alonso told Spain’s Cadena Ser radio station that his head “would fall in shame for the sport” if Hamilton wins because of McLaren’s appeal against the Stewards decision over Williams and BMW’s fuel irregularities. 
 
I have to agree, but not because Hamilton should not be Champion, but because the FIA has once again failed to make clear regulations.  If the FIA had stated by which means the ambient temperature is measured, it would be a simple fact that Williams and BMW had or had not breached the regulations.  Then, the only decision would have been as to what punishment they should suffer.  There is a precedent (I can’t remember who was involved) when fuel irregularities resulted in teams losing points, not drivers.
 
The best outcome, in my opinion, is that Ferrari are left to sweat it out until the Court of Appeal hearing.  McLaren make representation that Williams and BMW had breached the rules, but with the request that the teams lose their points and not the drivers, based on the 1990s precedent.  The result would be that Williams and BMW lose their points from the race, but the drivers positions stand, and Kimi Raikkonen remains World Champion.  McLaren should also request that the FIA clarifies it’s rules and future infringements would incur penalties for the teams and the drivers.
 
That would be the honourable thing to do, and there is no risk that McLaren be seen as the villain by bringing about the appeal in order to promote their driver to World Champion.  McLaren were stripped of the Constructors’ Championship after Ferrari leaked confidential information to McLaren, then took them to court for having it, even though there was no evidence that McLaren had used the confidential information to improve their car.  McLaren should use this opportunity to champion the reform of the FIA’s poorly written regulations.
F1 2007

Now BBC have some news

by Colin BowenLeave a Comment on Now BBC have some news

I am pleased to say that I reported on the news before the BBC. You can find their comments here. They add:
Under FIA regulations, no fuel on board a car may be more than 10 degrees centigrade below ambient temperature – the prevailing temperature on the track.
But in initial findings there was a clear discrepancy.
Heidfeld’s fuel was 13C lower than ambient at his first stop and 12C lower at his second.
Kubica’s varied by 14C, 13C and 13C at his three stops, while Rosberg’s was 13C and 12C out at his two stops.
Cooler fuel can give a car a performance advantage.
It is denser, so it can take slightly less time to refuel a car or marginally more fuel can be added in the same time.
Cooler fuel would also give a slight power advantage for about three laps before returning to the temperature out on the track.
However, the total advantage for each car over the race distance was almost certainly no more than a second.

F1 2007

Links

by Colin BowenLeave a Comment on Links

Click here to find out how to stay up to date with this site via RSS.

Click here for ITV-F1.com’s fuel temperature story.

Click here for PitPass.com’s fuel temperature story.

F1 2007

McLaren appeal Stewards’ decision

by Colin BowenLeave a Comment on McLaren appeal Stewards’ decision
The Stewards at Interlagos decided not to penalise Williams and BWM Sauber because of ‘inconclusive’ evidence, but Williams have decided to appeal the decision at the FIA’s International Court of Appeal.
 
Fuel samples taken from the four cars of Williams and BMW were 12-14 degrees C below ambient temperature.  Article 6.5.5 of the Formula 1 technical regulations states: “No fuel on board the car may be more than 10 degrees centigrade below ambient temperature.”  Now, there seems to be some confusion on this.  As far as I know, there’s no way to take fuel from a car during a pit stop so I assume it’s fuel from the fuel rigs, but that doesn’t seem to be the problem at hand.
 
Quoting direct from the ITV-F1.com website:
FIA technical delegate Jo Bauer reported that the fuel samples from all four cars showed temperatures 12-14C lower than the ambient at the time.
But the stewards said they could not be certain the temperatures were outside the 10C limit due to conflicting evidence.
They pointed to a discrepancy between the ambient temperature recorded on the Formula One Management timing monitors and that provided by the FIA and team-contracted meteorologists Meteo France – and said there was no “regulation stating in clear terms that for the purposes of Article 6.5.5 the definitive ambient temperature shall be indicated on the FOM timing monitors alone”.
They also said they lacked “a precise reading of the temperature of ‘fuel on board the car’ which shows fuel at more than 10 degrees centigrade below ambient temperature”.
Their statement concluded: “In view of the matters referred to above, the stewards consider that…there must be sufficient doubt as to both the temperature of the fuel actually ‘on board the car’ and also as to the true ambient temperature as to render it inappropriate to impose a penalty”.
 
Once again, the FIA show their incompetence.  What on earth are they measuring the fuel temperature against?  The fact that they measured the fuel and initially decided that it was outside permitted limits must mean they are measuring the fuel against some pre-defined benchmark, probably the FOM timing monitor thermometer device.  It’s ludicrous to have a regulation stating “no more than 10 degrees C below ambient temperature” without adding “as measured by ….”.  Not stating unequivocally what readings are used is like having a pit lane speed limit regulation “Cars may not travel in the pit lane at speeds greater than 100KPH”, then having some bloke from the FIA sitting in the Stewards office deciding whether or not the cars ‘looked like’ they were going too fast.
 
Let me make this clear, I don’t want Lewis Hamilton’s first World Championship a result of another team’s disqualification post-race.  I hate to see Kimi’s title in doubt like this, but it does give Ferrari a taste of their own medicine.
 
I’ll keep an eye on the situation and post updates as soon as I see them.  That way you can come back to this site for news, or why not subscribe via your RSS/news reader.
F1 2007

Hamilton wins Championship after Williams and BWM disqualified?

by Colin BowenLeave a Comment on Hamilton wins Championship after Williams and BWM disqualified?
I’ve seen the report tonight on the news that fuel irregularities might get Williams and BWM Sauber disqualified from today’s Brazilian F1 Grand Prix.  If that happens, Lewis Hamilton will be promoted to fourth and gain the Drivers’ World Championship title.
 
I don’t think Hamilton will want to win like this.  Much as I’m completely gutted by him not winning, I hope Williams and BMW don’t get DQ’ed.  I want to see Hamilton win the Championship on the track.