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The Formula 1 2011 Season of Vettel Fingering the Competition |OT|
- Thread starter Leunam
- Start date
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bobnowhere
Member
Ricciardo to Debut
Look like Ricciardo is going to replace Narain Karthikayen from the British GP onwards. Two Aussies in F1, pinch me now!
Driving a crap car well worked for Alonso, Webber, Trulli, Fisi etc.....
Look like Ricciardo is going to replace Narain Karthikayen from the British GP onwards. Two Aussies in F1, pinch me now!
Driving a crap car well worked for Alonso, Webber, Trulli, Fisi etc.....
Foliorum Viridum
Banned
Karthikayen out?
What a shocker.
What a shocker.
mclaren777
Member
This is two years in a row that now we've lost the only Indian driver midway through the season. 
Foliorum Viridum
Banned
I'd rather Chandhok sticks to the BBC coverage rather than getting another shot in a car, personally.
Lovely bloke and really interesting to listen to.
Lovely bloke and really interesting to listen to.
Globehopper
Member
rhfb said:
It was early November last year.
There are still hotel deals to be had in Austin - my point was, book as early as possible, and make sure to get something refundable as the date might change. And if it DOES change jump on that phone ASAP
Foliorum Viridum
Banned
Yeah, whatever mate, make sure you suck his cock good next week, yeah?Lucius86 said:
if C4 has a large cash pile it should stop moaning about wanting more money from the BBC. C4 is a part publically funded channel and gets some of the license fee.
I hope it stays with the BBC. It get great viewing figures and attracts young males, which are otherwise difficult to attract (except with football highlights). Considering the BBC has a duty to inform and entertain, I hope they realise that doesn't just mean shitty reality TV shows and dancing competitions
I hope it stays with the BBC. It get great viewing figures and attracts young males, which are otherwise difficult to attract (except with football highlights). Considering the BBC has a duty to inform and entertain, I hope they realise that doesn't just mean shitty reality TV shows and dancing competitions
Foliorum Viridum
Banned
Er, the BBC fulfills the PSB remit and then some. To say it's just reality shows and dancing competitions is so incredibly ignorant.
pretty good listen of the uk fota fan forum with kobayashi and hammy
http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2011/...nd-kamui-kobayashi-at-the-fota-fans-forum-uk/
http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2011/...nd-kamui-kobayashi-at-the-fota-fans-forum-uk/
Foliorum Viridum
Banned
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/formula_one/13978228.stm
I love that they use pictures of Brawn in an article about "cool".
I love that they use pictures of Brawn in an article about "cool".
mclaren777 said:
Disgrace. Not F1 at all. This is by far the biggest issue of them all. 100% reliability is possible on 4 cars in the field. Conclusion is simple, F1 no longer pushes the limits of design. Engineering gimped.
fu3lfr3nzy
Member
Foliorum Viridum said:
Red Bull X2010 confirmed
just kidding
slothmeister
Member
Last week I won a competition on a motorsport forum to get a trip round the Maurissa Virgin Racing Factory. To say i was excited was a understatement! Today was the day!
Woke up at 5.30 on the road by 6.30 for the 220 mile trip. Needed to be there for 11. Left plenty of time incase of traffic. So i was pootling along the motorway making good time until 9 o'clock where i got stuck along with thousands of cars making their way into Coventry in a massive tailback because of a crash. No drama's i thought....... an hour later and im still 84 miles way, with an hour to get there. The queue finally ended and with some fairly 'spirited' driving got their for 11.01 AM.
First impressions:
Well it's smaller than i thought it would be, i knew it was going to be no Mclaren factory but i think i expected more than a couple of buildings on a industrial estate.
3 Massive lorries are in the car park, all ready loaded for Silverstone, and one in the process of being loaded in the loading bay.
When you walk into the main building you are greeted with this:
The lobby has a couple of trophy stands in it with helmets and a few trophies. These are from the days when this was the Manor Racing Formula 3 team, Kimi Raikkonen drove for them, as did Hamilton. They have a bunch of helmets but don't have Hamiltons. This is because his dad decided to keep it for themselves.
We then got taken through to the Hydraulics and Gears rooms. As you would expect of a F1 team, these places are immaculate, plain white with nothing lying around at all. We were asked not to take pictures of the bits in these rooms though, hence why the gearbox at the end is covered up here:
We handled a couple of the rear axles, incredibly light, made from aluminium and some other non disclosed material. The guide then showed us the gearbox and gear assembly, which alone was stated as costing £100,000. Incredibly intricate design, looked like a beautiful bit of engineering.
We then moved onto the main assembly room itself, Timo's and Jérôme's were semi stripped down:
We were shown Jérôme's car and had a brief chat about it.
The guide then got one of the engineers over to talk to us about the cars and teams themselves, spent about an hour discussing various parts of the design, the team, showing us how things work etc.
In the middle of the bay were two spare Cosworth engines, both producing about 700ish bhp.
A few more random pics:
Considering the near £1 million per car you wouldn't expect this kind of finish, but it's supposed to be very confortable for Jérôme
Had a quick handle of one of the suspension struts, crikey, they're pretty light, amazing the amount of forces they can handle. I watched as they were loading them into the back of the lorry. Each one is wrapped individually in it's own neoprene flight case and put into special racking.
We talked briefly a bit more about the team members roles and about the pitstops. Made me chuckle when he said that they are limited to 47 team members working for the chassis at the race and so their I.T guy is the rear jack man, and one of the truck drivers is the front wheel man.
Sadly we didn't get to meet Jérôme or Timo, but apparently they never come here, i guess there's no real reason for them to though. He said that the only reason they need to turn up is for seat fitting.
We then moved onto the second building, first room held the carbon fibre workshop, apparently these are the hardest working members of the team, on the track before everyone else, leave after everyone. So many repairs to do every track time.
We were shown what the floor plate is designed to do, how the air flow works etc.
Moving into the next room is where the storage is for the overseas containers. These are perfectly measured up to fit in Bernie's fleet of planes.
Loads of random bits and pieces dotted around here:
Stack of used wheel rims, notice the one with the massive bloomin hole in it, forgot to ask him how that was caused.
They then showed us the pit they have just dug, they are fitting in a 4 point simulation thing (can't remember the technical term) It simulates a race track by hydraulics moving pistons up and down in time with the bumps and kerbs etc.
We asked if they were planning on using a wind tunnel anytime or building one, no was the answer. They are allowed 40 terraflops of data on a computer program to simulate downforce etc. per month.
Finally we were shown the trophy room from their Formula 3 and Formula Renault days, sat there all nicely was Kimi Raikkonen's season winning Formula Renault
So then, all in all a cracking day was had. I learnt an incredible amount, and came out having much more support for the little guys. I'll find myself supporting them through races now aswell as Mclaren I think. One last thing, they are trying to get rid of the stigmata of being known as the Virgin team. Virgin support them now only as a sponsor rather than a part of the team, so they are trying to build themselves up as the MAURISSA virgin Racing Team.
Thanks for looking, any questions and i'll try and answer them
Woke up at 5.30 on the road by 6.30 for the 220 mile trip. Needed to be there for 11. Left plenty of time incase of traffic. So i was pootling along the motorway making good time until 9 o'clock where i got stuck along with thousands of cars making their way into Coventry in a massive tailback because of a crash. No drama's i thought....... an hour later and im still 84 miles way, with an hour to get there. The queue finally ended and with some fairly 'spirited' driving got their for 11.01 AM.
First impressions:
Well it's smaller than i thought it would be, i knew it was going to be no Mclaren factory but i think i expected more than a couple of buildings on a industrial estate.
3 Massive lorries are in the car park, all ready loaded for Silverstone, and one in the process of being loaded in the loading bay.
When you walk into the main building you are greeted with this:
The lobby has a couple of trophy stands in it with helmets and a few trophies. These are from the days when this was the Manor Racing Formula 3 team, Kimi Raikkonen drove for them, as did Hamilton. They have a bunch of helmets but don't have Hamiltons. This is because his dad decided to keep it for themselves.
We then got taken through to the Hydraulics and Gears rooms. As you would expect of a F1 team, these places are immaculate, plain white with nothing lying around at all. We were asked not to take pictures of the bits in these rooms though, hence why the gearbox at the end is covered up here:
We handled a couple of the rear axles, incredibly light, made from aluminium and some other non disclosed material. The guide then showed us the gearbox and gear assembly, which alone was stated as costing £100,000. Incredibly intricate design, looked like a beautiful bit of engineering.
We then moved onto the main assembly room itself, Timo's and Jérôme's were semi stripped down:
We were shown Jérôme's car and had a brief chat about it.
The guide then got one of the engineers over to talk to us about the cars and teams themselves, spent about an hour discussing various parts of the design, the team, showing us how things work etc.
In the middle of the bay were two spare Cosworth engines, both producing about 700ish bhp.
A few more random pics:
Considering the near £1 million per car you wouldn't expect this kind of finish, but it's supposed to be very confortable for Jérôme
Had a quick handle of one of the suspension struts, crikey, they're pretty light, amazing the amount of forces they can handle. I watched as they were loading them into the back of the lorry. Each one is wrapped individually in it's own neoprene flight case and put into special racking.
We talked briefly a bit more about the team members roles and about the pitstops. Made me chuckle when he said that they are limited to 47 team members working for the chassis at the race and so their I.T guy is the rear jack man, and one of the truck drivers is the front wheel man.
Sadly we didn't get to meet Jérôme or Timo, but apparently they never come here, i guess there's no real reason for them to though. He said that the only reason they need to turn up is for seat fitting.
We then moved onto the second building, first room held the carbon fibre workshop, apparently these are the hardest working members of the team, on the track before everyone else, leave after everyone. So many repairs to do every track time.
We were shown what the floor plate is designed to do, how the air flow works etc.
Moving into the next room is where the storage is for the overseas containers. These are perfectly measured up to fit in Bernie's fleet of planes.
Loads of random bits and pieces dotted around here:
Stack of used wheel rims, notice the one with the massive bloomin hole in it, forgot to ask him how that was caused.
They then showed us the pit they have just dug, they are fitting in a 4 point simulation thing (can't remember the technical term) It simulates a race track by hydraulics moving pistons up and down in time with the bumps and kerbs etc.
We asked if they were planning on using a wind tunnel anytime or building one, no was the answer. They are allowed 40 terraflops of data on a computer program to simulate downforce etc. per month.
Finally we were shown the trophy room from their Formula 3 and Formula Renault days, sat there all nicely was Kimi Raikkonen's season winning Formula Renault
So then, all in all a cracking day was had. I learnt an incredible amount, and came out having much more support for the little guys. I'll find myself supporting them through races now aswell as Mclaren I think. One last thing, they are trying to get rid of the stigmata of being known as the Virgin team. Virgin support them now only as a sponsor rather than a part of the team, so they are trying to build themselves up as the MAURISSA virgin Racing Team.
Thanks for looking, any questions and i'll try and answer them
slothmeister
Member
Thanks for reading everyone. Was the closest im ever going to get to a F1 car so was an amazing experiance. I still haven't heard one other than on the tv though. However that all changes tomorrow, of to Goodwood Festival of Speed. Hot Dang! Me and 100,000 other people watching some epic hill climbs and rallying.
Still hoping that im going to win the tour round the Mclaren factory though
Still hoping that im going to win the tour round the Mclaren factory though
Goldrusher
Member
Awesome report.
Very good photos too.
Very good photos too.
Tour today and you're going to Goodwood tomorrow? You sir are a jerk! (In reality I'm just jealous).slothmeister said:
I didn't get a chance to watch the European GP but Valencia is usually one of the less exciting tracks IMO. Canada and Monaco were amazing this year, sans rain and safety car delays.Coldsnap said:
I am SO fucking keen to see what Ricciardo can do. Probably the best hope not currently in F1 to be a solid driver and they're putting him in the worst car on the track. I'd consider it a success if a) he finishes, and b) ahead of all the other HRT, Virgin and Team Lotus cars.
Sound plausible? Should I be aiming higher in my expectations?
Sound plausible? Should I be aiming higher in my expectations?
NihonTiger90
Member
Coldsnap said:
Yeah, Valencia's a boring race.
I agree: watch Canada. Man, great, great race.
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