2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bull!!

[Russell Jaslow]

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

I read this morning that the FIA & F1 Commission has granted Caterham permission to run it's 2014 spec car next season should they be able to compete.

I assume that this is also OK for Marussia, but since their assests are being auctioned off on December 16-17. I doubt they are going to compete.

Quick! Buy a car. Work a deal out with Ferrari. Go F1 racing in 2015!! (Oh, and pray you meet the 120% qualifying rule...)

 

[MattS]

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

Quick! Buy a car. Work a deal out with Ferrari. Go F1 racing in 2015!! (Oh, and pray you meet the 120% qualifying rule...)

If you front me the cash, I'll do the driving! I'm a very good driver.

 

[Timothy A]

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

Quick! Buy a car. Work a deal out with Ferrari. Go F1 racing in 2015!! (Oh, and pray you meet the 120% qualifying rule...)

I am too old and too fat. I can fix the fat thing, but not the old thing.

Indycar is keeping double points and ditching standing starts. Yuck and Yuck. I am fascinated to see the aero kits play out.

 

[Russell Jaslow]

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

Indycar is keeping double points and ditching standing starts. Yuck and Yuck. I am fascinated to see the aero kits play out.

Meanwhile, F1 just announced they are ditching double points and the very shortlived standing restarts. However, they are adding Korea, which makes absolutely no sense at all for various reasons. I bet it falls off the calendar just as quickly. Oh, and F1 also passed a rule you must be 18 to get a superlicense. Of course, the rule doesn't take effect until 2016 when Max will be 18, which makes sense considering the number of lawsuits which would have taken place if they suddenly pulled the rug out from under Max.

 

[MattS]

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

I'm shocked! My ear plugs that were my reward for giving money to the Caterham crowd sourcing came in the mail today. I didn't think I would ever see them since I was in the US. Anyway the ear plugs are the cheap foam kind but they came in a nice metal container that is British racing green and says "Caterham" on it.

 

[alfablue]

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

I'm shocked! My ear plugs that were my reward for giving money to the Caterham crowd sourcing came in the mail today. I didn't think I would ever see them since I was in the US. Anyway the ear plugs are the cheap foam kind but they came in a nice metal container that is British racing green and says "Caterham" on it.

5 cent ear plugs in a $1 container. Yea, that's F1 all right.

 

[MattS]

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

5 cent ear plugs in a $1 container. Yea, that's F1 all right.

Plus shipping!

 

[Russell Jaslow]

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

So, it's Alonso and Button at McLaren.

And, apparently the delay in the announcement was due to the negotiations with Button getting complicated. So, Button knew all along he was going to stay, and yet up to the day before, he was still tweeting out comments about the delay. The guy would make a great spy...

 

[alfablue]

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

So, it's Alonso and Button at McLaren.

And, apparently the delay in the announcement was due to the negotiations with Button getting complicated. So, Button knew all along he was going to stay, and yet up to the day before, he was still tweeting out comments about the delay. The guy would make a great spy...

beat me to it- http://www.mclaren.com/formula1/tea...s-fernando-alonso-and-jenson-button-for-2015/

Interesting news. So McLaren becomes the senior citizen team (with all due repsect to all of us old farts). Talk about experience- 3 titles and 500 GP starts combined. Plus, Jensen is re-united with Honda.

 

[MattS]

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

beat me to it- http://www.mclaren.com/formula1/tea...s-fernando-alonso-and-jenson-button-for-2015/

Interesting news. So McLaren becomes the senior citizen team (with all due repsect to all of us old farts). Talk about experience- 3 titles and 500 GP starts combined. Plus, Jensen is re-united with Honda.

I am thinking that Button's connection to Honda and Japan is what got him the seat over Magnussen.

For those who care and are too lazy to look elsewhere here is the lineup for next season:


Infiniti Red Bull Racing
D. Ricciardo
D. Kvyat


Lotus F1 Team
R. Grosjean
P. Maldonado


McLaren Honda
F. Alonso
J. Button

Reserve/Test
K. Magnussen
S. Vandoorne


Mercedes AMG Petronas
N. Rosberg
L. Hamilton


Sahara Force India F1
S. Perez
N. Hulkenberg


Sauber F1 Team
F. Nasr
M. Ericsson


Scuderia Ferrari
S. Vettel
K. Raikkonen


Scuderia Toro Rosso
M. Verstappen
C. Sainz Jr.


Williams Martini Racing
F. Massa
V. Bottas

Reserve/Test
S. Wolff

 

[Timothy A]

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

Rick Mears wrote a great article on Racer.com. What he says should be applied to F1 and Indycar.

 

[Timothy A]

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

I just read that Hamilton and Rosberg use different steering wheels, I assumed teammates used the same steering wheel. What do the lower end teams do?

 

[solovsfett]

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

Rick Mears wrote a great article on Racer.com. What he says should be applied to F1 and Indycar.

here's that write-up - http://www.racer.com/indycar/item/111949-indycar-2018-by-rick-mears?showall=

I have to say I'm torn. I like the close racing that exists now but I also want to see the great drivers really separate themselves from the pack...If forced to choose I'd say let em' rip with less downforce and more HP.

 

[Timothy A]

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

That is racing at it's purest. I grew up watching CART and there were races that had only a handful of cars on the lead lap, that is just the way it was, and no one was bittching about it. If I go to the local dirt track and Tim Fletcher has his car hooked up, he'll lap the field in the feature, it's just the way it is. Same in F1. That's racing.

 

[Timothy A]

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

F1 is discussing 1000 hp cars for 2017 with tweaks to the existing engines. I'm not sure why they should wait if it's "relatively" simple. Maybe they can also tweak the noise to a racier tone.

 

[alfablue]

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

F1 is discussing 1000 hp cars for 2017 with tweaks to the existing engines. I'm not sure why they should wait if it's "relatively" simple. Maybe they can also tweak the noise to a racier tone.

Only if they keep the 100l fuel limit. Personally, I like the combo of 100l + 100l/hr limits- they really force engineers to get the most energy out of fuel as possible. Which is very relevant to real cars.

 

[Russell Jaslow]

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

F1 is discussing 1000 hp cars for 2017 with tweaks to the existing engines. I'm not sure why they should wait if it's "relatively" simple. Maybe they can also tweak the noise to a racier tone.

I often read last year that they could easily improve the power and sound by simply raising the rpm limit. These engines are significantly lmiited for fuel and reliability reasons.

 

[alfablue]

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

I often read last year that they could easily improve the power and sound by simply raising the rpm limit. These engines are significantly lmiited for fuel and reliability reasons.

That's not entirely accurate. Nobody is running the engine at the ruled RPM limit, as they are far more efficient at lower engine speeds. They actually put in a lower RPM limit to put them up higher due to that. Since the V8's were up close to 20k rpm, these engines are very easy on that reliability.

When making as much power out of 100l/hr of fuel, anywhere you can translate that into more power or less losses, the better.

 

[Russell Jaslow]

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

That's not entirely accurate. Nobody is running the engine at the ruled RPM limit, as they are far more efficient at lower engine speeds. They actually put in a lower RPM limit to put them up higher due to that. Since the V8's were up close to 20k rpm, these engines are very easy on that reliability.

When making as much power out of 100l/hr of fuel, anywhere you can translate that into more power or less losses, the better.

True.

I just didn't bother wasting my time with the details. LOL

 

[solovsfett]

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

Re: 2014 Open Wheel Racing - if it's white smoke, it's not a good sign & that's no bu

...speaking of the sounds of F1 (and let's Indycar to that as well), I've love nothing more than to hear this once again - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKQMt01rKiQ

also for Indycar...Bobby Unser has discussed 2018 and what he'd like to see. I don't know if I agree with making INDY a stand alone event but...maybe he's right. Open up the rules for that race only? I don't know. Something needs to change and while the competition is close as hell and the field is very talented right now (generally) he's right in that Scott Dixon is a total unknown in the USA...and he's already in the top what? 5 or 6 in all-time victories? He's going to overtake Michael Andretti to be top 3 before he's done and it would be a shame if he's not a household name by the time he retires