Open Wheel Racing 2012: The year of the ugly cars!

[Timothy A]

Re: Open Wheel Racing 2012: The year of the ugly cars!

What a great race to finish the season, despite not liking the results.

I wonder if Massa would have driven the whole year like he did after he got his contract renewed if that would have made a difference in the championship. I love that he finished strong, but it still p/o's me he was a nothing factor before that.

Alonso is clearly the best driver right now. It's amazing how he dragged that Ferarri to the front the last 4 races or so when clearly it was at best the 3rd best make behind RB and McL.

Hulkenberg did not deserve a penalty, it was a valiant try for the lead under tricky conditions. I was so rooting for him.

It's good to find out Hobbs and Matchett are going to nbc. Too bad Varsha's contract with Fox is holding him back.

 

[MattS]

Re: Open Wheel Racing 2012: The year of the ugly cars!

It's good to find out Hobbs and Matchett are going to nbc. Too bad Varsha's contract with Fox is holding him back.

So is that why Varsha isn't going to be on NBC Sports? That is too bad but I do like Diffey. I am now hoping that Buxton will get to be the pit reporter for NBC.

 

[solovsfett]

Re: Open Wheel Racing 2012: The year of the ugly cars!

So is that why Varsha isn't going to be on NBC Sports? That is too bad but I do like Diffey. I am now hoping that Buxton will get to be the pit reporter for NBC.

Varsha apparently has one more year on his contract which they'll use to have him call the auto shows, etc.

I like the F1 team, significantly better than the Indycar crew

 

[Timothy A]

Re: Open Wheel Racing 2012: The year of the ugly cars!

Varsha apparently has one more year on his contract which they'll use to have him call the auto shows, etc.

I like the F1 team, significantly better than the Indycar crew

They should do both series.

 

[MattS]

Re: Open Wheel Racing 2012: The year of the ugly cars!

They should do both series.

Too many conflicting weekends to do so? Unless they are going to do them both from a studio.

 

[MattS]

Re: Open Wheel Racing 2012: The year of the ugly cars!

As expected, Senna is out at Williams (sorry solovsfett) and Valtteri Bottas is in.

 

[MattS]

Re: Open Wheel Racing 2012: The year of the ugly cars!

An interesting fact I read today: During their three seasons as McLaren team-mates, Button scored 672 points to Hamilton's 657. I would have never guessed that!

 

[Timothy A]

Re: Open Wheel Racing 2012: The year of the ugly cars!

An interesting fact I read today: During their three seasons as McLaren team-mates, Button scored 672 points to Hamilton's 657. I would have never guessed that!

I would not have guessed that either.

Penske offered Tony Stewart a ride @ Indy. Most doubt he'll come. But if he wants to win Indy, this would be his best chance with the Captain (or with Ganassi).

 

[solovsfett]

Re: Open Wheel Racing 2012: The year of the ugly cars!

As expected, Senna is out at Williams (sorry solovsfett) and Valtteri Bottas is in.

**** it!

maybe I'm too nostalgic, but I thought he was pretty close to Maldonado all-season in terms of race pace

 

[joecct]

Re: Open Wheel Racing 2012: The year of the ugly cars!

**** it!

maybe I'm too nostalgic, but I thought he was pretty close to Maldonado all-season in terms of race pace

Speaking of Maldonado (or Grosjean), let's see them go into the 1st corner against this baby!

 

[MattS]

Re: Open Wheel Racing 2012: The year of the ugly cars!

Sounds like Turkey is coming back for the 2013 season. Cool.

COTA is trying to move their date so that it does not take place on a weekend when Texas is playing football at home. Sounds reasonable but good luck with that! I doubt Bernie cares or even know what football is!

FIA has changed the DRS rules for next year too. Now the DRS can only be used in the "zone(s)" throughout the whole race weekend. Previously it could be used anywhere during FP and qualifying.

And finally here is a list of drivers and empty seats for next season as it stands right now:

Infiniti Red Bull Racing
Sebastian Vettel (confirmed)
Mark Webber (confirmed)

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
Jenson Button (confirmed)
Sergio Pérez (confirmed)

Scuderia Ferrari
Fernando Alonso (confirmed)
Felipe Massa (confirmed)

Mercedes AMG Petronas
Nico Rosberg (confirmed)
Lewis Hamilton (confirmed)

Lotus F1 Team
Kimi Räikkönen (confirmed)
Romain Grosjean (contender)
Jérôme D'Ambrosio (contender)
Heikki Kovalainen (contender)

Sahara Force India
Paul di Resta (contender)
Adrian Sutil (contender)
Jaime Alguersuari (contender)
Bruno Senna (contender)
Sébastien Buemi (contender)
Jules Bianchi (contender)

Sauber F1 Team
Nico Hülkenberg (confirmed)
Esteban Gutiérrez (confirmed)

Scuderia Toro Rosso
Jean-Éric Vergne (confirmed)
Daniel Ricciardo (confirmed)

Williams F1 Team
Pastor Maldonado (confirmed)
Valtteri Bottas (confirmed)

Caterham F1 Team
Charles Pic (confirmed)
Giedo van der Garde (contender)
Heikki Kovalainen (contender)
Vitaly Petrov (contender)
Bruno Senna (contender)
Kamui Kobayashi (contender)
Ma Qing Hua (contender)

Marussia Racing
Timo Glock (confirmed)
Max Chilton (contender)
Vitaly Petrov (contender)
Kamui Kobayashi (contender)
Ma Qing Hua (contender)


I am really hoping that Heikki can get/retain his seat. I think he has good skills and could be an asset to a lot of teams.

 

[joecct]

Re: Open Wheel Racing 2012: The year of the ugly cars!

Vettel's wheel (should we call it a controller??)

The buttons:
✿ DIF → Adjust the behaviour of the differential

✿ N → Puts gearbox into neutral

✿ RADIO → Push to talk to the team

✿ X → Sets a marker in the telemetry to indicate a problem is encountered

✿ DRINK → Push to drink

✿ DEFAULT → Reset certain settings to their original values

✿ TYRE → Driver adjust this knob to tell the team about the tires and adjust electronics to suit different tires

✿ KERS → Select KERS settings

✿ CLUTCH → Select clutch adjustment

✿ MIX → Change engine's mixture settings

✿ FW. EN → Tells the team if there's a need to change front flaps angle

✿ REV → Allow more engine revs to pass another car

✿ OIL → Activates supplementary oil tank for engine

✿ OK → Driver acknowledge if radio does not work

✿ FAIL → Command all systems into a fail-safe mode just to get the car going again

✿ PIT → Activate speed limiter in the pit lane

✿ TRO → Change throttle pedal map

 

[joecct]

Re: Open Wheel Racing 2012: The year of the ugly cars!

One more - click on the image to make it readable...

http://www.team-sport.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/A-Brief-History-of-F1-2MB.jpg

 

[Timothy A]

Re: Open Wheel Racing 2012: The year of the ugly cars!

FIA has changed the DRS rules for next year too. Now the DRS can only be used in the "zone(s)" throughout the whole race weekend. Previously it could be used anywhere during FP and qualifying.

That was a stupid rule anyway. They should be qualifying in the same configuration with the same rules as they will race in. During qualifying, how was the opening and closing controlled?

 

[MattS]

Re: Open Wheel Racing 2012: The year of the ugly cars!

That was a stupid rule anyway. They should be qualifying in the same configuration with the same rules as they will race in. During qualifying, how was the opening and closing controlled?

I believe it was controlled by the driver.

 

[MattS]

Re: Open Wheel Racing 2012: The year of the ugly cars!

Sounds like Turkey is coming back for the 2013 season. Cool.

Now rumors are that instead of Turkey it's going to be Austria (formally A-1 Ring now Red Bull Ring).


Also, I read that it is official that Lotus has been let out of it's deal with Indycar. If true, now both Chevy and honda are obligated to supply 60% of the field with engines. Maybe that will free up an engine supply to Shank racing.

 

[Timothy A]

Re: Open Wheel Racing 2012: The year of the ugly cars!

I believe it was controlled by the driver.

Interesting. That would make the most sense, though the thought came to me that maybe it was triggered the speed of the car, applying the brakes, hitting the gas, or maybe by the engineers via the control box that knows where the car is on the track and they could program it to be used at certain spots on the track.

 

[MinnFan]

Re: Open Wheel Racing 2012: The year of the ugly cars!

Interesting. That would make the most sense, though the thought came to me that maybe it was triggered the speed of the car, applying the brakes, hitting the gas, or maybe by the engineers via the control box that knows where the car is on the track and they could program it to be used at certain spots on the track.

It is opened by the driver, but it automatically closes if you hit the brakes. Apparently many of the drivers actually have a tone they hear when they are within a second and are able to open it.

 

[Timothy A]

Re: Open Wheel Racing 2012: The year of the ugly cars!

It is opened by the driver, but it automatically closes if you hit the brakes. Apparently many of the drivers actually have a tone they hear when they are within a second and are able to open it.

Thanks for the info open wheel lurker!

 

[MattS]

Re: Open Wheel Racing 2012: The year of the ugly cars!

Comings and goings.....If the rumors are true it sounds like Sutil is coming back to Force India and Rubens is going to Brazil to race stock cars.

I like that Sutil is coming back. I always thought he had good talent. I just hope he can keep from stabbing anyone this time around. It will be interesting to see if he can beat up on Di Resta like Hulkenberg did.

I am sad to see Rubens leave Indycar. I thought he brought up the talent level and would have liked to see what he could do in a second season. I understand his decision.....stay close to home and get paid or go off to the US and have to pay to drive.