Source: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/04/30/2034186/mike-ford-named-crew-chief-for.html
Heini Walter Rodger Ward Derek Warwick John Watson Spider Webb Mark Webber Volker Weidler
maandag 30 april 2012
Button Steps Up Pre Season Training With Lance Armstrong
Jenson Button teamed up with record breaking cyclist Lance Armstrong, as he continues to prepare for another Formula One season. The McLaren driver excitedly tweeted that he would be riding with Armstrong, the 7 time Tour de France winner, in Hawaii. Armstrong responded via Twitter “I hope he doesn’t ride as srong as he drives [...]
Source: http://f1fanatics.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/button-steps-up-pre-season-training-with-lance-armstrong/
Takuma Sato Carl Scarborough Ludovico Scarfiotti Giorgio Scarlatti Ian Scheckter
Who remembers the 1988 Australian Grand Prix?
We are not too far away from the 2012 Australian Grand Prix and everyone is rightly excited. You can check out the drivers that need to deliver in 2012 right here. However, we are going to be building up to Melbourne with a series of videos from races gone by. To begin with, do you [...]
Bill Vukovich Syd van der Vyver Fred Wacker David Walker Peter Walker Lee Wallard Heini Walter
zondag 29 april 2012
Robert Kubica Could Be Ruled Out For At Least A Year Following Accident
Polish racing driver Robert Kubica will spend at least one whole year recovering from a rally crash he suffered this morning, according to his surgeon. Kubica, who races for Renault Lotus crashed the Skoda Fabia rally car this morning and was airlifted to hospital suffering serious injuries. He has spent many hours in surgery, with [...]
Maurice Trintignant Wolfgang von Trips Jarno Trulli Esteban Tuero Guy Tunmer
Button Steps Up Pre Season Training With Lance Armstrong
Jenson Button teamed up with record breaking cyclist Lance Armstrong, as he continues to prepare for another Formula One season. The McLaren driver excitedly tweeted that he would be riding with Armstrong, the 7 time Tour de France winner, in Hawaii. Armstrong responded via Twitter “I hope he doesn’t ride as srong as he drives [...]
Source: http://f1fanatics.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/button-steps-up-pre-season-training-with-lance-armstrong/
Andre Testut Mike Thackwell Alfonso Thiele Eric Thompson Johnny Thomson Leslie Thorne Bud Tingelstad
Christian Horner on Bahrain: Political if you race, political if you don?t
Christian Horner says that his Red Bull team focussed on the sport in Bahrain over the weekend despite the obvious distractions that surrounded the event. ?We?ve focussed on motor racing this weekend,? said Horner, who had a chat with the … Continue reading 
Bill Whitehouse Robin Widdows Eppie Wietzes Mike Wilds Jonathan Williams Roger Williamson Dempsey Wilson
Christian Horner on Bahrain: Political if you race, political if you don?t
Christian Horner says that his Red Bull team focussed on the sport in Bahrain over the weekend despite the obvious distractions that surrounded the event. ?We?ve focussed on motor racing this weekend,? said Horner, who had a chat with the … Continue reading
Lloyd Ruby JeanClaude Rudaz Eddie Russo Paul Russo Troy Ruttman
37 Ford Custom Coupe....Engine & Frame Done.....4/27
Got this body a long time ago and now I will Getter Done.....................................
More on its way.......................................
Source: http://cs.scaleautomag.com/SCACS/forums/thread/1011651.aspx
Toranosuke Takagi Noritake Takahara Kunimitsu Takahashi Patrick Tambay Luigi Taramazzo Gabriele Tarquini Piero Taruffi
zaterdag 28 april 2012
Christian Horner on Bahrain: Political if you race, political if you don?t
Christian Horner says that his Red Bull team focussed on the sport in Bahrain over the weekend despite the obvious distractions that surrounded the event. ?We?ve focussed on motor racing this weekend,? said Horner, who had a chat with the … Continue reading
Johnny ServozGavin Tony Settember Hap Sharp Brian ShaweTaylor Carroll Shelby Tony Shelly Jo Siffert
1969 Cougar Eliminator
Next on the bench:
I opened the box (shrink wrapped) to find there were only 3 tyres inside! Lucky I have spares/options - not sure what I'll do yet. Might use the tyres out of another kit - we'll see
Source: http://cs.scaleautomag.com/SCACS/forums/thread/1014098.aspx
Jo Siffert Andre Simon Rob Slotemaker Moises Solana Alex SolerRoig
Michael Schumacher: ?I?m not happy about the situation?
Over the course of his long career Michael Schumacher has rarely strayed into controversy with off-track comments, always preferring to keep his thoughts to himself. However after the Bahrain GP his frustrations came to the surface after what he called … Continue reading 
Source: http://adamcooperf1.com/2012/04/23/michael-schumacher-im-not-happy-about-the-situation/
Aguri Suzuki Toshio Suzuki Jacques Swaters Bob Sweikert Toranosuke Takagi Noritake Takahara Kunimitsu Takahashi
Massa: The truth will emerge in Melbourne
Ferrari’s Felipe Massa has been speaking about his team’s preparations for the 2012 Formula 1 season. Check out our Ferrari review for 2011! The Brazilian – who will take part in testing this week – believes that he will try many new ideas as they look to find a winning formula for the season ahead. [...]
Consalvo Sanesi Stephane Sarrazin Takuma Sato Carl Scarborough Ludovico Scarfiotti Giorgio Scarlatti Ian Scheckter
Red Bull under the spotlight
 Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel celebrate with Red Bull boss Christian Horner on the podium |
Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/11/red_bull_under_the_spotlight.php
Basil van Rooyen Lloyd Ruby JeanClaude Rudaz Eddie Russo Paul Russo
vrijdag 27 april 2012
Reading between the lines in a phoney war
The annual Formula 1 phoney war was in full swing at the second pre-season test at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya this week.
Fernando Alonso was talking down Ferrari's form, Lewis Hamilton was talking up McLaren's - as, intriguingly, was Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel. And the unlikely combination of Kamui Kobayashi and Sauber set the fastest time of the week.
As ever, the headline lap times were a poor guide to the order of the grid that can be expected in Melbourne at the first race in just three weeks' time.
But look behind the fastest laps, and there is usually a way of gleaning at least some sense of form ahead of the season.
Fernando Alonso's Ferrari could yet to turn out to be a dark horse. Photo: Getty
I'll preface what follows with a major caveat - this has been one of the most difficult tests to read for some time. But here goes.
Red Bull, as ever, looked especially strong. Vettel was fastest of all on the first day of the test, and throughout the four days he and team-mate Mark Webber set consistently formidable-looking times.
On Wednesday afternoon, Vettel and Hamilton set out to do race-distance runs at more or less the same time. Both did 66 laps - the length of the Spanish Grand Prix, which will be held at the track in May.
Vettel did five pit stops; Hamilton four. Discount laps on which they went in and out of the pits and they both managed 55 flying laps. Vettel completed his more than two minutes faster than Hamilton.
If that was repeated in a race, Hamilton would be lapped by the end.
And the pattern was repeated on Thursday with Mark Webber and Jenson Button, although the margin was reduced to about half a minute.
Of course, this is very far from an exact scientific comparison.
They didn't use the same tyres as each other - although they don't necessarily have to in the race either.
We don't know what they were doing with fuel loads - although it would be counter-intuitive to start putting fuel in at pit stops because it would provide the team with data that was never going to be relevant to competition.
And it's an especially confusing situation because only the day before Vettel was saying how impressed he had been with the McLaren's pace on the longer runs.
But there was more - none of it especially happy ready for those hoping for a close season.
On the Wednesday, Vettel's fastest time of all was nearly a second faster than Hamilton's on the same type of tyres. Although both were set on very short runs - suggesting a qualifying-type simulation - that's still potentially meaningless as there is no way of knowing the level of fuel on board at the time.
Nevertheless, if you then look at the lap times both were doing at the start of their race-distance runs, they were about the same margin slower than each driver's fastest laps as you would expect given a full race fuel load.
That suggests that the headline lap times of those two drivers could be a reasonably accurate indicator of form - again worrying for McLaren.
Of course, this is only testing, and teams have updates to put on their cars before the first race - as Button pointed out. And everyone expects McLaren to be a close to challenger at the front come Melbourne. Nevertheless, few are under any illusions about Red Bull's strength.
"You're old enough, Andrew," one senior insider said to me during the test, "to know that Red Bull look very strong. McLaren and Ferrari are a bit behind. Force India look like they have a quick car, too."
He might have added that the new Mercedes looks quite decent as well.
But few teams are as difficult to understand right now as Ferrari - who have not done any race simulations to compare with their main rivals.
The messages coming out of the team have all seemed pretty negative.
There has been a lot of attention put on technical director Pat Fry's remark at the first test in Jerez that Ferrari were "not happy" with their understanding of the car.
Start raking through the time sheets, though, and you begin wonder what's behind all the negativity.
On headline lap times, Alonso was less than 0.3secs behind Vettel. And on both his days he started 10-lap runs with a lap in the region of one minute 24.1 seconds.
If you take 10 laps' worth of fuel off that time, you are left with a lap in the low 1:23sec bracket - again, not far off what Vettel managed. And you can bet the Ferrari was running with more than just 10 laps of fuel anyway; most top teams routinely test with 60-80kg of fuel on board.
In other words, the Ferrari actually looks reasonably fast, and an insider did admit: "The car is not as bad as a lot of people think."
If - and it's a big if - Ferrari can start to extract that potential before the first race of the season, Red Bull might just have a serious fight on their hands. And that's without even considering what McLaren might be able to achieve.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/02/reading_between_the_lines_in_a.html
Nino Vaccarella Bob Veith Jos Verstappen Sebastian Vettel Gilles Villeneuve Jacques Villeneuve Jacques Villeneuve Sr
Alonso the new favourite
 Fernando Alonso is the new favourite for the title |
?He is the man with the momentum and, on the same basis that I backed Mark Webber to win the title before Korea, is now my favourite to claim the world title in Abu Dhabi on Nov 14. ?When the cars are so evenly-matched you have to back the man in possession. Especially when that man is a two-time world champion and arguably the finest driver of his generation.?The Mirror?s Byron Young drew comparisons between Alonso and seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher as the Spaniard bids to become the sport?s youngest ever triple world champion.
?Like Schumacher, Alonso accepts no opposition within his team. Ultimately he fell out with McLaren over their refusal in 2007 to bring Lewis Hamilton to heel. ?He returned to Renault on condition he was No.1, only to be at the centre of the Singapore cheat scandal - engineered to hand him victory. ?The Spaniard has always denied involvement but at the German GP in July he was brazen enough to radio Ferrari to rein in team-mate Felipe Massa so he could start the winning streak that has taken him to the brink of history.?
Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/10/alonso_the_new_favourite_1.php
Alan Stacey Gaetano Starrabba Chuck Stevenson Ian Stewart Jackie Stewart
Williams begin ?beginning of a rebuilding process?
If Ferrari fans thought that their team had perhaps not lived up its name last season then they should talk to fans of Williams. The team that dominated in the early 90?s winning multiple World Championships managed to score only five points last season. Five. It?s a sad fall from grace and one, that at [...]
Hans Joachim Stuck Otto Stuppacher Danny Sullivan Marc Surer John Surtees Andy Sutcliffe Adrian Sutil
Vettel collision: A champion under pressure?
Sebastian Vettel's behaviour during and after the Malaysian Grand Prix has been causing a bit of a fuss in Germany over the past few days.
The media have lapped up his response to his collision with backmarker Narain Karthikeyan, in much the same way as their British counterparts would have done with a similar incident involving Lewis Hamilton, and Vettel has come in for a fair bit of criticism.
On the BBC after the race, Vettel called Karthikeyan an "idiot" for his role in the collision that cost the world champion fourth place.
Speaking in German, the word he chose was "cucumber" - a common insult in that country for bad drivers on the road.
Vettel faces increased competition from outside and inside his Red Bull Team. Photo: Getty/AFP
It has also been pointed out that shots from Vettel's onboard camera appear to show the 24-year-old Red Bull driver giving Karthikeyan a middle-finger salute as he drives past. This has led some to call for him to be punished by governing body the FIA, which so far is keeping a low profile on the matter.
Comparisons have been drawn with McLaren's Jenson Button - who also failed to score any points in Malaysia, but who reacted with his usual calm.
Vettel, some in Germany have said, doesn't know how to lose.
They point out that last year he won 11 races on his way to one of the most dominant championship victories in Formula 1 history. Failing to win four races in a row in that context, the critics say, should not elicit this kind of reaction.
Vettel has not spoken in public since leaving Malaysia, and Red Bull are shrugging it off.
After the race on Sunday, team principal Christian Horner defended Vettel's driving in the collision with Karthikeyan, saying that it was the Indian's "responsibility to get out of the way of the leaders as he is a lapped car".
Although the stewards penalised Karthikeyan for the incident, others are not sure it's quite so clear-cut.
One leading F1 figure told me: "It was completely Vettel's fault - he needed to give Karthikeyan more space. He only had to clear the last inch and he cut across the front of him. He was showing a bit of frustration and it bit him."
Certainly Vettel has found himself at the start of 2012 in a situation with which he is not familiar.
Vettel has had the fastest car in F1 since at least the middle of 2009, and he has used it to good effect.
But now things are different. Red Bull's new car is not a match for the McLaren, and it has also been behind one Mercedes and one Lotus on the grid in each of the first two races.
For a man who is as driven to win - to dominate even - as Vettel is, that will not be a comfortable situation.
Nor will it have escaped his attention that team-mate Mark Webber has so far out-qualified him in both races this year - again, quite a turnaround from 2011, when the Australian managed it only three times in 19 grands prix.
It is early days, but so far the comparison between the two Red Bull drivers looks much more like it was in the first part of 2010 - before the team started fully exploiting the exhaust-blown diffusers that dominated the last 18 months and which have been banned for this season.
Webber was never that comfortable in last season's Red Bull - and while he came to match Vettel on race pace in the second half of last season, he never really got on terms with him in qualifying.
Much of that was to do with the behaviour of the car on corner entry, where the exhaust-blown diffusers were so powerful in increasing performance.
Red Bull's decline has also coincided with the stiffening of the front-wing load test, an attempt to stop teams allowing the ends of the wing to droop towards the track at speed to increase downforce. Red Bull were noticeably better at doing this than the other teams.
It may be an unrelated coincidence, but this year's Red Bull suffers from understeer, a lack of front-end grip - a handling characteristic Webber is comfortable with, while Vettel prefers oversteer.
This is not the first time Vettel has been criticised for letting his emotion get the better of him when things are not going his way.
There was the infamous 'nutter' sign he directed at Webber following their collision in the 2010 Turkish Grand Prix.
There were also mistakes in Britain, Belgium and Singapore that year as he very nearly gifted the world title to Ferrari and Fernando Alonso, who lost it only after a strategic error in the final race.
Such was Vettel's domination in 2011 that it never arose- leading some to say he had reached a new level of maturity both in and out of the car.
The truth of that claim looks set to be tested this year, as Red Bull and Vettel struggle to regain a position that the driver at least seems to consider is rightfully his.
Meanwhile, his rivals will have been watching with interest.
Webber, Alonso, Button and Hamilton remember Vettel's behaviour in 2010 all too well.
Betraying his emotions in such an obvious way will be seen by them as a weakness - they will look at it and think he is rattled.
So it is true to say on the one hand that Vettel's reaction proves he is a winner.
But it is also the case that learning how to lose gracefully - as Button and Alonso, particularly, have learnt in recent years - has its benefits as well.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/03/vettel_collision_a_champion_un.html
Maurice Trintignant Wolfgang von Trips Jarno Trulli Esteban Tuero Guy Tunmer Jack Turner Toni Ulmen
donderdag 26 april 2012
ZZ Top Eliminator Decal
Hi. Anyone have the ZZ TOP Eliminator Decal sheet?
Source: http://cs.scaleautomag.com/SCACS/forums/thread/828449.aspx
Stephane Sarrazin Takuma Sato Carl Scarborough Ludovico Scarfiotti Giorgio Scarlatti
Chrome Removal
Does anyone out there have a tried and true method for removing chrome from engine parts or wheels?
Source: http://cs.scaleautomag.com/SCACS/forums/thread/1013846.aspx
Max de Terra Andre Testut Mike Thackwell Alfonso Thiele Eric Thompson Johnny Thomson Leslie Thorne
Ferrari's fate the foremost of many unknowns
Kimi Raikkonen was to the point, as ever.
As pre-season testing wound to a close at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya, the man who returns to Formula 1 this season after two years in rallying was asked how he felt the teams compared.
"In two weeks we know," the Lotus driver said. "There is no point to guess here. I don't know who's going to be fastest. Nobody knows."
Up and down the pit lane, drivers from other teams were expressing more or less the same view.
"McLaren look very strong," said Red Bull's Mark Webber. "And some of the other times done by other teams were pretty handy, too."
Jenson Button, meanwhile, managed to cover all bases in three sentences.
"There's a lot of work needs to be done before we're properly competitive," the McLaren driver said. "I'm reasonably happy with what we have. I don't know where we are but the feeling is good."
That summed up the situation pretty well at the end of three pre-season tests.
The lap times have been particularly difficult to read this year but it seems some patterns have emerged.
Up and down the pit lane, the general view is that the field is a lot closer than in recent years. Red Bull are again very strong, McLaren look like running them close and Mercedes appear to have made a step forward. Lotus, Sauber and Force India have also looked pretty handy.
Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn says he is "expecting the tightest start to a season we've seen for a number of years".
People don't just invent these views - they are formed by looking through the mountains of data that each day of testing throws up.
Kimi Raikonnen returns to Formula 1 after a three year absence.
Analysing the lap times also produces some interesting numbers.
While it is not possible to know the programmes each team is running at any time, it is a reasonable assumption that over the course of winter testing all the teams will get through pretty much the same sort of work.
So, logically, an average of every lap time a driver has done over the three tests should give some indication of where each team is.
On average, over the whole of winter testing, Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel was the fastest of the drivers from last year's top two teams, by 0.3secs from Button, with Hamilton a similar margin further back and just in front of Webber.
The specific average times look like this:
Vettel one minute, 25.340 seconds
Button 1:25.664
Hamilton 1:25.937
Webber 1:25.951
It's also worth pointing out that the pattern of the last two or three years has been for Red Bull's true pace to be disguised in both winter testing and in free practice at the grands prix.
Whether they are running more fuel than their rivals, or a weaker engine map, Red Bull always seem to find more time when it matters than the others do.
Mercedes have clearly been doing a different programme from the other teams - with a far greater concentration of longer runs - so comparing their times is potentially less instructive.
But when you see that Nico Rosberg did a 1:22.932 at the start of a 13-lap run on the penultimate day of testing, you know they have a pretty decent car.
"It's still going to be the teams from last year that we need to beat," Rosberg said, sounding confident. "But I think we have a good chance to annoy them a few times early in the season."
And then there is Ferrari. Unless there is some Oscar-worthy acting going on, they are in trouble.
Ferrari have been open about the fact that they are struggling to understand the behaviour of their radical new car. Insiders tell BBC Sport that sometimes it behaves well and predictably, and sometimes it does not, and the team have no idea why.
The sense of crisis was heightened by Ferrari's decision to cancel their driver media briefings over the final weekend of testing, saying they wanted them to concentrate solely on their job.
But Fernando Alonso did speak on television at the Barcelona-Sporting football match on Saturday night, saying: "In the first races we will suffer because we are not 100%."
Ferrari put up technical director Pat Fry instead of Alonso on Sunday, and he admitted that he thought it unlikely the team would be able to finish on the podium in Melbourne.
One can only imagine the pressure Fry must be feeling right now.
A diffident man who is uncomfortable with the media, Fry is in his first year in the job following the dismissal of predecessor Aldo Costa. And he has overseen a design office that was told to take risks this season in an attempt to close the gap to Red Bull after a poor 2011.
They've taken those risks - but it does not look for now as if they have made wise choices.
And yet, and yet. If you average out Alonso's lap times over the whole of winter testing, guess what? He is the fastest of all - by 0.3secs. No wonder Webber says: "The mystery is the Ferrari."
So what's going on? The new F2012 looks like it can do a decent lap time, so it is conceivable that it will qualify pretty well in Melbourne the weekend after next.
But according to BBC F1 technical analyst Gary Anderson, who spent some time watching trackside in Barcelona, it seems to quickly drop in performance, initially losing grip on turn-in, and later on corner exits too.
It seems to use its tyres particularly aggressively. Ferrari have been afflicted these last few years by a car that raced better than it qualified because it used its tyres too gently. In seeking to fix this trait, have they now gone too far the other way?
It's not as if they can blame the drivers either. In Alonso, they have an all-time great, a gold standard who will push the car to its absolute limit on every single lap of every single race. Many consider his season in 2011 to have been better than his title-winning years with Renault in 2005-06, considering the equipment at his disposal.
This, team boss Stefano Domenicali has admitted to BBC Sport, was the point of signing the Spaniard on a lucrative contract that commits him to the team until the end of 2016. It puts pressure on the team to deliver.
Of course, all this may turn out to be an illusion. Perhaps Alonso will be a contender for victory in Melbourne, and throughout the year. But let's assume for a moment he isn't.
Back in 2007, when his relationship with McLaren was in tatters, Alonso had talks with Red Bull to discuss moving there.
Red Bull were keen but in the end Alonso opted for a move back to Renault, knowing a Ferrari seat was waiting for him a couple of years down the line.
At the time, with Ferrari contending for the title for the 10th time in 11 years and Red Bull still in the midfield, you could hardly fault the logic.
But now, in his quiet moments, or when he's watching Vettel celebrate yet another win, or looking at the beautifully intricate detail at the back of the Red Bull, or when he's wrestling his uncooperative mount into a corner, does Alonso wish he could turn back the clock?
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/03/kimi_raikkonen_was_to_the_poin.html
Andre Simon Rob Slotemaker Moises Solana Alex SolerRoig Raymond Sommer Vincenzo Sospiri Stephen South
HRT to miss Mugello test | 2012 F1 testing
HRT to miss Mugello test is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.
HRT have announced they will not participate in the three-day test at Mugello next week.
HRT to miss Mugello test is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/f1fanatic/~3/v-mDuNCR97c/
Wolfgang Seidel Gunther Seiffert Ayrton Senna† Bruno Senna Dorino Serafini
My '41 Willys Street Rod
Well, this kit by Revell marks my departure from acrylic paints - this model has only 2 coats of Testors Ice Blue Pearl, and the depth of the paintjob is amazing... at least compared to my other acrylic-based projects. I just had not been able to achieve such "depth" in acrylics - no matter how many coats I applied. Not only that but the model has not been buffed or polished, and it has a shine I couldn't hope to develop with acrylics.
Source: http://cs.scaleautomag.com/SCACS/forums/thread/1013566.aspx
Ian Stewart Jackie Stewart Jimmy Stewart Siegfried Stohr Rolf Stommelen Philippe Streiff Hans Stuck
woensdag 25 april 2012
Stock Ford Valve Covers
I did a search and came up empty on stock valve covers that are just stamped F O R D. I did find a pair in the AMT 56 Ford Victoria but they also have the riblets on the bottom of the valve covers that I think were just for that year. I've looked through a number of kits that I have. Are there any out there?
Here's a pic:
Source: http://cs.scaleautomag.com/SCACS/forums/thread/1013708.aspx
Stephen South Mike Sparken Scott Speed Mike Spence Alan Stacey Gaetano Starrabba Chuck Stevenson
Vettel set for titles aplenty
 |
?Here, after all, is a young man, already dubbed ?Baby Schumi? by Germany?s tabloid press, winning the first of what will presumably be multiple world championships, and all at the tender age of 23. Plenty of time yet to match Schumacher's incredible haul of seven world titles. And yet, their phenomenal ability to drive racing cars apart, there is little similarity between the two men. ?There are still lingering doubts over his racing ability but with such blistering qualifying pace he is nearly always leading from the front anyway. Vettel is set for multiple world championships. Just don?t call him Baby Schumi.?The Guardian?s Paul Weaver says it was difficult to begrudge Vettel his moment of glory after he won the first of what will be many world titles. He also looks back at some of the season?s highlights.
?An amazing Formula One season produced its final twist here on Sunday when Sebastian Vettel, who had never led the title race, won his first world championship. It is difficult to begrudge him his glory, for he had more poles (10) than any other driver and shared the most wins (five) with Fernando Alonso. There will be red faces as well as red cars and overalls at Ferrari, though, for deciding to bring their man in when they did, only to see him re-emerge into heavy traffic. ?Among the highlights, and every race felt like a highlight after the bore-start in Bahrain, there was that wonderful beginning to his McLaren career by Jenson Button, who won two of his first four races, even though he couldn't keep up the pace, especially in qualifying. ?Hamilton once again drove his heart out, and outperformed a car that looked a little too ordinary at times. He was superb in Montreal. Then there was Webber, the Anglophile Aussie who was the favourite among most neutrals to win the title. There was that spectacular crash when he ran into the back of Heikki Kovalainen and the most famous of his four wins, at Silverstone, when he said to his team at the end of the race: 'Not bad for a No2 driver.' ?But in the end there was only one German who mattered. It was the remarkable Vettel. This will be the first of a clutch of championships for him.?The Independent?s David Tremayne focuses on the plight of the other title contenders, writing it is easier to feel more sorry for one than the other.
?It was impossible not to feel for both Webber and Alonso. Yet while a frustrated Alonso gestured at Petrov after the race, the Australian, predictably, refused to complain about his pitstop timing. ?A world championship seemed an inevitable part of Sebastian Vettel's future, but it came a little sooner than most expected, after his recent tribulations. You wouldn't bet against several more, and if that record-breaking streak continues, perhaps even Schumacher's achievements will be overshadowed.?And the Mirror?s Byron Young elaborates further on the petulant behaviour of Fernando Alonso on his slowing down lap after his title dreams ended behind the Renault of Vitaly Petrov.
?Fernando Alonso was hurled into more controversy last night for a wild gesture at the former Lada racer who cost him the title. But the Spaniard brushed off accusations he gave Russian Vitaly Petrov the finger for ruining his title hopes by blocking him for 40 laps as they duelled over sixth place. "The Ferrari ace was caught on television cruising alongside the Renault driver on the slowing down lap and gesticulating from the cockpit. Petrov was unrepentant: "What was I supposed to do? Just get out of his way, pull to the side? I don't think that is how we race. It was important for the team for me to get points."
Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/11/vettel_set_for_titles_aplenty_1.php
Philippe Streiff Hans Stuck Hans Joachim Stuck Otto Stuppacher Danny Sullivan Marc Surer John Surtees
Team orders in spotlight again
| Will Christian Horner regret not utilising team orders in Brazil? |
?The extra seven points Alonso collected when Ferrari ordered Felipe Massa to move over for him in Germany earlier in the season are now looking even more crucial. ?And the �65,000 fine they picked up for ruthlessly breaking the rules will seem loose change if Alonso clinches the title in his first year with the Maranello team. ?Red Bull could have switched the result yesterday given their crushing dominance and still celebrated their first constructors' championship just five years after coming into the sport. ?That would also have given Webber an extra seven points, leaving him just one behind Alonso.?The Guardian?s Paul Weaver says that if Fernando Alonso does take the drivers? title in Abu Dhabi, Ferrari owes a debt of gratitude to Red Bull for their decision not to employ team orders in Brazil.
?If Alonso does take the title next week it would not be inappropriate were he and Ferrari to send a few gallons of champagne to Red Bull's headquarters in Milton Keynes. ?While Red Bull should be heartily applauded for the championship they did win today their apparent acceptance that Ferrari might carry off the more glamorous prize continues to baffle Formula One and its globetrotting supporters. ?Their refusal to make life easy for Webber, who has led for much of the season and is still seven points ahead of Vettel, means that whatever happens in the desert next week Alonso, the only driver who was capable of taking the championship in the race today, only has to secure second place to guarantee his third world title.?The Independent?s David Tremayne is also of the opinion that Red Bull may regret not using team orders in Brazil.
?Had Red Bull elected to adopt team orders and let Webber win ? something that the governing body allows when championships are at stake ? Webber would have left Brazil with 245 points ? just one point off the lead. For some that was confirmation of his suggestion that Vettel is the team's favoured driver ? which generated an angry call from team owner Dietrich Mateschitz in Austria and was much denied by team principal, Christian Horner. ?And it sets up a situation where, if the result is repeated next weekend, as is likely, Vettel and Webber will tie on 256, five behind Alonso.?The Mirror?s Byron Young has put Lewis Hamilton?s fading title chances down to an inferior McLaren machine and he admits the 2008 World Champion now needs a miracle.
?Sebastian Vettel's victory sends the world title fight to a four-way showdown for the first time in the sport's history. ?Hamilton goes there as part of that story with a 24-point deficit to Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, but with just 25 on offer in the final round in six days' time it would take more than a miracle. ?Driving an outclassed McLaren he slugged it out against superior machinery and stiff odds to finish fourth.?
Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/11/team_orders_in_spotlight_again_1.php
Ottorino Volonterio Jo Vonlanthen Ernie de Vos Bill Vukovich Syd van der Vyver
Red Bull under the spotlight
| Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel celebrate with Red Bull boss Christian Horner on the podium |
Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/11/red_bull_under_the_spotlight.php
Rob Slotemaker Moises Solana Alex SolerRoig Raymond Sommer Vincenzo Sospiri Stephen South Mike Sparken
dinsdag 24 april 2012
Karthikeyan Makes Surprise F1 Return With HRT
Narain Karthikeyan has made a surprise return to Formula One after being announced as one of Hispania HRT’s drivers for the 2011 season. The Indian driver was unveiled as the first racer to be working with the Spanish based squad, who look likely to enter into a second season of racing despite on-going financial concerns. [...]
Source: http://f1fanatics.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/karthikeyan-makes-surprise-f1-return-with-hrt/
Jonathan Williams Roger Williamson Dempsey Wilson Desire Wilson Justin Wilson
McLaren to get seat on F1 board?
McLaren is to get a seat on the board of the F1 holding company, according to a report today. If true it helps to explain why the team joined Ferrari and Red Bull in agreeing early to the terms of … Continue reading 
Source: http://adamcooperf1.com/2012/04/22/mclaren-to-get-seat-on-f1-board/
Volker Weidler Wayne Weiler Karl Wendlinger Peter Westbury Chuck Weyant Ken Wharton Ted Whiteaway
Drivers' meeting 'promises to be very interesting'
Oh to be a fly on the wall at the drivers' briefing ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix next month.
The controversial decision not to penalise either Nico Rosberg for his aggressive defence against Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso at the Bahrain Grand Prix or Hamilton for overtaking by going off the track has led to considerable debate within Formula 1.
So much so, that Alonso, a man who weighs his words carefully, has decided to speak out about it. After learning of the ruling, the Ferrari driver said to his 400,000-plus Twitter followers: "I think you are going to have fun in future races! You can defend position as you want and you can overtake outside the track! Enjoy!"
Nico Rosberg (left) and Lewis Hamilton may have differing views at the drivers' meeting. Photo: Getty
On the face of it, and at first glance, the stewards' decision does appear difficult to understand.
With both Hamilton on lap 10 and Alonso on lap 24, Rosberg veered dramatically to the inside - and, unusually, right across to the white line that demarcates the edge of the circuit.
Both Hamilton and Alonso went off the track in avoidance, to varying degrees. Whereas Hamilton kept going and succeeded in passing the Mercedes, Alonso backed off and tried for the outside line, but had lost too much momentum to pull a move off.
Article 20.4 of the sporting regulations says: "Manoeuvres liable to hinder other drivers, such as deliberate crowding of a car beyond the edge of the track or any other abnormal change of direction, are not permitted."
So why was Rosberg not penalised?
The stewards said his defence was legitimate because although it was Rosberg who started to deviate from his line first, he did so in a "constant and continuous straight-line manner" and neither Hamilton nor Alonso had "a significant portion of their car... alongside" Rosberg's.
In other words, because Rosberg moved first, he was always clearly in front and it was therefore effectively the other driver's decision to keep moving to the inside to the point that he was off the track.
In Hamilton's case, if you watch the TV footage back, you can clearly see this is the case.
It is less obviously so with Alonso - and the stewards had to use the footage from the Ferrari's onboard camera before they came to a conclusion.
I have not seen the footage, but I'm told it showed again that a) Rosberg moved first; and b) at no point was "a significant portion" of Alonso's car alongside the Mercedes.
During the race, viewers heard Alonso say over his team radio: "He pushed me off the track. You have to leave a space. All the time you have to leave a space."
This, though, is not actually what the regulations say.
A new rule, article 20.3, was introduced this year to formally enshrine that "any driver moving back towards the racing line, having earlier defended his position off line, should leave at least one car width between his own car and the edge of the track on the approach to a corner".
But this only applies when he is making a second move - there is nothing in the rules to stop drivers going right to the edge of the track in their first defensive move.
In other words, you might think - as Alonso did - that Rosberg's driving was unfair, overly aggressive, even dangerous, but the rules contain nothing the stewards could use to penalise him.
There is no obligation, I'm told by a senior figure, to leave room for a rival, unless he is partially alongside. The question then becomes, how far alongside does a driver have to be before the man he is overtaking has to leave him room with his first move?
That's where it starts to get awkward.
"It's no different," a senior insider says, "to a conventional overtaking manoeuvre when one driver dives down the inside, gets halfway alongside and they collide. One guy says: 'You should have given me room.' The other says: 'You weren't far enough alongside.' Often drivers' perception of a situation differs from the reality."
The stewards have to use their judgement, including factors such as speed differential between the cars, when a driver moved, how many moves he made, and so on.
Back, though, to what the rules do say. Article 20.2 says drivers "must use the track at all times". This is why Rosberg said over his team radio: "Hamilton passed me off the track."
Which Hamilton clearly did. So why was he not penalised?
The stewards, I'm told, asked: "What advantage did Hamilton gain by going off the track?" And they concluded that if he had gone to the outside, he was carrying so much momentum he would have passed anyway.
The most obvious of several counter-points to that is: "Yes, but Hamilton did go off the track when you have established he didn't need to, and he did pass him by doing so, so he should be penalised."
At least two leading drivers share this view, I'm told. But you have to bear in mind that Hamilton is not the most popular driver on the grid and his rivals are "always looking for ways to nail him", as one source put it on Monday.
The problem arose in the first place because concrete run-offs surround the circuit in Bahrain. Drivers can use these with impunity, safe in the knowledge that if they are forced off the track they are not going to spin on wet grass or hit a wall.
Had there been grass there, Hamilton would not have been able to pull off the same move (another argument for a penalty being applied) and Alonso might have backed off sooner.
Equally, had there been grass there - or even a wall - Rosberg might well have given them both a bit more room.
The stewards weighed it all up and felt that, in this instance, penalising Hamilton would have been overly harsh.
The result is some drivers believe Hamilton should have been penalised, some believe Rosberg should have been, and Alonso is saying the stewards' ruling gives drivers carte blanche to overtake off the track or crowd their rivals as much as they like.
Which is why that drivers' meeting in Barcelona promises to be so interesting.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/04/unanswered_questions_for_rosbe.html
Adolfo Schwelm Cruz Bob Scott Archie Scott Brown Piero Scotti Wolfgang Seidel
so that's a matador! (well my version at least)
i bought this amt 1977 gremlin x on ebay. i painted it testor root beer lacquer. i built it stock except that i added mags and aluminum slot type rims. i added the optional trunk spoiler to try to make it look a little cooler. turned out to be harder than i thought. man, i forgot how ugly these cars were
Source: http://cs.scaleautomag.com/SCACS/forums/thread/1013023.aspx
Volker Weidler Wayne Weiler Karl Wendlinger Peter Westbury Chuck Weyant Ken Wharton Ted Whiteaway
maandag 23 april 2012
Standard Mopar fuel filter
What i have made mine for is a 1971 duster 340, you make your normal fuel line, that you choose, shape it. Take the 1/8 aluminum tube, i had used the K.S weel tube cutter, cut the tubeing in 2 small halves, the cutter when it cuts the tubeing, it leaves a perfect ridge, now run the two halves together, on the fuel line, now expoxy the halves together, you have a convenceing metal body fuel filter. Try to find a picture of the filter, this will help to make the recreation.
Source: http://cs.scaleautomag.com/SCACS/forums/thread/473832.aspx
Gaetano Starrabba Chuck Stevenson Ian Stewart Jackie Stewart Jimmy Stewart Siegfried Stohr Rolf Stommelen
Four teams win first four races for first time in 29 years | 2012 Bahrain Grand Prix stats and facts
Four teams win first four races for first time in 29 years is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.
Red Bull became the fourth different team to win in as many races at the start of the year, which hasn't happened since 1983.
Four teams win first four races for first time in 29 years is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/f1fanatic/~3/mXSKsbzDVVk/
Alfonso Thiele Eric Thompson Johnny Thomson Leslie Thorne Bud Tingelstad
Rosberg, Hamilton and Alonso cleared over incidents | 2012 Bahrain Grand Prix
Rosberg, Hamilton and Alonso cleared over incidents is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.
The stewards of the Bahrain Grand Prix have taken no action against Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso for incidents involving the drivers during the race.
Rosberg, Hamilton and Alonso cleared over incidents is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/f1fanatic/~3/DBmZBHjIdvc/
Hans Joachim Stuck Otto Stuppacher Danny Sullivan Marc Surer John Surtees Andy Sutcliffe Adrian Sutil
Who remembers the 1988 Australian Grand Prix?
We are not too far away from the 2012 Australian Grand Prix and everyone is rightly excited. You can check out the drivers that need to deliver in 2012 right here. However, we are going to be building up to Melbourne with a series of videos from races gone by. To begin with, do you [...]
Siegfried Stohr Rolf Stommelen Philippe Streiff Hans Stuck Hans Joachim Stuck Otto Stuppacher Danny Sullivan
zondag 22 april 2012
Who remembers the 1988 Australian Grand Prix?
We are not too far away from the 2012 Australian Grand Prix and everyone is rightly excited. You can check out the drivers that need to deliver in 2012 right here. However, we are going to be building up to Melbourne with a series of videos from races gone by. To begin with, do you [...]
Nino Vaccarella Bob Veith Jos Verstappen Sebastian Vettel Gilles Villeneuve Jacques Villeneuve Jacques Villeneuve Sr
The two Kimi Raikkonens
There are, it turns out, two Kimi Raikkonens.
The public face of the 2007 world champion, who has returned to Formula 1 this season after two years in rallying, is of a monosyllabic, monotone, unsmiling figure, energised only the moment he steps into a racing car.
The one who emerges in private is very different - a talkative, jocular man, who can happily sit and shoot the breeze like anyone else.
As Lotus trackside operations director, Alan Permane has worked closely with Raikkonen since he joined the team last November.
Kimi Raikkonen has been perceived as cold and uncommunicative. Photo: Getty
The 32-year-old Finn, Permane says, "is happy to sit and talk, not only about technical stuff, but laughing and joking and talking rubbish with his engineers about all sorts of stuff".
He is just not interested in any of his dealings with the media and, unlike his rivals, doesn't bother to hide it.
Permane worked with Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso through the title-winning years with the team formerly known as both Benetton and Renault. He has been impressed with Raikkonen from the start.
Raikkonen first drove one of the team's cars at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia in late January. Straightaway the team knew they had something special.
He had not driven an F1 car since the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and had no experience of the Pirelli tyres he was using. Yet, after a single installation lap to check the car's systems were working, his first flying lap was within a few 10ths of a second of the fastest lap he would do over the next two days.
The good impressions did not go away.
Permane said, "He has never driven a car with a full load of fuel in it.
"We went from 30-160kg [of fuel load in Valencia] to show him that's the sort of difference you can expect - certainly from qualifying to race it's even bigger than that.
"We calculate the lap time difference the fuel load will make and his first lap was absolutely spot on that difference. That is impressive."
After that, Raikkonen did another 20 laps, each one exactly 0.1secs slower than the last - the lap time lost by tyre degradation.
There is a widespread belief that Raikkonen is as unforthcoming in his technical debriefs as he is in public, but that, too, appears to be a fallacy.
Lotus have found his comments in debriefs to be not only lengthy but very perceptive, too.
He was slightly quicker than new team-mate Romain Grosjean throughout pre-season testing, so it was a surprise that he was about 0.2secs slower than the Franco-Swiss semi-novice in the practice sessions in Melbourne.
Equally, the errors Raikkonen made on his qualifying laps that left him down in 18th on the grid betrayed a certain ring-rustiness, as well as perhaps the pressure he was feeling from Grosjean's pace.
In the race, though, something of the old Raikkonen returned as he fought back up from his low starting position to take seventh place by the end.
Clearly, though, there is more to come.
Raikkonen is not entirely happy with the feel he is getting from the Lotus's steering, but Permane plays down the significance of the problem.
"He's very particular," Permane says. "He knows what he wants and it's not quite to his liking. It's not a million miles away, but we'll get it there."
Raikkonen can drive perfectly well with the steering as it is, but the problem probably does mean that he is driving a little below his maximum.
The question now is, at what level is his maximum?
The reason Raikkonen left F1 in the first place was because he performed for Ferrari for much of 2008 and 2009 way below the level expected of him.
Ferrari, in fact, terminated Raikkonen's contract a year early and paid him not to drive in 2010 so they could bring in Alonso.
The Spaniard has since out-performed Felipe Massa, the man who generally had the better of Raikkonen from the start of 2008 until fracturing his skull in an accident in Hungary in July 2009.
Does this mean Alonso is that much better than Raikkonen? Or that Raikkonen in 2008-9 was a long way below his best? Or that Massa is not the driver he was?
No one knows for sure, but for Raikkonen's comeback to be considered an unqualified success he will have to be able to match his new team-mate's pace.
The fact Lotus have regrouped over the winter and produced one of the year's fastest cars only increases the pressure - it's not so bad to be beaten by a team-mate when you're battling to get into the top 10; but a very different matter when you're fighting for the podium.
That, it appears, is what Lotus are in a position to do.
"We screwed up with the car last year," Permane says, "and we know we've done a lovely car this year, not only aerodynamically, but we've done a nice package mechanically."
So pleased are Lotus with the new E20 that Permane says he "dared to compare it with 2005", when Alonso won the first of his two titles.
That is not so much a measure of Lotus's realistic hopes as a reflection of how much the drivers like the car, and how well it responds to changes.
Nevertheless, the team are confident they can keep up with the break-neck development pace of the likes of McLaren and Red Bull and hold on to their position.
For Raikkonen, the requirement now is prove that he can go with them. So far, the signs are positive.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/03/the_two_kimi_raikkonens.html
Shorty Templeman Max de Terra Andre Testut Mike Thackwell Alfonso Thiele Eric Thompson Johnny Thomson
zaterdag 21 april 2012
New F1 season could prove unpredictable
The Formula 1 teams arrived in Melbourne's Albert Park to be greeted by grey skies, intermittent rain and blustery wind. But not even the weather could dampen the palpable excitement and nervous tension.
The start of the new season is just a few hours away and everyone from world champions Red Bull to lowly HRT is desperate to find the answer to the question they have been asking all winter. Where will they be come Saturday and Sunday afternoons?
The F1 teams like to keep outsiders guessing before the first race by saying they don't know where they are in terms of competitiveness, but usually this is little more than kidology.
Such is their capacity to analyse data with massive super-computers that usually they have a very good idea of their position in relation to their rivals, despite the well-known difficulty of predicting form from pre-season testing.
But this year seems different; they genuinely don't seem to know - so the usual anticipation ahead of the first race of the season is magnified.
Lewis Hamilton said that judging by the data that mattered from winter testing he felt McLaren were "in the top three or four".
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso has also bigged up his team's chances for the 2012 season. Photo: Getty
Meanwhile, a senior engineer from one of the teams who will be contesting what is expected to be a congested midfield battle told me he was pretty sure Red Bull and McLaren were out front but he didn't know "whether we will be third or seventh".
Some people's anticipation is more nervous than others', though.
For teams such as Mercedes and Lotus, there is a genuine sense that they have done a good job and moved forward over the winter.
In fact there is a growing sense in the paddock that Mercedes may even be able to give McLaren and Red Bull a run for their money, something team principal Ross Brawn was quick to dismiss as "unlikely".
For others, the desire to discover the true pace of their car is tinged as much with trepidation as anticipation.
Ferrari have had what Fernando Alonso described here on Thursday as a "tough" winter, struggling with "quite a complex car in terms of set-up and understanding it".
Alonso was doing his best to talk up the team's chances, saying: "Maybe we didn't reach our targets but it doesn't mean that we are slower than the other cars. That we will not know until Saturday."
Others are keen to play down the importance of this first race of the season.
Vettel said that Australia this weekend and Malaysia next would do no more than demonstrate a "trend" for performance over the season.
And Brawn said he "preferred to look at the first four races and the range of circuits we have and see how that looks".
But the statistics belie that point of view.
Albert Park might be a unique street circuit, with a dusty, low-grip surface, and the teams may only just be beginning to work with their new cars. But actually it has proven to be a rather good arbiter of the season to come - five of the last six winners of the Australian Grand Prix have gone on to become world champion that year.
Other themes are also emerging this weekend that will have importance to one degree or another as the season develops.
F1 wouldn't be F1 without a good technical conspiracy and this year looks like being no different.
Already during pre-season testing there have been eyebrows raised at the way some teams are trying to exploit exhaust gases for aerodynamic effect.
This practice was supposed to have been ended by rule changes that have restricted the positioning and angle of the exhaust pipes and put much stricter limits on engine mapping - both an attempt to rid the sport of so-called exhaust-blown diffusers that became such important tools over the previous two seasons.
But this weekend another potential controversy has emerged over the rear wings on several cars, particularly the Mercedes, Red Bull and the Ferrari.
These new devices - that some believe to be on the fringes of legality - seem designed to exploit the DRS overtaking aid in ways not originally intended.
The DRS was designed as a tool to make overtaking less difficult - if a driver is within a one-second margin of a car he is trying to overtake, he can use the DRS in a specified zone on the track to give him a straight-line speed boost.
Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari, meanwhile, have what appear to be extra slots on the rear wing that can work in conjunction with the DRS to either increase straight-line speed even further, or allow the teams to run extra downforce with no drag penalty.
The most noticeable feature of the 2012 cars, though, remains the noses - and specifically the ugly 'platypus' step on all but the McLaren and Marussia.
This is a result of a rule that has lowered the nose tips of the cars to increase driver safety, but not lowered the top of the chassis.
The result is a grid full of ridiculous and ugly-looking cars, and very few are troubling to hide their frustration at the situation.
"It is unfortunate," Brawn said, "and the teams should look at themselves and blame themselves.
"[Governing body] the FIA tried to do what they could and a number of teams wouldn't agree to the changes because they said they wanted to carry over their chassis, which we all know is a load of nonsense because nobody has carried over their chassis.
"We've ended up with a very odd feature on the cars which is not very endearing and I'm sure will get fixed for 2013."
The noses, of course, will soon be forgotten if the season is close and competitive. And that will only begin to become clear as this weekend unfolds.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/03/new_f1_season_could_prove_unpr.html
Bud Tingelstad Sam Tingle Desmond Titterington Johnnie Tolan Alejandro de Tomaso
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