F1 2008

[David Morton]

16 March Australia
23 March Malaysia
06 Apr Bahrain
27 Apr Spain
11 May Turkey
25 May Monaco
08 Jun Canada
22 Jun France
06 Jul England
20 Jul Germany
03 Aug Hungary
24 Aug Spain (Valencia)
07 Sep Belgium
14 Sep Italy (Monza)
28 Sep Singapore
12 Oct Japan(Suzuka?)
19 Oct China
02 Nov Brazil

[Pete.]

Singapore is to be the first F1 race to be run under lights.

[Doug Sainlar]

They aren't going to let those criminals from Mclaren race this year, are they????

Dugly

[Pete.]

Originally Posted by YerDugliness

They aren't going to let those criminals from Mclaren race this year, are they????

Dugly

Not any more, but they will let them race next year.

[David Morton]

Engine Freeze for 10 years.


The FIA's World Motor Sport Council routinely met in Paris on Wednesday and ratified an imminent ten-year freeze on formula one engine development.
The news follows reports last weekend that Max Mosley rejected the alternative proposal of the sport's six car manufacturers for the future engine rules.
The manufacturers wanted a 675 hp formula for 2010 and beyond comprising four-race engines and an energy recovery 'boost' button.
But Mosley, the FIA president, rejected the proposal because the carmakers would not agree to supply customer engines to private teams for 10m euros per season.
"There will be a total freeze on engine development for a period of 10 years, starting from 2008," a statement issued by the Paris based FIA announced on Wednesday.
"A change can be made after five years but only with the unanimous agreement of all stakeholders and following a further two year notice period."


So there you have it. Until at least 2015 and maybe as long as 2018 the cars will be running 2008 technology engines.
What a crass and stupid decision. F1 used to be cutting edge technology.

[Chris Simpson]

I agree with you David. This is the latest in a long line of bad decisions from the FIA. They should significently reduce aerodynamic aids and allow unlimited engine development with, say, a 3 litre formula - and no electronic driver aids like traction control and launch control. That will sort out the men from the boys. As all the major teams (except Williams) are backed by large car manufacturers, they should be able to afford it.

This latest decision by the FIA will reduce F1 to a gloryfied GP2, with no technical interest at all.

Chris

[Brett James-McCall]

OK how is this working? I thought the FIA were trying to make F1 more green and get the teams to use all their intellect to come up with great ideas. How does freezing engine development aid this?

Also, how does lighting up a whole circuit help promote pushing technology to aid the environment?

Brett

[David Morton]

There's no business like show business..................
Singapore? All to do with 'live' TV audiences.
Perhaps a misnomer as anyone watching F1 - live or otherwise - usually goes into a mental stupor. It's only the adverts that keeps some people awake.
Bernie (still with that big tall girl !) may be very small, but he's not stupid and small.
Mind you, he may be quite tall - amongst the Singaporeans.

[Pete.]

Crazy idea to freeze engine development, as always the bottle necks are at the top of the bottle.

What will happen in Singapore if it rains?

[David Morton]

Hi Pete,
I would ask the opposite question: What if it doesn't rain? I seem to have a lot of my time when in the Singapore/KL area dodging in and out of rain storms and holding off from landing while yet another one affects the airport. It's always going to rain - it's just a matter of when.

[wanni]

Now it is time to think about a Diesel F1 championship as well as an hybrid one as well as an electric one.
Petrol is nearly dead, let us open new interesting and suitable sectors for the development.
Green gas F1 shouldn't be so bad as well.
Those are the areas where the automotive industry is trying to go, and where the development has the hand brake on.
Except few reich boys, everybody is turning to diesel, Liquid propan gas, methane and hybrid vehicles. Let us start to follow those lines.
Also the MotoGP did the same...2strokes 500cc???fast and used only in TV. Nobody would buy one. They turned to 4 strokes...right choice. F1 shall follow the same example. And if the paddock becomes obsolete, it is also time to change some actors of this boring movie.
Ciao
Wanni

[wanni]

Originally Posted by David Morton

16 March Australia
23 March Malaysia
06 Apr Bahrain
27 Apr Spain
11 May Turkey
25 May Monaco
08 Jun Canada
22 Jun France
06 Jul England
20 Jul Germany
03 Aug Hungary
24 Aug Spain (Valencia)
07 Sep Belgium
14 Sep Italy (Monza)
28 Sep Singapore
12 Oct Japan(Suzuka?)
19 Oct China
02 Nov Brazil

Just to be polied, why the followingGP are happening in those countries:
Canada
Bahrain
Singapore

And not in those ones:
Russia ( plenty of money and obsolete car manufacturers )
India ( plenty of car manufacturers )
South Africa ( plenty of car manufacturers )
Sweden ( plenty of car manufacturers and money as well and big spaces )

Probably somebody from those countries might be motivated to show his logo on a F1

[David Morton]

Wanni,
I'm reasonably sure that the engine guys in each F1 team will be using some of the 'freeze' time looking at what Audi and Pug are achieving in the LMP1 cars.
Merc may well be a front runner in this but I doubt they will ever come back to le Mans after their 1999 embarassing aerobatic cars.
Dave

[I LOVE GT40- Paolo]

YouTube - Mercedes CLR Le Mans Flip - slow-mo

and this:

YouTube - Le Mans 99' warm-up Mercedes CLR-GT1 crash

they can even try to race again in Le mans with a mclaren chassis (and with some other stolen ferrari parts..ihihihihihi..).
be sure will never happen again then..

[Brett James-McCall]

Originally Posted by FOX1

Russia ( plenty of money and obsolete car manufacturers )
India ( plenty of car manufacturers )
South Africa ( plenty of car manufacturers )
Sweden ( plenty of car manufacturers and money as well and big spaces )

Wanni,
You need to check a few things out my friend. Whilst Russia does have some obselete car manufacturers it also has the big players there. It is one of the fastest growing car markets in Europe/Asia and demand frequently is outstripping the local supply. Ford have just announced that they are increasing capacity to over 120,000 units pa, Toyota are building there, so are Nissan, GM. So if that's not enough for you I don't know what is. I reckon its about the same output as South Africa and now starting to verge on what Sweden produces.

Sorry for thread drift, just wanted to set the record straight a little bit.

Brett

[Chris Simpson]

F1 is supposed to be the pinnacle of motorsport in the World, both from the point of view of the drivers and also the designers and constructors. If it becomes a showcase for the Greens and anti global warming lobby, that will kill it stone dead IMO. Have you seen and heard an Audi LMP1 car - boring zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

Chris

[wanni]

Originally Posted by Chrissimp

F1 is supposed to be the pinnacle of motorsport in the World, both from the point of view of the drivers and also the designers and constructors. If it becomes a showcase for the Greens and anti global warming lobby, that will kill it stone dead IMO. Have you seen and heard an Audi LMP1 car - boring zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

Chris

Probably boring because alone and without concurrents.
Let us immagine that they are all boring like that but without carbon brakes.
Technology going ahead and good show for leaving the driver to manage or kill his brakes.
And on top of it I would introduce synchronised gearboxes.
Nobody on the road is using straight cutted with dogs. Let us develop the road cars technology and not useless matters.
Diesel, DCT and Cast Iron Brakes. 30 L of diesel for 300 kms and that's it.
This is development of new technologies. AAHHH I forget...before starting emission check.
This is my opinion.
Ciao
Wanni

[Pete.]

Hi David,
Just my point, it will P##s down in Singapore; so how will the poor blokes see? F1 cars with Lotus 7 type mudguards and head lights? Or will we watch the entire race under full yellows and safety car?

Gedday Brett.

[Frank Catt]

Some of the recently redundant F1 engineers have set up business and successfully designed the required energy recovery systems for next years cars, as required by the FIA, now it is my understanding that FIA might be abandoning that idea and all of this tech a wate of time. Anyone know ?