el es tu

In the words of Ricky Bobby: "Holy moly, that's like lookin' up Yasmine Bleeth's skirt!"

hklvette

A lot of good racing this weekend. People complain about the lack of noise, but personally I'd rather have the good battles we've been having without the noise than a processional race with it.

BierGut

Speaking of noise... really of fuel consumption... if they could get rid of the stupid fuel requirement and let the cars go for broke I'm sure we'd see RPMs approach the regulation limit and sound better. (Not to mention go faster) Not that they will sound like previous machines, but it would be an improvement. I hear more and more about the fuel ration being hammered on... I personally would like to see it eliminated. I agree with Hobb's comment that there is no place in motorsports racing for fuel efficiency limits. But hey, that's just me.

Zoxxo

Occasionally during an F1 race I will think about the odd sound the cars are making but it quickly passes. I'm with you - it's the racing that matters and this year it has been quite good, actually.

Z//

hklvette

I could support this. It would still be wise for a team to make as much power as they could as efficiently as they could so they could use less fuel overall. Less fuel = less weight = more speed. Would you keep the 100kg fuel capacity limit?

Zoxxo

First, let's get a basic truth out in the open - NO V6 motor has EVER made a pretty sound - especially in performance mode. At least *I* have never heard one. When it was first announced that F1 was going to use them my immediate reaction was "uh-oh, this won't sound good" and I was right. Just how this fact escaped the engineering teams at multiple teams and manufacturers is beyond my understanding.

Eliminating the fuel flow limit won't fix the sound. Louder "ugly" is still ugly and would only serve to make the ugliness even more apparent. Just think of those awful vuvuzela horns at the 2010 World Cup. One is bad. More is not better.

And making the cars go faster is not in the cards. Many (!) of the (often goofy) rules put in place over the past 20 years have been implemented specifically to slow the cars down (remember the years of grooved tire treads? Upping the H.P. to 1000+ just isn't going happen no matter how awesome it might be. If they upped allowable fuel flow they'd just have to curtail the air intake like IMSA and Le Mans and NASCAR do.

If we're going to dream, what I would like to see is a return of the mid-1980s turbo car specifications w 1100 hp in race trim and 1300 in qualy trim. Then the teams would HAVE to hire good drivers instead of all this ride-buying nonsense since those cars required real skill to get even close to the limits. Heck, just being able to control the things enough to get the tires warmed up would outclass (aka "scare") half of today's grid. I remember Derek Bell (no slouch as a driver) describing his attempt to run Senna's old Lotus-Renault turbo car at the Monterey Historic Races. After two laps he brought it back in and stated that he was now just in awe of the men who drove the things - in order to go fast required hot tires. But to get the tires hot required going fast enough to do so on *cold* tires which was next to impossible. He gave up rather than crash the thing trying.

Z//

Zoxxo

From Adam Cooper's blog:


Mexico City set to return to F1 calendar

Bernie Ecclestone has signed what is believed to be a five-year deal to host a GP at the Hermanos Rodriguez circuit starting from next season, with an option for five further years.

Ecclestone today confirmed to Forbes magazine that “we have got Mexico past the post.” The deal been agreed with promoter CIE, with the support of the federal and Mexico City governments, according to local publication Cancha.

As reported here at the time Charlie Whiting visited the track last September, accompanied by Austin F1 founder Tavo Hellmund, who switched his focus to Mexico after being ousted from the Texas project. His late father Gustavo was a race promoter at the venue.

They were joined on that occasion by FIA Vice President and regular F1 race steward Jose Abed, who was also head of the Mexican GP organising committee in past years, and by a representative of circuit designers Tilke.

The track will need a lot of work before it is ready to host an F1 race, including a new pit and paddock complex, while several corners have to be realigned.

A Mexican GP appeared on a provisional version of the 2014 calendar, with a November 9 date. It’s reported that an end of year date is again likely, effectively twinning the race with Austin. There has been talk of the race running in June, alongside Canada, although it would be impossible for the work to be completed by then.

Mexico hosted a round of the World Championship in 1963-70, and again from 1986-92.

//

hklvette

I get the need for upgraded Pit/ Paddock facilities, but what is wrong with the track layout? A way for Tilke to get a piece of the pie?

NemesisC5

My personal ranking of "my favorite" F1 engine sounds:

1.) V10
2.) V8
3.) V12
4.) V6 Turbo

It's almost a toss up between V10 and V8 for my favorite. The V12 sounds great but the higher rpm's of the V10 and V8 engines put them clearly at the top for me. The V6 Turbo, well........

The 2014 F1 season racing has been great however I hope fans don't forget how great these engines sounded.

Zoxxo

Maybe. But almost all of these older tracks have components that don't measure up to modern F1 safety standards. Just looking at the Mexico track on Google Earth I can see a couple of spots that could be iffy (like the end of the long front straight where they might want to give the cars more run-off.)

Z//

el es tu

If I could afford a Mclaren P1, Id have them build a one off with a detuned F1 engine. Dont care if its less efficient - it would weigh less than the hybrid system and Id get to hear it rev up to 15000 rpm...

NemesisC5

Although this article does not mention F1, I believe it addresses some universal truths (and opinions) about all types of racing with fan attendance whether it be cars, boats, motorcycles, etc...

Susan Wade: NHRA Needs To Make Hard Budgeting Decisions

http://www.dragzine.com/features/edi...ting-decisions

The champion racer told reporters, “I’m excited for the teams and the opportunity they have to work together and hopefully drive costs down — and have a more clear and concise voice in the industry on a variety of aspects. I’m happy that the teams are working together to drive costs down. It’s a very expensive sport. Hopefully we are able to . . . make our sport stronger.”

The speaker was not an NHRA drag racer. He was Jimmie Johnson, the six-time Sprint Cup Series champion. His remarks were in reaction to the announcement last week from nine prominent NASCAR team owners that they have formed what they call the “Race Team Alliance.” The business association’s focus is to increase revenues and budget efficiency for participating Sprint Cup operations.

The RTA has drawn sneers from racetrack mogul Bruton Smith, but otherwise most appear so far to have taken a cautious, positive approach to the new business alliance that’s similar to the NHRA’s PRO.

Johnson said, “I’m fortunate to drive at Hendrick Motorsports and have the best of any situation, and it’s still tough and it’s still lean.”

The emergence of the RTA and Johnson’s affirmation that NASCAR teams have to streamline their budgets only prove that the need to cut costs is not drag-racing-specific. With the IndyCar Series, despite quality racing, struggling to put fans in the stands, the topic stretches across all motorsports.

If American auto racing can’t make significant progress on the revenue-stream front – and sponsorships of all proportions are hard to come by — then all sanctions are forced to concentrate on the cost-cutting end. And that’s a pressing need for the NHRA, with its costs rising each year.

Certain rules aimed at performance limitation – i.e., slowing the cars down to make them safer and more reliable and extending the life of parts and bodies – could trim costs. However, those measures, while feasible, aren’t likely to become the center of discussion.
Why? Racers don’t want to go slower. And fans might not be able to tell the difference between the current envelope-pushing elapsed times and speeds, but they don’t want to see slower numbers pop up on the scoreboard. It’s the same mentality as when people dine out: smaller, still-reasonable portions would promote healthier eating habits, but Americans want their “money’s worth” of food on their plates. What might be good for us is something we don’t want.

Consider what popular former Funny Car racer Dean Skuza said: “We’re not like NASCAR. We don’t conserve tires. We don’t conserve fuel. We don’t conserve nothin’! What’s more American than that?!”

So forget talk about reducing wing measurements and tire sizes or about other mandated performance-related technical specifications that would be activated simply to alleviate excessive expenses.

Drag-racing pioneer Jerry Ruth said, “Drag racing is about making more power all the time. If you slow ‘em down, there won’t be anybody at the races. You can’t do that.”

He was on a panel for a public discussion at the Wally Parks Museum at Pomona some years ago. The moderator asked another panelist, “What’s the most important thing to drag racing that has been developed since you’ve been involved?” The panelist replied, “The parachute.” Ruth said he thought to himself, “What are you talking about?! That was stopping. Drag racers never even thought about stopping. It’s about winning. What’s wrong with you?!” Said Ruth, “I mean, stopping is kind of a necessity so you can live to try to race again. It’s all about winning. Drag racers are extremely competitive people.”

He said if the NHRA appointed him the Czar of Cost-Cutting, he would look less at performance-limiting moves.

“Some things, they’ve gone so far now that they can’t return. Remember, this is a performance sport,” Ruth said.

“I’d probably break the teams up if I could do it. The big-money guys have three and four cars. That’s making it real dominating. There’s only about three teams that are in the hunt. I’d try some way to maybe get a handle on that if I could.”

Therefore, the NHRA has to take a hard look at its schedule. To its credit, it has an oh-so-slight edge on NASCAR when it comes to geographic diversity. NASCAR has tried and failed so far to crack the Northwest region, and that’s a point the NHRA takes pride in. Otherwise it might long ago have dumped the dumpy Pacific Raceways facility from its association. To be fair, the racers might not have enjoyed the racing surface at times at the Seattle-area track, but they always have said they do relish the oxygen-rich tuning environment and the postcard setting in the shadow of Mount Rainier.

NASCAR has a dozen venues it visits twice a season. The NHRA has three: Pomona, which offers favorable weather and represents the roots of the sport; Las Vegas, a trademark-outstanding Bruton Smith-owned facility that draws a crowd; and Charlotte, where zMAX Dragway is described as “The Bellagio of Dragstrips” but can’t pack in the fans.

Ruth, referring to the spring Four-Wide Nationals, said, “That four-abreast . . . that’s just a joke. I don’t like it. What’s next? You going to run them right at each other? Is that the next thing we do?”

“Big Daddy” Don Garlits attended a race at zMAX Dragway, arguably the most beautiful, state-of-the-art facility on the NHRA tour. What he took away was a grim report. He said he didn’t think the Charlotte event he witnessed drew “enough of a crowd to pay the light bill.”

So could the NHRA benefit by stopping at those three places just one time? Yes. Will it? Who knows?

Every market is valuable. Every facility has merit. But what if it alternated venues in various regions? For example, it could schedule Englishtown, N.J., one year and Epping, N.H., the next. Maple Grove Raceway at Reading, Pa., is a Northeast keystone, so how would it figure into a revised schedule? And the NHRA could flip-flop between Brainerd, Minn., and Topeka.
The Southeast is loaded with races at Atlanta, Bristol, Charlotte, and Gainesville. Can the NHRA fashion some sort of round-robin arrangement among those four tracks? The Southwest, too, has two races each at Pomona and Las Vegas and one each at Phoenix, Houston, and Dallas. The Southwest tracks are spaced out greater than the Southeast tracks are, so the idea of alternating those might be of concern. The Midwest has Brainerd, Topeka, St. Louis, Joliet, Norwalk, and Indianapolis on the list from May through September.

With excellent promoters and decent-or-better facilities, in most cases, yes, it would be difficult to rearrange the lineup. But leadership in any arena calls for hard and bold decision-making.

Balancing appearances in the various regions of the country is a delicate task, as the NHRA tries to avoid depleting the resources. Back-to-back-to-back races at Atlanta, Bristol, Charlotte, and Gainesville might mean none would draw well. However, having haulers crisscross the country – given the astronomical pump price for a gallon of fuel – is wasteful and exhausting. Perhaps a more logical flow, geographically, to the schedule is in order. Regional weather considerations might mean the scheduler would have to juggle a Farmers Almanac with the various local activities schedules. Already the NHRA keeps a close eye on other racing series schedules to avoid conflicts.

But a peek back through the annals of drag racing shows that the Finals, for example, attracted reported crowds of 37,000 and 40,000. That was when the NHRA had only a handful of national events.Supply and demand worked its magic then. With today’s NHRA schedule, the supply-and-demand filter produces a more dismal result.

The NHRA has tried, with its HD Partners deal that fell through, to sell the assets of its professional series, separating that from the sportsman classes and Pro Modified competition. Having a pro-only event certainly is no new consideration. Some factions applaud that, because it means a shorter program. Others bemoan the idea, preferring tradition and honoring the grassroots segment of the sport.

A faster, more streamlined program might be better in keeping with a sport that entertains fans in a series of three- or four-second bursts. In an Internet-savvy, instant-gratification age with most people possessing the attention span of a gnat, a shorter racing day might be smarter.

A shorter weekend might be smarter. How much harm would it cause to cut the number of qualifying sessions to two Friday with eliminations Saturday and Sunday as back-up/rain date? The NHRA needs to be respectful of people’s time – the fans’ and the race teams’. A two-day race weekend drastically would reduce travel costs.

Clearly, no easy answers lurk in this process. These might not be feasible. But they should serve as a springboard for the discussion that needs to take place at the NHRA headquarters at Glendora, Calif.

Zoxxo

Are you ready for this?

(From Adam Cooper)

Team bosses keen on success ballast for F1

Bernie Ecclestone chaired a meeting of F1 team bosses today and discussed ways of improving the show, and one of the ideas mooted was success ballast – as used in the DTM and many other touring car and GT championships.

In the DTM all examples of the winning marque carry extra weight at the next race, but a more sophisticated driver specific version was discussed, with for example 20kgs for the winner, 18kgs for second, and so on.

Apparently the idea was well received by team bosses as a way of equalising the field – quite what race fans will make of it, coming after double points for the final round, remains to be seen…

Meanwhile Ecclestone also made it clear that he is no fan of cost control measures, and suggested that testing be unrestricted in the future – something that could lead to massive budget increases.

----

NemesisC5

Success ballast....no cost control, what's Bernie and F1 smoking? Maybe the big teams think that without budget constraints they can overcome whatever success ballast they are penalized with? Seems like F1 is chasing it's own tail. With the 2014 changes, the current world economy and escalating costs to attend F1 events it seems to me that F1 has created it's own "perfect storm" to deal with. New ideas of "fixing" / "improving" seem to come out weekly which signals desperation IMHO and they don't look to be thought about with long term sustainability in mind.

On a positive note, this weekends race was outstanding.

Zoxxo

Re: long term sustainability

They are preparing themselves for when they take F1 public. Once you are publicly traded *all* that matters is how you do each quarter; there is zero concern for the long term. This is practice for that day.

Actually, it occurs to me that a lot of this "panic" could be due to exactly that - the desire of Bernie, and all those with a financial stake in the thing, to take the enterprise public (which they have been trying to make happen for at least a couple of years now - via Singapore.) The dropping viewership and attendance numbers have got to be making the thing less attractive to buyers/investors, hence all this "Chicken Little" nonsense re: improving the show. We're talking serious money here, so it really would make them want to dick with things no matter how good things are at the moment.

It also occurred to me last night that all these lame ideas could actually be coming from Bernie himself but that he has learned from experience not to sign his name to them as that will generate instant derision/rejection across the board (you'll notice that *no one* in the paddock *ever* says a bad word about any idea from Bernie - they are "talked to" if they do.) So instead, Bernie gets either a team or some anonymous yahoo(s) to "author" the things and then gets it all passed by those beholding to Bernie's largesse. Remember the "medals instead of points" bulls***?

Dude, get with the program! That was a crappy race and a perfect demonstration of why the show needs improving!!!

Bernie's goons will be in touch shortly to see that you get the proper perspective...

Z//

NemesisC5

Several large black hybrid trucks in front of my house now...

I forgot about the looming "going public" deal. A landmark transaction putting a punctuation mark on Bernie's legacy and pockets,,,,,, helps explain megaphones and sparking cars.

NemesisC5

Formula One scrapping 2015 standing starts on restarts

Boss Ecclestone says F1 doesn't need gimmicks to regain popularity

July 29, 2014

Bernie Ecclestone says Formula One will abandon its controversial 2015 plan for standing restarts after safety-car periods. Ecclestone said the priority is some fine tuning rather than radical moves to inject some new life in the F1 grandstands, as he said the hotly contested race in Hungary showed that F1 is not fundamentally broken.

"There just shouldn't be the stupid and unnecessary rules that we've put in over the years," Ecclestone said. "I want a world championship of drivers, not engineers. We have alraedy told the stewards that they should not punish every little thing. I want drivers who race each other rather than constantly ask what they can and cannot do."

The biggest news on Tuesday is that one rule already printed in black and white in the 2015 regulations looks set to be axed.

"There will be no standing starts after safety cars," announced the diminutive Briton. "What we saw in Budapest was good enough."

NemesisC5

Bernie Ecclestone denies hiring Flavio Briatore to combat negativity in Formula One

FORMER BENETTON F1 TEAM EXECTUTIVE TO HEAD NEW POPULARITY WORKING GROUP

JULY 29, 2014

Bernie Ecclestone thinks Formula One needs to act now to prevent a downward trend of unpopularity. Before qualifying in Hungary, amid a climate of paddock doom about dwindling spectator and television numbers, the F1 chief executive met with team bosses.

Afterwards, it emerged that Ecclestone would revive the F1 career of Flavio Briatore, former commercial director of the Benetton F1 team in the wake of his "crashgate" ban by appointing him the head of a new "popularity working group."

When asked about the flamboyant yet divisive Italian figure, Ecclestone is quoted by Italy's Tuttosport: "We'll see. We'll see what we can do."

But Ecclestone denied it was resolved Briatore was the key to a more popular future for the sport.

"We do not need Flavio. We can do it ourselves," Ecclestone told Germany's Auto Motor und Sport.

The publication said there are rumors a popularity taskforce will instead be headed by Christian Horner, Toto Wolff, Luca di Montezemolo and Vijay Mallya.

Ecclestone is following up the Hungarian meeting with another meeting involving the governing FIA this Thursday, after Ferrari president Montezemolo urged the need for a crisis summit.

Confirming that team boss Marco Mattiacci will be there, Maranello based Ferrari confirmed on Monday that the meeting is to "look at the general situation of Formula One and how to increase the sport's appeal."

Ecclestone added: "We simply want to see if there is the possibility to look at the rules, because there has been so much negativity. We need to have a look at all of this and clear some things up," he added.

NemesisC5

Formula One teams blaming media for attendance drop, poor TV ratings

Friday press conferences becoming too negative, say team principals

July 28, 2014

Lewis Hamilton versus Nico Rosberg is not the only raging battle these days in Formula One. Red Bull's Christian Horner lost his temper with the negativity being spread by journalists during the Friday press conference in Hungary ahead of Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix.

"All we do is focus on the negatives," Horner said. "And it has to be said, it gets pretty boring for us to sit up here and field these questions."

Not only that, amid some dismal TV ratings and dwindling crowds for the Hockenheim-Hungaroring back-to-back race weekends, it is believed the issue of the media's role was discussed at length during F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone's meeting with key teams on Saturday.

A reporter for Germany's Sport Bild, was in a particularly feisty mood on Friday when he questioned the teams' morality in simply following Ecclestone to controversial race destinations. The media outlet's representative said in the FIA press conference that, "Bahrain is killing their own people," and wondered if teams would also blindly follow the F1 head "to North Korea."

McLaren team boss Eric Boullier did not respond to that question, but rumors on Sunday suggested he was furious and even asked the FIA to consider revoking the reporter's credentials. A McLaren team source denied that, but did admit that Boullier had been upset with some of the questions posed on Friday.

And The Times of London quotes Boullier as saying, "By spreading negativity around, we distract people from being passionate and watching us. We stop people who could be potentially interested to watch because we are negative. The negativity is part of the problem of why we have an audience which is going down."

Williams deputy principal Claire Williams, said that there's not easy answer.

"Maybe Germany was a slight anomaly, but I do think that as a sport we need to look at what we are doing, look at our product and to make sure that it is the best that we can offer our fans," Williams said. "I think we have a great fan base and we have a significant fan base globally but I think we need to look at what we can do to engage a new generation of fans to watch our sport, a younger generation. This is a wonderful sport, it’s a great sport, people do want to come and watch us, but I think that what we could potentially offer the people who pay a lot of money to come and watch us race every weekend a better show and work together as a group of teams to do that, I think that it would stand us in really good stead for the future."

NemesisC5

Quite disappointing how desperate F1 seems and the lack of leadership to bring them all to their senses. The in-fighting and finger pointing will likely get worse before it gets better.

"Bernie Ecclestone thinks Formula One needs to act now to prevent a downward trend of unpopularity"

"Ecclestone is following up the Hungarian meeting with another meeting involving the governing FIA this Thursday, after Ferrari president Montezemolo urged the need for a crisis summit"