FIA On The Defensive

Back in 1993 Nigel Mansell crossed the pond to race in the CART Series.

I seem to remember an incident at Long Beach between the British "rookie" and Al Unser Jr. The long and short of the incident; they were side by side going into the first set of corners with Mansell on the inside for the first and Unser on the outside, but the American was on the inside for the second. Little Al, the Indycar driver, stayed round the outside of the reigning F1 Champion waiting for the second corner. Mansell, the former F1 driver, drifted wide coming out of the first corner and put Unser into the one of the road corses unforgiving walls. Unser did not get to the second corner. 

Mansell, with the European mentality, took the racing line thinking it was his to take. Al Unser Jr, with the American oval racing mentality, thought he was entitled to his car width. CART and America agreed, Mansell learnt the lesson. Mansell won races on ovals and the Championship that year, Unser the next.

Now, all these years on, Formula 1 is catching up.

The FIA have clarified the rules on defensive driving in F1. The FIA wording is comically long winded but they amount to this...

Drivers can move to a defensive position, but if they want to move back before turning into the corner they must give the other driver room on the outside, and not just move over to the white line potentially forcing the following driver off the track, or causing the two to make contact.  

Let me try this again...

Give each other room!

The FIA have also stated that under a safety car all lapped cars can un-lap themselves... lucky dogs!

Following on from KERS and DRS, this is the latest step in Formula One's "racing" revolution, accepting "racing" and imposing "racing standards" into the Championship.

Back in the mid 90's with Schumacher weaving and blocking anybody who came close and getting away with it, I would never have thought this would happen.

I guess that's what they call progress.

"Latest GP NOT a Turkey" and "Hand Bags At Dawn"

Overtaking, wheel-to-wheel, cross-over, round the outside, three-a-breast, and pit lane battles are all terms we would usually associate with a NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Darlington, but Formula 1 from Turkey?

Erm... YES!!

Hold the Front page... “Latest Grand Prix, NOT A Turkey!”

I have just watched the Turkish Grand Prix. I did not watch it live, I recorded the race so I could forward speedily through the dull bits. However, I watched this all of this race... full length... every lap... the whole lot... start to finish...

And it was good...

Regular readers will know that I am not the worlds greatest F1 fan.

Regular readers will know that when it comes to F1 I can come across a little on the cinical side.

It would be wrong of me, as someone who will readily critisie F1 for boring races and who will openly accuse the drivers of not being able to “race”, and as someone who has done just that, to not acknowledge that the Turkish Grand Prix was none of those things.

While I think the DRS thingy is a bit contrived and false, combined with the KERS, it made for a very good race.

With the exception of Mr M. Schumacher the drivers have remembered how to race and not just drive. They are giving each other room and driving round each other, not just into each other.

Button round the outside of the last corner, the McLarens all over each other, the drag race in the pit lane... the list goes on... all good stuff!

I might even be looking forward to the next race, but don’t tell anybody...


“Hand Bags at Dawn” or “Racing Rivalries”


At Richmond it was Montoya Vs. Newman. At Darlington it was Harvick Vs. Kyle Busch.

The winner in each case?

NASCAR!!

Sure JPM and Newman beat up two perfectly good race cars and wrecked their own chances of a good finish, let alone each others, but it WAS a short track race and this IS NASCAR!

Was Busch loose coming off turn 4? Was he ever in control of that car? Could he have done more to avoid taking Harvick out?

Yes... no... maybe... I don’t care!



The fact is that both sets of incidents made for great TV. Long may drivers get passionate about their chosen sport, and show that passion!!


After all we all know that drivers who lack passion or emotion, and are more interested in strategy than racing don’t race in NASCAR they race in Fomula 1...

Then again...

Down To The Wire

A “Good” GP!

A Grand Prix with pit stop strategy and late race overtaking!

With the introduction of DRS, the movable flappy paddle wing things, and the reintroduction of KERS, the nod to the environment slash overboost push to pass button, Formula 1 accepted the need to do something to aid overtaking.

They may be a bit false. They may be gimmicky. They may work, they may not...

They did provide us with a GP worth watching!

Overview - Red Bull badly need KERS, McLaren need more qualifying pace, Ferrari are not good enough, Rosberg is doing well, Schumacher is a waste of space, DeRista is looking good!



4 x 2 x 0.002

The second ‘plate race of 2011 was another two car draft story.

If you like the latest style of restrictor plate racing then it was a good race.

If you don’t...it wasn’t.

I kinda do, so I enjoyed it.

2011 is turning into the year of great finishes and todays was no exception!

Two deep, four wide, and first to second was 0.002 seconds!

You can’t tell me that wasn’t good!?!

British Bumper Car Championship

Good things - The new turbo engines seem to be working. Anybody can now buy an engine, put it in a car and be competitive! Lots of different cars!

Bad things - The driving standards are appalling! Most of the cars are old... I hope the teams running the new spec cars can sort out their issues and be a factor later in the year as I don’t fancy watching old Vauxhalls and Focus’s up front all year.

Come on race control, get a grip, instill some kind of respect and stop the blocking and the bump n’ run.



Ginetta is Betta... erm Better...

I am loving the new G55‘s. They look good, sound good and race great! At last a National series I look forward to watching!

To Overtake or Not to Overtake, that is the Question!

One of the biggest developments in the history of the racing car has to be in the area of aerodynamics.

From the early wings stuck way up in the air in the late 60's, to the Lotus ground effects cars of the late 70's, to the first high nose car Tyrell of the 90's, to today's aero wonders, the art of aerodynamics has come a long way!

Unfortunately as cars have become more aero-dependant (this is becoming one of my most common topics) the racing has suffered. Today the cars create so much "dirty air" behind them that the drivers find it very hard to race closely together.

The following is the opening paragraph from an Autosport.com article dated 25-1-11...

"Formula 1 teams and its bosses should get together and invest serious time and resource into understanding better how much overtaking the sport really needs, in a bid to improve grand prix racing."

The article centres around the views of Former Renault Technical Director Pat Symonds...

"I've said it many times before, but overtaking should be like a goal in football and not a basket in basketball. That is the sort of level you want."

Autosport says...

"In particular, he thinks technical chiefs would be better able to come up with rules that did improve the racing - if they were told exactly how much overtaking the sport's chiefs felt was needed."

The brains and I use the word loosely, behind F1 need to sit down to work out what exactly they are sitting down to discuss; have a meeting to arrange when to have a meeting, if you will.

How much overtaking is needed in F1??

Well "any or some" would be a start!! They have even set up an "OWG" or "Overtaking Working Group" to research the issue!?!?!

F1 doesn't need gimmicks to ensure the drivers can overtake, it simply needs to start looking at its rule book in the same way as NASCAR.

Before you throw things at the computer screen let me explain. NASCAR has concentrated on creating a grid of cars that can race together, run closely together, pass, or / and OVERTAKE!! With the latest Nationwide cars, NASCAR has worked out how to have different designs of cars with very even down force and drag levels. Obviously a NASCAR stock car and an F1 single seater are very different cars, so I am not saying this is an easy fix for F1.

I simply think F1 should spend more time solving the issue of getting the cars to drive nose to tail, than discussing what the issue is in the frst place, and how much overtaking F1 needs. If they can't answer that question maybe they should ask the TV audience, as they have know the answer for a while now!!

Cars that can drive inches apart will then be able to race and overtake each other on the right piece of tarmac. But that's another topic altogether... Now F1, stop talking and...

Get on with it!!

Ferrari vs FIA! The Farce in Detail!!

The FIA need to pay Ferraris lawyers to act for them in the future as they played the World Motor Sport Council to perfection!!

The FIA's explanation has so many contradictions, and Ferraris arguments have the FIA running for cover!!

The FIA's "Factual Charges" (A.i) and "Legal Charges" (B.i) state Ferrari gave a team order. In legal terms there is no evidence of such an order, just an exchange of information, so the FIA are off to a bad start already.

"Legal Charges" (B.ii) states that Ferrari breached the "fraudulent conduct or act prejudicial to the interests of any competition or motor sport generally". 

Ferraris response included the following...

"In the view of Ferrari, there is a clear distinction between 'team orders' on the one hand, and 'team strategy and tactics' on the other hand. The disputed communication should be considered as 'team strategy and tactics."

I live on earth, what planet does this come from??

The killer blow from Ferrari comes in the form of...

"In the view of Ferrari, if the true nature of the breach alleged is that of "team orders", Ferrari submits that either that offence is established or it is not. If it is not, it would be improper to try to make good some deficiency in the Regulations (if such there be) by relying on some generally worded provisions which are clearly intended to apply to different situations." 

So if you can't prove the "team order" allegation, and as your regulation is badly written, you can't,  it would not be a good idea to try to hang us using your "catch all" regulation.

Ferrari then lists previous instances of "team orders", and the action taken by the FIA in each circumstance, or not taken in-fact! Question, why is it relevant what has happened in the past? If the FIA want to promote "racing" then start from now, stop looking backwards, draw the line here and now! Just because the FIA have had no back bone over the last few years doesn't mean they can't grow one now!!

The FIA ruled that Ferrari did breach the "team order" regulation. The FIA also ruled that Ferrari breached the "fraudulent conduct or act prejudicial to the interests of any competition or motor sport generally" regulation. The FIA also state...

"It is the role and responsibility of the FIA as the world governing body for motor sport to promote sports ethics and fair play... Sports ethics involves the elimination of cheating and bending the rules. In addition to the existing written rules, there can therefore be said to be a moral obligation on drivers to abide by the rules, in accordance with the principles of fair play."

Sounds good so far...

The decision... Team orders were issued! The drivers swapping places was "prejudicial to the interest of motor sport and contrary to article" blah blah blah...

They then state...

"It is important for the FIA to act to protect the sporting integrity of the FIA Formula One World Championship, and to ensure the podium finish has been achieved by genuine on track racing."

The penalty... NOTHING more than the already imposed fine!

They also state that the drivers should not be penalised!

The get out of jail free card used was the "ambiguities" of the regulation, and "it would not be appropriate to increase the overall penalty" due to this... but the rule is not ambiguous enough to prevent the FIA  from finding them guilty of breaching it!!

So in short, the "Team Order" rule is badly written and we will review it, but you have breached it, we uphold fair play but write us a small cheque and you'll be ok, drivers are responsible for their actions but shouldn't be penalised, we want the podium to reflect real on-track racing but do nothing to ensure this, oh and the best bit...

Ferrari, Williams, and Sauber "pointed out the risk of collision of team mates". If, F1 teams, you are worried about your drivers taking each other out... GET BETTER DRIVERS!!

Cricket match anyone?? Oh can't, you need balls for that!!

FIA SHOCK... INGLY PREDICTABLE...

Back in July, the German Grand Prix and Ferrari in particular, were the subject in a blog of mine entitled "Team Orders, or In Germany We Have Ways of Making You Win" http://jameswright42.blogspot.com/2010/07/team-orders-or-in-germany-we-have-ways.html.

It has now been decided that the $100,000 fine for "what happened" in the German Grand Prix is enough of a penalty after the FIA's World Motor Sport Council sat on Wednesday to review the "happenings".

This should not come as a huge surprise to anybody who knows anything about the FIA and F1 of recent years and I say this for three reasons...

1 - Ferrari International Assistance

The FIA has a recent history of letting Ferrari get away with anything they have done, while penalising other teams for everything they do, so on this basis the FIA were never going to penalise Ferrari any more than they had to. You could say that having Jean Todt in the FIA seat of power wasn't going to help this situation, or you might have hoped that the ex-Ferrari puppet master had taken all the secrets to the governing body, poacher turned game keeper, and would bring in a change of attitude. In this instance Todt was not directly involved but must have had an influence, and due to his role in the sport how are we to believe anything else?

2 - Regulations that are un-enforceable!

Regulation 39.1 bans team orders...

With this regulation in the rule book no team is ever going to get on the radio to their driver and say...

"Your team mate, our number 1 driver, who has more points than you, is behind you. Please slow down, let him overtake you and protect his position for the remainder of the race, as we want him to win the race not you."

You may hear...

"(driver name) is running half a second a lap faster than you" OR "you are currently 3 tenths of a second slower than the car behind you" OR "the leader is lapping at a 1 minute something something, you are doing 1 minute something else." This is a reasonable set of information for a driver to be told at various times over the course of a race.

However for a team to say, "your team mate is faster than you blah blah blah..." to their driver is obviously a very specific phrase used for a very specific reason. To follow it with "Sorry", along with the driver and crews demeanour after the race says it all!

Now if you heard this and thought the message meant anything other than "you are not quick enough , sorry I have given you a useless car" you are obviously incorrect, or so Ferrari would have you believe.

What the Motor Sport Council have done is uphold the fine, therefore agreeing (you would think) that the regulations were breached, but imposed no additional penalties, bar making Ferrari pay the costs of the judicial procedure, which surely they would not be made to pay were they innocent. So if you break this regulation a fine is enough of a penalty, no points loss required, no exclusions, not even a probationary period.

With the championship as close as it is, $100,000 is a small price for teams to pay if they manipulate the results of a race to put there top driver ahead for the sake of points. Put it another way, if the same thing happened at the last race of the year and influenced the Championship results, the team would have to write a cheque for the small (to an F1 team) amount of $100,000. The driver would keep the position, keep the points and the rewards associated. Sounds good to me, cheat and keep the spoils for your efforts but pay out a small cheque for the honour!!

OR If the council has decided that there was not enough evidence to convict Ferrari of breaching this regulation, why maintain the fine if you can not prove they did anything wrong! I think have an answer for that...

3 - No BALLS!!

The question is, do the FIA want to allow team orders in F1? 

If we assume for one minute that the FIA wants to promote "racing" in F1, as they keep saying and have backed up by the team orders regulations' existence in the first place, then the answer must be NO!

If this is the case why then do they send mixed messages with the "fine but can't prove they did anything wrong" routine. Want to stop team orders? Exclude the two drivers and the team from the meeting, and put them all on probation for the remainder of the season! Message sent, you cheat you get thrown out!!

If the regulation is not enforceable then introduce a regulation in the style of NASCARs, "Actions Detrimental to Stock Car Racing". This allows you to penalise any team or driver if you consider their action to have a  negative effect on the sport. Oh hang on, ever heard of "Bringing the Sport into Disrepute"? If a team rigs the outcome of a race, you could exclude them under this regulation, or fine them by the way. However this style of thinking does not fit in well with a sport run by lawyers as there may not be sufficient "evidence" to convict the driver or team even if the entire world knows exactly what happened. That and you would need the "balls" to do it in the first place!!

Reviewing the Regulation

However, if F1 think team orders are a part of the sport, why is the regulation in the rule book in the first place? The problem is, the regulation is in the book and for this season that's the law... or apparently not!!

The Motor Sport Council have requested the rule makers review the regulation for next year. You will never be able to prove in a court of motor sport law that team orders exist as no team will ever use the words. In a sport run by lawyers, the regulation was doomed from the start. However the Council have upheld the fine! If they are happy that Ferrari breached the regulation, and are therefore satisfied with the evidence, why review the regulation? If Ferrari used team orders and they have been found guilty, the rule works doesn't it? 

Feeble Incident Assessors???

Farcical...

Lastly, a quote from Autosport.com -

"When asked to respond to suggestions that, despite Ferrari's denials, many people believed the outfit had used team orders, Todt said: "I tend to agree as well."

Oh good, thanks for that!! I await the full explanation with breathe that is baited.. honest...

Team Orders... or in Germany... "We Have Ways of Making You Win"

So Ferrari dominated the German GP... Massa leading Alonso... Alonso not able to overtake his teammate...

"Fernando is faster than you. Can you confirm you understood that message?"
"Sorry"

So Ferrari dominated the German GP... Alonso leading Massa... Massa not allowed to overtake his teammate...

"All wins are special" Fernando Alonso. 

"I simply reaffirm what I have always maintained, which is that our drivers are very well aware, and it is something they have to stick to, that if one races for Ferrari, then the interests of the team come before those of the individual... Therefore enough of this hypocrisy, even if I can well believe that some people might well have liked to see our two drivers eliminate one another, but that is definitely not the case for me or indeed for our fans." Luca di Montezemolo.

"By the end of the year if you think you've lost the championship for exactly that point you will ask yourself, not only yourself, all the fans and the journalists and so on, why didn't you do so?" Michael Schumacher.

"I understand how F1 fans might be disappointed by what they have seen on Sunday" Ross Brawn. 

"It's a great shame. Ferrari are a great team," he said. "It's a shame for Formula 1 that they didn't allow Felipe and Fernando to race each other. There are not so many points between them and it was so obvious how they moved the cars around." Christian Horner. 

"We do desperately want to win but it is about how you win. If you win and you know you have cheated then I don't see how at any stage in your career or post career when you reflect upon it how you can have a feeling of ecstasy." Martin Whitmarsh.

Forgetting my personal opinions for a moment, team orders in F1 are banned. It is not a "shame" as Christian Horner said. You would not ask yourself "why didn't you do so" Mr Schumacher, as it is ILLEGAL.

What Ferrari did was against the rules, so the monetary fine should be the start of the penalties. A driver and team who break the rules can not be allowed to keep the points and positions gained by breaking the rules.

For Montezemolo to publicly state that the interests of Ferrari come before those of the drivers, and by their own actions what is best for Ferrari is apparently to break the rules, is nothing short of a disgrace. Ever heard of bringing the sport into disrepute??

The funniest quote is also from Montezemolo... "some people might well have liked to see our two drivers eliminate one another" or race one another... in a motor race... wheel to wheel... best drivers in best cars battling blah blah blah... When he says "eliminate" he means from the points battle not on the track from a race, but still does he not trust his drivers...

Thankfully McLaren in the form of Martin Whitmarsh has the right attitude. From this quote it appears they are in the business of motor racing, and not in the business of corporate event staging. 

"The rule that bans team orders is not realistic anymore." Ross Brawn

Its only unrealistic if the rule makers let Ferrari get away with it. If both Alonso and Massa, along with Ferrari were thrown out of the German GP all together, it would send a message to the field the press and the fans that the rule is totally realistic, and in fact enforced!!

The tragic thing about the Ferrari shambles is that the 2010 F1 season has probably seen more good wheel to wheel racing than most of the F1 races held in my life time, put together. The last thing F1 needed was a stupid team order debate getting in the way of a good seasons racing.

As a contrast, was Chip Ganassi ever going to ask Montoya to move over so McMurray could win the Brickyard 400? As it happened Montoya put himself out of contention, and his team mate won the race, but in America it would not happen. It would not even cross their minds.

Racing is racing, and it should stay that way...

(By the way, I could not bring myself to post photos of the Ferraris as would have been appropriate for the topic discussed above, so you will have to put up with Brickyard 400 shots instead)

What is "Safety Car Line One"??

So Monaco was the usual combination of a grand event, but dull race. To be fair the narrow confines of Monte Carlo don't exactly lend themselves to great overtaking opportunities, but Moncao, even to someone who isn't the greatest F1 fan, is still a great "event".

Unusually for F1 the race finished, and I am choosing my words carefully here, under safety car conditions, OK maybe not so carefully...

Logic, and standard racing rules from Karting up and across to NASCAR, would suggest that on a restart the start / finish line is the point at which the race restarts. Firstly this is due to the line being a fixed point which everybody can see and relate to and secondly it is where the green flag or light is located to signal the restart. It is not hard to understand that one lap ends under "yellow" while another starts under "green". I could understand if a line on the track was designated a "restart line" as in NASCAR, where the drivers can accelerate from the line but must stay single file until they cross the start / finish line. To me this is all fairly easy, and again is a standard procedure from the lowest levels of racing upwards... unless you are the FIA and F1...

So its the last lap at Monaco and as per the regs the safety car comes into the pit lane to enable the cars to  cross the finish line on their own. Trouble is race control put "Safety Car in this lap" and "Track Clear" on the timing screens, while the marshals posted after "Safety Car Line One" had green lights and flags displayed.

Confused yet??

On this basis most of the teams told their drivers to race to the line and Schumacher gained a position. Had the drivers not been on the last lap Schumachers actions would have been legal, which on its own is beyond belief, but it was the last lap... 

F1 regs say, "If the race ends whilst the safety car is deployed it will enter the pit lane at the end of the last lap and the cars will take the chequered flag as normal without overtaking" and Schumacher is given a 20 second penalty in-lieu of a drive through.

Questions...

• Why do the F1 powers that be make life so complicated for no apparent reason? - if it's not broken...
• Why introduce a different line from which the drivers can race and overtake from when the start / finish line is already there and is a pretty clear cut procedure to me? - if it's not broken don't...
• Why bring the safety car in on the last lap but still have the race finish under safety car conditions, with no safety car? - just keep the safety car out and everybody would understand exactly was going on... - if it's not broken don't fix... 
• I understand it was the first time this scenario had occurred but why didn't race control have a clear set of procedures in place and ensure that all teams are aware of the procedure? - it wasn't broken don't fix it...
• Is there a "Safety Car Line Two"??
• What is "Safety Car Line One"??

Racing or Technology

It was one hell of a build up, 4 World Champions, Schumachers come-back, new teams...   

The end result was... disappointing.


F1 ZZZZZZzzzzzzz

Mercedes GP CEO Nick Fry - "The most important people are the customers - they are the people who pay to come to races, or watch it on television. We are beholden on them to put on a good show and we should see what we should do." 

Michael Schumacher - "Overtaking is basically impossible..."

Lewis Hamilton - "It definitely didn't make the racing more exciting in terms of overtaking. I wasn't able to follow in the first third of the circuit."

 

At the start of 2009 the FIA revamped the F1 technical regulations, eliminating most of the aero influencing add-ons, and changing the wing dimensions for all cars. The end result was a set of cars that moved around, oversteered, and that could follow each other closer than F1 cars had for a long time. The cars made for some, dare I say it, good racing. Unfortunately for racing fans the FIA deemed Brawn GPs rear diffuser to be legal, even though it was against the "spirit of the regulations". In typical F1 fashion this meant that everybody had to have the same diffusers on their cars and before we knew it the cars were generating more downforce than they had before the FIAs aero cut.

The FIA and the teams have now decided that these twin rear diffusers will be banned from next season. The cars also seem to have sprouted previously banned barge boards, the most intricate front and rear wings you have ever seen, and elaborate engine covers and scoops influencing the flow of air to the rear wing. F1 has always been about pushing the technical envelope, developing new ways of going faster, changing gear quicker, accelerating away from the start line better, going round corners and stopping more effectively, using technology to be the fastest. Aerodynamics, launch control, semi automatic then basically automatic gearboxes, traction control, carbon brakes, super sticky tyres, race cars controlled by lap top programmers as much as set up by chassis engineers are the F1 norm.

At one time the powers that be in F1 didn't care how many people watched the result of all this development, but this has changed in recent years. F1 teams, sponsors and manufacturers now need exposure to as many people as possible to make the huge costs involved worth while.


Here is my conundrum...

Can F1 continue to have a fairly relaxed set of technical regulations, allowing the teams to continue to push the envelope while also producing a "show" that people actually want to watch? All this technology means the drivers do less, drive very high speed but also very efficient race cars, but they don't even change gear! If F1 really do care about the show they need to balance the aero and technical evolution with a set of regulations producing cars that can race close together and overtake, and stop the teams from adding aero pieces that effect this balance. But is the tightness of regulation and organisational control needed to ensure this works contrary to what F1 is all about?


All regulation changes need a settling in period, and the latest race format in F1 is no different. Let's get one thing clear, the lack of refuelling and the qualifying format and tyre regulations did not make for a classic opener to the season (leader 2 seconds up after 1 lap!!), which is just what the world wanted, and what F1 needed!

To me it's not the lack of refuelling that's the problem; it is the inability of the cars to drive close together and race that needs addressing. But then something's never change.


Another COT... ish...

Australia, and the V8 Supercars, the last remaining home for rear wheel drive / big engined touring car racing, are soon to announce a totally new car package. The theory is that the "Car of the Future" (COF), will be a generic purpose built rear wheel drive race car, and not based on production car shells.

Touring car racing in Australia has always been about Ford vs. Holden, production based RWD sedans with V8 engines going head to head around Bathurst. Changing this format is a big deal. The idea is that the new regulations will allow other manufacturers to enter the series, but to me surely the point is to allow Ford and Holden to stay in the series, and to allow the series to maintain a V8 RWD base.

Let me explain. Falcons and Commodores are not selling in Australia. Ford and GM are not as financially stable as years past. What are the chances of the Australian arms of Ford and GM being allowed to develop their own RWD replacements, independent of the rest of the world? There is a chance that the next generation Falcon and Commodore will be based on "world" platforms, which may bring front wheel drive to Australian sedans. In reality we have no idea if this is correct but if I was the V8 Supercar organisers this is what I would fear. There is nothing worse for touring cars than front wheel drive.

So how do you ensure a future for your RWD, V8, production sedan based championship under threat from front wheel drive road cars? You develop a standardised, specifically developed RWD race car, and let the manufacturers clothe the cars in their own bodywork, and fit their own V8.


We will find the details out just after the Australian GP. I get the feeling that the V8 Supercar race and the following announcement will be more exciting than the headlining GP!

My 2009 Racing Recap

My NASCAR Stories of the year...

• Stewart Haas Racings first year results in Smoke leading the Championship at the end of the regular season - I think NASCAR is a better place with Smoke doing well. He is a racer, he loves racing, he drives, owns race teams, owns a race track, and he speaks his mind.
• Earnhardt Jr finally finds his feet and shows the world that he does deserve the hype - or not.
• Mark Martin showing the world that if you've got it, you've got it - regardless of age.
• Montoya finding his feet and showing the world that he does deserve to be there.
• NASCARs last lap restrictor plate wrecks and how to keep the Cup cars on the ground.
• NASCAR broadcasters and journalists constantly complaining.
• Oh.. and 4 in a row for JJ, assuming he clinches it at Homestead.

My other racing stories of 2009...

F1 - New aero rules in F1 work to promote racing, nay overtaking no less... in F1 no less... until the FIA let the teams have multi layer rear diffusers, and in doing so give the cars back a lot of the aero downforce and aero dependency the new rules were supposed to eliminate.  Still better racing than F1 has had for a long time but not as good as earlier in the year. Jenson Button wins the World Championship, by not only having the best car for the first half of the season but by driving the wheels off it too!

Sarah Moore wins the Ginetta Junior Championship. The Juniors showed that no aero, road tyres, H-pattern gearboxes, only 100 bhp and rear wheel drive, all it takes to create good racing. So on the back of a good year Ginetta announce they are bringing in a new car for 2010?!? Please Ginetta, make them look more modern if you must, but don't mess with the basics. If it isn't broken...

V8 Supercars, the last "touring car" championship using H-pattern gearboxes swap to sequential 'boxes - what a shame. I understand that I am old fashioned in thinking that part of the art of driving is in the gear change. I may also be in the minority in believing that while your average road car (Fiesta / Focus / Mondeo / etc) has an H-pattern 'box then so should a "touring car" (Falcon in Australia to carry the car link on). Only NASCAR now races on a road course with an H-pattern box, and long may they continue. Even the Ginetta Juniors are going to a sequential 'box I think.

The IRL finds its long lost oval racing mojo. By letting the teams use aero devices that had once been banned for cost containment purposes the IRL reintroduced the style of 2x2, nose to tail oval racing that its fans have been craving since Sam Hornish left for NASCAR. Thank god for that, the oval races have been dire for a quite a while now.