Hamilton kicks some sand in Button's face

Really, the only interesting thing about the Abu Dhabi race is the cat fight between the two Brit champs.

I figure Hamilton thinks Button is cut rate and only won because of his car and is bitter he's not the UK media's darling anymore. Button desperately wants to show he actually knows how to win without a massive car advantage.

They are playing on neutral ground, a track nobody has seen before and qualifying weights make it clear that they were both going for pole. Hamilton schooled Button who blamed a bad vibration in his brakes for 5th place, behind Barrichello.

Red bulls are in fine shape with a heavier fuel load. Good last qualifying for SauberBMW. Especially embarrassing show from Ferrari, right in front of their monumental amusement park. Luca Di Montezemolo looked distinctly un-amused.

Pos  Driver                             Weight (kg)
1.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes        658.5
2.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault        663.0
3.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault        660.0
4.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes          655.0
5.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes          657.0
6.  Trulli       Toyota                  661.0
7.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber              654.5
8.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber              664.0
9.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota         665.0
10.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari      661.5
11.  Raikkonen    Ferrari                 692.0*
12.  Kobayashi    Toyota                  694.3*
13.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes        697.0*
14.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota         704.0*
15.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari      696.5*
16.  Alonso       Renault                 708.3*
17.  Liuzzi       Force India-Mercedes    695.0*
18.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes    696.0*
19.  Grosjean     Renault                 710.8*
20.  Fisichella   Ferrari                 692.5*

* Declared weight

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Well Said Damon!

Damon makes a point we all agree with though I have to say the Abu Dhabi track does look much better than I first thought.





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BMW: 10 years in Formula 1

I'm curious to hear what you think of this video. I'll save my comments for the... comments section.





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Las Dhabi World!

Looks to me like what we have here in the Yas Marina circuit is a combination Paul Ricard and Speed Racer 2008, something that looks beautiful on TV but has no substance and will probably give you a headache after 10 minutes.

Mostly long straights followed by hairpins or left right quasi-chicanes, it's yet one more Formula 1 track built as an amusement park without any natural features (this more than any other has NO natural features as it's built on a landfill) and where it's hard to imagine any consequences paid for mistakes made.

Apparently there are fantastic accommodations for the teams and their guests, for the press and, with the lights on, it will make TV directors happy but ... It feels like what it set out to be: an amusement park...complete with FerrariWorld ride. A middle eastern Las Vegas/Disney World, Bah. We'll see this week end if, at least, the circuit allows for good racing.

Free practice saw the Mclarens in front but as usual the first 13 cars are within one second of each other. Note Kobayashi in 5th!!
That might explain why Trulli's silly behaviour at the Thursday press conference which was best commented by Fernando Alonso with a "we will discuss tomorrow...deep". check it out after the jump.

Pos  Driver       Team                       Time              Laps
 1.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:41.307            35
 2.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:41.504  + 0.197   34
 3.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:41.541  + 0.234   39
 4.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:41.591  + 0.284   37
 5.  Kobayashi    Toyota                (B)  1:41.636  + 0.329   34
 6.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:41.683  + 0.376   37
 7.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:41.684  + 0.377   34
 8.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:41.831  + 0.524   38
 9.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:41.931  + 0.624   39
10.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:41.987  + 0.680   39
11.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:42.180  + 0.873   28
12.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:42.245  + 0.938   36
13.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:42.278  + 0.971   36
14.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:42.409  + 1.102   30
15.  Liuzzi       Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:42.530  + 1.223   33
16.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:42.782  + 1.475   29
17.  Fisichella   Ferrari               (B)  1:42.932  + 1.625   37
18.  Grosjean     Renault               (B)  1:43.021  + 1.714   37
19.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:43.022  + 1.715   39
20.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:43.708  + 2.401   13

All Timing Unofficial

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The M5 Convertible that almost was...

Now convertible M's are pretty common, but hairdressers in the early 90's woz robbed!...





"BMW has finally confirmed that it developed an M5 convertible 20 years ago, but canned it a week before it was due to be launched due to sales concerns.
The long-rumoured car was shown to a select group of journalists at an event celebrating 25 years of the BMW M5, and autocar.co.uk has obtained exclusive photos.

BMW confirmed that the car, which had two lengthened front doors and seating for four, had been developed for sale at a price of £50,000.
It was all set to be launched at that year's Geneva motor show, with BMW booking space for it on its stand, but a week before the event it was canned.
BMW confirmed that it was abruptly dropped as it believed it would result in demand for non-M 5 Series convertibles, which could have harmed sales of teh highly-profitable drop-top 3 Series."
(Autocar)



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Toyota-Ru Coupe testing?

The camouflage makes it look like an e36 318ti with a Panamera testing wing. Smallish even tires suggest 4wd though rather than the rumored rwd for this Toyota -Subaru developed coupe.


(auto sport und motor)


Axis Home page

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More Vintage Porsche Posters

We've been very Porsche-centric lately... it just kind of worked out that way. It's not THAT bad though is it?

Here is the second in a series of historic Porsche Motorsport promotional posters, these are from the 1950s, fabulous graphics which continued into the 60's and 70's with great imagination to then fall into a slick but sterile, strict corporate style.

follow the links to a generously proportioned file for your printing pleasure!

You can find the first group of posters HERE


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Porsche GT3RS MkII Nürburgring time: 7:33

Here's one that will keep the internet flame wars going between fanboys of both sides.

Let's examine that GT3 RS lap time for a second because it's very impressive. Essentially the same lap time as the much more powerful GT2 (7:32.2) and 10 seconds faster than the Mk1 RS, it is even more impressive especially when you consider that, according to the report on EVO, Porsche engineers reckon that a traffic free "theoretical best lap" lap would be closer to 7:30. That's one hell of a mid life refresh for any car.

Now about the flame war, there really should is no cause for one. Let's put aside that nobody outside of NIssan has been able to duplicate the feats of the Nissan drivers (legendary magazine tester Horst Von Saurma "only"managed a 7:38), EVO makes a very obvious and valid point, so what if you can only do it for one lap?

Absolutely the GT-R is fast but, at 10/10ths how long can the GT-R hold up? We asked people with experience running the GT-R, specifically at the Nürburgring, about this issue and what he got back is not pretty: even when not driven at full Toshio Suzuki pace, tires are only good for one lap then they go away. Running costs including consumables and service work out to an epic 200 Euro($300) per lap!!. Nissan recommends a full service after every second track day, you can see how that could get tedious after a while.

But what would be worse would be having to stop after every lap and cool everything down while the buddies you just taunted with your best "ha, ha, I only paid half of what you paid" speech go right on through for more fun!

Discuss!





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Daytona, Part II

Part II of CG's Daytona week end at the PCA Oktoberfest races. Part I is HERE

Grid for the 2nd Sprint was based on fastest laps from the first race. Started P2 and was outdragged in the Start by a faster I Stock car, then was able to make the pass in the infield.

Focused on staying close to P1, Greg Pickeral in the Silver 3.6 996, while he ran away in the speedway and slowly reeled him under braking for T1 and in the infield, until in lap 4 he goes long braking for the Bus Stop under lockup. The cloud of smoke was so big and dense, that I had a brief "days of thunder" moment. I really wasn't able to see the BusStop or any part of the track nor know if Greg's car was somewhere in the middle, but since the smoke was moving forward I assumed he must be beyond the BusStop entry. Braked a bit earlier and stayed on the left and made it through (Can't figure out how scary it would be in Nascar to go through dense smoke at 200mph full throttle - The BusStop is a brake zone of 150+ down to 80mph only!).

Inherited the lead of the race and focused on moving efficiently through traffic. All my laps were 2:07-2:08s except for one in which I had to squeeze myself between a 944 battle coming out of T4 (see picture sequence). Won the race overall and it felt great having been able to outrun the faster I Stock cars. Probably on of my best wins of the season or very close to my battle with Scott Gerard in the Sprint2 at Mosport. Unfortunately, the video shows the first lap of that race only as the camera stopped recording.

More after the jump

The Sprint results prompted me to take Spencer's suggestion and try I Prepared. Big Mike replaced the ECU (with Mitchell's magic code) and the rear hatch for the one with the BIG Techart Wing. Since Top Speed is so critical at Daytona we ran the wing in the lowest angle and with no Gurney flap.

The changes were immediately felt in the WarmUp. The car felt SOOOO planted through the high speed kink and better grip through the BusStop while gear changes were happening a bit earlier too thanks to the the extra magic HP. It showed in the time sheets. A 2:05.3 was 1.7secs faster than my best time from Saturday in H Stock trim. Seems that I had newfound pace to challenge the I cars. Lack of participation prompted the organizers to combine the race groups.

They used the Qualifying times from the Sprints for the grid so I was starting P21 behind the 3 I Stock cars with some other GT cars and Cup cars in the mix. Watch the race start in the video and you will see how diverse the performance of that car mix is! Didn't have the best of starts but made some ground on every corner of the infield by passing cars through the tight inside line, until I had the silver 996 in sight going into the Speedway. Reeled in the gap on lap 2, that ended up being my fastest lap of the weekend with a 2:04,9 (I Stock record!), and stayed close through the infield until he went wide on T6 and I had the power to make the pass stick (from the video I think he also missed a shift too). Leading the class and with much faster cars ahead had the space to run some nice clean laps until in lap 5 a 997 Cup Car crashed on the speedway and we had a full course yellow for 2 laps.

It was a single file restart and apparently a few guys behind, including the silver 996, got a much better call on Green! I felt raped on that restart! Almost spun out of T6 trying to be on the 996's tail to make a quick pass. Screwed my head down and followed the 996 as close as I could but he did a great job moving through lapped traffic and I wasn't having the same luck as the day before, so was never that close in the infield to attempt another pass (plus he stopped going wide in T6) until the pitstops. He pitted first, then I did 2 laps later and missed slowing down enough for the start line of pit entry and apparently crossed it at 40mph instead of 30mph. Our pitstop took a bit longer as by making the math that after only 50mins of racing (including 2 slow pacecar laps) had no fuel left; that 5 gallons would not be enough to finish the 90mins race. Big Mike made a quick run for 3 more gallons! I came out of pits further behind the 996, but it seemed as a surmountable gap (100yds aprox), until I was black flagged for my pit speed infraction with a stop and go penalty. Game over, my race for the class lead was over!

Then again, one can always screw up more: I exceeded pitlane speed again on my stop and go! After 2 extra pitstops I had no clue where I was on the race so just decided to do some good laps and focused on efficiently going through lapped traffic. Made some passes and ended the race P2 in class and 13th overall. The video shows the first 4 laps until the full course yellow, and there's another vid of the crowded restart lap.

All in, another great weekend to wrap my first PCA racing season, and now with a proven option to be able to run I Prepared next year as an alternative (That would be my NASA GTS3 setup too). Daytona is a great place for racing and can't complain for the post race day chill at the pool and the beach with the family. My kids obviously loved the fact that it is only 50mi away form Orlando, so and extra day of tribute to the big mouse was in order the day after. Thanks to Spencer, BIg Mike and all the Farnbacher team for a solid race weekend!

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WRC season Highlights

Sebastien Loeb made it six world championships in Wales this past week end. Here is a quick HL clip from Eurosport





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Who said X5s are no good off road?

If he or she had kept on the gas you could have had some real monster truck action right there!



"...Police are still trying to find the driver of a BMW station wagon (lolz) who drove on top of two other cars in a North Toronto gym parking lot, then left the scene."
(Boing-boing)


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24 Hours Heavy

24 Heures du Camion


(Pole-Endurance.com)



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Little Big Man

Nobody is surprised by Todt's election right? We hope Todt will return the FIA presidency to a position of anonymity and keep it out of the news but for all of those who wonder how he could have crushed Ari Vatanen hopes for reform so completely let me point out that while Vatanen had the support of drivers, teams and 99% of the public (ok, that's unscientific but I know I'm right...) not one of those groups gets to vote.

Who voted? Take a look at this list compiled by a pitpass.com reader. Now no offense intended but in many of the countries represented there are barely roads, what precisely do Rwanda and Mongolia contribute to motorsport? Iraq? IRAQ??
I tell you what the esteemed representatives of these automobile clubs understand very well: on their shopping trip to Paris it's much more glamorous to hang out with Michelle Yeoh and Michael Schumacher than voting to rock the boat.




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Here's something you don't see every day: a Ferrari 456 track car...with Lexan windows and side exaust!
Photo by Sevan Calians



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Speed in Slow Motion

(YouTube)



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Daytona, Part I

Part 1 of CG's Daytona week end at the Porsche Club of America Oktoberfest races.

First time racing at a Nascar Speedway, and in this case, the Daytona 24hr Course uses almost 100% of the banked speedway! Big expectations for a race weekend in a historic venue as the American equivalent to LeMans.

First impression is that the facilities are First Class despite the track being so old. The Stadium seating feels bigger than Indianapolis and although everything is flat, it is easy to get lost in the infield roads and numerous buildings. Driving randomly around to allow my kids turns at the Golf Kart, we even found a Go-Kart Track in which we practiced the theory of smooth hands and straightening turns with my 5 year old. In the Paddock and pits, everything looks new and in perfect shape. The Nascar area is clearly built with the fans in mind and it is the first time I take an elevator with A/C to Timing and Scoring! I wished they put that kind of money in our local tracks!

Car was in perfect shape but had gained some weight due to the addition of a much needed Transmission Cooler. Running at 160mph in 100F weather would have certainly mean melted my gears without it (This being a new Tranny after the old one blew at Mosport). We found we were close to 3200 lbs (100 lbs above min weight of 3106 lbs with driver), so decided to finally run the mini-battery to take 20 lbs off (That battery is only good for 2-3 engine cranks and maybe 45 secs of running accessories; as proved the first time out that the car didn't start on the Quali grid! and Big Mike had to come to the rescue).

Farnbacher had setup the car with the proper staggered alignment to avoid potential tire failures at the Speedway. Car felt good right away on the speedway, but it was an understeering then oversteering mess in the infield. Feedback from other drivers that had run the track other years said that it was unusually slick that first day. We still softened the shocks a bit with a few magical tweaks from Spencer, and voila! the Cayman was again faster than anything else through the tight turns of the infield.

(continues after jump)

The track is very easy to learn and looks exactly the same as in the numerous Youtube videos you can find. However, you need to build the line that works with your car in the infield (Cayman is very different than 911) in the almost 180deg corners and it requires some confidence build up to keep the throttle pinned through the banking as due to gradient and sharp turn radius your visibility at 150mph+ is no more than 200 yds in front.

The theoretical tip is to take a peak through your window, but only works if you are short enough for your A pillar and roof line not to obstruct the view (not my case!). Other than being efficient through the infield, the two critical spots for a record breaking lap are exit from T7 to the Speedway (Very early full throttle but shorter arc possible IMO), and carrying as much speed and early throttle out of the Bus-Stop. From the Telemetry, using the grip in these sections from fresh tires on the first 3 laps before they started to "go-away" in the 100F weather, is what made the most difference for the best possible lap times.

The most challenging part of the track then, IMO, is nailing the braking into T1. At almost 160mph and with the the track surface being so wide and no contrast surface to determine the track's edge (only cones to mark a deep view into the asphalt horizon) it was hard to visualize where to start braking while still turning slightly left. A good late braking effort and proper downshifting into T1 can save almost 5/10ths on a single lap.

Practice day went well and within a few laps felt comfortable with racing the track (ran old tires but still good enough to make the setup meaningful). Pace was in the 2:08s. The Fun Races made me realize that my qualifying time was above the car's ability to accelerate on par with its lap time peers and I was going to get killed on the start by the I Stock cars and the fast GT5 cars around me. We had taken the spare NASA ECU (20-25hp more aprox) and the new rear hatch with a TechArt Wing that allowed us to run in I Prepared. Decided to Run H Stock as usual for the Sprint Races on Saturday to be able to get enough data (Quali + Race) to make later comparisons meaningful between the 2 setups while running I Prepared for the Enduro.

Got a Black Flag in the Warm Up session as my front splitter was about to come loose and it did! Big Mike from Farnbacher with the help of the rest of the crew engineered a Frankensplitter using the detachable piece of a Cup Car's. After 40mins of intense labor in the 100F heat the result was amazing! We covered the rivets and any spaces with red duct tape to match the car's livery and it even looked good (see if you can tell from the pictures). Sticker tires for Qualifying made it easy to carry more speed in the infield and BusStop, so achieving low 2:07s looked feasible. Despite the the hiccup of running out of battery in the Quali grid, was able to enter the track late, and Daytona is probably the easiest track to find empty track space thanks to the very long speedway section. Did 2 laps and managed a 2:07.098; best lap so far and new track record for H Stock.

Qualified P4 behind 3 I Stock cars and just in front of very fast GT5 cars that out accelerated me but being old 911s they had big drag profiles so top speed was slightly lower than mine. Despite being out dragged on the start (See video and Pictures sequences) was able to make the handling advantage count in the infield and made some passes (sometimes re-passes as I was passed again on the speedway) and traded a few places (faster in the infield, slower in the Speedway than I cars), and ended up P2. However, although I was able to catch up in the infield, I didn't have enough HP to contest for P1 with Greg Pickeral and he ran away with the Group Win in his 3.6 Silver 996. The video shows the first 5 laps of that race.

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Brawn World Champions, Button World Champion

Congratulations to Brawn GP and Jenson Button. I read many articles along the lines of "but is Jenson Button worthy..." yada yada. Ultimately, pointless: you win Championships by having the most points and Button was able to do that. You may debate style but not substance.

And you can get as "Oliver Stone" as you like but there is no denying one basic thing about Brawn GP, Along with Mercedes they built a package that was not just fast but incredibly strong and reliable. Why did Button win the championship even after other teams fitted their cars with "double diffusers" and closed the performance gap? Because his car, unlike his those of his rivals, did not break once in sixteen races (he was punted off track in Belgium). Rubens had one mechanical. That is simply fantastic, the car was a tank.

As for today's race, Button, like Hamilton, had a dry setup and as expected sliced through the field. But from the start the seas parted for Button as, once again, cars in front of him got into trouble. Raikkonen was shut down hard by Webber, Trulli and Sutil got cozy and bumped each other out taking Alonso with them. Rosberg had a mechanical, Nakajima crashed. Mclaren drove off with a fuel hose attached and managed to light Kimi's Ferrari on fire for a second ( way more embarrassing than Singapore last year, the fuel man was not even close to done when the lead mechanic released the car...)
Button had some trouble with the very impressive Kamui Kobayashi and had, I thought, a bit of a lame moment when he complained over the radio the rookie was not making things easy for him ("we'll let Charlie know" was the reply from the team). Yes Jenson, it's called racing... I like Kobayashi, he fought hard and showed Button and other veterans zero respect, reminded me a bit of when Alonso was dealing with Schumacher way back...

And Barrichello, once again jinxed in Brazil, he owes Brawn for a chance to see if eighteen's the charm for winning his home GP!

Oh yes, almost forgot, Webber won, Kubica had a great race and Vettel not a so great race.
Feel free to weigh in, as usual.


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Why Ferrari Rules!

Paul430
(CG/Paul430/DaveM993)

DaveM wrote:

"I track periodically with a bunch of guys, and one of the mainstays of the interaction are the gags and jokes they do on each other. One member of the group drives an F430 Challenge and they love to rib him about the paddle shifters....to the point that his car has been labeled the "Ferraromatic"...

The video is his response to this ribbing...and he has set the bar at a new level!

enjoy."




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Face Palm: Ecclestone tells Brazilian Press Senna's Death "A Good Thing"

"It was very sad but in the end his death was good for F1, many people who had never heard of the sport became aware or it and started to follow"

Senility is a hell of a thing and though Ecclestone tried to deny ever making the statement, the interviewer from Sao Paulo's Folha de S.Paulo produced the tapes....

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The Curious Case of Jensomin Button

(Steven Tee/LAT Photographic)

Has Jenson Button actually figured out a way to go from a seemingly insurmountable lead to losing the world championship to Ruben Barrichello? Sure looked like it during qualifying, Button plain blew it, no excuses. Barrichello barely made Q3 but then got the job done with a light car to score his first pole in a long time.
Vettel also blew it and then blew a gasket in a not so cool "toy out of the pram toss" episode... Dude, conditions were tough for everyone.

Of course some cars will have gambled on dry setups and in the unlikely case of a dry race, watching the "drys" make their way through the field should be very entertaining.

Because Liuzzi has to change his gearbox (destroyed when he crashed in Q2) he will start from the back which means Button and Vettel will start side by side.

Barrichello is on pole but he has been traditionally jinxed in Brazil and he has the lightest fuel load. Webber looks like a real threat but Raikkonen is also there ready to pounce and now probably very motivated to show well.

Don't miss the race this afternoon!


(Ercole Colombo)

Pos  Driver       Team                       Q1        Q2        Q3
1.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:24.100  1:21.659  1:19.576
2.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:24.722  1:20.803  1:19.668
3.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:24.447  1:20.753  1:19.912
4.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:24.621  1:20.635  1:20.097
5.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:23.047  1:21.378  1:20.168
6.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:24.591  1:20.701  1:20.250
7.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:22.828  1:20.368  1:20.326
8.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:23.072  1:21.147  1:20.631
9.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:23.161  1:20.427  1:20.674
10.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:24.842  1:21.657  1:21.422
11.  Kobayashi    Toyota                (B)  1:24.335  1:21.960 
12.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:24.773  1:22.231 
13.  Grosjean     Renault               (B)  1:24.394  1:22.477 
14.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:24.297  1:22.504 
15.  Liuzzi       Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:24.645 
16.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:25.009
17.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:25.052
18.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:25.192
19.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:25.515
20.  Fisichella   Ferrari               (B)  1:40.703

All Timing Unofficial

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More Ferrari 458 Italia than you can watch...

What look to be out takes and b-roll from the official launch clips at Mugello was "leaked" to the net. I find the car stunning but I hear a lot of people are not convinced by the looks. What will be unquestioned will be its performance.... let's just say 430 Scuderia owners should get the highest price while they can, the 458 is lapping Fiorano in Enzo territory!

In other surprising Ferrari news, Maranello will enter the Bentley GT market with the successor to the 612 Scaglietti. Codenamed F151 it will be a 600+hp v12, full 4 seater with luggage space and all wheel drive.


(youtube/Debi)
More after the jump








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Brazil Practice Samba

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Interlagos

Weather uncertain, Button's clinch uncertain... Formula 1 script writers heading for another successful season finale!

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It's like the All-Star game....

Pre-order from Amazon UK (and support A.o.O!)
Clarkson - Duel [DVD] [2009]



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Trouble brewing at Maranello for 2010.

I'm not sure what it is that compels Brazilian drivers to blurt out conspiracy theories when in Brazil. Felipe Massa accused his future team mate Fernando Alonso of being in on on the Singapore affair to a group of Brazilian journalists yesterday.

"I'm absolutely certain he was in on the game, it's only logical, I have no doubt" Massa is quoted " Briatore may may be gone, the engineer may be gone, but the theft from Singapore still stands"

Massa feels that had the Singapore sling not happened he would have been world champion. Like many conspiracy theories this is a belief built on a shaky premise: that the pit lane disaster, with Massa driving off with the fuel rig attached was a direct result of Renault's plan.

How would Massa have scored the race? Cancel all the results taking points away from everyone, even those who did not mess up their stops under the same pressure.

It's not logical and makes Massa sound like a Barrichello. Hell, why not throw in that Timo Glock let Hamilton through intentionally in Brazil last year? Going for the full monty, Massa also opined Hamilton should feel bad having won a World Championship because of a "cheat".

Maybe it was just one too many caipirinhas that night at the charruscaria.

Within hours Ferrari made Massa, whose contract is up at the end the 2010 season, issue a "clarifying statement" where there Brazilian backpedals somewhat.

"What I've said is the outcome of a hunch I've had and is not based on any concrete evidence,” Felipe said. “The FIA World Council announced that there was no indication that Fernando may have been informed of what had happened and I respect this outcome. Obviously I'm very disappointed about what transpired last year in Singapore: I have already said several times what I thought about it and now it's time to close that chapter and to look to the future. What is certain is that this episode will not marr in any way the relationship I'll have with Fernando when we will be teammates.”

Right...

More Formula 1 on Axis

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Red Mist

We had a fairly heated email exchange among us about the Bergmeister/Magnuson incident on the last lap of the ALMS Laguna Seca race. We thought we'd put it out there for comment without adding our own for now. Let's take it to the comment section!



More views after the jump and the, in my opinion, crucial precedent.





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Daytona!

Axis Cayman rocked Porsche Club of America's Oktoberfest at Daytona this past week end....write up coming soon!





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2009 Bathurst 1000 Highlights

300 km/h side by side on a track that is maybe 3 cars wide. About 12 minutes of highlights including the restart for the final 3 laps. Time well spent.




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Thunder on the Mountain, the 2009 Bathurst 1000 Shootout.

The Bathurst 1000, one of the world's most incredible races. Australian V8 Supercars are a mix of golden era DTM and what NASCAR could be if it wasn't afraid to turn right more often. The Mount Panorama circuit is unique and has got to be one of the scariest tracks on the planet. These guys are all over it with 100% commitment, millimiters from the concrete walls, it's just amazing.

All of this makes for a great show and the way the Australians cover this race is amazing. Australian TV was the first to incorporate onboard cameras and have developed and exported the technology ever since, they are masters at it. A motorhead's delight they have cameras everywhere, even on the car's suspensions, other racing series should study and learn.

So here is the complete top ten qualifying shootout divided by driver and continued after the jump.

















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Porstcard from Laguna Seca

ALMS season finale is on this week end: Qualifying results HERE



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Ferrari 458 Italia Ordering Guide

Let me one up, in friendly way of course, all the big sites who recently published a dutch price list: you will of course have to brush up on your Italian but, I'm sure you'll get the gist of this Ferrari 458 Italia ordering guide. Have fun!

Download the full .pdf HERE


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Frozen Gray

Tasty....Matte gray is the new matte black

Steuerung Individual
Hinweisschild BMW Individual

0490 Sonderlackierung
Sonderlackierung "frozen grey metallic", wie Schl. Nr. U83.
(Basislack: Spacegrau met. A52 / matter 2K-Klarlack FF95-0550
+ Haerter SC29-0160, MV100:33 Gew., BASF).





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Where there's a will...

The principals at USF1 say the reason they cannot run, as promised, American drivers in their Formula 1 debut is because delays in the Concord Agreement left them with no time and that in any case, there are no American drivers who would qualify for a F1 Super license.

Remembering how Kimi Raikkonen came to Formula 1 after what, 10 car races all together?, I looked up the requirements set forth by the FIA:

Qualification and conditions of issue for the Super Licence

5.1 The driver must be the holder of a current FIA International Grade A licence.
5.1.1 The driver must also satisfy at least one of the following requirements: have made at least 5 starts in races counting for the FIA Formula One World Championship for Drivers the previous year, or at least 15 starts within the previous 3 years.
5.1.2 a)have previously held the Super Licence and have been the regular test driver with an F1 World Championship team for the previous year.
b) been classified, within the previous 2 years, in the first 3 of the final classification of the F2 Championship, or of the final classification of the GP2 Series, or c)of the final classification of the GP2 Asia Series or of the final classification of the Japanese F/Nippon Championship,

d) been classified in the first 3 of the final classification of the Indy Racing League (IRL) series or of the Champ Car World Series within the previous 2 years; been classified in the first 4 of the final classification of the Indycar IRL series the previous year.*
* From 1.1.2010: been classified in the first 4 of the final classification of the Indycar IRL series within the previous 2 years.
e) be the current champion of one of the following: Formula 3 Euro Series The principal national F3 championships of: Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Spain World Series F/Renault V6
N.B.: the title of Champion is considered valid for 12 months from the last race of the relevant series or championship season.

f) be judged by the FIA to have consistently demonstrated outstanding ability in single-seater formula cars, but with no opportunity to qualify under any of c) to e) above.

In this case the F1 team concerned must show that the applicant has driven at least 300 km in a current Formula One car consistently at racing speeds, over a maximum period of 2 days, completed not more than 90 days prior to the application and certified by the ASN of the country in which the test took place.
By exception, if supported by the Safety Commission, the FIA World Motor Sport Council may approve the issue of the Super Licence to persons judged by the Council to have met the intent of the qualification process.

In other words, there are set paths but also a lot of wiggle room especially now that the role of test drives is so reduced. Historically it seems to me to be a "where there's a will there's a way" process. So what happened to USF1's will?

USF1 (or USGP) have shown pictures of fancy equipment and hosted FIA representatives recently (you have seen the press release on every F1 web site this week) yet they still have no working web site and have not announced an engine supplier or even a european base of operations. That explains why there will be no American drivers, if USF1 is going after, say, Toyota engines, they will probably have to run a Nakajima...

So perhaps the will is there but not as much of the way as we are led to believe yet?






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Bavarian Jake makes the news...

You might remember this inexplicably Jake badged BMW M3 featured on our pages... Apparently Mr. Epic Baller made the news when his first ever race in a Corvette ZR1 ended abruptly about 10 minutes in and is now splashed on the pages of Jalopnik...

Our own The Dough, T-Neck and Eddie were at Watkins Glen and sent us these observations:

"Remember the winner who built up his e90 coupe and turned it into a racecar? Well, he owned a ZR1 as well and decided to turn that into a race car too. After a few sessions in the instructor group over the weekend (where he ran around passing with no point), he put it into the wall ... (T Neck called it). What a shame. "

No doubt Mr. Sobolewski will return with a matte black, Jake decal-led, Ferrari Enzo at the very least!

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So, who's lying?

When Nelson Piquet Jr, the only man unsanctioned in the Singapore fiasco, spectacularly missed another opportunity to keep quiet and decided instead to try and cast himself as the hapless victim, he raised an interesting question, one Flavio Briatore's lawyers will be sure to focus on.

In an interview on Brazil's Globo TV, Nelsiño claims he was approached by Briatore and Symonds on the very morning of the Grand Prix with the suggestion....order, to crash his car.

“Foi no próprio dia da corrida, no domingo mesmo, algumas horas antes da prova. ...Eles (Flavio Briatore e Pat Symonds) me chamaram para conversar, não estavam muito confortáveis com a situação Mas precisavam e queriam muito que isso (o acidente) acontecesse. ...”

"It was on the day of the race, the very Sunday, a few hours before the start. They (Briatore-Symonds) called me to talk, they were not comfortable with the situation but wanted very much for it ( the accident) to happen"

Symonds and crucially, Alan Premane the apparent Witness X who's testimony was seen as the nail in Briatore's coffin, claimed that A) it was Piquet's idea and B) Piquet brought it up on the Saturday of the race.

Now, both realities cannot be right, can they?




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Why? ...because you can!

(clashproduction)


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Classic Posters

Let's make Wednesday, Classic Porsche poster day... generously sized for your printing pleasure!
(follow the link for large size)




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Obscure Racers: Alfa Romeo 512

An excerpt from Mattijs Diepraam's fantastic article on rear/mid engine race cars.

The undoubted pre-war highlights among the rear-engined single-seater racing machines were the ultra-successful übercars built by the Auto Union racing department. That is, if you could call them highlights when the opposition comprised of a strange collection of Indy specials (more on them later) and the earlier Tropfenwagen.

While the Auto Unions were at the pinnacle of world motor racing for over five years it took a long time before another European designer felt the need to follow in Porsche’s footsteps to create a mid-engined racing car of his own. (Although we should not forget that Porsche himself, after severing his Auto Union ties, made a rear-engined proposal to Mercedes for the 3-litre regulations.)

The man in question was Wifredo Ricart, the willful designer at Alfa Romeo, which had seen its previous 8, 12 and 16-cylinder counter efforts against the almighty Germans fail miserably. Alfa Corse were also running terribly late with their latest Grand Prix challenger, the 162, which later turned out to be stillborn. And then the new 1.5-litre s/c GP regulations for 1941 onwards became known.

There was initial scare, as Mercedes had upstaged the competition by winning the 1939 Tripoli GP out of the blue with their W165s, and this was blown up into a real fright when the new 'baby' Auto Union Type-E was rumoured to have an engine capable of producing well in excess of 300hp at a crank speed of 9000rpm. Clearly the then serving Alfa voiturette, the highly successful 158 'Alfetta' with its straight-eight engine only producing 225hp at 7600rpm, wasn't going to be a match. Drastic measures were needed.

Of course everybody at Alfa Romeo knew of the handling difficulties that a rear-engined lay-out presented, and that it needed a special talent such as Rosemeyer to eek out the full potential of the car, especially with the driver having to sit far forward in the nose, unable to quickly feel the handling changes that a swing-axled rear suspension would transfer to him.

Still, the intrinsic advantages of an engine positioned behind the driver had become apparent to Ricart, the Spaniard who had succeeded Lancia-bound Vittorio Jano as the Portello design team's top man. Amongst others, his crew consisted of the talented Gioacchino Colombo, who had been responsible for the Alfetta and later joined Ferrari and the revived Bugatti team (more on that in part 2), and Luigi Bazzi, who did the famous Bimotore. Ricart entrusted the former with the detailed design of the rear-engined car.

So when the new 1.5-litre supercharged Grand Prix formula was laid down, Colombo drew an Auto Union Type D-inspired racing car to rival the Mercedes W165 and Auto Union Type E. The 512 used a flat-twelve DOHC engine with two-stage supercharging. Tested on the bench it had peaked at 370hp at 9000rpm while averaging 335hp at 8600rpm. That was considerably above the rumoured Auto Union target, giving cause to optimism in the Portello works.

The car itself followed Auto Union lines by placing the fuel tank directly behind the driver and positioning the gearbox behind the back axle. The car's twin-tube ladder frame was suspended by wishbones at the front and a De Dion set-up at the back, on top of which low-slung, bulging bodywork was placed.

The detailing was meticulous but also very time-consuming, especially since Italy was becoming more involved in World War II by the month. It is amazing, however, that development carried on well into the war and that the finished product was tested as late as 1943, although parts testing had already started in the summer of 1940.

Some of the tests took place on the Milan-Varese autostrada, and it was on the early morning 19 June 1940, during one of these tests, that Alfa's faithful tester Attilio Marinoni was killed as his 158 carrying the 512 rear suspension hit an unsighted lorry during a takeover manoeuvre. Consalvo Sanesi, the mechanic-turned-tester, tested the car many times at Monza and predictably reported that it was a real handful. More tellingly, however, was his conviction that the Alfetta was quicker. On the other hand, Carlo Pintacuda was said to be much more flattering about the 512's road behaviour.

In the end we will never know. Along with the other Alfa Romeos the 512 was stored in the famous cheese factory but the only thing the racing world heard of it in 1946 were its detailed design plans issued in an Auto Italiana article. Although post-war Alfa threatened to bring out the 512s as soon as the Alfettas got beaten, they never needed to and never did. And it remains to be seen if they would ever have been able to.

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What is Ferrari's "Plan B"?

Because nobody believes it's Fisichella. As Felipe Massa prepares to test a 2007 car with GP2 tires, benchmarked in effect by Michael Schumacher who ran with the same setup in the weeks leading up to Valancia, several puzzle pieces in the driver's market have yet to fall into place, coincidence?

Behind all the public support there has to be a huge doubt at Ferrari regarding Massa. Looking at today's published pictures from his first day back at Maranello, you can't help but notice his left eye is not quite healed and during his kart test last week Felipe had to modify his helmet for it to fit over his wound. It may sound cruel but it is very unlikely Ferrari will be caught unprepared as it was after Hungary.

Would Ferrari "dump" Massa? Yes, of course it would. Though everyone has him as a given at Mclaren, Raikkonen has yet to announce and keeps repeating he has a contract for 2010. Kubica, though he is rumored to announce a Renault contract, possibly today, is still technically available. Schumacher is always lurking. You know people are just circling, waiting to see how Massa will do before making long term commitments.

Cruel? A few months back Andrea Corbetta wrote about how in 1976, as Niki Lauda lay between life and death in the Mannheim hospital after his fiery crash at the Nürburgring, there was a call from Maranello. "Enzo Ferrari wanted to speak with then Team Manager Daniele Audetto. The phone call was, not as one may think, to ask about Lauda's health but rather is was a series of instructions and directives for how Audetto was to go about inquiring on the availability of a top driver, a Fittipaldi or a Peterson to step in for Lauda. Only at the end of the phone call did Ferrari toss in a casual 'How's that guy doing'.

Cruelty? Lack of pity? The only way to survive in racing?

Lauda himself, a few years earlier had been one of those who, faced with Roger Williamson's burning car at Zandvoort, did not stop and kept racing. After the race when asked why he, and most other drivers except for David Purley, did not stop his answer was "we are paid to race, not to rescue people"

Massa may have the team on his side but only as long as the stopwatch agrees, So, good luck Felipe, get well soon but beware of F1 sharks in the pool!




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Hit the Road

Let me introduce you to a friend of the Axis, ROAD Magazine.

Some of you may have been disappointed by the demise of the online "magazine" Driver's Republic earlier in the year, I say don't sweat it. Here is a better proposition, a magazine that covers what we love but minus the snarky "we are so cool and you are not" attitude. Road Magazine has new cars and older cars, hyper cars and regular cars, it has trackday cars and commuter cars, it has bikes and yes, even some girlies.... our kind of mix you'll agree.

You might remember a post on ROAD Magazine's "must read" Nürburgring guide back in February. We recommend anyone planning to take a trip to the "Green Hell" download, print and memorize the guide. You'll be grateful.

Last I heard from Tim, he was off to the 'ring with an AMV8, need I say more? I mean other than ....I'm totally jealous, send us a postcard!

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