5 Become 2?

I wanted to report on the Belgium GP this weekend but there was nothing really to say except that instead of having 5 solid contenders we now only have 2. Sure there were crashes a plenty, rain and one of the best tracks but when the flag fell there seemed to be an overwhelming sense that the season's end was nearing and with it the fact that as each race goes by the real business of who will be champion becomes sharply focused. Webber and Hamilton are prime candidates, despite the latter's arsey comment earlier in the week that he felt his championship hopes were hanging by a thread when he was second in the championship. Anyway he's fine. Somebody who isn't though is Button after his car was attacked, shark like, by an exuberant Vettel who himself has cast doubt on his own championship chances. This could mean Red Bull & McLaren might decide its about time to back one driver for the greater good. Alonso doesn't have that problem as his teammate Massa was useless for the first half of the season but on the other hand Alonso is seriously adrift of the leaders in the championship so maybe who cares. That's it really. The net has tightened and the whole lot go to Monza knowing that sooner or later their chance of championship victory will narrow further unless something dramatic happens.

Speed Not Captured Well On TV

There's a lot to be said for being present at an F1 track to truly appreciate just how loud, imposing and above all FAST the cars move. The reason I mention this is that TV very rarely catches this sense of speed and as a result the true spectacle of F1 is not captured for us to enjoy. This might not seem like a big deal but if it could be captured well it would do so much to compensate for any boring races that come along because you simply engross yourself in the technology on show instead. It's often said that F1 is at the leading edge of technology so how come the audience doesn't care about it? It's because unless we can sense this technology in action all we care about instead is the racing spectacle alone and when this is sometimes not so great we say the sport is "boring". It is difficult to judge how fast a car is going on the television unless it produces a spark at high speed or hits some track debris. How many times have you watched an F1 car coming head on down the pit straight as it seems to sit perfectly still in the middle of the setting only for your eye lids to begin getting heavy. I feel it is a duty of the F1 taskmasters to use their technical skills to really shake us up when see the cars in action. But how? At the moment the best angles for capturing speed are either on board as the scenery goes by (especially narrow track or ones with trees nearby) or else overhead shots via helicopter which show just how much distance is being covered so very quickly. But these are typically punctuated by scenic long range shots where frankly its hard to decipher whats going on, especially at the start of a race when we have a head on shot of the grid meaning we can only see the two front row cars and then a whole load of obscure movement in the background. As always though there will be ample views of the 50x50 foot Marlboro poster to cover up half your screen! My thoughts turned to the recent Tour de France coverage and also athletics for the solution where they use a camera on rails running adjacent to the road/track at the same speed as the riders/athletes. This really captures the sense of acceleration and exhilaration experienced by those taking part. Of course having a crash helmet won't help motor sports in this regard but you get the idea! But imagine if you will having such a camera running the length of the pit straight racing along with the F1 cars. As you see the hive of activity flash by you would begin to realise that racing at 200mph is a lot faster than you thought. For example; if you've ever been karting people tend to say "they seem to be going so much slower" once they've had a go. And that's just my point we need to shine the spotlight on the expensive "go faster" part of motor sports which are so often hidden beneath the engine cover so that we can not only balk at the speeds achieved but also at the talent used to race them.

Start Your Honda Engines!

On yet another erstwhile afternoon of channel surfing I came across live coverage of IndyCar racing. It's basically a hosed down version of F1 where all the teams use the same chassis and engines and people called Will Power drive (I'm not making that up). Anyway with the pre-race build up well under way for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio it came to the point where some balding account manger from an appliance corporation gets to say the "start your engines" bit. But then something felt wrong because what I heard him actually say was "Gentlemen, start your Honda engines". I'm not kidding. Even in the most capitalist country on the planet one would assume that the original phrase was, and it sounds silly now, a bit sacrosanct. Even when you have no interest in motorsport anyone can still recognise the famous phrase but apparently now it can be bought. At first I was a little saddened but then I remembered that any affection I had for this series dissipated a long time ago after I watched the cars lap an oval for the 200th time in one afternoon. The issue of sponsorship and what can or can't be bought is nothing new especially in the U.S. where every race, track, driver, car, broadcaster and even the celebratory drink has a sponsor. I just hope it doesn't find it's way to F1 or Moto GP. Of course those series are already heavily sponsored, its their lifeblood after all, but some things I hope are sacrosanct. I'll never watch the Shell Powered Monaco Grand Prix hosted by Cheesits.

Car = Mood?

Does the type of car you drive affect your lifestyle mood? Just like the weather can subconsciously shift our mood I wonder if car choice, irrespective of cash value, has a say on how happy we are. This thought came to me whilst sitting in the back of a rather tasty Mini Cooper S on a journey back from a stag weekend. As I sat in the cocooned fashion statement I couldn't help but think about the amount of time the designers must have spent in getting every detail so right that it would be impossible to be irritated or sad or depressed. The big speedometer in the middle of the dash, the oval design on the back of the seats even the little nub on the grab handle for hanging suits. It felt robust and that cheered me up bearing in mind I'm more accustomed to pokey 1.2 litre engines. And as we breezed along the motorway passing car after car I could see the look in the faces of the drivers and I felt sad. Because they looked sad. For example; there is nothing wrong with a Volkswagen Sharan but it's big and looks a bit like a hearse and from what I could gather from the driver's face, it has a kind of "it'll do" feeling about it. Now for argument's sake let's say that car, 2008 model, cost €20,000 second hand. Why didn't the owner decide to buy a second hand 2005 BMW 5-series instead? It's infinitely better. Aside from lacking massive amounts of storage space they are leagues apart and would perhaps in the long run make you happier. Other examples? Instead of a Jaguar X-type for €30k buy a Mercedes C-Class. Instead of a Mercedes R-Class for €46k buy a BMW 3 series. Instead of a Chevrolet Lacetti for €17k buy a Skoda Octavia. I believe it when owners of Ferrari's say that a simple Fiat 500 is as much fun as fun as an F430. And this made me ask why anybody would knowingly purchase something like a Peugeot 407 Coupe when they could have had a an Alfa Brera and I can only assume it comes down to knowledge. There are unfortunate motorists out there who only know how to buy a car using a calculator and the car dealerships know it. That's why a driver will emerge from a Citroen forecourt with a smile on his face despite the fact that 3 years down the line it will have depreciated horribly by which time the driver will look very unhappy. Tricking yourself into believing you're content reminds me of a metaphor a Jesuit once told me: Imagine if you had a car with 5 gears but you were only ever aware of 4 so you never used the final great gear, is it better to be in a state of "ignorance is bliss" or is it a crying shame that you will never get to use that final gear? With so many great cars available these days the latter is sad truth. So please if you're going to buy a car listen around to how others have found living with it. Look at their demeanour. Maybe just maybe everyone can find a spark in their car that makes the day a little nicer.

Why No False Starts?

It's slowly dawned on me that these days F1 cars don't seem to jump start very often. In fact the only one that springs to mind is Alonso in China this year. Why is this? In the 90's and early 2000's every race had a jump starter. You know the one; the type of driver that predicts when the lights will go out and floors it. Even if they're still red. But nowadays nothing happens. Maybe they've lost their cojones "don't want to risk a drive tru penalty do we?". Balls to that I wanna see 24 drivers inching forward at the lights a la how we drive our own cars. Or even just one nut case who assumes that if he is to jump start then he might as well do it an obvious 5 seconds before they're due to go so as the rest of the field get going Takumo Paymyway has reached the first corner showered in glory! Seriously though it makes me wonder. "Research" into this left me without any official record of jump starts but I know they're down. Another race start feature also slipping into memory is the stalled car. This would typically happen due to a messed up clutch movement and the end result was always the same: 4 or 5 stewards rushing onto the track to push the stricken car into the pits. Stalling on the grid was scary too, note Mika Hakkinen's stall in Brazil 2000. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZ-Qt9QaxYY&playnext=1&videos=eeV5j14EgFE. He cited this event as a major reason for quitting F1 that year. It doesn't look bad from the grandstand but sitting with your back to a field of car bullets shooting past must be frightening. New technology means we now have an anti-stall feature but doesn't that just make it too easy on the drivers? I don't really have a conclusion to this posting I just thought it was a feature of F1 that seems to be quietly dying out. Either that or else there's some F1 conspiracy going on. Pussies.

Silver Door Mirrors Do NOT Look Good

A short note on silver wing mirrors. In the past all wing mirrors were born equal and they were all made of some shiny metal. Note how vintage cars look right at home with such a set. Then we had black plastic wing mirrors. Then we had colour coded wing mirrors, wowwy! Then Audi went and screwed up everything by giving their fastest cars silver wing mirrors no matter what colour the car was. Now in principal this works fine after all there's plenty of good reason for a manufacturer to show how proud they are of their top models by giving them a signature. At first this detail was low key but then all the boy racers starting strapping them to their Micra's in the belief that these silvery mirrors would make their car go faster. What's worse is that after a while the option of a silver wing mirror crept onto many manufacturer's option lists and before you know it we have hoards of cars with blinged earrings on them. I'm convinced that even the owners of these cars don't know why they opted for them because they simply look terrible! Silver or chromed wing mirrors may have their place on a funky mini cooper but not on a red Alfa 147. I blame Audi for starting this mess. Vorsprung durch Technik means "lead through technology" not stupid silvery tacky plastic wing mirrors!

How Long Is An F1 Car?

A predicted procession from flag to finish failed to materialise in Budapest as a safety car period on lap 16 caught up the dominant Vettel and allowed his teammate Webber to steal victory. With a scintillating qualifying lap and impressive race pace Vettel made the most of his pole position and sped off into the distance. As those watching reaching for their pillow a safety car period ruffled things up. Vettel pitted, as did second placed Alsono but Webber chose to stay out. Or was it a choice at all bearing in mind the advantage Vettel would receive by pitting whilst the safety car was out? In the midst of this period Rosberg lost a wheel in the pits which tumbled through two pit boxes. Mechanics leapt quick enough to avoid what would have been some very serious trauma. Kubica also crashed with Sutil in a comical "didn't you see me coming?" way. But it was when the safety car was due to pull in that an obscure rule raised it's puzzling head. Apparently all cars must be within 10 car lengths of the car in front whilst filing behind the safety car. Vettel was in second behind Webber when the safety car pulled into the pits. Critically Vettel was caught napping and Webber surged ahead forcing Vettel to breach the regulation. Cue a drive through penalty and Vettel being demoted to third. At first I thought Vettel was doing his teammate a favour by allowing a gap to build so that Webber's lead over Alonso would increase once the pit stops wee completed. However; it turns out he simply didn't see that the lights were off on the safety car indicating that it was about to pull in. When Vettel emerged behind Alonso he was trapped by the Hungaroring's uncharitable approach to overtaking and Alonso's air turbulence. Hence his 1 second per lap paced was blunted. Meanwhile Hamilton had an engine failure on lap 26 and Button was well off the pace after a rubbish start off the grid. Massa finished a fine fourth. Towards the end Barrichello snatched tenth place from his old team "mate" Schumacher in a banzai move down by the pit wall. The crafty German as robust as ever in his defensive driving. Barrichello called the close call "terrible", Michael said sorry and the rest of us sat back and quietly nodded in approval for providing an exciting pass. And so Webber follows on from his subdued result in Germany by completing an unexpected and subdued win and climbing back to to the top of the championship leader board. The traditional snorefest at Hungary was pushed to one side by the magic being cast over this years championship. With a three week break till Spa Vettel will be stewing as Webber smirks.