US Forumla1 GP

[seerex]

I personally will watch two toddlers race around the living room on toys if they are entertaining, I love watching F1 and IRL , both have their negitives but F1 is gonna be a victim of its own sucess the amount of money poured into it makes it so competative that every team bitches about each other and what they do wrong and the rules. Love to watch both styles of racing but if you are watching either and expecting the old days of the drivers wearing a leather helmet and racing googles or the track guys dangling the cigarette as he fills the fuel tank in the pits those days are gone. Its all about the money and sponsors. I personally love Trans Am and scca racing still great racing but a bit less rules and guys /ladies racing because they love not because of the paycheck. I think the same thing is happening to nascar <not my fave but will watch instead of basket weaving>. F1 isn't going anywhere but I think racing in the states is not like monaco and it never will be . I love the Wilwood races from England<think thats the name> , love the classics . No Offense you can keep the paddles

[Bambikiller240]

Originally posted by Dan Baldwin

F1 sucks. Yeah I watch it. Geez could the rules be any worse? It's like the cars are DESIGNED to not be able to pass. Flat stepped undertray => almost all downforce comes from wings => lose all front downforce when you get up behind a competitor => you have to be 2+seconds a lap faster to actually be able to pass. STUPID.

According to one of the F1 Team Engineers (sorry, can't recall which one) 30% of the downforce is generated by the undertray. My understanding is that it's the Rear Wings that cause the trailing car to lose downforce when following closely. Indy Cars, and NASCAR suffer from it too. Take away the wings? I dunno.

Originally posted by Dan Baldwin Grooved tires: STUPID and ugly. The DOT-legal Hoosiers I do track events on look more like real race tires.

Tires are truly ugly, but can you imagine the performance if they went back to slicks? or the 22" - 24" wide tires of old school F1? Current tires outperform the slicks they replaced just a few years ago. Cornering speeds are already KA-RAY-Z

Originally posted by Dan Baldwin Punishing Montoya repeatedly year after year for having the gall to be competitive with Schumacher: STUPID and maddening to witness. Challenge for a corner? DQ or penalty.

Rules are rules. Williams should have known they were in violation, and Charle Whiting (FIA) should have known and acted immediately. I believe that Williams and Montoya were robbed of a good finish at last years Indy F1, but this year is a different story. Just like in Canada, theyviolated a rule that everyone should have known about.

Originally posted by Dan Baldwin Mandated V10 engine configuration: STUPID. It was fantastic when Honda V12s, Renault V10s and Ford V8s were all competitive. Music!

I agree that engine configuration should be open. Place a financial cap on engine costs, and/or require manufacturers to make same spec engines available to more than one team, if requested. There is nothing like a V12 screaming at full chat.

Originally posted by Dan Baldwin Pressurized refuelling: STUPID and dangerous. I LOVED it when they had to carry ALL the fuel for the race on board. Different setups would dominate in different phases of the race. 5-second tire-change-only pit stops. Pit crews wore shorts and short-sleeves and actually looked like they were ENJOYING themselves, where now they're in those ridiculous space suits.

I like the pitstops. There have been very few and basically minor issues with the equipment used to fuel. No auto race sactioning body is going to allow mechanics to wear shorts. NASCAR crews look happy in their "spacesuits" to me, high-fives all around after each good stop. F1 mechanics wait until the end of the race to show much emotion, but they climb the fences/walls in celebration.

Originally posted by Dan Baldwin Yellow flags/caution cars, bleh

Safety of personnel dictates this, but at least F1 doesn't use full course cautions and Safety cars as often as CART/Champ Cars. This is why I've quit watching and attending Champ Car events. (and I ws a huge CART supporter)

Originally posted by Dan Baldwin pit lane speed limits, ditto.

Safety of personnel dictates this. I think ALL professional auto race sanctioning bodies have these rules in place now

Originally posted by Dan Baldwin O' course, if you wanna watch REAL racing, MotoGP is where it's at!

Great Racing! But even with TiVo I sometimes miss it due to two other events being broadcast at the same time. But I still enjoy it when I can.

[Fun_in_my_z]

I catch as many as i can. Im a racing fan. Ill whatch anykinda racing that i can understand.

Anymore thats not to many:stupid:

[Dan Baldwin]

Originally posted by Bambikiller240

According to one of the F1 Team Engineers (sorry, can't recall which one) 30% of the downforce is generated by the undertray.

They should employ a venturi undertray and reduce wing size(s) such that the undertray provides more than 50% of rear AND front downforce. How much of that current 30% is on the front wheels? I bet something like 20% (6% of total) or less. The problem is that almost all the downforce at the front is from the front wing. When flow over that is spoiled by a leading car, forget about making a pass.

My understanding is that it's the Rear Wings that cause the trailing car to lose downforce when following closely. Indy Cars, and NASCAR suffer from it too. Take away the wings? I dunno.

In IndyCars, NASCAR, and CART, faster cars can actually PASS other cars. In F1, leading cars have a very hard time passing mid-running cars. THERE IS A FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEM WITH F1 HERE. Has been for YEARS.

(IndyCars and CART actually went too far the OTHER way, with the Handford device on oval races, which made/makes it comically easy for a slower trailing car to pass a faster leading car.)

I'm not *necessarily* for the removal of wings in F1.

Tires are truly ugly, but can you imagine the performance if they went back to slicks? or the 22" - 24" wide tires of old school F1? Current tires outperform the slicks they replaced just a few years ago.

The grooved-tire rule was and is retarded. Wanna reduce cornering speeds, while keeping straightaway speeds in check? Smaller displacement and smaller wings. Grooved tires is just silly.

Rules are rules.

F1 has a long history of DRACONIAN enforcement of inconsequential rules violations (like Montoya being TWO SECONDS late getting off the grid), while completely ignoring flagrant life-endangering offenses, purely depending on politics. Schumacher has been on both ends of this. As an upstart, he was robbed of race wins for truly MINOR offenses (passing on the pace lap, marginally worn flat-bottom-board). As F1's golden boy, his ramming of Hill in Australia for the title was ignored, and his blatant attempt to take out Villeneuve a couple of years later for the title, which should've certainly resulted in a 3-race ban, was punished with a slap-on-the-wrist (loss of 2nd in the championship, as if M.S. gave a rat's arse about 2nd!).

There is nothing like a V12 screaming at full chat.

Agreed. Something to be said for variety as well.

I like the pitstops.

Not saying eliminate pit stops, just REFUELLING. Carrying all fuel on board used to be one of the things that separated F1 from other top-level autoracing. Made it much more pure, to me anyway.

There have been very few and basically minor issues with the equipment used to fuel.

If you can call atomized fuel spray igniting on hot exhausts "minor"...

It's just stupid to have it pressurized. Expensive, too.

No auto race sactioning body is going to allow mechanics to wear shorts.

F1 did before refuelling.

NASCAR crews look happy in their "spacesuits" to me, high-fives all around after each good stop. F1 mechanics wait until the end of the race to show much emotion, but they climb the fences/walls in celebration.

NASCAR-style yee-haw antics isn't what I'm talking about. Remember when F1 crews looked to be somewhat relaxed and having a good time *between* stops? Now they're quite obviously miserable sitting around in their monkey-suits.

Just about EVERY F1 rule change in the past 12 years has been bad for the sport. They even screwed up the long-overdue extension of points to lower places, by not giving 1st more points over 2nd than 2nd gets over 3rd (obviously Schumacher's dominance dictated that move).

[Fun_in_my_z]

In nascar the cars get much of there front downforse from the front fenders.

And rear down forse from the spoiler.

Put fenders on F1 and your problem is salvedROFL