F1 Fanatic round-up: 9/4/2010

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Here’s today’s round-up:

Links

Classic Team Lotus Festival to feature priceless Grand Prix car display (Snetterton)

Any Lotus enthusiasts or F1 fans in the Norfolk area who are planning to go to this, do let me know in the comments. The date’s been added to the F1 Fanatic Google Calendar.

Mark Webber – Canberra Milk kid (Youtube)

This was posted in the comments yesterday but it has to go up here just because it’s so strange…

Comment of the day

Benjimiah isn’t convinced that low profile tyres are the way forward for F1:

As we moved to aero devices mounted onto the chassis directly, the suspension ended up getting super compressed at high downforce levels, effectively destroying the car’s handling. Thus, the move to higher sidewall tires was necessitated. The tyres were now tasked with the responsibility of compressing and deflecting under load, something that the suspension (being hyper compressed by tons of downforce) could not do any more.

Larger sidewall tyres effectively act as as the suspension under high load. Changing the spec of tyre/wheel combo would effectively necessitate a complete redesign of the entire car.

Make sense? It just flat-out would be the worst possible solution. The technical ramifications are just too costly both literally and figuratively.
Benjimiah

Site updates

Make sure you check out the funky new interactive race charts coming soon to the site.

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to SLR!

On this day in F1

It’s 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve’s birthday too – he turns 39 today.

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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53 comments on “F1 Fanatic round-up: 9/4/2010”

  1. i knew it wouldn’t be too long before that ad appeared on the web. poor webber… that ad was broadcast during almost every ad break of the australian grand prix here in canberra. how embarrassing.

    1. and there was a follow-up ad where he says the milk made him faster cause it was ‘pastuerised’. oh dear…

      1. That ad is a crack up. So strange it really makes me like Webber.

        1. Thats good, because if the milk wasn’t pasturised, it would have just made him sick.

  2. A good quote here from Frank Williams:
    “Formula 1 is an unusual business. Even when there isn’t lots of overtaking, there’s still some very tough racing – but not everyone appreciates that. No sport offers endless excitement, but I don’t want to say Formula 1 should do nothing. Everyone can do their bit to jazz up the show: we can make changes to the cars and the circuits need to take some responsibility as well. Whatever changes we make, they need to be well thought through.”

    That first line is something I agree wholy with, just because there doesn’t seem to be much overtaking doesn’t mean its necessarily a bad race.

    From a short interview on GP Update (link is on the right hand side of the screen)

  3. Looks like Mark Webber is “no Jackie Stewart” both off and on the track!

  4. literally rolling on the floor laughing. The canberra milk kid. hahahahahaha

    1. Lehonardeuler
      9th April 2010, 4:06

      I think the nasty element is the background whistling… I guess if it’s played backwards it says something like “I know what you did in Fuji 2007” :P

  5. That is a classic Ad. Wait till the whole pitlane see’s that one. He won’t be able
    to live that one down.

    1. Maybe they’ll play that at the next GPDA meeting in Shanghai… LOL…

      1. JonathanProc
        9th April 2010, 8:13

        Or on the Podium at his next win after the Australian and Austrian anthem :D

  6. I don’t think Vettel will ever let mark forget that one

    1. It’s probably the ringtone Vettel has on his phone for Webber… :D

  7. Aw man, that ad’s awesome. :D

  8. JonathanProc
    9th April 2010, 8:08

    That was me that posted that video :D I couldn’t stop laughing when I saw it. There is more out there like Damon Hill and Murray Walker’s Pizza Hut advert, Michael Schumacher’s Tic Tac ad. At least they don’t sing :D

  9. Best F1-connected ad ever, hands down.

    + very convincing comment of the day – goes far beyond my comprehension of the hidden workings of race cars, that’s for sure.

      1. Ugh… that’s got to be one of the worst.

        1. Yeah and what makes it extra embarassing is that they put a voice actors voice on it.

          1. That makes it even better! It’s like a Kung Fu Loreal ad! lol

          1. lol That’s why you have voice overs, what the hell is the bike and the chess game doingin there.

      2. STRFerrari4Ever
        9th April 2010, 13:19

        When I saw that Schumi ad I LOL’D so hard, he looks remarkably like Rick Astley(Rick Roll)

    1. Absolutely awful.

      1. it’s funny how he says ‘missing’ to rhyme with ‘tradition’…

        1. lol I thought that, it’s an assonance no? The first ‘I’ in ‘missing’ and the first ‘I’ in tradition. Maybe not strictly.

  10. That ad is shocking.

  11. Not sure I agree with the comment of the day. Yes, the tyres play an important role in ‘suspension’ when the suspension is compressed. But the usual figure quoted for the downforce of an F1 car at full speed is ‘two tons’ – three to four times its weight.

    Well, there’s a Range Rover parked on the road outside my flat with 20″ wheels and tyres like rubber bands. Weight: two tons plus. And I doubt the owner thinks the ride and handling are unacceptable…

    1. Try putting the range rovers bling-system on a Caterham and see if the suspension works well on a track… :)

      Did any one see the test in the austrailian veriocn of Top Gear where they tested a über-blinged version of a Holden with the tyres as rubber bands vs. a more normally prepped version? Guess what car went much faster around the track…

    2. And your comparison with the range rover is not valid. The range rover does not produce downforce (at least I certainly dont think so…) and so it’s suspension is compressed the same amount at ALL speeds. The F1 car, on the other hand, has its total load increased and decreased by a factor of 4 during a race. Without active suspension, the suspension can not accomodate that range of compression, therefore the tires need to have some degree compliance to pick up the slack.

  12. I still think Benjimiah’s comment makes no sense at all.

    Of course they will neeed to change the suspension. It’s mentioned in the Autosport interview with Mike Gascoyne.

    Why is that big news? Why is that THE big showstopper?

    1. Probably because the changes required for 2011 are meant to be minimal so that the new teams can get up to speed.
      Changing the tyres will mean changing the suspension and gearbox at a minimum. But it probably also means that there needs to be changes to the tub and the aerodynamics.
      And with the ban on double diffuses the rear aero will have to be re-designed. Then add to that the possible return of KERS and what do you end up with, a completely new car with only the engine and its control box left from this year.
      Therefore all teams will need to start soon on next years design soon. The large teams can probably do it but the new teams and possibly Sauber don’t have the funds or staff. Williams and Torro Rosso may also be in the cannot afford it bunch.

      1. So that explains that the fact that suspension changes would be involved means it’s impossible to change wheel diameter?

        The teams already need to start designing their car early since it’s completely different with the ban on double diffusers.

        The teams the least hit by suspension and gearbox changes are the smaller ones since they simply buy these parts.

        1. If you allow mass dampers, active suspension etc, then costs can only rise and the use of such systems on road cars is prohibitively expensive anyway, as Citroen found out when they put the ‘active’ suspension system on their Xantia. It just never really caught on.

          1. Why is my previous post here and not below “Hallards” further down the page ?

          2. You know that the mass damper was used over 50 years ago on the 2CV, right ?
            Yes , the Citroen 2CV had some aerodynamics technology so advanced on it that it got banned from F1 !

  13. HAHAHAHAHAAAAAA, what we do for fame and money.

    Fair play Mark fair play, ofc I don’t see the other drivers letting that go when they see it.

  14. How much do you think he got paid for doing that ad though? :)

    1. he isnt really putting his heart and soul into it either. Made me chuckle

    2. In fairness, a regional milk brand (not national), not they’re not going to have a massive ad budget. He won’t have been paid that much.

      What we see here is Webber happy to make an idiot of himself. No ego involved. Just a guy who is happy to poke fun at himself.

      1. and given that he was raised in queanbeyan, he probably did grow up on canberra milk so he isn’t lying.

  15. Mark, don’t give up the day job.

  16. Oh dear god, what was Mark thinking??

  17. LOL!…

    surely they paid him 3 thousand million pounds to do such an embarrasing job!

  18. I agree with the comment of the day, and its an argument Ive been making for a while. I would love the look of low profile tires, but I think that active suspension/mass dampers/etc. should be allowed if F1 is going to go down that path.

  19. If you allow mass dampers, active suspension etc, then costs can only rise and the use of such systems on road cars is prohibitively expensive anyway, as Citroen found out when they put the ‘active’ suspension system on their Xantia. It just never really caught on.

    1. Not to mention that the system on the Xantia sucks ass, and always breaks down…

  20. I don’t think active sus will actually improve the racing, I don’t see why we need it….
    How would it actually improve on what we have now?

    Can someone really smart explain mass dampers to me?

  21. The Indianapolis 500 winner has to drink the milk after the race. Are we about to see Webber drinking the milk and spraying it rather than the Mumm over the crowd when he wins his next GP !?

  22. lol Webbo! I guess pop idol is not on the cards just yet…

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