Possibly urgent - does anybody live near the Indy 500?

[slo town]

That's really cool. You'll have to drop by Colorado sometime. It sounds like the Bandimere family may have a spot picked out for a new drag strip. I wish they'd go back to the full 1/4 mile. A could of automotive journalists echoed the same thing you mentioned about F1. The costs are insane, it doesn't seem like many of the fans really know whos who. Third after thedrive and other publications have posted that it seems like there are way too many politics with several drivers having their position stripped or whatnot. Wasn't it Ferrari or Sauber that was caught giving team orders a few years back? They wanted the lead driver to give way as to guarantee a podium finish in manufacturers points.

Drag racing is the one form of motorsport I was least interested in. BUT, I used to frequent the Fremont drag strip in the early '70s. One year I saw the legendary Chi Town Hustler, famous for not only winning, but for doing 1/8th mile long burnouts!

I hope I don't hit a controversial note with this comment, but I think John Force is a God. That guy is incredible. He set records that will never be broken.

Scott

 

[97prizm]

Drag racing is the one form of motorsport I was least interested in. BUT, I used to frequent the Fremont drag strip in the early '70s. One year I saw the legendary Chi Town Hustler, famous for not only winning, but for doing 1/8th mile long burnouts!

I hope I don't hit a controversial note with this comment, but I think John Force is a God. That guy is incredible. He set records that will never be broken.

Scott

John Force would be cool to meet. I'd love to sit down with him for an interview ( my Journalism interest). From the way he's told it he and his wife were the whole team for a long time. This was back when his daughters were very young. His wife homeschooled them as they were always on the road. I don't think there is/are many racing series left where with a lot of hard work and determination you can make it. I could bet money that the Force girls wouldn't have had a shot at drag racing without the financial backing of their dad. Not that they aren't good, but the costs now are stratosphereically high to even get started. Even the SCCA and NASA are getting expensive.

 

[slo town]

Wasn't it Ferrari or Sauber that was caught giving team orders a few years back? They wanted the lead driver to give way as to guarantee a podium finish in manufacturers points.

That's happened for years but it's morphed into even more now. The once great Williams F1 team is enduring tough times. They arrived at the Australian GP - the THIRD race of the season - yet they still had no spare chassis. Not having a spare chassis is unheard of in F1.

Even so, Alex Albon destroyed his Williams in practice, ruining the tub. The team then decided to take teammate Logan Sargent's car away from him and give it to Albon. Without question, Albon is the quicker driver so in some ways it made sense. But wouldn't you think Albon would have been more careful given the fact that they had no spare chassis? Notably, Albon destroyed his car on the same corner at last year's Australian GP. That's what irks me about this decision. Even with Albon being quicker he should have paid the consequences for his own STUPID mistake, not Sargent.

Scott

PS: Another comment about today's F1 and the constant blather from Sky Sports about how green F1 is. What a joke. Flying cars all over the world, going through thousands of tires per weekend, etc. There was a recent story about McLaren figuring out how to recycle and reuse carbon fiber, McLaren themselves saying carbon fiber production is extremely energy dependent to produce. But they tout themselves as being green. There is absolutely nothing in racing that is green! Nothing! And I have no problem with that. My problem is how F1 tries to sell themselves as being green. Ridiculous.

 

[97prizm]

That's happened for years but it's morphed into even more now. The once great Williams F1 team is enduring tough times. They arrived at the Australian GP - the THIRD race of the season - yet they still had no spare chassis. Not having a spare chassis is unheard of in F1.

Even so, Alex Albon destroyed his Williams in practice, ruining the tub. The team then decided to take teammate Logan Sargent's car away from him and give it to Albon. Without question, Albon is the quicker driver so in some ways it made sense. But wouldn't you think Albon would have been more careful given the fact that they had no spare chassis? Notably, Albon destroyed his car on the same corner at last year's Australian GP. That's what irks me about this decision. Even with Albon being quicker he should have paid the consequences for his own STUPID mistake, not Sargent.

Scott

PS: Another comment about today's F1 and the constant blather from Sky Sports about how green F1 is. What a joke. Flying cars all over the world, going through thousands of tires per weekend, etc. There was a recent story about McLaren figuring out how to recycle and reuse carbon fiber, McLaren themselves saying carbon fiber production is extremely energy dependent to produce. But they tout themselves as being green. There is absolutely nothing in racing that is green! Nothing! And I have no problem with that. My problem is how F1 tries to sell themselves as being green. Ridiculous.

One of the big eye openers for me was from when Jalopnik writer Alanis King visited the first F1 cota race. She asked about the tires as Pirelli engineers tire compounds for each track and unfortunately are made ahead of time. Each tire is micro chipped and the unused tires get returned. Apparently the unused tires are turned into klinker and burned in giant kilns. On occasion they can be shredded and used in asphalt mix for roads. Really, F1 can't dictate that they are used for future events? NASCAR and Indy are also guilty of this.

 

[97prizm]

That's happened for years but it's morphed into even more now. The once great Williams F1 team is enduring tough times. They arrived at the Australian GP - the THIRD race of the season - yet they still had no spare chassis. Not having a spare chassis is unheard of in F1.

Even so, Alex Albon destroyed his Williams in practice, ruining the tub. The team then decided to take teammate Logan Sargent's car away from him and give it to Albon. Without question, Albon is the quicker driver so in some ways it made sense. But wouldn't you think Albon would have been more careful given the fact that they had no spare chassis? Notably, Albon destroyed his car on the same corner at last year's Australian GP. That's what irks me about this decision. Even with Albon being quicker he should have paid the consequences for his own STUPID mistake, not Sargent.

Scott

PS: Another comment about today's F1 and the constant blather from Sky Sports about how green F1 is. What a joke. Flying cars all over the world, going through thousands of tires per weekend, etc. There was a recent story about McLaren figuring out how to recycle and reuse carbon fiber, McLaren themselves saying carbon fiber production is extremely energy dependent to produce. But they tout themselves as being green. There is absolutely nothing in racing that is green! Nothing! And I have no problem with that. My problem is how F1 tries to sell themselves as being green. Ridiculous.

I think there was an article recently. Wasn't it Williams that was using old computer's and a basic spreadsheet to keep track of the thousands of parts on an F1 car. They essentially didn't know what they have/had. What a nightmare.

 

[slo town]

I think there was an article recently. Wasn't it Williams that was using old computer's and a basic spreadsheet to keep track of the thousands of parts on an F1 car. They essentially didn't know what they have/had. What a nightmare.

Supposedly that was the case, but there has to be more to it. I've read in multiple sources that the mood within Williams is at rock bottom and has been for years. A working environment like that guarantees underperformance.

Scott