desperation
Friday, October 31st, 2008
Sure, it’s kind of cool.
But when you have to resort to this, maybe it’s time to find another sport.
Archive for the ‘More Sports’ Category
Inside Formula One - The F1 Safety Car
Wednesday, September 17th, 2008The Mercedes-Benz SL 63 AMG. 525 horsepower, 6.3 liter V8.
From the official F1 website:
For a dramatic expression of the relative performance of Formula One cars and road cars you need to look no further than the familiar, silver forms of the safety car that features at every Grand Prix.
The safety car is very important to ensuring the spectacle of a Formula One race does not suffer from undue disruption, as its use allows the race to continue even after a major accident, or other incident serious enough to require the presence of marshals on the track. This obviously cannot be allowed to happen with cars running at full speed - or even under the caution of yellow flags (as a driver may fail to observe them). Instead the safety car is deployed and the pack ‘forms up’ behind it - running in formation - until the obstacle or other problem has been cleared away.
It sounds easy. Yet even some of the very fastest road cars in the world, driven flat-out, are barely capable of maintaining a comfortable pace for Formula One cars (which lose tyre temperature and can even suffer from engine overheating during slow running). Since 1996 Mercedes-Benz has supplied Formula One safety cars to all rounds of the FIA Formula One World Championship, and the 2008 model is an SL 63 AMG. It has been modified to reduce its weight and improve braking response - but even with 386 kW (525 bhp) output from its V8 engine, that’s still only around two-thirds of the power of a current Formula One car (combined with around three times the mass.)
Hence the very real importance of the man in the driving seat. Bernd Maylander is an experienced racer who has driven in the tough German Touring Car (DTM) championship, and who has been charged with the responsibility of piloting the Formula One safety car since 2000. His experience and ability to drive up to the car’s high limits ensure that - although lap times increase dramatically during safety car running - speeds are still high enough to allow the race cars to function correctly.
As with the medical response car, the safety car is on standby throughout a Grand Prix, ready to be dispatched by Race Control at a moment’s notice. State-of-the-art radio and video equipment enable communication to be maintained at all times. When the Race Director decides to deploy the safety car it will join the track immediately and from that point no car may enter the pitlane and no overtaking is allowed. The safety car will then allow cars to pass it until the race leader is immediately behind it. When signalled to do so, any lapped cars in among the leading pack may then unlap themselves, pass the safety car and proceed around the circuit to retake their positions at the back of the field. Once the correct race order has been restored, the pitlane will reopen. Throughout the process, a ‘Safety Car’ board is also displayed to drivers as they cross the start-finish line, and the information will also be relayed over radios from the pitlane.
When the Race Director orders the safety car to leave the track again, a similarly exact procedure is followed. At the start of its final lap the safety car will turn off its orange flashing lights. Competitors must still remain behind in formation, but they know that at the beginning of the next lap they will be racing again. The safety car will pull off into the pits at the end of the lap and - as they cross the line - the competitors restart their battle.
F1 Spa-Francorchamps
Sunday, September 7th, 2008UPDATE - Previous video removed by You Tube, new video loaded. Hopefully this one will last
Amazing finish to the race today.
Raikkonen in the Ferrari leading with 3 laps to go, McLaren’s Hamilton is just behind.
Hamilton pushes into the chicane trying to take the lead from Raikkonen. Raikkonen edges Hamilton to the edge of the road and the cars nearly touch. Hamilton bails out and cuts the course trying to prevent a crash but also taking the lead while doing so. Attempting to avoid relegation Hamilton immediately surrenders the lead back to Raikkonen through the start/finish.
But Hamilton is not done. He pushes again for the lead towards turn 1 and takes over into the turn. Raikkonen does not surrender easily and the two cars make contact coming out of the turn.
Now though the turn and at full speed the rain starts to fall. Both Hamilton and Raikkonen are on the dry tires and they start to quickly lose traction. Around every turn the cars get loose, the drivers pushing so hard they nearly lose control.
With two laps to go Raikkonen does lose control taking a turn wide on the run out track. But he keeps the hammer down and loses no time and is back on Hamilton’s gear box as soon as he gets back on the track.
At the next turn Raikkonen challenges the McLaren driver at the very same moment that a spun out Williams driver moves back onto the course. Raikkonen makes the adjustment and keep his car on the road, Hamilton is in the grass avoiding the crash.
Around the next turn, as Hamilton comes off the grass and back onto the course, the Ferrari driver looses control of his car on the wet road and spins his car 360 degrees. He keeps his car on the road however and stays in the hunt.
The rain is coming down now and Hamilton is giving everything to keep ahead of Raikkonen while still keeping his car on the road. Raikkonen is making every effort to catch and pass Hamilton. He pushes so hard that the Ferrari driver spins again around the next turn and this time hits the wall. Raikkonen out of the race with less than a lap and a half to go.
Hamilton comes through the start/finish with the lead and tiptoes his car around the course trying to avoid the same fate as Raikkonen. Through the Rouge turn he has to correct to avoid a spin and spends a few moments driving up the run out track.
Raikkonen’s team mate on Ferrari, Massa is starting to creep up on Hamilton. The McLaren driver can’t ease off too much or he may lose the race yet. Hamilton walks the tightrope, keeps the car on the road and finishes first across the line with Massa in second place.
But the results don’t stand. F1 officials, deciding that Hamilton took advantage of his cutting the course through the chicane, assess him a 25 second penalty and bump him down to third place. After all that, Massa wins the race.
It was the most exciting three laps of F1 racing that I have seen all year.
McEnroe and Borg, 1981
Thursday, August 28th, 2008Neither one of them cares for the ref but McEnroe is priceless. You have to watch the whole thing to see what I am talking about.
Formula One Euro GP - Raikkonen has some problems
Sunday, August 24th, 2008A bad day at the office for Kimi. First he runs over his refueling mechanic and then his engine blows 11 laps before the finish.
One of the Speed Network commentators mentioned that the extra amount of time Raikkonen spent stopped in the pit, without air rushing into and cooling the engine, was enough to do the engine in.
It’s amazing how tight the tolerances are on these Formula One engines.
sport definition
Wednesday, August 20th, 2008Any "sport" that wraps up their Olympics with a "gala" is not a sport.
Sport
Thursday, August 14th, 2008As I define it:
- If you can comfortably smoke a cigarette while participating at the pinnacle of the activity, it’s not a sport. It is instead a recreational activity. Hunting, golf, bowling - not sports.
- If you can not measure it with a tape measure or a stop watch, it’s not a sport. Gymnastics, figure skating - not sports. I’m not saying that those who participate in these activities are not athletes, they certainly are. But they are using their athletic ability to partake in artistic expression, not sport.
In my opinion, recreational activities and artistic expression should not be included in the Olympics.
Dump gymnastics and replace it with competitive orienteering. Dump figure skating and replace it with cyclocross.
I am preparing my letter to the IOC.
What I like, part two.
Tuesday, July 15th, 2008I don’t like (dis).
But I do like Formula One Auto Racing.
Very technical, physically demanding for the drivers, exciting to watch.
