Formula One

[Miller]

I found a book about Formula 1 printed in 2002 in a charity shop the other day. It details every year of the sport from 1950 and although there's tonnes of bizarre errors and inconsistencies it's an interesting read.

While going through it I remembered that PGR4 on the Xbox 360 has a couple of late 50's era F1 cars so set up a race for a laugh. The game has a photo-mode so I got a few snaps, one of which is here:


Click to enlarge

Reading the book and seeing a high detail 3D model makes you realise how vulnerable the driver was in early cars. The complete lack of safety in the early days is staggering too - there's a photo in the book of a driver getting in to his car ready to race while wearing what appears to be jeans and a t-shirt!? Madness...

[Miles]

A #1 Fan Here.

Always a racing fan, and F1 fan most of all. Any given race may be boring, but the bigger picture of the sport has always fascinating to me. I spend more time reading about F1 winter testing than the Super Bowl during the week of the game, And I watch not only the races, but qualifying AND practice.

Why? It is a balance of skills and technology, relentless advancement between highly competitive teams. Formula does not do anything artificial to level the field like so many racing series, which serves to reward mediocrity and punish success. If a team wants to the be the best it has no other option but to beat the best. Look at how much money and effort Honda and Toyota put in and they still can't compete. Teams face regulation changes almost every year that slow the cars down, and yet manage to go faster anyway. Drivers must maintain amazing levels of concentration to pilot extremely fast and difficult cars battling for thousandths of seconds. And these are entirely different cars from team to team. As for passing - yes more would be good, but when passes are made on track, they are memorable and significant.

So yes, I'm a fan. I just can't help it.

I do think EU and F1 are good match (I would ), although the amount of sponsorship they could afford would likely be quite small.

My prediction - Kimi wins a second championship in 2008, beating Lewis and Fernando again.

[SODERD]

try downloading the old races, from when the bmw had over 1000bhp

they could barely turn but damn they where fast

i watch F1 every chanse i got and i think its more fun now when the german ashole is out

never seen any F1 live action though but i will before i die... i watch WRC live every year has become a tradition.

[Trux]

i was a fan of F1 when i was a kid.. stayed up long to watch every race and session. (yes, the national austrian broadcast ORF got scammed over by bernie somewhere in the past, and has to broadcast each and every session, lol)
i also played Micropose F1GP 1 and 2 like a mad-man (well, boy) back then..

nowadays, i think F1 is a farce. it's a circus, just like the rotten monster-truck shows touring the outback in summertime. only with a unequaled budget..

also, a F1 race effects me like a pack of sleeping pills. i just cannot stay awake while watchin nothing happen and hearing the hypnotic 'broooooooooaam, brooooooaaam, broooooooooo--am....'

lol

WRC ftw!!!

[Trux]

Originally Posted by Slicerer

ehh well i have seen vids of earlier F1 races and i have to say, it was alot cooler watching the races because stuff was happening. These days all the stuff happens at the first 5 seconds and then thats basically the race. Back then you had fancier crashes, slipstream battles (ie monza 1971), more exciting starts (that one belgium race in the 90's), and men with big huevos!! (think of how dangerous it was to drive the F1 cars in the 50's man!!).

So to fix F1, i think we need to lose every single winglet the cars, bring back the v10's and v12's, take out the extra chicanes, make the engines bigger, replace the grooves with the slicks, and get a track with ginormous eff off straights. And get Honda to get a better car. And get Juan Pablo Montoya back. And have a dedicated F1 track in America that's right by my house too .

Though all of the suggestions may not be the best for you, i invite you to correct me or add sum of your own. Because nobody is perfect!!!

technically, there should be a rule of a minimum aerodynamic drag factor.
such a rule would make overtaking in F1 a regular event (the cars of the good ol' days had drag like a flat wall, so the slip-streams were long enough for the chasing car to close up).
a minimum drag factor rule would also decrease the top-speeds while increasing turn-speed (down-lift = drag).
additionally, such a rule would set a ceiling on the budget used for aerodynamic developement and thus close the gap between mid-lvl and uber-teams (today a team can buy a competitive engine, but not a competitive aerodynamic-package).

maybe bernie recruits his 'game-designers' form MA?

[Slicerer]

Trux i am all for slipstream! its so fun doing that in GT4, get up right behind a car on the Mulsanne straight and "BOOM!! HEADSHOT!!!" you fly right past the guy.
But i guess i can imagine slipstreaming now these days in F1. U get up behind the guy and you only go about a tenth of a mile per hour faster or what the crap. And i know how the slipstream works. Theres a pocket of anti-air or whatever behind a car at high speeds due to the drag produced. Since F1 cars are all about minimal drag, im guessing that pocket behind the car barely even exists.
You also have to take into consideration the tracks. There are only a select few tracks dedicated to overtaking like Monza. If they had more of a selection of trakcs that resembled Monza in a driving style way, we could have more of a show i think. Though i did miss the Italian GP this year. DANG DISH NETWORK!!! I WISH THEY DIDN"T HAVE THE EXTRA RATE ON SPEED CHANNEL!!!

BOOM!!! HEADSHOT!!!!

[timmmers]

Since a kid. It's not as good as it once was, due to over regulation and nerfs...but if you GO WATCH the whole thing live it's awesome. A whole weekend camping over practice and the race ..can't beat it.

Been to the Spanish, French, Monaco and of course the Brit GPs over the years, and a long time ago even went for a drink with James Hunt at his bar in Marbella named after his dog.

One lottery win and I'd be at every race.

The only other event close would be this one ...which is populated with GP drivers anyway (and you get to chat to them). Festival of Speed

Season is almost here

t

[Slicerer]

ok season has started but.... DO NOT TELL ME WHAT HAPPENS AT THE RACES. sadly i dont have the SPEED channel so i cannot watch the races. And i would like for it to abe a surprise for who wins and who doesnt.

If you must talk about these races, i will make a spoiler thread just for you guys, so you can talk all you want about the race. I am not being harsh, i just like surprises is all.

Happy Racing!!
-teh_$L!cerer

[Slicerer]

ok im allowing u guys to talk about the races, long as you totally explain what happened to me when i ask wth u guys are talking about...

let teh discussions begin!